Hurling is boring?? Under 7s hurling can be far more entertaining then some football.

Watched a bit of Derry Donegal Saturday, Derry hit 7 or 8 handpasses in a row and ended up nearer there own goal by the end of it from where they started, if thats your entertainment your very very dull Id imagine

Brianmac78 (Dublin) - Posts: 1168 - 04/02/2015 13:15:53    1689980

Jason your point about only a few counties can win is irrelevant to the question of which sport is more skillfull or entertaining..
Sure who has a chance of winning the football outside of dublin kerry donegal or maybe mayo? and the fact that most counties can be reasonably competitive beyond that just backs up the point that football is easy to play and be competitive in once you have 15-20 good athletes that can run around stopping the other team.
The gulf behind the hurling elite proofs that to be a top hurling team you need an awful lot! As the dublin hurlers found out a couple of years ago.. unlike football, a well conditioned team of average hurlers will always lose to an averagely conditioned team of good hurlers!
And the rest of your comment about arses flying and hoofing the ball just isn't true.. try watch a hurling match properly...
But yes.. we both are obviously bias!

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 04/02/2015 13:35:33    1689986

All this stuff about hurlers just hoofing the ball is rubbish.. Sure one of the first skills you learn as a defender is the diagonal ball for a forward to run onto! Trust me.. aimless hoofing of the ball usually ends up in an earfull! and thats at underage club level!

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 04/02/2015 13:41:12    1689991

Jason your point about only a few counties can win is irrelevant to the question of which sport is more skillfull or entertaining..
Sure who has a chance of winning the football outside of dublin kerry donegal or maybe mayo? and the fact that most counties can be reasonably competitive beyond that just backs up the point that football is easy to play and be competitive in once you have 15-20 good athletes that can run around stopping the other team.

Well done on missing the point, and not answering the question: If hurling is so skilful, where is the skill? Just in those top 5 counties? Do the rest of the country not count? Across the 32 counties, the average skillset in hurling is way, way below the average skillset in football.

Your comment about 15-20 athletes just highlights your ignorance regarding football. If that was the way, then Limerick are training like mad all winter/spring and will have no trouble beating Kerry and Cork in Munster this year and going on to win an All Ireland - correct? I mean, if it's only about being good athletes then what's Limerick's excuse?

This kind of point is almost taken as fact among hurlers, who fail to see the irony then in claiming that there's only a few teams who can realistically win the football AI. Surely, if all it took was to be incredibly fit, then we should see a different winner every year? Unless you think that the counties with the biggest footballing traditions and most naturally gifted footballers (e.g. Dublin, Kerry, Cork etc) just happen to always, year-on-year, have the fittest players too? I mean that's some coincidence!

The gulf behind the hurling elite proofs that to be a top hurling team you need an awful lot! As the dublin hurlers found out a couple of years ago.. unlike football, a well conditioned team of average hurlers will always lose to an averagely conditioned team of good hurlers!

And a well-conditioned group of average footballers will always lose to an averagely-conditioned team of good footballers. Always. The problem is at county level in football, a group of averagely-conditioned footballers no longer really exits.

And the rest of your comment about arses flying and hoofing the ball just isn't true.. try watch a hurling match properly...

I have - and this is honestly what I see. Together with a massive amount of frees from 45 to 65 metres (and further) being scored. Which may be difficult to do, but not really my thing. Yep - lots of frees scored in football too, but at least you have to work the ball into a certain area to score and not just pop it over from your own half.

But yes.. we both are obviously bias!

Naturally. I'm just replying to what I see as your stupidity with what I 100% recognise as my own!

jason (Mayo) - Posts: 139 - 04/02/2015 13:54:50    1689998

Well just have to agree to disagree or we'll keep going around in circles!! But one thing.. I know kerry and the likes win because they've better footballers, I just meant the lower teer teams can compete ie not get hammered. And to be fair, plenty of defencive teams have beaten or drawn with better footballing teams, but in general I take your point! funny thing is I've probably come across as a football hater but I dont, I watch a lot of football too and enjoy it alot more than soccer etc! And mayo have been my favourite team. I see them as the limerick of football (underachievers) and have always had a good brand with players like mcdonald etc But it's just hurling all the way for me between the too..! The last two football finals have been awful.. and the hurling finals have been great, but I suppose many see it the other way around?!

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 04/02/2015 15:15:27    1690048

People are conveniently forgetting about hurling skills like fielding, sidelines, over the shoulder shooting, shooting off the hurley on the run, even hand passing takes practise! It might look easy but anyone who hasn't before go out and try it and see how far you can get the ball! And of course first touch! In football there isn't really a first touch persay. You just catch a big ball or bounce it to yourselves. The amount of different angles and body positions and wrist strength it takes to have a good first touch in hurling is phenomenal and takes years to develop.

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 04/02/2015 15:36:40    1690061

It's probably true to say there are huge gulfs between each tier in hurling but I think it also has to be acknowledged that the skill level in hurling nationwide has increased massively. Just look at the recent All-Ireland finals compared to 25 years ago. Some people are saying that only the top 6 counties are fit to provide a high level of entertainment & skill. Does that mean that junior hurling in any of those counties isn't skillful or entertaining to watch? So Kildare versus Mayo in hurling doesn't set the public imagination wild - that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be as skillful or as entertaining as the same two counties competing in football. That's the prevailing perception but in my opinion it's an uninformed perception.

Coaches from the stronger hurling counties always preach that the same skills are on show in all counties; the main difference is the speed at which these skills are performed.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 04/02/2015 15:52:03    1690072

It is very arrogant to tell someone else what the should enjoy, every person is different and you do not have had to played a sport to find it entertaining or not. There is skill in every sport, blackspot91 American football, soccer and basketball are more similar to football then the sports you mentioned are to hurling, you also fail to mention part of the reason for the gap in hurling is a lot of counties have very few players playing it and the ones that are many treat it secondary to there football whereas every county has a decent level of football clubs. Both the 2013 football and hurling finals were enjoyable imo but both the 2014 finals were not entertaining i think the cats over dominance has lessened a lot of people interest in hurling. Keeper lots of young people to play kickaround with a football for hours and just because you have no interest in hurling does not make you ignornant

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 04/02/2015 16:37:53    1690107

Sorry blackspot, you keep saying that hurling is more entertaining. Well I don't find it entertaining at all, what part of that don't you understand?

Take scoring for example, can you explain why there are more wides at the highest level in football than there are in hurling? Even though there are more scoring opportunities in hurling?

Here is why, because it is harder to score in football, i.e. it requires more skill and more practice.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 04/02/2015 17:18:29    1690120

ROS1,

"Both the 2013 football and hurling finals were enjoyable imo but both the 2014 finals were not entertaining i think the cats over dominance has lessened a lot of people interest in hurling."

The 2014 drawn hurling final was one of the greatest games of any sport I've ever seen. Some people who'd never even seen hurling before felt the same way about it. But the lads in Cavan know better, eh?

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 04/02/2015 17:31:25    1690126

well jason, if you dont like the 100-yard-hoof, all i can say is you must have milk running through your veins instead of blood.
Theres nothing as mind-numbingly boring as watching a team (any sport) holding on to possesion, as they carefully and inteligently work the ball laterally across the pitch. Its more like watching a lad with glasses doing maths than sport.
Win the ball, belt it hard (if youve the skill to) to where it may cause some excitement, the early ball in itself should give the forward advantage, and get the blood running!
But then some would prefer to watch (eg Kerry and Donegal) prod the ball around their halfback line, out of blind terror that they might lose it to their opponents dangerous fullback. But theres no accounting for taste

flack (Dublin) - Posts: 1054 - 04/02/2015 17:31:31    1690127

One of the main dynamic differences between the 2 games is caused by the fact that players can strike a sliothar further than they can kick a ball. This means in hurling you can score from further out the field than in football & you can pretty much launch an attack from your own puckout or cleartance whereas often kickouts have to be defended. This leads to differing strategies & philosophies between both codes: both should be appreciated by real GAA people instead treating one over the other like a 2nd class citizen.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 04/02/2015 17:51:53    1690137

Jasus the hurling men have some chip on their shoulders, i have a very good friend from new Zealand who adores the skill of cricket and widely proclaims it as the greatest game ever, ahead of Rugby. Now ill watch Rugby but i cant endure cricket similar to hurling. I find both essentially boring beyond belief. My life is perfectly happy and joyful and i don't need to watch whack a ball with a stick to enhance my life, if you do then fair enough, each to their own, i wont down you for your opinion the same courtesy should be afforded to those who disagree with you. Final note from a old wise man i met many years ago in Meath, hurling is just a waste of perfectly good firewood.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 04/02/2015 18:22:30    1690147

Yes The Master.. obviously its impossible to kick a football 70 plus yards.. Just because the distance you score from in hurling is further doesn't mean it takes less practice or skill to score. Are you saying scoring from 80 yards in hurling is easier and takes less skill and practice than scoring from 40 in football?

But ya, if you don't like hurling fair enough, each to there own. i like football too just not as much as hurling. I just get a much bigger buzz from watching it because of the pace.

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 04/02/2015 18:24:57    1690148

Your also forgetting the fact that in hurling when your shooting, even from just 40 yards out, the guy trying to stop you.. has a 35 inch piece of wood to block, flick and hook you with..

blackspot91 (Limerick) - Posts: 1055 - 04/02/2015 18:28:08    1690150

The hook is a major difference, alright. I think some of the anti-hurling brigade don't fully grasp it's implications. If you beat your man in football & you're through on the 'keeper you don't have to worry about who might be behind you (unless it's Sean Cavanagh, of course!) but in hurling you will often have to shorten your grip or adjust your strike for fear of the tackle from behind. Just ask Seamus Callinan ;)

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 04/02/2015 18:38:12    1690152

A fella preferring football is one thing or a fella just not liking hurling is there right but some serious funny arguments being but forward here by football lads.

Brianmac78 (Dublin) - Posts: 1168 - 04/02/2015 18:40:25    1690154

royaldunne,

"Final note from a old wise man i met many years ago in Meath, hurling is just a waste of perfectly good firewood."

If he really was a wise old man, he'd have kept that wee nugget to himself out Trim direction. Probably safe enough on a high stool in Navan, though.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 04/02/2015 18:45:25    1690158

Flack, don't worry about it, Meath is full of a fair bit of cr## people these days but they all are, howa yiz brigade. The crime rate has doubled in recent years ;).

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 04/02/2015 20:18:08    1690204

Keeper i have no idea what people in cavan think you should ask them, you are entitled to your option about the 2014 final, much the same way i am entitled to say that i did not find the 2014 entraining. Just because people do not find hurling entertaining does not mean the are anti hurling. Royaldunne Meath is not the only county that suffers from people coming from the capital and the resulting problems.

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 04/02/2015 21:27:54    1690233