I played sigerson in the late 90's and to this day I cannot see what the big deal is.there was no big bond or feeling of wanting to die for each other on the pitch like you hear all the time.

manager5 (Galway) - Posts: 724 - 12/02/2015 16:58:45    1693001

Which college did you attend clondalkindub ?

subzero (Meath) - Posts: 69 - 12/02/2015 17:01:35    1693005

TheMaster
County: Mayo
Posts: 12624

1692993
Why is that funny? It just indicates that your interest is more based on the tribal aspect of my town v your town than the actual sport at play. Personally, Id watch good footballers play good football regardless of the backdrop.

I think it's funny that you pontificate as if your views are representative of all GAA fans, when they merely represent your own. That you're frequently wrong seems to be no deterrent to you in this respect.

In any sport, and at any level, the best produce their best when the stakes are high: county championships, relegation/promotion playoffs, All-Irelands. The collegiate competitions are, in comparison, small fry played in terrible conditions, so the fayre is less likely to meet that standard, most of the time. Especially so given that the players move on after a few years.

I don't see how the Hogan Cup/ Railway Cup is any more or less tribal than my college v. your college, quite frankly. Sport is built on a certain amount of localised rivalry at any level.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 12/02/2015 17:04:33    1693008

Gleebo
I think it's funny that you pontificate as if your views are representative of all GAA fans, when they merely represent your own.

Indicate where I am doing this...


That you're frequently wrong seems to be no deterrent to you in this respect.

Indicate where this is accurate...

In any sport, and at any level, the best produce their best when the stakes are high: county championships, relegation/promotion playoffs, All-Irelands. The collegiate competitions are, in comparison, small fry played in terrible conditions, so the fayre is less likely to meet that standard, most of the time. Especially so given that the players move on after a few years.

I don't see how the Hogan Cup/ Railway Cup is any more or less tribal than my college v. your college, quite frankly. Sport is built on a certain amount of localised rivalry at any level.

So are those your views or the views of all gaa fans?
Or are you pontificating...

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 12/02/2015 17:11:20    1693014

I've seen some fantastic Fitzgibbon and Sigerson games.. With a blend of inter-county players and players who raise their games to compete against the stars of the games..it can be the highlight of a players career, for example I've seen 2 bit part players completely outplay their own county stars in brilliant matches.. they are always worth watching and there can be plenty of upsets and drama.

Farney (Monaghan) - Posts: 801 - 12/02/2015 17:19:44    1693024

clondalkindub
County: Dublin
Posts: 5758

1692977
I've massive interest in Gaa but my least interest is these two comps.


I'd put them ahead of the Railway Cup and the O'Byrne Cup :D

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8597 - 12/02/2015 18:27:47    1693062

Realdub I find it hard to believe you'd have more interest in a college team than your own county no matter what the competition is.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 12/02/2015 18:44:50    1693067

Whatever the merits of the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon, and I think they are good competitions, it is surely better having them playing in those competitions and the OBC, McKenna etc rather than local county championships. Would people not agree?

UCD have won Dublin SFC and SHC since 2000 and it was not good for the county as there were almost no club teams who could compete with a team with a panel full of inter county seniors, 21s and former minors. UCD only failed to beat Ballyhale by a perfectly legitimate point given as a wide! DCU nearly beat Meath in OBC and beat Dublin last year. So those who claim that it is meaningless or that standards are not good are talking through their bottoms. And bear in mind that DCU would only have been using OBC as practise games for FC!

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 12/02/2015 19:04:08    1693076

clondalkin, I go to all Dublin matches, but I'd find a high quality college game more exciting than an O'Bynre Cup match, it means more to the players so there is more passion, from my own experiences.

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8597 - 12/02/2015 19:37:26    1693096

Realdub I'm sorry but I honestly don't believe that, I got more enjoyment out of that o Byrne cup final than I do early rounds of the championship so I couldn't believe someone who goes to all the Dublin games gets more enjoyment from two college teams where you don't care who wins no way I'll never believe that from you.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 12/02/2015 21:34:17    1693144

Why is that so hard to understand? That I enjoyed those games more, it really means something to win the Sigerson for those players, what does the O'Byrne Cup mean? It's akin to winning the Inter-Toto Cup, or whatever it was called :D But don't say you won't believe me, why would I say it otherwise?

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8597 - 12/02/2015 21:54:23    1693148

i for one am a fan of the Sigerson. It was held in UCC in my college days and got to see Michael Meehan in his pomp as a 19 year old.
It was a great weekend of football.

But overall ya I get its a lot of hype where no one really cares about the competitions bar the colleges involved.

But the training involved is suppose to be the biggest step towards intercounty level for potential young players.

I would have more respect for the u21 all ireland but for the players looking to make an immediate step up i think the sigerson/fitzgibbon is a better foundation

woops (Kerry) - Posts: 2073 - 13/02/2015 09:15:38    1693164

TheMaster
County: Mayo
Posts: 12638

[1693014
Gleebo
I think it's funny that you pontificate as if your views are representative of all GAA fans, when they merely represent your own.

Indicate where I am doing this..


That you're frequently wrong seems to be no deterrent to you in this respect.

Indicate where this is accurate...

In any sport, and at any level, the best produce their best when the stakes are high: county championships, relegation/promotion playoffs, All-Irelands. The collegiate competitions are, in comparison, small fry played in terrible conditions, so the fayre is less likely to meet that standard, most of the time. Especially so given that the players move on after a few years.

I don't see how the Hogan Cup/ Railway Cup is any more or less tribal than my college v. your college, quite frankly. Sport is built on a certain amount of localised rivalry at any level.

So are those your views or the views of all gaa fans?
Or are you pontificating...

On question 1, let me refer you to your earlier post on this very thread.

TheMaster
County: Mayo
Posts: 12638

1692955
It matters to gaa fans, i.e. people who have an active interest in the sport. It doesnt matter to people whose only interest is to follow their own county.

If that isn't making a pronouncement on behalf of GAA fans, it's hard to know what is. Not to mention the holier than thou implication therein. Following your logic, the miniscule number of people who attend third-level fixtures are the only true GAA fans out there. It's not hard to see the holes in that thesis.

Concerning question 2, it's hard to know where to begin really. Just off the top of my head, your spirited, but rather one-eyed defence of Mayo's cynical play in the closing stages of the All-Ireland semi-final in 2012 springs to mind. Or your insistence that marquee forwards make no difference to teams chasing All-Irelands, despite the fact that Mayo have been undone by one in pretty much every All-Ireland senior final they've been in since 1989, and that few Mayo forwards have managed more than two scores from play in any of those finals. I personally find the correlation to be very strong there, but maybe that's for another thread.

Question 3- they are my views. The difference between my and your statements is that I'm not purporting to speak on anyone's behalf other than my own (or at most, people I know), and I'm not chiding anyone for their lack of interest in a given competition.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 13/02/2015 09:30:47    1693170

I do. Been a while since I played in one but would still follow all the results and go to the odd Sigerson match. Great part of our game.

pdempsey (Mayo) - Posts: 1313 - 13/02/2015 10:44:52    1693204

But the training involved is suppose to be the biggest step towards intercounty level for potential young players.

You're correct woops. Playing and training at club level will develop your game to a certain level. Playing with your County can bring you to a further level due to the step up in coaching expertise, the fact that you are playing with the best in the County etc. Playing with your University can develop you further as well as you are playing with the the pick of the Country at that level and have top coaches. This isn't to diminish the efforts of those who train/manage at club or any of the levels - just stands to sense the more different levels of input you get and the more expert input then the more chance you have to develop to a more complete footballer.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 13/02/2015 12:25:29    1693239

Gleebo 13/02/2015 09:30:47 The difference between my and your statements is that I'm not purporting to speak on anyone's behalf other than my own

It's very possible that this sentence comes under the category of 'holier than thou'!!. I jest.. I enjoyed reading your post. But I agree with TheMaster in a way. Some people just enjoy different aspects of sports more so than others, but that doesn't makes one person more of a fan than the other. I always follow the Sigerson Cup in particular, not because I played at ucd, but just because I have an interest in it! I would never really look out for how ucd did above any other team. But I also find that I look for the results of all the other college comps - fitsgibbon cup, ryan cup, trench cup, coirn mac leinn.. Maybe that's just me. I enjoy sports, in particular our own sport and the more competitions in it the better I say....

HandballRef (Donegal) - Posts: 520 - 13/02/2015 12:43:50    1693247

sure we might as well get rid of the hogan cup, macrory cup, the mcormick, rannafast, the lot, sure when we're at it scrap the lot!!!!!

keepherlow (Tyrone) - Posts: 127 - 13/02/2015 13:01:17    1693252

If you had to fight for funding to field a team at all like an cumann iomanaíochta Ollscoil Uladh, Cúl Raithin, then you might understand what it means to those involved(circa 2002). Didn't win a single match I played in but it was great craic all the same. As for footballers/hurlers of both genders playing at the highest college levels, I have no doubt it brings them on as players and provides lasting memories to add to their student experience.

I would share the cynical attitude of some towards bringing top intercounty people in on scholarships just to play, but as long as they do enough to pass their exams there's not much to complain about.

I don't know about burnout either because in my day we knew how to let our hair down in the S.U. It wasn't all about training/winning like it perhaps is now.

Suas Sios (None) - Posts: 1550 - 13/02/2015 13:36:56    1693266

I don't think national newspapers such as the Irish times independent examiner would be covering theses competitions if nobody cared.

It has long standing tradition yes recent years hasn't helped with certain colleges trying to require the best players however I'll always have interest in how our lads are faring and it's good development ground for any young player.

The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 3766 - 13/02/2015 15:01:59    1693295

HandballRef
County: Donegal
Posts: 144

1693247
Gleebo 13/02/2015 09:30:47 The difference between my and your statements is that I'm not purporting to speak on anyone's behalf other than my own

It's very possible that this sentence comes under the category of 'holier than thou'!!. I jest.. I enjoyed reading your post. But I agree with TheMaster in a way. Some people just enjoy different aspects of sports more so than others, but that doesn't makes one person more of a fan than the other. I always follow the Sigerson Cup in particular, not because I played at ucd, but just because I have an interest in it! I would never really look out for how ucd did above any other team. But I also find that I look for the results of all the other college comps - fitsgibbon cup, ryan cup, trench cup, coirn mac leinn.. Maybe that's just me. I enjoy sports, in particular our own sport and the more competitions in it the better I say....

Fair enough Handball Ref, we all have our favourite aspects of the GAA, and our own particular pet peeves. My own particular bête noire is when some GAA people see themselves as superior beings because they go to every FBD League/ McKenna Cup fixture, third level or whatever. IMO the GAA needs to remain a broad church in order to fend off increasingly strong competition from the other mainstream sports, and such attitudes don't help in keeping the casual players/fans inside the fold (it smacks of the Fíor Gael mentality to me).

I do actually follow the third-level competitions to a small extent (in so far as I see the headlines of the match reports, and have covered matches in those competitions professionally in the past) but I would see the collegiate competitions as relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things, other than to those are involved, obviously. I am a graduate of both DCU and UCD, but am not too bothered who wins their upcoming semi-final.

Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 13/02/2015 15:08:18    1693297