Clondalkin,
Lots of people are whinging about the current game and there is certainly aspects of it that need addressing but all the skills are still there in every game I watch. Good fielding, nice long range scoring, great goals in lots of games and all the players at the top level are playing with great speed and athleticism. I'm afraid that if you are looking for 15 on 15, everyone playing their position and tactics being done away with then you will never seen this again at inter county or club senior level. Start watching U12 club football and you MIGHT get a few games like that ...... MIGHT

Tir Conaill Abu (Donegal) - Posts: 1671 - 28/04/2015 13:20:10    1718451

I think the complaining has far more to do with the age we live in, where everyone with a keyboard can put their opinions out there.

In previous decades the lunatic fringe didn't have a platform but now everyone is game fo criticism & a use where hyperbole is the standard means of discourse.

To call present day football "dire" is over the top in my opinion. Granted it isn't perfect, but it never was.

We seem to be blind to the advances in the game, the fitness, the counter attacking, the sight of backs popping up taking scores.

There is still plenty of high fielding, great long range scoring & super free taking to marvel at.

Negativity & complaint seems to be the currency of online conversation these days.
, that might be more of a reflection on us than on the game.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 28/04/2015 13:50:32    1718477

Yes Muck, tis the age of the keyboard warrior alright, if this platform was available during the 70s/80s, we'd have threads like...

Best Free Taker
Best Fielder
Dirtiest Team

Etc :D

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8596 - 28/04/2015 14:20:49    1718499

realdub
County: Dublin
Posts: 4695

1718499 Yes Muck, tis the age of the keyboard warrior alright, if this platform was available during the 70s/80s, we'd have threads like...

Best Free Taker
Best Fielder
Dirtiest Team

Etc :D
___________________
Best facial hair
Most mullets in one team

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 28/04/2015 14:59:07    1718531

The facial hair is back Brend, young people today, so scruffy!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8596 - 28/04/2015 15:01:04    1718535

In fact Brend, didn't your lads stage a facial hair mini-revival during your reign as team of the decade?

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8596 - 28/04/2015 15:19:45    1718545

clondalkindub
County: Dublin
Posts: 6011

1718420
But Hill we all loved it no one ever complained about the state of the game back then we all thought it was great and it was nowadays the rubbish these teams are serving up is heartbreaking to see.

thats becuase there was very little media
very little scrutiny
most of the media here was run by irish people
nowadays we have no national media its all british outlets
the media has a clear agenda to paint football in particular in a bad and negative light
if the same scrutiny and live coverage and analsysy was around back then you would have worse levels of complaining
the fact is players are way fitter, more skillfull and point taken alone has improved massively
theres never a massive reaction to a nil nil draw in soccer and most of the people leaving the ground would have just lost 90 minutes of their time to a borefest

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 28/04/2015 16:33:18    1718595

We would also have threads entitled

Why can't today's players hold possession for 10 seconds.

Free taking, a disappearing art.

Is hoofball the best we can do?

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 28/04/2015 20:14:31    1718697

Muckross you have over 3000 posts lolol

MartinGerard (Longford) - Posts: 275 - 28/04/2015 20:24:59    1718700

I have been going to matches since the 70s and the most terrible or dire thing is the views that pundits and so called experts give in the media people especially posters on here believe most they say and just repeat it. You rarely see Hurling pundits talk down their sport as much maybe because they aren't attention seekers like Joe Brolly.

Only the other night i watched a few full live championship games from the mid 90s on youtube it was the same talk from Pat in the studio and Colm O Rourke during the games as now. e.g the game is a poor state too defensive,too much hand passing, forwards not allowed to show their talents etc...

ispeakwisdom (Roscommon) - Posts: 2487 - 28/04/2015 21:15:38    1718726

ispeakwisdom

Hahaha, the hurling lads are gas, gotta love them, listen to the co-commentator's opinion on this, "it was only a little jab" and went on to commend the Ref for not carding them :D

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8596 - 28/04/2015 21:23:04    1718742

By his own admission Gooch would not get on a team if he was starting out now, cause that's the way the games have gone. Off top of my head, Bernard Flynn, jayo, Trevor Giles, pauric Joyce, even Spillane and brolly would be seen as not the type of player suited to the game today. Ive just named some of the best forwards ever to play our game, is that what we want for the future ?? Never seeing there like again? .
There's a great young lad in Meath , now hes only 18, but many myself included don't think he will be able to handle the way the game is played, too light etc . That's wrong.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 28/04/2015 21:26:40    1718746

realdub
County: Dublin
Posts: 4709

1718545 In fact Brend, didn't your lads stage a facial hair mini-revival during your reign as team of the decade?
___________________________
Indeed they did, and didn't they look great, apart from Mugsys ginger effort1

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 28/04/2015 21:29:37    1718748

Whoops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aooeBlLQfhA

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8596 - 28/04/2015 21:31:39    1718750

I have to disagree with you, royaldunne. Itvis ironic that Spillage was probably the first "blanket" defender. He routinely dropped back to his own half back line to collect ball. If he was playing today, we'd be comparing him to Mark or Ryan McHugh. Joyce or Giles would also definitely revel in modern football, and Gooch copes well with the current styles. Great players always do...

football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 28/04/2015 21:48:00    1718760

Royaldunne that's because football has advanced. If them players played nowadays they would still be great players. Padraig Joyce could play in any era. Sure he changed his whole playing style as he got older anyway. Same from Gooch before injury he had changed into a playmaker and so avoided most of the defensive play. even Michael Murphy who I do believe is the best Full Forward in Ireland on his day needs to drift in and out to avoid being double (or at stages triple marked)

This is the same in any sport in the world. Pete Sampras wouldn't last a minute if he played the same style now against Nadal or Djokovic.
Gazza wouldn't be let near a field unless he lost a few stone.

dstuction (Donegal) - Posts: 1209 - 29/04/2015 09:00:17    1718775

Royaldunne, this is not accurate.

There are 3 McHughs on the Donegal team that are all small and light. 2 will be starting in champoinship games all summer. It is about pace and movement as well as everything else. Plus we have Darach O Connor as well as Marty Oreilly, both forwards and both small.

If you field 15 big men, not all great footballers, you will end up getting what you deserve.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 29/04/2015 09:26:08    1718782

royaldunne
sure jayo had to play against far bigger meath man then than he would have to do now!!!

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 29/04/2015 11:16:24    1718833

When Conor McManus first arrived in the scene for Clontibret/Monaghan, he too was very light and the thinking was the same "class act but too light". He would have been targeted physically, but opponents soon learned that if you targeted him you had the rest of the Contibret/Monaghan team to deal with. I can understand the concern for smaller lighter players though, but you have to stick with them and "protect" them for the want of a better word.

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1044 - 29/04/2015 11:50:38    1718842

MartinGerard
County: Longford
Posts: 117

1718700
Muckross you have over 3000 posts lolol

Yes Martin & you have over 100.

What an interesting conversation!!

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 29/04/2015 12:30:57    1718866