think it has always been present, I just think nowadays it gets highlighted more. Also I don't know if nowadays it is a tactic that some managers actually endorse, I always think there used always be a few loudmouths who loved talking rubbish to opposition players but do some managers now actively encourage lads to get involved in in. Anyway I think if you want to see real sledging you should try playing watch the Aussies, we are amateurs at it compared to them.

Rosineri1 (UK) - Posts: 2099 - 19/05/2015 12:13:13    1725414

The Hermit ' it's an endemic in Ulster football ' that's a very disappointing comment , old Donegal players have often spoke of the verbals they received in the 60s and 70s . There were a few famous comments made by a few Tipp hurlers in the 80s but we won't go into that . Maybe you should watch the wonderful A O' Mahoney speak to Murphy in last years final .

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 19/05/2015 12:18:40    1725418

BanTarleton
County: Clare
Posts: 37

1725400
Is this forum for real. Are you guys realy suggesting that a player be black carded for sledging. Lets get over ourselves here. Sledging and verbals are what they are "Sticks and stones..ect". Infact some of the greatest players in all sports were good at it..numerous cricketers and association football players. Mick Mackey and Christie Ring our two greatest ball players were renowned for it.
I do recognise that there will be players who will go very low. Before that could be resolved physically but in the sanitised game we have today thats not possible so there is an issue there. We are as an association haemorraging kids to rugby which has left GAA miles behind with its physicality. In Limerick where rugby is king in the city, rugby boys are no longer playing hurling in the summer to any large extent because they give away frees left right and centre.
Bring back the physical contact and sledging will be regulated.

The game has never been so physical as it is now. And if you resort to sorting out sledging with a physical response, you have lost the battle, you are no longer thinking about the game but about revenge on the pitch.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 19/05/2015 12:19:23    1725419

TheHermit
County: Kerry
Posts: 514

1725340
We all know the counties that are most responsible for this utter blight on the game we love. You only have to look at the carry on during the game in Ballybofey on Sunday or at the U-21 All Ireland a couple of weeks ago. It seems to be endemic in Ulster football and appears to be part of the culture of the game there.

Its cowardly and disgusting and any player that makes it integral to his game should not be left near a county panel. There was always a little verbal abuse in the game when a player missed an easy chance of something. However what has crept into the game in the last 5-10 years is sickening. You all heard Benny Coulter on the Sunday Game talking about some of the stuff he was subjected to about his family, friends etc. Look at the reports of players finding out their opponents mobile number and writing it on their hand. The Sunday Game was able to highlight the 'special attention' Michael Murphy had to cope with last Sunday, why can't his opponent be retrospectively banned for a hefty 2-3 months because of it? That would soon curb this *****.
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Pity these bans weren't handed out a few years ago when the likes of Cadogan and Galvin could barely play the ball for want of playing the man and getting in each others face with plenty name calling and sledging.Tom Sullivan was another for getting up to this craic too.Its not attractive but theres plenty blame to go around.With Sean Cav saying it was going both ways on sunday I am sure there was no shrinking violets on the Donegal team. Sean made a reference to players that have been through hard personal times being given special attention so I've no doubt the likes of our own Cathal Mc Carron has plenty verbals to deal with out there.Can you just imagine whats being said to him in all honesty?If people can't be objective about this then you really should stay quiet cos you are just being hypocrites.

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 19/05/2015 12:39:31    1725434

Mark McHugh was a disgrace at the end with his mouthing. Same with the McMahons and McGees

HughHunt24 (Cork) - Posts: 841 - 19/05/2015 12:41:02    1725435

19/05/2015 12:18:40
TheRightStuff
County: Donegal
Posts: 624

1725418 The Hermit ' it's an endemic in Ulster football ' that's a very disappointing comment , old Donegal players have often spoke of the verbals they received in the 60s and 70s . There were a few famous comments made by a few Tipp hurlers in the 80s but we won't go into that . Maybe you should watch the wonderful A O' Mahoney speak to Murphy in last years final .

To be fAIR kerry dont engage in that verbal. They play football in the old traditional way winning multiple all irelands

HughHunt24 (Cork) - Posts: 841 - 19/05/2015 12:42:44    1725437

I wonder what Martin McHugh made of his sons/Donegal players sledging?He was critical of Dublin/Monaghan players for sledging in the past so i suupose he had to do that to sell papers?

HughHunt24 (Cork) - Posts: 841 - 19/05/2015 12:45:02    1725438

Nothing a dig in the gub cant sort.

Id be more worried about 'Wedging' becoming an issue!

bumpernut (Antrim) - Posts: 1852 - 19/05/2015 12:55:20    1725447

I would have no real issue with comments passed between 2 players on the field, it is the roaring in opponent's faces that is a new development.

Looks desperate.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 19/05/2015 13:23:46    1725468

They play football in the old traditional way winning multiple all irelands
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Are you serious. The biggest mouth piece out on a field on any given day is Kieran Donaghy! And there's plenty other Kerry boys good at the mouthing and sledging and all sorts of cynicism also.

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 19/05/2015 13:27:14    1725472

Hugh - yeah Paul Galvin had so much class he bullied referees , your posts are sinister Hugh . Not like Donegal folk !

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 19/05/2015 13:38:01    1725483

It's nothing new at all except that more people are discussing it now. No one team is culpable and when you hear any particular player from a county speak about it you can be sure one of his own is as guilty. I can't imagine successful teams like Kerry and Kilkenny escaping without been subjected to such abuse regularly enough but in the main got on with the job of winning. Perhaps they would have done the GAA a favour had they spoken out but can't imagine too many having sympathy for them! Hard to know what can be done about verbal abuse.

westisthebest (Galway) - Posts: 444 - 19/05/2015 13:43:12    1725486

Are we seeing a difference in sledging now and what was said years ago.. years ago. it would be about what happened in the game.. with the expletives removed it would have been something like "ye missed the last free, no way are you going to score this one" or about the player " ye big\wee\fat\skinny\baldy\girly ########" etc Today it is more premeditated and researched, there is more information available on social sites that can delved for some dirt. These days it's more about a sick relation, a broken\dodgy relationship, bank troubles, some past misdemeanour, etc. I've seen a team from 50 miles away play my local club in a final and the names of the players girlfriends were all known by the opposition. Someone from the opposition had way too much time on their hands.. This is impossible to manage by the referee as they can't hear what is being said. It can be daft and silly, but there is a line and it's getting crossed more and more and it's good to see someone like Sean Cavanagh speak up about it.

Farney (Monaghan) - Posts: 801 - 19/05/2015 13:44:30    1725488

Its always been there and will continue as its impossible to police unless an official hears it and the perpetrators aren't that stupid to do it in front of an official. The way to counteract it is to educate your players on how to deal with it and continue to focus on their game. I was at the end of serious verbal abuse in a club match a few years back, 1-3 later and the silence was deafening!!

Tir Conaill Abu (Donegal) - Posts: 1671 - 19/05/2015 13:46:04    1725489

Ulster team beats Munster team in All Ireland U21 final - The birth day of sledging and much worse in GAA - cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

First Ulster Championship game since Ulster All Ireland victory - sorry - since birth of sledging and much worse in GAA and many of our media and posters are waiting with baited breath for the first ever appearance of verbals in inter county senior championship football - cue more wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Watch out for next installment on Sunday at 2pm when Cavan take on Monaghan and every Sunday after that until 27th June.

Note: Meaningful games will be taking place later in the summer in other parts of Ireland.

Naysayer (Antrim) - Posts: 2071 - 19/05/2015 13:50:14    1725492

Absolutely hilarious that a Tyrone player is suddenly so concerned about sledging. I had to check a few times this morning to make sure Cavanaghs article wasn't the latest Waterford Whispers skit!

irishtom (Donegal) - Posts: 219 - 19/05/2015 13:57:06    1725500

Rightstuff and Seanie Boy: I'm only saying what I suspect many people are thinking. Yes there was always comments and insults traded between players marking each other, just like in any other team sport. However, in the last few years Ulster sides, in particular, seem to have developed this into a premeditated match day tactic. As another poster stated its not heat of the moment stuff, its a deliberate tactic to be as offensive as possible in order to draw a reaction from an opponent; the end result being either to get him sent off or to mentally rattle him. Its disgusting.

Can either of you condone what Michael Murphy was subjected to all match or what McHugh did? Can you condone players talking about opponents wives, sisters, mothers, partners the way that's now common in matches? As for Sean Cavanagh he has no right to comment on this. He was a disgrace himself on Sunday. I always said if there was a transfer market he would be the one player I would have loved to see in a Kerry jersey, but in the last 2-3 years he has really let himself down in my opinion. He doesn't need to descend to that level and when a player of his ability does we have to ask where this sport is now headed for?

Looking at this topic, it seems a lot of posters from Ulster are dismissing what's happening, that's no surprise. Its been the general trend on here for the past year: hear no evil, see no evil, close ranks and dismiss it all as 'them versus us stuff'.
Its about time someone stopped beating around the bush, Gaelic football is dying and we all know the counties that bear most responsibility for it!

TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 19/05/2015 14:05:04    1725504

bumpernut
County: Antrim
Posts: 827

1725447
Nothing a dig in the gub cant sort.




Exactly the sort of reaction the person doing the sledging wants

tipp11 (Tipperary) - Posts: 353 - 19/05/2015 14:06:13    1725506

It's nothing new at all except that more people are discussing it now. No one team is culpable and when you hear any particular player from a county speak about it you can be sure one of his own is as guilty. I can't imagine successful teams like Kerry and Kilkenny escaping without been subjected to such abuse regularly enough but in the main got on with the job of winning. Perhaps they would have done the GAA a favour had they spoken out but can't imagine too many having sympathy for them! Hard to know what can be done about verbal abuse.

westisthebest (Galway) - Posts: 444 - 19/05/2015 14:10:28    1725512

19/05/2015 13:38:01
TheRightStuff
County: Donegal
Posts: 626

1725483 Hugh - yeah Paul Galvin had so much class he bullied referees , your posts are sinister Hugh . Not like Donegal folk !

The notebook fell out of Russell hand. Look at your manager. In his role as selector always in referee ear

HughHunt24 (Cork) - Posts: 841 - 19/05/2015 14:16:46    1725521