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Alright, I'm not gonna whine about hand passing and blanket defences.. but think about it. What has made our kind of football more exciting than other sports? Just going for it. Man vs Man. Basketball is a possession game where lads get bitched out if they mess up.. where does that fit in with the Irish psyche? I'm asking what made us think we were superior to other sports in the past? We can't continue bragging we have Gaelic Football and say it's better than soccer, rugby, basketball when our sport is just the same.. hold possession and we'll eventually win this lads. F*** this. Wasted talent.. these fellas could be enjoying their football. And we'd enjoy it too.
offalyfaithful (Offaly) - Posts: 120 - 26/01/2017 15:44:08
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Imo it use to be miles ahead of every other sport but then Jim Mcguiness became Donegal manager and the rest is history.
clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 26/01/2017 15:59:50
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Replying To offalyfaithful: "Alright, I'm not gonna whine about hand passing and blanket defences.. but think about it. What has made our kind of football more exciting than other sports? Just going for it. Man vs Man. Basketball is a possession game where lads get bitched out if they mess up.. where does that fit in with the Irish psyche? I'm asking what made us think we were superior to other sports in the past? We can't continue bragging we have Gaelic Football and say it's better than soccer, rugby, basketball when our sport is just the same.. hold possession and we'll eventually win this lads. F*** this. Wasted talent.. these fellas could be enjoying their football. And we'd enjoy it too." The attractive thing about gaelic football is the non-stop nature of it.
The most exciting sport I've ever seen is actually the Compromised Rules when its being played properly (ie no macho nonsense and both teams balanced)....its ferociously fast with spectacular catches, scores and tackles. Its so fast that you simply must have rolling substitutes.
We sometimes play it at gaa training to relieve boredom and its great craic.
Crinigan (Meath) - Posts: 1320 - 26/01/2017 16:12:31
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The range of skills required.
We've grown up with gaelic football, so most of us are inured to it, and a lot of people run the game down due to the tactical innovations that have come in to the game over the last 15 years or so (which I admit, can make it a less attractive spectacle at times). However, show it to a person that's never seen the game before, and nine times out of ten they are impressed at the range of skills needed to play it well, with the game encompassing elements of soccer, rugby, (Olympic) handball, volleyball, basketball, Aussie Rules etc. as they see it.
I used to also think the lack of nonsense that you'd encounter in pro sports, but this has been slowly whittled away over time.
Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 26/01/2017 16:30:51
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I hate the blanket defence as much as the next man.
I don't understand the problem people have with possession football, short kickouts and hand passing.
Playing low percentage balls is awful to watch also. Possession being kicked away needlessly. I just don't understand the appeal of it.
A lot of county teams want to play the ball direct when it's on. Defending is at a level now where it's just not on so much, I don't see why a team would want to then force the issue.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4247 - 26/01/2017 16:34:59
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It's fast-paced when played properly. Much faster than rugby and a little bit faster than soccer. The one thing these defensive structures have caused is that players are so indecisive when there's a free or if there's a kick out. Gone are the days when a player took one or two seconds to make up his mind and take the free. It's so frustrating to watch.
XPAC (Westmeath) - Posts: 86 - 26/01/2017 16:53:11
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these fellas could be enjoying their football. And we'd enjoy it too.
offalyfaithful (Offaly) - Posts:119 - 26/01/2017 15:44:08
i like this part of your post - sport should be about enjoyment first and foremost
my favourite part of football is the physicality and kicking skills - , for hurling my favourite part is the skill level
janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 26/01/2017 17:04:33
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Dublin and Kerry are still playing attacking Gaelic football which is good to watch. Up to the rest to try and play an attacking game if they want to. But good defending, even organisingvthe whole team defensively when the opposition has the ball is a skill in itself. I'd rather watch a tight defensive game any day with the result in doubt to the last minute than a rout where the losing team tries gungho football and you can tell they'll get whipped after 20 minutes. Maybe not a skill but they're something great about watching amateur athletes fight for their jersey until the end and not quit because they've a few Ferraris and get paid regardless of the result.
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7384 - 26/01/2017 17:21:37
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Replying To clondalkindub: "Imo it use to be miles ahead of every other sport but then Jim Mcguiness became Donegal manager and the rest is history." Now that's a bit unfair
Sure it was Mickey Harte who began its downfall and ruination
Oh for the days of the catch and kick and the boys of Barr na Sráide who hunted for the wren...
:D
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 26/01/2017 17:22:45
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GreenandRed (Mayo) - your right dubs are generally always good to watch, love watchin mayo too hope ye win it some day , limerick to win and hurling and mayo the football would be like a double for me - i even went to the 2014 semi final replay wearing green and red and cheered for ye (ok i was a liemrick jersey with a long sleeve musnter one under it)
janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 26/01/2017 17:32:13
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Replying To TheHermit: "Now that's a bit unfair
Sure it was Mickey Harte who began its downfall and ruination
Oh for the days of the catch and kick and the boys of Barr na Sráide who hunted for the wren...
:D" Yerra Yerra Yerra YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWN
Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12133 - 26/01/2017 17:35:43
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Replying To TheHermit: "Now that's a bit unfair
Sure it was Mickey Harte who began its downfall and ruination
Oh for the days of the catch and kick and the boys of Barr na Sráide who hunted for the wren...
:D" Tyrone played some lovely attacking stuff though as well mate.
I think to be balanced, arguably Tyrone play more open expansive stuff then most counties these days. Certainly Kerry were one of the most defensive teams i saw in Croke park last year, to be fair though that could have been the tactic against the Dubs, i presume they played more expansively against Tipp, Cork and Clare.
Broadly though i enjoy both skills the team with the best attack and defense usually wins the all Ireland its the balance in the game i enjoy.
TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4446 - 26/01/2017 17:54:03
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For me it's the history, pageantry and tradition of it all. I know every sport has that, but for me the history and tradition of the GAA are more real.
I love match days, especially the big Summer match days.
I always make sure to walk all the way to the ground if I can. When I am in Dublin I love walking from outside Ranelagh/Rathmines/Harolds Cross, wherever I might be staying, all the way into Croke Park. At first you think there's no game on at all, the way everyone is going about their normal business - but the closer you get to the Liffey the more and more jersey's you spot, the more the atmosphere builds. Then, somewhere around Camden St, you start to get the beeps from the car horns, the knowing yet unspoken nods from the other Kerry fans, the good humored words of encouragement from some neutral walking by you and the smart alec remarks from someone of the opposition! And, for myself anyway, I always think I'm just a little link in the chain; walking the same steps into Ireland's sporting Cathedral that my father did in the 70's following Micko's marvels, or my Grandfather did in the 50's watching Mick O'Connell, Sean Murphy Tadghie Lyne and co.
I love getting on a train or bus and being around the fans traveling on match day. I keep the earphones in the pocket and listen or join in (if I'm lucky) with the talk of the old men, reliving some long last game, when the Sun was impossibly warm and this or that player was impossibly skillful - 'ah young fella if you think Gooch was good you should have seen the Tiger Lyne in action, a prince among forwards'.
I get on the train up from Tralee and think about what it must have been to be on the legendary Ghost Train as it powered through the Autumn night taking generations of Kerry fans to Dublin. But again there is a simple pleasure that, in my own small way, I'm helping keep alive that tradition and that history of going to Croker to cheer on the Gold and Green.
And when you're up in the stand looking on at those men parading on the pitch in the Kerry jersey you can't help put think of all the great players that have gone before and the great players that are yet to come, and that each of them - and each of us - are just a link in an enduring chain. And that is both a humbling and awe inspiring thought.
But I guess most of all, for someone who has had to spent so much of their adult life away from my home county, what I love about the game is that those 15 players go out and try and show the world everything that is great and good about my home. They represent the very best of what we are and hope to be.
That's why I love this damn beautiful sport - warts and all.
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 26/01/2017 17:55:16
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Replying To TheHermit: "For me it's the history, pageantry and tradition of it all. I know every sport has that, but for me the history and tradition of the GAA are more real.
I love match days, especially the big Summer match days.
I always make sure to walk all the way to the ground if I can. When I am in Dublin I love walking from outside Ranelagh/Rathmines/Harolds Cross, wherever I might be staying, all the way into Croke Park. At first you think there's no game on at all, the way everyone is going about their normal business - but the closer you get to the Liffey the more and more jersey's you spot, the more the atmosphere builds. Then, somewhere around Camden St, you start to get the beeps from the car horns, the knowing yet unspoken nods from the other Kerry fans, the good humored words of encouragement from some neutral walking by you and the smart alec remarks from someone of the opposition! And, for myself anyway, I always think I'm just a little link in the chain; walking the same steps into Ireland's sporting Cathedral that my father did in the 70's following Micko's marvels, or my Grandfather did in the 50's watching Mick O'Connell, Sean Murphy Tadghie Lyne and co.
I love getting on a train or bus and being around the fans traveling on match day. I keep the earphones in the pocket and listen or join in (if I'm lucky) with the talk of the old men, reliving some long last game, when the Sun was impossibly warm and this or that player was impossibly skillful - 'ah young fella if you think Gooch was good you should have seen the Tiger Lyne in action, a prince among forwards'.
I get on the train up from Tralee and think about what it must have been to be on the legendary Ghost Train as it powered through the Autumn night taking generations of Kerry fans to Dublin. But again there is a simple pleasure that, in my own small way, I'm helping keep alive that tradition and that history of going to Croker to cheer on the Gold and Green.
And when you're up in the stand looking on at those men parading on the pitch in the Kerry jersey you can't help put think of all the great players that have gone before and the great players that are yet to come, and that each of them - and each of us - are just a link in an enduring chain. And that is both a humbling and awe inspiring thought.
But I guess most of all, for someone who has had to spent so much of their adult life away from my home county, what I love about the game is that those 15 players go out and try and show the world everything that is great and good about my home. They represent the very best of what we are and hope to be.
That's why I love this damn beautiful sport - warts and all." Great description of match days The Hermit. Your fellow countyman,the late great Con Houlihan could hardly have done any better.
lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 2992 - 26/01/2017 18:23:18
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Replying To TheHermit: "For me it's the history, pageantry and tradition of it all. I know every sport has that, but for me the history and tradition of the GAA are more real.
I love match days, especially the big Summer match days.
I always make sure to walk all the way to the ground if I can. When I am in Dublin I love walking from outside Ranelagh/Rathmines/Harolds Cross, wherever I might be staying, all the way into Croke Park. At first you think there's no game on at all, the way everyone is going about their normal business - but the closer you get to the Liffey the more and more jersey's you spot, the more the atmosphere builds. Then, somewhere around Camden St, you start to get the beeps from the car horns, the knowing yet unspoken nods from the other Kerry fans, the good humored words of encouragement from some neutral walking by you and the smart alec remarks from someone of the opposition! And, for myself anyway, I always think I'm just a little link in the chain; walking the same steps into Ireland's sporting Cathedral that my father did in the 70's following Micko's marvels, or my Grandfather did in the 50's watching Mick O'Connell, Sean Murphy Tadghie Lyne and co.
I love getting on a train or bus and being around the fans traveling on match day. I keep the earphones in the pocket and listen or join in (if I'm lucky) with the talk of the old men, reliving some long last game, when the Sun was impossibly warm and this or that player was impossibly skillful - 'ah young fella if you think Gooch was good you should have seen the Tiger Lyne in action, a prince among forwards'.
I get on the train up from Tralee and think about what it must have been to be on the legendary Ghost Train as it powered through the Autumn night taking generations of Kerry fans to Dublin. But again there is a simple pleasure that, in my own small way, I'm helping keep alive that tradition and that history of going to Croker to cheer on the Gold and Green.
And when you're up in the stand looking on at those men parading on the pitch in the Kerry jersey you can't help put think of all the great players that have gone before and the great players that are yet to come, and that each of them - and each of us - are just a link in an enduring chain. And that is both a humbling and awe inspiring thought.
But I guess most of all, for someone who has had to spent so much of their adult life away from my home county, what I love about the game is that those 15 players go out and try and show the world everything that is great and good about my home. They represent the very best of what we are and hope to be.
That's why I love this damn beautiful sport - warts and all." OK that's a lot better :)
Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12133 - 26/01/2017 18:40:29
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Wrong question. OK to list the aspects that make any sport enjoyable - but *without running down other sports in the process*. All sports are great. Gaelic football has given me some of the best memories of my life and it is my favourite sport. But I also enjoy motorbike racing, skiing, soccer, boxing - any sport is good and we can enjoy our favourite / all sports without feeling the need to have (inevitably mean-spirited) comparisons with other sports. Leave that sort of superiority complex b/s to the Irish soccer fraternity.
essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 26/01/2017 18:58:38
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Replying To TheHermit: "For me it's the history, pageantry and tradition of it all. I know every sport has that, but for me the history and tradition of the GAA are more real.
I love match days, especially the big Summer match days.
I always make sure to walk all the way to the ground if I can. When I am in Dublin I love walking from outside Ranelagh/Rathmines/Harolds Cross, wherever I might be staying, all the way into Croke Park. At first you think there's no game on at all, the way everyone is going about their normal business - but the closer you get to the Liffey the more and more jersey's you spot, the more the atmosphere builds. Then, somewhere around Camden St, you start to get the beeps from the car horns, the knowing yet unspoken nods from the other Kerry fans, the good humored words of encouragement from some neutral walking by you and the smart alec remarks from someone of the opposition! And, for myself anyway, I always think I'm just a little link in the chain; walking the same steps into Ireland's sporting Cathedral that my father did in the 70's following Micko's marvels, or my Grandfather did in the 50's watching Mick O'Connell, Sean Murphy Tadghie Lyne and co.
I love getting on a train or bus and being around the fans traveling on match day. I keep the earphones in the pocket and listen or join in (if I'm lucky) with the talk of the old men, reliving some long last game, when the Sun was impossibly warm and this or that player was impossibly skillful - 'ah young fella if you think Gooch was good you should have seen the Tiger Lyne in action, a prince among forwards'.
I get on the train up from Tralee and think about what it must have been to be on the legendary Ghost Train as it powered through the Autumn night taking generations of Kerry fans to Dublin. But again there is a simple pleasure that, in my own small way, I'm helping keep alive that tradition and that history of going to Croker to cheer on the Gold and Green.
And when you're up in the stand looking on at those men parading on the pitch in the Kerry jersey you can't help put think of all the great players that have gone before and the great players that are yet to come, and that each of them - and each of us - are just a link in an enduring chain. And that is both a humbling and awe inspiring thought.
But I guess most of all, for someone who has had to spent so much of their adult life away from my home county, what I love about the game is that those 15 players go out and try and show the world everything that is great and good about my home. They represent the very best of what we are and hope to be.
That's why I love this damn beautiful sport - warts and all." Well said young man.I echo those words.Except for the long pregame travel to Dublin obviously.
cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 26/01/2017 19:45:23
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For me personally Gaelic Football outstrips all other games but I'm sure followers of other sports would disagree with me. Gaelic has a huge range of skills, many of them lauded by some and castigated by our pundits; a range of skills that can accommodate many types of players and allow them to perform at the highest level. Its roots are in the local community whether it is played in town, city or country and this gives it a 'heart' that, for me, other sports don't have. By and large, it is a very safe sport although the cruciate problem has become rampant in recent times.
I watch my grandchildren play all types of sport and get great enjoyment from them but, for me, Gaelic football will always be king.
neverright (Roscommon) - Posts: 1648 - 26/01/2017 20:21:40
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This thread will make very interesting reading in the months of May, June, and July during the snorefest of the provincial championships (Ulster, and to a lesser extent Connacht excepted of course).
PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1907 - 26/01/2017 21:28:43
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It's unique and historic, most are born into it, easy for us to say it's the best sport, but it doesn't matter whether it is or not. It either makes the blood race or it bores you.
realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8603 - 26/01/2017 21:43:49
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