So Roddy Doyle has made some laughable comments on the GAA https://www.balls.ie/gaa/roddy-doyle-gaa-372547 while showing himself wedded to a club in another country as if it were his own.
But been wondering are his opinions that of a begrudger or typical of the opinions of most people in the capital.
Growing up in Meath I used to think Dublin was GAA mad from visiting Croke Park for big Meath/Dublin clashes back in the day. But now having lived and worked on both sides of the Liffey I do wonder if Roddy Doyle is more reflective of Dubs in general. I find it very hard to have a GAA conversation in work with the Dubs. All summer all they've cared about is transfer gossip, McGregor and golf and I get the odd 'no skill in gah' and 'its all corrupt' comment. Meanwhile the culchies in the office love a GAA conversation.
Ok going to qualify all this and say yes there are plenty of passionate GAA people in Dublin. This forum an example of it but as a Dublin friend who loves GAA said to me on Whatsapp this morning to me hes been dealing with GAA hating people his whole life.
Not looking to have a pop at Dubs, actually I want feedback from Dubs on here mostly and see what experiences you've had with people who think like Roddy Doyle. Is hes the exception or the rule?

RoyalBadger (Meath) - Posts: 571 - 31/08/2017 10:26:31    2041039

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 31/08/2017 11:00:09    2041052

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 31/08/2017 11:02:08    2041056

My feeling having moved to Dublin is that the sports are as divided in Dublin as they would be back in Northern Ireland, where religious background obviously plays a huge role.

Private school types that I know definitely look down their noses at GAA. It'd be rugby and hockey would be there chosen games. They call Gaelic Wellyball.

I played soccer in a local Dublin league and there wouldn't be many people playing GAA along with soccer. They'd be quite anti GAA in fact. Soccer is really still the sport of working class and inner city Dublin.

The sports feel much less divided out in the country. GAA dominates but I know guys who are well into soccer and rugby in the club. There was next to no interest outside of soccer in the team I played for in Dublin.

Really strange actually.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4195 - 31/08/2017 11:09:47    2041058

Manstein (Roscommon) - Posts: 43 - 31/08/2017 11:30:09    2041074

Laois76 (Laois) - Posts: 1270 - 31/08/2017 11:36:35    2041080

I live in Limerick, in the city the GAA barely exists
Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts:7744 - 31/08/2017 11:00:09 204

apart from monaleen mungret , around claughan, caherdavin, ballinacurra where they have good clubs there are vast swathes of the city untouched by the good ship gaa -in the county however gaa is king
in saying that between soccer,gaa rugby there is excellent cross code support in limerick most fella and kids support all 3

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 31/08/2017 11:39:39    2041081

I'm finding kind of hard to figure out what hes trying to say. I presume there's more to the interview.
I wouldn't go down the road of insulting him for being a soccer man. that's his choice. i think GAA people find it so hard to understand how another irish person in general can prefer soccer over GAA. I have friends from cavan and elsewhere who prefer soccer. I got a taxi to croke park Saturday and the taxi driver didn't even know who playing!!!!!, funny i got a taxi into town after with a Nigerian and he was mad into the GAA. We had a great conversation about the game!!!!!

theweanling (Cavan) - Posts: 414 - 31/08/2017 11:40:20    2041082

Laois76 (Laois) - Posts: 1270 - 31/08/2017 11:44:25    2041087

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7327 - 31/08/2017 11:54:32    2041093

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 31/08/2017 11:57:34    2041095

The majority of the population of Dublin couldn't give a hoot about GAA. So no, we don't have the pick people think we have.
As for Roddy Doyle, I wouldn't be a fan.

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8584 - 31/08/2017 12:10:53    2041102

Gaelic Football is comfortably the second sport in the city and county. Still a bit behind soccer but the gap is considerably closer than it once was but I'd doubt it'll ever be closed. But miles ahead of any other sport in the city/county.

There'd be some antipathy towards the GAA in Dublin still but again not half as much as in the past. The 'culchies only game' thing has been dying out since the 50s and it's one I rarely if ever hear anymore but would have heard a lot in the past.

The Dubs have strong support across the city and county and are probably the biggest one 'brand' in the city/county with the exception of the Ireland team when they are going well.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13703 - 31/08/2017 12:32:12    2041111

Jaysus admin, what's wrong with saying I don't think Roddy Doyle is funny.

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8584 - 31/08/2017 12:42:44    2041115

Some spot on points made here and if you're interested in some true insights into GAA in Dublin I'd suggest you read some of the previous comments up above

I was the only kid in my class - 1st- 6th class who played GAA and I lived in North Dublin!!

Everything was about soccer, now as Mes has said up above - that has changed a lot over the last 25-30 years since I was a nipper in primary school

GAA participation has grown but there are still many 10's of thousand's of Dublin families that wouldn't have the slightest interest in GAA

Dublin is a mad little place (very divided in parts) and I'd 100% agree with Whammo's assessment

We have a very similar split seen in Northern Ireland when it comes to sports...

There's a big class / religious divide going on that directs children to a certain sport over another

It's always amusing to see our large population to pick from argument...

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20598 - 31/08/2017 13:42:44    2041151

in the 90's in clondalkin and walkinstown there was almost zero interest in GAA amongst locals teenagers, I was one.
In Ballinteer where my cousins lived it was worse! GAA was totally a niche thing, until 95, and in particular Jayo came along.
People used to slag Dublin for not caring about GAA and saying Dublin shuold do more to cultivate the game in the estates, well, we did.
And now look.........

People gave out then for Dublin not being a GAA city, we rectified that, and now, its the opposite, people give out for Dublin being too big!

And its still only the second game in the city! Imagine if it REALLY took off!

Mes is right, "The Dubs" as a team, an institution is the biggest sports team in Dublin. It is the most popular, its players are the biggest stars in the city.
But question to lads who claim to be gaels but give out about the Dubs, would you rather it was a GAA Dub, or a Leinster Dub on a bill board?

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 31/08/2017 14:38:00    2041179

This was posted as a new thread but as the subject matter is the same it has been incorporated here.


essmac
Posts: 307
Tyrone 31/08/2017 16:58

Roddy Doyle's GAA "knowledge"

"I always feel that GAA is really football supporters getting through the summer".

Rodders thinks the GAA is about inter-county championships in Croke Park. Oh dear. Writers are supposed to be observant and curious about what's going on around them. How does a supposedly-intelligent bloke have zero insight into how clubs are the heart-beat of communities the length and breadth of the country? How do you counter small-minded, ill-informed stuff like this?

I encountered real hatred of the GAA in Dublin. This sniggering contempt ("bog-ball" /"stick-fighting" /muck-savages" etc) was always from the ground-ball losers. The Rugby people either are indifferent or politely interested; but they're at least mannerly. But in my 15 years living in Dublin, I encountered quite a few soccer fans who openly hated the GAA.

The interesting thing was that this was never from LOI fans - the real cultural hatred, in my experience, came from the sad-sacks who, pathetically, say "we" when talking about the likes of MANU (NYSE) stock price US$16.60.

This sort of un-civilised nonsense is why you'll never hear me say a bad word about the Mighty Dubs. Fair play to Jim Gavin and the squad for what they're doing for GAA in the Pale.

Administrator (None) - Posts: 2274 - 31/08/2017 17:06:02    2041265

It's the same thing in Drogheda. Drogheda was always a soccer town. Growing up it was all about Liverpool and Man Utd. A Limerick man who is living up here years told me he had no interest in the foreign sport till he moved up here. But funny enough if you go a couple of miles out the road to rural area's like Collon, Tullyallen, Monasterboice, Ballymakenny, Termonfeckin, Baltray and Clogherhead it's all GAA mad.

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 31/08/2017 17:19:02    2041268

Roddy Doyle is a socceroo, the opposite of say a Ruggeroo from the opposite side of the City. Both types come from a part of the city that regard the GAA as some sort of embarressment. Neither types have time or space for the GAA, they see the GAA and the people that follow it as some sort of vile throw-back they see it in a very narrow generalised way. They praise soccer but wouldn't be seen dead at a League of Ireland game says a lot about this authors character. A bit disappointing but not terribly surprising to hear such rubbish from someone who is supposed to have insight etc etc All he is doing is well spouting his own prejudice but I guess. You get this type of people in all areas of Ireland not just Dublin but he is fairly typical of a certain type that are best avoided/ignored it comes from an inferiority complex typical of people who regard themselves as Cosmopolitan but haven't actually left the street they born in.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4894 - 31/08/2017 17:24:57    2041270

poguemahone (Dublin) - Posts: 365 - 31/08/2017 17:25:06    2041271