As a dual player who plays both GAA & football (soccer) I was wondering what are peoples opinions who play both and do have an effect on both of our games.I just thought of this as a clubs pro blamed their towns football club on losing a senior championship game which in my opinion is extremely stupid. I find the gaa are quite hostile towards players playing both and this can put an awful lot of people of gaa. Anyone else have problems with playing gaa and another sport?

kimbra (Wicklow) - Posts: 57 - 31/07/2015 15:45:37    1761747

Back in Galway when I was playing underage the we had a gaelic match that clashed with the local soccer teams training session. The soccer boss told the dual players that they would ,be dropped if they missed the training session, so the GAA team re arranged the fixture.
This happened 15 years ago, a long time, I admit, but I really believe the GAA gets unfair stick when it comes to this topic. There are plenty of soccer bigots around too.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 31/07/2015 16:01:12    1761755

kimbra i think playing soccer develops skill level and touch for a gaelic footballer no end.
a bit like basketballer helped develop donaghy into the footballer he became

woops (Kerry) - Posts: 2073 - 31/07/2015 16:13:07    1761766

Its better for kids to play as many different sports when they are young, they normally then specialise when they get older in to one or two sports. Playing different sports develops differnt movement and skill which they can bring to whatever sport they end up playing- just look at the GAA influence on the Irish rugny team.

dufferman (Down) - Posts: 156 - 01/08/2015 11:25:17    1761936

I played club football all my life but a few times we played charity soccer matches and the GAA lads first touch was shocking, yes players learn to control the ball better with soccer but you need GAA or rugby to build the upper body strength. We had soccer lads playing GAA with us, great skill but a gust of wind would knock them over, they spent more time flat on the ground than standing upright. You need a mixture of sports at underage but you can't have 1 sport telling lads not to play other sports or pushing them too hard otherwise you will have player burnout

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 01/08/2015 13:22:55    1761979

I like soccer genunely but I could never be dealing with some of the muppets in soccer clubs around Cork City. To say that some of them hate the GAA is an understatement. Most are dead on as well I should say and there is a quite an overlap in players (though not as nmuch as before), There are also muppets in GAA clubs as well...more loveable muppets I suppose..my type of muppet anyway

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 01/08/2015 16:59:45    1762052