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Over the last few years I keep hearing journalists, pundits and Hoganstand posters harp on about the quality of Gaelic football and how it isn't a patch on years gone by. Now a lot of posters here are hoping for a return to the Tyrone and Armagh sides of the early to mid noughties yet others accuse them of killing the game. I've seen posters say they want to see sides play football like Donegal did in 2012. I've seen posters state that the mid 90s is when football was at it's peak, yet i remember Pat and other GAA journalists complain ferociously about the standard of football in the mid 90s. Numerous articles were wrote on Donegal and their short passing game killing football.
So posters, can I ask you when the supposed golden era of football was? Numerous posters say we should go back to a time when the game was great but I honestly don't know when that time was. Could someone please help me?
Thanks in advance
Gotmilk
gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 19/07/2016 16:19:25
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I always enjoyed 2000-2011, some great games. ALOT of different finalists, some really good high scoring games, cork v dublin 2010, armagh v dubin 2002, kerry v tyrone 08, 05, mayo v dublin 2006, galway v derry 2001.
222 (UK) - Posts: 693 - 19/07/2016 16:27:03
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Replying To gotmilk: "Over the last few years I keep hearing journalists, pundits and Hoganstand posters harp on about the quality of Gaelic football and how it isn't a patch on years gone by. Now a lot of posters here are hoping for a return to the Tyrone and Armagh sides of the early to mid noughties yet others accuse them of killing the game. I've seen posters say they want to see sides play football like Donegal did in 2012. I've seen posters state that the mid 90s is when football was at it's peak, yet i remember Pat and other GAA journalists complain ferociously about the standard of football in the mid 90s. Numerous articles were wrote on Donegal and their short passing game killing football.
So posters, can I ask you when the supposed golden era of football was? Numerous posters say we should go back to a time when the game was great but I honestly don't know when that time was. Could someone please help me?
Thanks in advance
Gotmilk" Despite the crap talked from a lot of people including many pundits, football has improved in standard dramatically from around the 90's onwards. Has anyone ever watched the old games from the 70's on TG4, pretty poor in comparison. Now I know the fitness and dedication has increased also but the skills and quality of play has also. There have been great teams in every decade. The Galway team of 98 were terrific to watch, as were Tyrone and Kerry teams in the 00's, so were Donegal in 2012 despite what people say.
TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 7896 - 19/07/2016 16:31:24
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Replying To gotmilk: "Over the last few years I keep hearing journalists, pundits and Hoganstand posters harp on about the quality of Gaelic football and how it isn't a patch on years gone by. Now a lot of posters here are hoping for a return to the Tyrone and Armagh sides of the early to mid noughties yet others accuse them of killing the game. I've seen posters say they want to see sides play football like Donegal did in 2012. I've seen posters state that the mid 90s is when football was at it's peak, yet i remember Pat and other GAA journalists complain ferociously about the standard of football in the mid 90s. Numerous articles were wrote on Donegal and their short passing game killing football.
So posters, can I ask you when the supposed golden era of football was? Numerous posters say we should go back to a time when the game was great but I honestly don't know when that time was. Could someone please help me?
Thanks in advance
Gotmilk" Gotmilk I go back to the early seventies in terms of attending All Ireland Finals. I have missed none since. Criticising football has been a national past time for as long as I can remember. However it has now reached a crescendo. Most of the criticism is drivel. RTE's "analysis" is pathetic most especially it's live football programmes. Ignore it and enjoy the games. The football championship is the best sports competition in this country.
Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 19/07/2016 16:46:27
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All I would say is I personally preferred watching football when teams went "man for man". It felt a bit more exciting to see a forward take on his opponent and get his score. Last game I remember like this was Armagh v Tyrone, few years ago and it was great stuff.
Suas Sios (None) - Posts: 1550 - 19/07/2016 17:13:19
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Go watch All Ireland Gold on TG4...... Then rephrase question!!!
JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 19/07/2016 17:20:58
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I'm not going to comment on anything pre 1970s as I simply haven't seen enough footage of it (I've seen Cavan's good teams of the 40s and 50s winning finals and the standard was abysmal)
In general, I would say football has improved no-end in terms of standard but perhaps has ebbed and flowed in terms of entertainment value:
70s-mid 80s: Two teams playing a brilliant open yet naive brand of football, some hum dingers of games where the outlook was "we'll score more than ye". Not many teams to write home about apart from those 2 tho. Offaly's shock (although Matt Connor's presence on the pitch makes it hard to call it a shock) really lit things up.
mid 80s - 2000: If there was a golden era in terms of pure entertainment, this was surely it. Teams could win an All-Ireland and yet be sent packing in the first round the following year, no matter what province they were in. Dublin v Meath x 4, Kildare v Meath x 3, Meath v Mayo x 2, the last team to do the double, the arrival of Derry and Donegal, almost a different winner each year.
2000-2010: could probably say 02-10, Armagh and Tyrone's rivalry (including the 3 best games ever IMO), Kerry and Tyrone's rivalry and the team-of-the-decade argument. Some of the Kerry-Cork games were unreal, Mayo-Dublin in 06 likewise. . .Yes there was more defensive football but the standard was phenomenal from those 3 teams in particular. The level of intensity shown in games wasn't near that level before and hasn't been since either!
2011-2016: I would say the standard has dropped slightly, with the possible exception of Dublin. But it is far from the worst standard of football we have seen and on balance, probably no less entertaining than anything that's gone before. Do we just expect too much from our games these days?
cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5012 - 19/07/2016 17:40:42
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Replying To gotmilk: "Over the last few years I keep hearing journalists, pundits and Hoganstand posters harp on about the quality of Gaelic football and how it isn't a patch on years gone by. Now a lot of posters here are hoping for a return to the Tyrone and Armagh sides of the early to mid noughties yet others accuse them of killing the game. I've seen posters say they want to see sides play football like Donegal did in 2012. I've seen posters state that the mid 90s is when football was at it's peak, yet i remember Pat and other GAA journalists complain ferociously about the standard of football in the mid 90s. Numerous articles were wrote on Donegal and their short passing game killing football.
So posters, can I ask you when the supposed golden era of football was? Numerous posters say we should go back to a time when the game was great but I honestly don't know when that time was. Could someone please help me?
Thanks in advance
Gotmilk" 2005 was probably the peak
alano12 (Dublin) - Posts: 2208 - 19/07/2016 17:57:15
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When the championship was straight knockout.
Teams actively went out to win games as it was their only shot, lose and your out. Now we just see teams turning up to hopefully sneak the game by a couple of points if lucky. Now teams turn up with their modus operandi being keep the score down so their confidence isn't shot in the qualifiers.
Every year the championship comes to life a bit now from this stage on, why because it's a straight knockout, lose and your out, same with qualifier games, your average qualifier game is far more exciting than any of the provincial finals at this stage.
tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1337 - 19/07/2016 18:41:29
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Replying To tearintom: "When the championship was straight knockout.
Teams actively went out to win games as it was their only shot, lose and your out. Now we just see teams turning up to hopefully sneak the game by a couple of points if lucky. Now teams turn up with their modus operandi being keep the score down so their confidence isn't shot in the qualifiers.
Every year the championship comes to life a bit now from this stage on, why because it's a straight knockout, lose and your out, same with qualifier games, your average qualifier game is far more exciting than any of the provincial finals at this stage." So Monaghan and Donegal just turned up and went through the motions against each other this year ? Fairly simplistic and unsustainable generalisation.
Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 19/07/2016 18:56:44
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Replying To Greengrass: "So Monaghan and Donegal just turned up and went through the motions against each other this year ? Fairly simplistic and unsustainable generalisation." Where did I say anything about any specific team or every team turning up and going through the motions?
Of course there are a lot of games where it isn't the case, the fact is invariably when there is no safety net teams are more likely to have a go, nothing to lose. Hence the fact that everyone is commenting about how now the championship will come to life as they invariably do every year.
It's at the same stage every year that the majority of complaints are at their highest and it tends to lessen from this stage on.
Simplistic maybe in your view but Occam's razor has thought us the simplest answer is usually the correct one.
tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1337 - 19/07/2016 19:36:38
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2010 was the last great championship.
It's got progressively worse since then and whereas defensive systems were becoming more common from the 2005-2010 period there was still enough positivity in the game at that stage and some great football was played that year by a lot of teams. Roscommon won a great Connacht Final the 3 of the 4 All Ireland quarter finals were top quality games, both all ireland semi finals were brilliant games and there was some great football played in the qualifiers also.
The Down Kildare AI semi final is one of the all time great games.
Gradually the blanket defence has become the default option for the vast majority of teams and it has sucked the life out of the championship and made it a bit of a slog.
uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 19/07/2016 19:45:41
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Replying To Greengrass: "So Monaghan and Donegal just turned up and went through the motions against each other this year ? Fairly simplistic and unsustainable generalisation." Yes and no. For me the Ulster Football and the Munster Hurling are the only do or die provincial competitions. The back door trapdoor seems to have taken a bit off the competitive edge off some games.
I'd rather see a defensive game competitive to the end than an all-out attacking game which fizzles out with 10 or 15 mins to go and there's only one winner.
The qualifier games and from QF on are no better or worse than 20 years ago.
I think social media and the sheep it creates has a lot to answer for. Sheep in that many think any game that's not a Barcelona-style attacking game is boring. More fool them. 20 years ago you went to a game or watched the Sunday Game. Now it's paralysis by analysis where a week later someone, not even a punter, can post their phone clip from a match and start a debate. There are still good teams playing ball and winning matches and there's more than one way to win a game. Just like in the good old days whenever that was.
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7345 - 19/07/2016 19:48:15
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I remember when TG4 started showing the All-Ireland gold series first, I sat down to watch a Dublin v Kerry match from the 70's and was expecting it to be brilliant. I was actually shocked at the poor skill level. The players could barley execute a decent kick pass to a team mate. There was plenty of hand passing as well. Funnily enough one player stood out, Pat Spillane, he was everywhere on the pitch, more like a modern day half forward, dropping back into defence.
Did anyone watch the recent euro matches, most of them would have bored you to death. I think people are being over critical of modern football, there were always poor matches. Blanket defences are the fashion at the minute but it won't last, tactics are going to be ever changing from now on.
As for a golden era, I always thought the Galway team from 98-2001 were great to watch.
Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1874 - 19/07/2016 20:45:59
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Replying To JayP: "Go watch All Ireland Gold on TG4...... Then rephrase question!!!" Yup. Wasn't as good as people remember. People maybe remembered the good times when they won, the sun was shinning and they had great craic. Ive noticed a few of the people complaining about the good old days are around 28-30 years old from another thread. So you would assume their early memories of games would be around the 95 mark. Also find the people who think it is dead to be the most vocal on here. I thought people who no longer enjoy the sport would have nothing to do with it
DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 19/07/2016 21:17:22
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Replying To DoireCityFC: "Yup. Wasn't as good as people remember. People maybe remembered the good times when they won, the sun was shinning and they had great craic. Ive noticed a few of the people complaining about the good old days are around 28-30 years old from another thread. So you would assume their early memories of games would be around the 95 mark. Also find the people who think it is dead to be the most vocal on here. I thought people who no longer enjoy the sport would have nothing to do with it" Also find the people who think it is dead to be the most vocal on here.
And usually crtical with no proposed ideas on how to improve things. Or slating someone else's proposal even if it's a daft one. Better to have a daft solution than cruticise and not propose your own solution, even if it's a dafter one!
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7345 - 19/07/2016 21:36:04
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2009 was the last good year. We've been in transition since 2010 defeat to Down. We neglected our youth in the late 90's and all through the 00's.
Only Kerry and Armagh in the last 25 championships have followed up an All-Ireland win by getting to the final in the following year. To win an All-Ireland while in transition wasn't bad going. To follow it up by getting to another final in defence of the title wasn't a bad effort in the context that only Kerry and Armagh had done that in the previous 25 championships.
'11 would have been a soft All-Ireland had we won. It was a good win for our opponents having grabbed the game by the scruff of the next. '13 was a desperate loss by Mayo. It was there for them. They didn't grab the opportunity and deserved what they got.
Having neglected our youth, '14 was a decent achievement in that context.
Last year as I say, when your county are defending champions and they get to the final in defence of the title, it's even hard for the critical to be critical. Getting to a final in defence of your title is akin to dying with your boots on in battle. To the victors goes the spoils.
The 00's has been a poor decade so far. The 90's wasn't great either when a certain county had similarly neglected their youth.
legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7846 - 19/07/2016 22:20:08
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circa 1884
ZUL10 (Clare) - Posts: 693 - 19/07/2016 22:27:57
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Replying To tearintom: "Where did I say anything about any specific team or every team turning up and going through the motions?
Of course there are a lot of games where it isn't the case, the fact is invariably when there is no safety net teams are more likely to have a go, nothing to lose. Hence the fact that everyone is commenting about how now the championship will come to life as they invariably do every year.
It's at the same stage every year that the majority of complaints are at their highest and it tends to lessen from this stage on.
Simplistic maybe in your view but Occam's razor has thought us the simplest answer is usually the correct one." Rubbish . Like. I said , simplistic and unsustainable . There's been plenty of life in the championship this year . I've attended plenty of provincial championship matches this year and they have all been full blooded . Teams don't like losing full stop .
Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 20/07/2016 10:28:09
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Replying To Green_Gold: "I remember when TG4 started showing the All-Ireland gold series first, I sat down to watch a Dublin v Kerry match from the 70's and was expecting it to be brilliant. I was actually shocked at the poor skill level. The players could barley execute a decent kick pass to a team mate. There was plenty of hand passing as well. Funnily enough one player stood out, Pat Spillane, he was everywhere on the pitch, more like a modern day half forward, dropping back into defence.
Did anyone watch the recent euro matches, most of them would have bored you to death. I think people are being over critical of modern football, there were always poor matches. Blanket defences are the fashion at the minute but it won't last, tactics are going to be ever changing from now on.
As for a golden era, I always thought the Galway team from 98-2001 were great to watch." The Down team of that decade were brilliant too .
Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 20/07/2016 10:31:18
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