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Replying To Ulsterman:  "Wimbledon I absolutely hate it. Middle class, entitled spoilt brats playing it and City of London stockbrokers wives watching it. Look at the heck of the ones at it. Yuppies and Hooray Henrys & Henriettas."
Heard you were a dab hand at the old Horse Polo yourself.

avonali (Dublin) - Posts: 1990 - 03/07/2023 14:00:06    2491835

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Replying To Ulsterman:  "Wimbledon I absolutely hate it. Middle class, entitled spoilt brats playing it and City of London stockbrokers wives watching it. Look at the heck of the ones at it. Yuppies and Hooray Henrys & Henriettas."
Well done on the reverse snobbery there ulsterman

KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3755 - 03/07/2023 14:03:27    2491841

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Replying To avonali:  "Heard you were a dab hand at the old Horse Polo yourself."
Went to Wimbledon last year for the first and last time, the level of pretentiousness is off the charts. Sat on Court 1 and realised after an hour how rubbish tennis actually is when you watch it live.

dolfos (Longford) - Posts: 129 - 03/07/2023 14:33:20    2491854

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Replying To dolfos:  "Went to Wimbledon last year for the first and last time, the level of pretentiousness is off the charts. Sat on Court 1 and realised after an hour how rubbish tennis actually is when you watch it live."
Been to loads of tennis matches live when travelling for work. Totally disagree. I have seen some amazing matches in the flesh. Do we have to hate tennis now because some upper class British people love Wimbledon?

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8371 - 03/07/2023 18:41:21    2491959

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Replying To jimbodub:  "The FAI I wouldn't trust

That's why we need to look at a successful working model with a similar playing population to Ireland.

Hire the right people, build the right structures and also invest and build up the existing assets, but with the guidance of experts that have already delivered.

I know times have changed over in England, there was a time when "Home nation" players were more heavily involved with top clubs, but that was of course before the floods of what can be bog standard European/African/Asian footballers taking up the spaces, but again, surely we can be producing at the very least that standard of player.

Just don't think there's really anything being done to try and build for the future, for me, it's hugely beneficial for our people and nation to enjoy supporting Ireland at major tournaments, it brings with it huge benefits.. hugely positive.

Soccer/football is a very wide spread sport in Ireland but let's be honest, there's huge state money being pumped into GAA and to a lesser extent Rugby, soccer historically is very poorly funded, we all know why..

But look at the Rugby now in Ireland, with a far more professional approach and Irish players actively playing at a high level, at home and across Europe, with a MUCH smaller playing population, Ireland are currently capable of competing with, and beating nations on a world level.

I think we have the playing population here to be doing the same with soccer, but it won't just happen.. it's possible that a few will get to that level, but without the efforts we won't be producing enough and simply won't be any sort of good side, now with the ranking system, Ireland will always end up with teams at a world level in their group.. and stand almost no chance of qualifying for any major tournament.

We are now seeing the lack of a strategic plan over the decades. It all sort of just happened.. the good times. It had nothing to do with a cohesive and professional structure.

The Irish talent isn't get a sniff over in the UK anymore, even bench warming in lower divisions with the odd exception and it's getting ever more rare by the year, and with the sports washing oil money now.... Zero chance very soon.

We need to get with it, because we are going nowhere fast and actually being left miles behind even by country setups with similar sets of parameters to ourselves.

Look at what can be achieved, The Irish rugby setup is a good example. I know it's not like for like but with time and effort I think we will see similar positive outcomes, there's plenty of other high standard leagues in Europe, I think that's where we should be looking to send out well coached and staregically supportered talent, but again, it won't just magically happen."
Since UK left EU there are restrictions on players under 18 from EU countries. This has had a big impact on players going from Ireland to premier/uk clubs. There are no restrictions on U18 players going to Clubs in EU. Our world has changed since Brexit we just have to keep up with the new changed world we are now in.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4953 - 03/07/2023 18:42:23    2491960

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Replying To Ulsterman:  "Wimbledon I absolutely hate it. Middle class, entitled spoilt brats playing it and City of London stockbrokers wives watching it. Look at the heck of the ones at it. Yuppies and Hooray Henrys & Henriettas."
Yeah Nick Krygios is posh alright and sure Novak Djokovic is descended from Serbian monarchy.
It's a great sport even if Wimbledon is definitely pretentious.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9754 - 04/07/2023 09:26:58    2492038

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Anyone any experience applying for the Vacant Property Refurbishment grant?

In contact with the council about the terms of it, and values allowed, but have yet to speak with anyone who's availed of it themselves.

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3691 - 04/07/2023 10:05:17    2492054

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Congratulations to Ricky Fowler (PGA) and Talor Gooch (LIV) for their great wins on Sunday.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 2494 - 04/07/2023 10:10:25    2492056

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "Been to loads of tennis matches live when travelling for work. Totally disagree. I have seen some amazing matches in the flesh. Do we have to hate tennis now because some upper class British people love Wimbledon?"
Exactly. I play squash a bit, and played tennis once. I was unbelievably useless at it. Lot harder than it looks lol. If there were prizes for whacking the ball into the net, or sending it out of they court, I'd have been a star lol. It's a tremendous sport, which requires high skill and fitness to play it well. Saying you don't like tennis because of a few hoorays (and they're harmless enough when you ditch your ingrained anti-posho prejudice and get to know them) is like saying in the 80s you wouldn't watch Maradona because of a few English hoodlums. All sport is good.

points50swiththeargyllsonthewrongfeet (Tyrone) - Posts: 291 - 04/07/2023 11:23:09    2492082

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Replying To points50swiththeargyllsonthewrongfeet:  "Exactly. I play squash a bit, and played tennis once. I was unbelievably useless at it. Lot harder than it looks lol. If there were prizes for whacking the ball into the net, or sending it out of they court, I'd have been a star lol. It's a tremendous sport, which requires high skill and fitness to play it well. Saying you don't like tennis because of a few hoorays (and they're harmless enough when you ditch your ingrained anti-posho prejudice and get to know them) is like saying in the 80s you wouldn't watch Maradona because of a few English hoodlums. All sport is good."
100 per cent.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8371 - 04/07/2023 11:36:53    2492092

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "100 per cent."
All I can tell you is that after an hour I was over the whole thing, Kyrios hammered some lad 3 sets to 0, it was dull af, and some of the people hanging around the bar were next level posers.

dolfos (Longford) - Posts: 129 - 04/07/2023 12:39:28    2492113

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Replying To dolfos:  "All I can tell you is that after an hour I was over the whole thing, Kyrios hammered some lad 3 sets to 0, it was dull af, and some of the people hanging around the bar were next level posers."
Cool so you saw 1 match that was unbalanced and then people were uninterested so that means the sport is rubbish. Good stuff.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8371 - 04/07/2023 12:44:01    2492119

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "Cool so you saw 1 match that was unbalanced and then people were uninterested so that means the sport is rubbish. Good stuff."
Haha. I went to see Benfica one time in the Stadio da Luz and they absolutely whipped FC Nacional 10-0.
Since then I have declared that Portuguese, no make that all association football to be rubbish. ;)

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9754 - 04/07/2023 13:44:14    2492136

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "Cool so you saw 1 match that was unbalanced and then people were uninterested so that means the sport is rubbish. Good stuff."
Exactly, imagine if Mayo fans were like that after Sunday.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4126 - 04/07/2023 14:15:11    2492149

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "Cool so you saw 1 match that was unbalanced and then people were uninterested so that means the sport is rubbish. Good stuff."
Yep that's exactly what I said.

It was dull due to the fact 50% of the game is spent either walking around with a towel, sitting down for a rest and the spectators tutting if someone had the cheek not to sit down as soon as the umpire told them to, like being at school, except everyone is in chinos.

dolfos (Longford) - Posts: 129 - 04/07/2023 15:03:29    2492175

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Replying To dolfos:  "Yep that's exactly what I said.

It was dull due to the fact 50% of the game is spent either walking around with a towel, sitting down for a rest and the spectators tutting if someone had the cheek not to sit down as soon as the umpire told them to, like being at school, except everyone is in chinos."
So there's no skill at all in the hand-eye coordination needed to return a serve travelling at 140 m/ph? You seem to be suffering from some sort of inferiority complex which has nothing to do with the sport of tennis.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9754 - 04/07/2023 16:10:31    2492214

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "So there's no skill at all in the hand-eye coordination needed to return a serve travelling at 140 m/ph? You seem to be suffering from some sort of inferiority complex which has nothing to do with the sport of tennis."
What are you rambling on about? Where did I say any of that?
If someone pinged a ball at me at 50mph I'd probably struggle to hit it!
Hitting a baseball is also a very difficult thing to do, doesn't mean it's not a dull activity to watch.
I suppose if I didn't have this inferiority complex I could have played for Finn Harps.

dolfos (Longford) - Posts: 129 - 04/07/2023 16:33:44    2492218

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Replying To dolfos:  "What are you rambling on about? Where did I say any of that?
If someone pinged a ball at me at 50mph I'd probably struggle to hit it!
Hitting a baseball is also a very difficult thing to do, doesn't mean it's not a dull activity to watch.
I suppose if I didn't have this inferiority complex I could have played for Finn Harps."
Baseball and tennis in the same sentence. Jesus wept.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8371 - 04/07/2023 21:18:03    2492293

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Replying To dolfos:  "What are you rambling on about? Where did I say any of that?
If someone pinged a ball at me at 50mph I'd probably struggle to hit it!
Hitting a baseball is also a very difficult thing to do, doesn't mean it's not a dull activity to watch.
I suppose if I didn't have this inferiority complex I could have played for Finn Harps."
Ohhh ouch.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9754 - 05/07/2023 08:43:42    2492317

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Replying To TheFlaker:  "Baseball and tennis in the same sentence. Jesus wept."
I'm sorry we don't like the same thing, what do you think of Supertramp?

dolfos (Longford) - Posts: 129 - 05/07/2023 10:52:28    2492344

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