"b**t***ised basketball"..couldnt have said it better meself! i only watch the all ireland football finals these days,even at that tho its so slow it would put you in a coma nothing can slow down hurling thankfully

catch_it_wil_ya (Galway) - Posts: 541 - 12/11/2009 21:50:51    482540

Well said Pat. When do you ever see great kicks or great solo runs anymore. hand pass hand pass hand pass. A snorefest.

Puddersthecat (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1692 - 12/11/2009 22:40:45    482575

I could't agree more. Well said.

gaillimh73 (Galway) - Posts: 669 - 12/11/2009 22:59:00    482589

good man pudders. if you were actually paying attention and not just latching on to some rant against modern gaelic football you would have noticed spillane giving out about there being too many solo runs these days and he would like to see rid of it!

kilglasskrazy (Roscommon) - Posts: 80 - 12/11/2009 23:12:20    482602

I would agree there are 2 many hand passes in gaelic football nowadays but spillane is on about making a player kick the ball after every 3 hand passes and thats just stupid i mean why should a player kick it just for the sake of it, i still feel the top teams such as tyrone, kerry, cork and dublin, maybe galwa and to a lesser extent mayo still play good football wether it be hand passing or kicking, why should a player have to kick a long hopless ball just because its a kick pass, was the tyrone an kerry all ireland finals of 05 and 08 poor spectacles?? i dont think so, what about kerry galway last year or kerry cork in munster this year?? i watched the dublin and meath games drom 91 during the summer and i would take any of the games ive just mentioned over them for quality, the problem in gaelic football at the minute is that apart from kerry. tyrone and cork that no other teams are really stepping up to the plate standard wise. p.s forgot to mention kildare they were good to watch this year hope they keep progressing.

duke_raul (Tyrone) - Posts: 993 - 12/11/2009 23:46:27    482636

Our Pat says too much, my he does love the sound of his own voice does he not. Natuarlly he didnt complain too much about the quality of football on show on AI final day, but now we are in close season he just has to say something doesnt he.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 13/11/2009 10:15:20    482762

but for the amount of football games played each year,considering that nearly all counties competing,the the number of "quality" games is ridiculous! i will be honest and say that cork,tyrone and kildare did play attractive football for the most part of the year but in my opinion kerry were fairly sick to watch..but of course they are now all ireland winners!!

catch_it_wil_ya (Galway) - Posts: 541 - 13/11/2009 10:46:12    482780

Spillane's revisionism is funny really, considering that he himself perfected the defending half-forward role in the 1970's. Football has evolved since the catch and kick days and is now a much better game than at any time in the past.

football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 13/11/2009 10:46:35    482781

the standard of football these days is really low. Endless handpassing and terrible games.

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4649 - 13/11/2009 11:07:05    482796

I agree that football in the modern era has too much handpassing, but it a lot easier on the eye than the catch and kick stuff we were subjected to 30 years ago. It will take a great manager to break the handpassing trend of the past few years. Maybe Pat is the man though - take over the Kingdom and bring back the kick passing team. Come on Pat, SAVE OUR GAME!!!

EnolaGay (Tyrone) - Posts: 653 - 13/11/2009 11:14:11    482798

He's making a nice few quid out of it whether he likes it or not

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 13/11/2009 12:52:52    482890

Basically he is talking nonsense. Football these days is ten times better than when he was playing. I suspect he knows this too. I mean does he or anyone else seriously think we will ever go back to the days of kicking balls aimlessly forward in the hope that your FF might win it. Its all about possession these days, just like in all sports. It has evolved for the better. Good riddance to the "catch and kick"

redandgreen (None) - Posts: 691 - 13/11/2009 13:11:39    482914

i agree that the game has evolved but its to its dethrament as a spectacle.i know its all about results these days but,but the game has certainly lost its appeal as a game to sit down and enjoy watching

catch_it_wil_ya (Galway) - Posts: 541 - 13/11/2009 15:24:20    483060

Not at all. It is a poor spectacle when you're watching weaker teams play but then it always has been. But whenever you see the likes of kerry, tyrone or dublin in full flow it's a joy to behold. And much better than the "as soon as you get the ball kick it as far away as you can" nonsense that went on years ago

redandgreen (None) - Posts: 691 - 13/11/2009 16:32:07    483126

Football now has a lot less handpassing than when he was on the go, infact wasnt it his team that invented the hand pass game?
Football is way better now than it was 10, 20, 30 and much better than 40 and 50 years ago, its faster more skillful, more scores, more teamwork what more could you want.
Pat just cant tak it that no one wants him as a manager and evryone has stopped talking about him playing football.
Pat you were a great footballer but keep your mouth shut now or peeople will forget that you were and remember you for being a resntful mouthpiece

omaghjoe (Tyrone) - Posts: 1191 - 13/11/2009 16:34:25    483128

Damn this pansyish handpassing, lets go back to the days when lads with caps on their heads and a feed of pints in their bellies went out and got the ball and then fonged it away down the field as far as they could. Maybe Pat would like us to start cycling to games and reading the Irish Press again too.

The idea that modern day players are nothing but greyhounds and that lads from the old days were just skillfull is an insult to both.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 13/11/2009 20:41:06    483322

roundball
County: Tipperary
Posts: 274

483322 Damn this pansyish handpassing, lets go back to the days when lads with caps on their heads and a feed of pints in their bellies went out and got the ball and then fonged it away down the field as far as they could. Maybe Pat would like us to start cycling to games and reading the Irish Press again too.

The idea that modern day players are nothing but greyhounds and that lads from the old days were just skillfull is an insult to both
------------------------
Can't wait for the Archbishop to do the throw ins again!

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 13/11/2009 20:52:44    483329

WHAT ABOUT ALL THE GOALS HE THROWN INTO THE NET THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HANDPASSED BUT HE IS DEAD RIGHT

merlin (Clare) - Posts: 61 - 13/11/2009 23:05:06    483418

Well, I'm 28 and from what I've seen of 'All-Ireland Gold' on TnaG I'd happily take my generation's brand of football over the so-called golden era any day and even as a Meathman, I don't think I'd be able to stomach watching the late eighties stuff again. Better quality pitches, footballs, higher levels of fitness, stands to reason that modern football is more engaging to watch, but...

...it still has it's problems and "b*stardised basketball" is a fair enough description for some of the matches we've been priveleged to this year. I still maintain that the best teams in the country can kick the ball accurately when they need to, it's just that too often that need isn't pressing enough. Football is a posession game, why risk the foot-pass when the hand-pass is available? Does anyone else think that this year's All-Ireland final featured the two best hand-passing teams in the country? The speed and fluidity with which Kerry moved the ball out of the hands against Dublin was phenomenal but a lot of the time it bordered on a throwing action.

If this represents a successful tactic, how long until other teams begin to ape it, just as Kerry are alleged to have copied Ulster football?

We need to make the foot-pass a more attractive tactical option, give coaches an incentive to select footballers ahead of scrappers. Gaelic football should be run along 13-a-side formats, at every level. There's more space in front of the full-forward line, on the wings and to a lesser extent around midfield. You won't always have the runner on the shoulder available to you so players will simply have to keep the head up and read the field better. In order to move the ball quickly the foot-pass becomes the preferred option.

The alternative, penalising players for hand-passing doesn't bear thinking about. The carrot rather than the stick me thinks.

Googan (Meath) - Posts: 105 - 14/11/2009 04:05:15    483509

Believe it or not the person mainly responsible for this short handpassing game is Pat's mentor the Great Mick O'Dwyer who adopted the style of hand passing the ball to death with Kildare in the 1990's. Had they had the services of a natural forward or finisher like Larry Tompkins, Sam would surely have made its way to Kildare in this period.

mugsys_barber (Tyrone) - Posts: 2160 - 15/11/2009 21:18:17    484456