Is this fella for real? He reckons GAA players are not 'fit' and that they do not warrant the grants they receive from the Sports Council. Is he right? I certainly dont think so.

Link to the story: http://thescore.thejournal.ie/jerry-kiernan-critical-gaa-players-scheme-payment-796487-Feb2013/

Scrambler (Meath) - Posts: 24 - 15/02/2013 12:04:20    1334379

"I believe that the GAA people live in a cloistered world, don't think beyond what they do and they tell themselves that they're training hard"

AfricanGael (UK) - Posts: 1947 - 15/02/2013 12:18:16    1334388

I ran with a club in Dublin for nearly 3 years, the majority of them hate the GAA and moan about the amount of money put into the GAA compared to athletics.

You can see where they come from in one sense because athletics doesnt get much funding, but Jerry sounds very bitter there. He seems to think that because they aren't as fit or training as much as runners that they aren't sportspeople...well theres a hell of a lot more skill involved in GAA than there is running Jerry.

CaisleanCnucha (Dublin) - Posts: 1379 - 15/02/2013 12:19:58    1334390

In his own words

"I don't particularly like the GAA"

GAA players add so much to our identity and culture and his swipe at our amateur athletes is very ignorant.

The GPA commissioned an independent study, to show the positive impact on our economy that's produced by the All Ireland Championships every single year

Basically the months of hard and intensive training and self sacrifice of men/women who are holding down full time jobs etc etc

It came to an average figure of €200,000,000+ -

That's if you want to just look at it from a simple money point of view. Seeing that Jerry is the one bringing up €900,000 into it as being undeserving!

I think he comes across as incredibly bitter in his comments and truly ignorant.

Beelzedub (Dublin) - Posts: 480 - 15/02/2013 12:28:40    1334396

His comments on the fitness of Gaa players are ridiculous. He doesn't seem to know too much about the modern Gaa player and the work that they put in. Seems to me that some athletics folk think fitness is measured by how far you can run. Give me a break. The grants Gaa players receive are well deserved. Much more so than some of the "athletes" were regularly send to international competition. I'm thinking walkers in particular.

irishtom (Donegal) - Posts: 219 - 15/02/2013 12:35:58    1334400

AfricanGael
County: UK
Posts: 348

1334388 "I believe that the GAA people live in a cloistered world, don't think beyond what they do and they tell themselves that they're training hard"
_______

Just more of his ignorance.

Beelzedub (Dublin) - Posts: 480 - 15/02/2013 12:38:55    1334402

This fella is bound to have a hoganstand account to come out with something as mad as that.

GetOverTheBar (Tyrone) - Posts: 1388 - 15/02/2013 12:39:04    1334403

I can see where is coming from, GAA is biggest sporting association in Ireland and generates a huge amount of cash. Other sports obviously don't generate as much cash as the GAA and find funding hard to find, so I can see why they would have sour grapes over this.
His arguments regarding fitness are ill judged, athletes are obviously going to be fitter than gaelic players as gaelic players have to train on more than just fitness. The main concentraion for an athlete is their fitness.

Rosineri1 (UK) - Posts: 2099 - 15/02/2013 12:40:54    1334404

Listened to this on newstalk last night & had to laugh. Pure bitterness on his part because irish athletics could never hope to attract the crowds that the GAA can. Was disappointed jamesie o connor didnt stand up to him a bit more

redandgreen (None) - Posts: 691 - 15/02/2013 12:48:27    1334409

On average a GAA player will get €400+/-

To launch such an ill researched and ignorant attack over such little money just proves his bitterness.

Beelzedub (Dublin) - Posts: 480 - 15/02/2013 12:54:23    1334412

Our Athletes have been able to match AFL professionals...?

Beelzedub (Dublin) - Posts: 480 - 15/02/2013 12:55:20    1334413

I was going to start a thread on this meself - i nearly blew a gasket listening to this last night. The man is wrong on so many levels and the more I think about it the more i realise that he's just a bitter man using the popularity of GAA as a soapbox to bang a drum for athletics...

Floops (Dublin) - Posts: 1623 - 15/02/2013 12:56:18    1334417

Ask Gerry Kieran can that guy who ran in Holland do this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCYcHD3Kd_k

sportsfan14 (USA) - Posts: 281 - 15/02/2013 12:57:53    1334418

You have to put Kiernans comments in context. He is from Kerry and is very bitter about the fact that Gaelic Footballers got much more recognition than him. This is not the first time he has made this point.
On the wider point about funding GAA do poorly in comparision to other sports when it comes to sports grants. There is a misconception about the amount of taxpayer funding going to GAA, I saw an article recently in the Indo where a reporter was giving out about the amount of money €200,000 given to Wesport GAA by the local politician and Min for Sport Mr Ring, the money was in fact given to Westport soccer club.
Furthermore the rules for qualifying for sports grants have been changed to favour "community and shared facilities" i.e. non GAA (who own their own picches). This lack of state funding is strange when one looks at the popularity of GAA. It is amazing that in a country of roughly 5m it attracts crowds of over 80,000 to the All Ireland finals year after year. It is unique in world sport, we should be proud of it instead of adopting the begrudger approach of the likes of J Kiernan

mod (Mayo) - Posts: 859 - 15/02/2013 13:00:30    1334420

His rant on Off the Ball last night was bitter, incoherent, poorly thought out and littered with contradictions. He ran up so many dark alleys trying to make his point that in the end his argument was a senseless labyrinth of rubbish.

There are all sorts of issues with these grants. However Kiernan's ignorance, his insistence on questioning the commitment of top GAA players and bringing physiological differences that he doesn't even seem to fully comprehend (what about physical impact Jerry? what about the execution of complex motor skills like catching, kicking and striking when exhausted?) in to the argument means that this issue is now buried and public sympathy with the GAA player.

Oh well, I'm sure track and field athletes must be delighted with all that Kiernan did for their cause on the national airwaves last night.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 15/02/2013 13:27:36    1334438

I'd imagine he made the ridiculous fitness comments to draw some attention (very successfully!) to his main point that if the GAA make such huge amounts of money maybe should be paying the players grants instead of the state

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4649 - 15/02/2013 13:33:12    1334441

Jerry has made a fool of himself, not for the first time may I add. There has been heavy investment in athletics in this country recently but with little return. It's us, the taxpayer, who is footing the bill for Irish athletes who don't come up to scratch in the European/World Championships and Olympics.

Cute_Kerry_Hoor (Kerry) - Posts: 2518 - 15/02/2013 13:41:12    1334448

So he called Gaelic Football a "simple game" and bascially said there is not much to it.....ahm.....running is hardly rocket since and from my opinion is one of the most boring sports you can watch. I think he wanted the spotlight and he got it - he is worth getting worked up about.

Who is he anyway? I never heard of him before.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11549 - 15/02/2013 13:55:50    1334460

Would pay no attention to such ill-educated comments- he can't even back up his argument with facts, just bitterness.

MourneArmy (Down) - Posts: 1787 - 15/02/2013 14:01:32    1334467

Was this on the radio last night or TV?

If it was a GAA show surely there were a few GAA members there to stick up for our sport, if not I'm disappointed.

CaisleanCnucha (Dublin) - Posts: 1379 - 15/02/2013 14:03:46    1334469