After todays borefest between Donegal n Down, Is football on the way down as I cant see people tuning in on TV never mind going to games.

hound (Meath) - Posts: 234 - 23/06/2013 16:34:06    1413346

No.

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13655 - 23/06/2013 16:35:51    1413348

No

AnRaibh (Donegal) - Posts: 134 - 23/06/2013 16:37:27    1413353

Maybe in Meath, but in Ulster, football is thriving thanks.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 23/06/2013 16:41:41    1413356

No. Eventually a team will emerge and expose this blanket defence system. Dublin have the players to do it. Kerry too perhaps.

Sergeant_Slash (Cavan) - Posts: 2182 - 23/06/2013 16:44:04    1413358

Explain how thats thriving absolute dung. Some of them boys should get trials with Ulster rugby.

hound (Meath) - Posts: 234 - 23/06/2013 16:51:29    1413367

Thats funny, I could have sworn it was almost a full house in Breffni today. It only seems to be the keyboard warriors who think that the game is in decline

petejoeduff (Donegal) - Posts: 329 - 23/06/2013 16:51:54    1413369

It was depressing to hear Joe Brolly say during today's Down-Donegal match that this type of match is the future of Gaelic football. It was an awful spectacle, full commitment from both sets of players, great fitness and effort but very little skill on show. The endless fouling and hand passing is brutal to watch

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4655 - 23/06/2013 16:53:08    1413370

The game is not in decline.

As lads are saying this blanket defence will be exposed.
If players run at a team like Donegal, and can shoot (Down either spilled 9/10 ball or passed it behind them)
Also Donegal's cynical fouling will not go unnoticed

Royalio11 (Meath) - Posts: 802 - 23/06/2013 16:56:39    1413376

yes definitly the game is in a shocking state. the best football years were the 90s and early 2000s. terrible stuff to be watching. pat spillane will go mad tonite on sun game. no marquee players any more, think of the down full forward line in 91 linden, whitnell and mccarten ,you could wtch those boys all day.

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 860 - 23/06/2013 16:57:30    1413378

Ever since the ball was thrown in for the first game in the 1887 championship, football has been in terminal decline. Every year, lijinds, hurling men, journos who pick the All-Stars and offeeshals have been reminding us of this shocking fact. So far has it sunk into awfulness that stout Gaels from Kilkenny cover their eyes whenever they pass by an O'Neills no.5 ball.

Prof Honeydew (Limerick) - Posts: 1110 - 23/06/2013 16:59:57    1413383

God, GAA people can be the most misreable eegits going

Listen the game is in great shape. That was a brilliant game played with high intesnity and match was in the balance until the last minute.

I think we get a lot of that aul hurlings great/gaelic football rubbish

nonsense. Only 3 teams have won an All Ireland hurling championship in last 10 years. The last 5 all Ireland football winners were different winners and we've had plenty of rivetting games along the way

shaggykev (Donegal) - Posts: 404 - 23/06/2013 17:01:02    1413385

Prof Honeydew
County: Limerick
Ever since the ball was thrown in for the first game in the 1887 championship, football has been in terminal decline. Every year, lijinds, hurling men, journos who pick the All-Stars and offeeshals have been reminding us of this shocking fact. So far has it sunk into awfulness that stout Gaels from Kilkenny cover their eyes whenever they pass by an O'Neills no.5 ball.



lol

TheGateKeeper (Tyrone) - Posts: 2843 - 23/06/2013 17:04:15    1413386

haggykev
County: Donegal
God, GAA people can be the most misreable eegits going
Listen the game is in great shape. That was a brilliant game played with high intesnity and match was in the balance until the last minute.
I think we get a lot of that aul hurlings great/gaelic football rubbish
nonsense. Only 3 teams have won an All Ireland hurling championship in last 10 years. The last 5 all Ireland football winners were different winners and we've had plenty of rivetting games along the way




I dont know what game you were watching,
but the game I saw was brutal, brutal stuff!
The only entertainment was the BBC commentary,
AS comical as always! LOL

TheGateKeeper (Tyrone) - Posts: 2843 - 23/06/2013 17:07:21    1413390

Jesus I agree with the gate (miracles do happen) I dont know what the donegal lad was watching or maybe more relevant what he had taken that blurred the vision
That was dire dire stuff. I think Dublin will win all Ireland and next year we will see a return to playing football, throw in the black card and tactics like today's will become a thing of the past :hopefully)

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 23/06/2013 17:18:45    1413396

SOME LOAD OF BULL ON THIS SITE. The old caps lock finally came off. If the game is in decline then it is from the one sided matches in Connaught and Munster. I was in a bar watching Mayo v Roscommon match and most people left minutes into the second half and how is Kerry V Tipp or Waterford entertaining.

5longago- your usual bitter comments, the worst match I ever saw was your Connaught final V Sligo last year.

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 23/06/2013 17:18:51    1413397

The biggest difference in modern football is that players are allowed to hold their two arms out wide when a player goes to run past them, restraining that player from moving towards goal. In recent times, teams have refined this and refined this. A player gets the ball. He is restrained by his man. A second and then a third player quickly descend on the ball holder and restrain him from moving forward, backwards or sideways. In many cases they even restrict him from bouncing or handpassing the ball. The referee gives a free to the defenders for overcarrying.

This scenario is modern football. This is the essence of the blanket defence. Teams no longer play man-on-man, both players trying to challenge for the ball. The game is all about trying to trap and surround a player so he is unable to move.

In my opinion, this is what is ruining the game. I don't see how restraining and holding back a player with your arms is within the rules, but I'm not an expert on the exact wording of the rules.

If this one thing was reduced, the blanket defence would be destroyed. A sweeper wouldn't be anywhere near as effective because attackers would be able to transfer possession more easily and there would be far less bottling up. (Bottling a guy up, in itself isn't illegal. Surrounding a guy is perfectly legal. Restraining him from escaping is illegal).

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2581 - 23/06/2013 17:25:01    1413402

The blanket defence is not used in the early rounds of Munster and Leinster because the matches are so one sided. Matches in Ulster are the only close ones.

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 23/06/2013 17:31:47    1413412

royaldunne
County: Meath
Jesus I agree with the gate (miracles do happen) I dont know what the donegal lad was watching or maybe more relevant what he had taken that blurred the vision
That was dire dire stuff. I think Dublin will win all Ireland and next year we will see a return to playing football, throw in the black card and tactics like today's will become a thing of the past :hopefully)


There is s first time for everything RD!
I wouldn't worry too much though, because
Donegal are being found out now, and I predict
the Dubs, Cork or Kerry to knock them out later
in the year!
Aside from that, the refereeing needs to be
seriously looked at, I mean, what is a tackle?!
Mark McHugh blatantly tackled a man off the ball
today and won a free for it!
2 referees needed!

TheGateKeeper (Tyrone) - Posts: 2843 - 23/06/2013 17:37:30    1413417

Same old bullshit, this IS gaelic football, like it or lump it, it's evolved to into this. Teams who don't fancy their chances at playing old school attacking football will play this way, either that or get strangled into submission.

I've no problem with it, in fact it's a hell of a challenge to overcome it. Donegal nearly became a cropper today, if Down were as cute as they were valiant they would have beaten the immovable object. Get on with your own game lads, the winner will be the best team/unit, call it what you want!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8812 - 23/06/2013 17:39:13    1413419