Other sports take note!

A fine article in the business pages of the BBC web site and more reason why we should cherish our GAA.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8574352.stm

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 19/03/2010 13:05:25    592436

of corse they could , El Hadji Diouf of Blackburn rovers is the prime example of this (and he isnt the only one) , players in europes top leagues are set for life once they play a year or two or stay at the club at least , despite the money they earn , you sometimes see a player dispossesed in the middle of the field and they will stand still complaining to team mates for their own mistakes , the lack of effort they give in the jersey is more times then not a living disgrace , this is in complete contrast to Gaelic games , with the players not getting paid , they play simply cause of their love for the sport , to play for your local club team and parish team gives these lads so much joy , just think of the st galls fellas the other day , more then likely most of them lads would be in a job as we speak , sitting at a desk in office work , walking the streets as a local guard whatever the case may be , the hard work they put in every year is phenomonal and the attitude is nothing short of sensational in my opinion , some gaelic games players will get smashed with a hurl and have blood pouring from their heads yet they will be itching to stay on the pitch , a fair amount of soccer players will be more then happy to walk of the pitch and stay off it .
There is obviously the cheating in soccer too , as far as im concerned cheating has no place in sport of any kind , the diving you see week in week out is outragous and its wrong , players going down too easily trying to con the refs in order to gain an advantage, its very poor sportsmanship. it occurs in every game where you have an incident where a player has gone down too easy , the ref makes a decision rightly or wrongly and he will get dogs abuse if he is wrong because he has been by a player with no sportsmanship and respect for the game and his fellow pros , again this is in stark contrast to the GAA , in the last few years there has been a hint of cynicism creeping into the game and play acting but i wouldnt see it as a serious issue , 99% of players play hard and fair .. you never see a gaa player dive when one on one with the goalkeeper and the opposition full back waving an imaginary yellow card .. so in terms of commitment and sportsmanship , soccer players can learn from gaelic football / hurling players , these footballers also have their mortgages paid of , they have no worries in these times , again this is unlike GAA players and managers who have to give up the sport because of a lack of work and thats a sad thing to see ..
in terms of the fans , i think the respect amongst GAA fans is top notch i really do , the fact that we can sit or stand together and have the banter and the craic amongst ourselfs is something you very rarely see in other sports , hooliganism and the hatred of fans in England arose in the 1970s , when fans used to be able to mix together , now unfortunately this is not the case , their is a hatred from one set of fans to the other , no respect , you just need to look at liverpool and manchester united fans (again i use these clubs because ive been to anfield for their meeting earlier this season) and you had united fans singing songs about the hillsborough disaster , you also had liverpool fans responding singing horrible songs about the 1958 munich disaster , both of these disasters led to a massive loss of life , this is not simply disrespecting a football club , but its disrespecting families of these dead people , its the same with liverpool and everton , Liverpool is known as a close nit city , but when these two lock horns on derby day , everton fans sing songs about Steven Gerrard and his family , Liverpool about the Neville Family , its SICK , now i dont know about yous but i for one have never experienced such hate and hostility at a gaelic ground , Dubs fans and tyrone , kerry , meath , mayo , whatever the case may be have a healthy respect for each other

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13659 - 19/03/2010 15:37:35    592625

See that now, right there is one of the reasons GAA has never been huge in most big towns and cities. People keep going on about it being "rural"
Well for a start its not!! Dublin and Cork cities are hotbeds of GAA. But thst as much down to tradition as anything.
But creating and using this rural image if GAA is something thats turning kids OFF GAA
I live in Limerick city. No one follows GAA....why? Cos its seen as a country game, a rural game....uncool....
Limerick GAA is seen as rural and city kids want nothing to do with a rural game. They wanna play cool games....like Rugby and Soccer.
In their minds and in all big towns and cities in Ireland, Urban kids have the "urban cool, rural uncool" opinion.
If the GAA keep embracing this "rural" image, GAA will never catch on in places like Limerick and Galway cities.

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8170 - 19/03/2010 15:52:53    592645

I dont think polo, F1 and Speed boat racing have much to learn from Gaelic Games.

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 19/03/2010 15:58:07    592653

Undoubtedly so. All sports can learn from other sports. However, certain sports do not want to learn from other sports, even though it is glaringly obvious that by using some ideas it would create vast improvements!

Tongo (UK) - Posts: 1795 - 19/03/2010 16:05:14    592666

Liamwalkinstown
County: Dublin
Posts: 2494

592645 See that now, right there is one of the reasons GAA has never been huge in most big towns and cities. People keep going on about it being "rural"
Well for a start its not!! Dublin and Cork cities are hotbeds of GAA. But thst as much down to tradition as anything.
But creating and using this rural image if GAA is something thats turning kids OFF GAA
I live in Limerick city. No one follows GAA....why? Cos its seen as a country game, a rural game....uncool....
Limerick GAA is seen as rural and city kids want nothing to do with a rural game. They wanna play cool games....like Rugby and Soccer.
In their minds and in all big towns and cities in Ireland, Urban kids have the "urban cool, rural uncool" opinion.
If the GAA keep embracing this "rural" image, GAA will never catch on in places like Limerick and Galway cities.


Galway is a GAA City, sure didnt Salthill/Knocknacarra win the All Ireland Club Final a few years back. The biggest thing holding back the GAA is the Nordies policticising the sport so that a massive 1 million people on this Island dont get the chance to play, others then associate the sport with being "Republican" aleniating other people who dont want to be associated with such animals, that is the biggest problem facing the GAA. Take out the Polictics then worry about a rural/urban devide.

paddyogall (Mayo) - Posts: 5110 - 19/03/2010 16:08:50    592670

I dont think polo, F1 and Speed boat racing have much to learn from Gaelic Games.

LOL, good one jimbo.

AnMhi96 (Meath) - Posts: 72 - 19/03/2010 16:17:16    592688

Liam no one in limerick city follows gaa.That is totally uncorrect.
St Patricks Gaa Club intermadite football champions last yr.. Na Pairisigh got to minor ,senior hurling finals last yr. And have 3 or 4 players on the ard scoil ris team.
Claughan senior in both grades.
A lot of work is being done at these clubs and more in the city.
They now have a development coaching officer on the north and south of the city.And hearing back from them the numbers are up playing both codes.
Im from the county of limerick and can see this work being done.
Yes rugby is huge limerick but to say no one has any interested in gaa in the city is incorrect.

declan30 (Limerick) - Posts: 652 - 19/03/2010 16:23:25    592697

We spell "devide" divide up north paddy, just FYI!

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 19/03/2010 16:42:43    592720

jimbodub
County: Dublin
Posts: 4711

592653 I dont think polo, F1 and Speed boat racing have much to learn from Gaelic Games.
---------------------------
I wouldnt call those rich sports, more sports participated by the rich!

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 19/03/2010 17:41:21    592846

I don't bother following most professional sports any more because I am so sick and tired of the greed and arrogance of the players. I live in Canada now, where ice hockey is the number one sport and the average salary in the NHL is about $2 million a year! That's still not enough for some - the Edmonton Oilers were in the news for refusing to pay the full bill after a big booze-up at a posh restaurant on New Year's eve. Here is a link to the story: link. More recently, their goalie was pulled over for speeding in his fancy sports car and failed a breathalyser test. A few years ago the entire NHL season was cancelled because the players went on strike for more money (and they got it). None of these immature, selfish ****bags are fit to lace the boots of Joe Canning, Henry Shefflin and co.

Gaillimh_Abu (Galway) - Posts: 1052 - 19/03/2010 18:15:10    592882

well really they should learn from us as we play for the love of the game..

flyer (Meath) - Posts: 815 - 19/03/2010 18:26:17    592898

Does Thurdsay follow Wednesday?

dammon (Meath) - Posts: 1291 - 19/03/2010 18:45:21    592921

liam,two sides to every story.maybe in limerick it's seen as a rural sport because it's not played much in the city,rather than the other way around.

shapes42 (Cavan) - Posts: 383 - 19/03/2010 19:07:49    592942

ah liam in all cities including dublin and cork soccer is the most popular sport. And walk into any GAA club in dublin and the majority of mentors/committee...etc will be country people who moved up to dublin

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4678 - 19/03/2010 19:14:20    592950

yeah its those pesky 'nordies' fault, isn't it Paddyogall....

You blame those no good Nordies of politicising the game, hence dividing people. Yet almost every post I read from you is to criticise the people in the 6 north western counties of our island.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Yer Man (None) - Posts: 286 - 19/03/2010 19:48:10    592987

Shapes42,

Whats the football like in rural Cavan ?

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 20/03/2010 11:49:04    593245

A great xample was St Patricks Day schools finals in Ulster at least. On one hand you had the rugby final in Ravenhill and then the McRory Cup final in Casement.
In Ravenhill the kids there were playing in the peak of their careers, the vast majority would not go on and play in front of bigger crowds or even be heard of again unless they were very good.
The McRory on the other hand is only a stepping stone for greater things. A good 50% will play minor football and some will go on and play at intercounty level. For those that dont they will more than likely become great club players and play in front of decent crowds and be well know throughout their local community and county. Indeed the McRory Cup itself is more like a temporary bonus competition that is outside the normal GAA structure

Now wether it is by accident or design in the GAA (prob a bit of both) no matter what their standard there will be a clear career path for them until they finish playing. Most of the rugby guys however will just fade away.

So yes they could learn but probably wont, which is good enough

omaghjoe (Tyrone) - Posts: 1191 - 20/03/2010 14:55:50    593410

1 cork
2 kerry
3 tyrone
4 mayo
5 dublin
6 monaghan
7 down
8 kildare
9 galway
10 antrim

mayoultras100 (Mayo) - Posts: 138 - 20/03/2010 16:16:07    593460