Seems to me that players are bigger on average than a few years back? Is 6ft about the average height now and what about weight 13st+? Also are the footballers bigger than the hurlers? Where do inter county players compare to Aussie Rules, Rugby Union and Rugby League?

sportsfan14 (USA) - Posts: 281 - 26/02/2013 12:35:56    1339318

26/02/2013 12:35:56
sportsfan14
Seems to me that players are bigger on average than a few years back? Is 6ft about the average height now and what about weight 13st+? Also are the footballers bigger than the hurlers? Where do inter county players compare to Aussie Rules, Rugby Union and Rugby League?
Dont know about Aussie rules or league but on average in rugby union forwards are about 17 stone and backs 15 stone.
Footballers would be bigger than Hurlers on average. 6ft would be average height with footballers 14stone or so. Hurlers slightly less on average
Inter county players would be smaller on average than Aussie rules and both forms of rugby

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 26/02/2013 12:58:40    1339330

Interesting topic. This is where i feel My county Kerry have fallen behind other counties in regard size and build of players. We produce nice and neat footballers with no substance to them. I notice minors from other counties are huge young fellows. Modern day football requires size and stature i feel. I dont know where this problem stems from. Is it weights or what.

kerry74 (Kerry) - Posts: 1354 - 26/02/2013 13:24:29    1339351

I think the footballer with the most skill will always win out over the bigger player. An interested thing I have noticed is Australia rules over the last few years has been the change in the type of players being developed. Before the players were greater in size and height but recently they have been producing players who are smaller and who can run faster and for longer. It is hard to compare rugby and GAA. Backs in rugby are similar to our bigger midfielders and that but you wouldnt see to many people on a GAA pitch similar size to rugby forwards. Rugby forwards more than likely would not be able to lift their leg to solo a ball.

ballaghmen (Mayo) - Posts: 318 - 26/02/2013 13:57:21    1339376

The complete footballer is one who has a mixture of height, power, speed and skill. Not exactly rocket science, but still a starting point.

Someone like Michael Murphy, Kilkenny, Ciaran Sheehan and Aidan Walsh of Cork, Tommy Walsh of Kerry are perhaps the model of what the modern footballer should look like. All those guys have a great mix of high fielding, strength, speed and skill. Tommy Walsh went to Australia, and all of the others were courted by Australian clubs. If these guys played rugby I'm sure they'd do well at that also.

However, watching Anthony Tohill on Laochra Gael the other night, he certainly a similar mix of the above himself. Players like that were around before, but there are probably a lot more of them now.

ringo (Wexford) - Posts: 384 - 26/02/2013 17:06:54    1339501

26/02/2013 13:57:21
ballaghmen
I think the footballer with the most skill will always win out over the bigger player. An interested thing I have noticed is Australia rules over the last few years has been the change in the type of players being developed. Before the players were greater in size and height but recently they have been producing players who are smaller and who can run faster and for longer. It is hard to compare rugby and GAA. Backs in rugby are similar to our bigger midfielders and that but you wouldnt see to many people on a GAA pitch similar size to rugby forwards. Rugby forwards more than likely would not be able to lift their leg to solo a ball.
Laughable post in parts
Rugby forwards not be able to lift their leg... what did you take before writing that??
Not always does the most skillful player defeat the bigger player
Rugby has went the same recently with faster, more mobile players playing more and ahead of physically bigger players.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 26/02/2013 17:07:54    1339502

Dont agree Ormond.

When I first went to Rugby International a 6 - 2 16 stone was a massive second row whereas not its fairly average for a centre who back then were 5 - 7 to 5 - 10 , 10 to 12 stone. The likes of Tommy Bowe & jason Roberts are bigger than Bill Mulcahy, Jim Glennon etc.

Players in all sports are bigger than they were in say, 1960 or 1970. Simple reason average human being in the First World is today way bigger now than 40, 50 & 100 years back !!!

KELF (Kildare) - Posts: 775 - 26/02/2013 19:48:28    1339595

26/02/2013 19:48:28
KELF
Dont agree Ormond. When I first went to Rugby International a 6 - 2 16 stone was a massive second row whereas not its fairly average for a centre who back then were 5 - 7 to 5 - 10 , 10 to 12 stone. The likes of Tommy Bowe & jason Roberts are bigger than Bill Mulcahy, Jim Glennon etc.

Players in all sports are bigger than they were in say, 1960 or 1970. Simple reason average human being in the First World is today way bigger now than 40, 50 & 100 years back !!!
Well its the truth. There was a period for 5/6 years in the noughties that bigger was best but not as much now.
Speed much more important again than sheer physical size.
The era you are talking about is totally different and a considerable period ago if youre talking about 6'2 donkeys in the row.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 26/02/2013 20:10:17    1339599

The average height of all affluent/well fed humans including Irish people has gone up, women and men even in the last ten years. In GAA the average height of an Inter-county team would be taller than the rest of the population. Similarly look at Basketball, same deal with GAA - taller, fitter, leaner, the notion of a "well-rounded" Inter-county player or Senior club player is long gone.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4954 - 27/02/2013 14:27:34    1339833

If memory serves me right the Galway team that lost to Kilkenny in the All Ireland only had five plays if even that under 6 foot which would be a huge departure from years ago when the majority of players would have been under 6 foot. I would say that the average for a Gaelic team these days would be around the 6 foot mark, however most of these guys as well would be incredibly lean. If you take Henry Shefflin as an example he is 6'2" and 13.5 stone, while a 6'2" rugby player would be around 15 stone for a back, and anything up to 18 or more stone for a forward. So while there is no doubt that players from all sports are getting taller, they are getting a lot leaner in GAA, but bigger and stronger in rugby?

gilly0512 (Galway) - Posts: 1176 - 28/02/2013 10:13:45    1340173