EL players far fitter than GAA equivalents

[gspain]

Interesting article in yesterday's Sunday times on a study carried out on EL players along with gaelic and hurling inter county players.

The EL players were significantly fitter and had much less body fat than their hurling equivalents and were also better than their gaelic equivalents.

The GAA players were stronger but the footballers were much more flexible and fitter. Maybe some people will wake up and relaise the quality of product on our own doorstep

[Troy.McClure]

The Sunday Times mentioned the eL? :eek: :confused: :eek:

[Poor Student]

No surprise if the Limerick Gaelic football keeper was included in the survey. :eek:

[pineapple stu]

Do you remember Niall Patterson, who kept goal for Antrim in the 1989 (Or 1988?) final - the hammering against Tipp when Nicky English got a hat-trick? Sure he'd have skewed the survey on his own! :p

[Kingdom]

likewise Niall Sheridan (a brilliant forward none the less !)

That's pushing it. Vital perhaps but certainly not brilliant.

[Macy]

likewise Niall Sheridan (a brilliant forward none the less !)
You say it's gaa bashing and come up with an example of how it may be true :confused:

I think it's just one of those myths that's grown up over the years without any basis in fact. Afterall, I know a former Town player who went on to play inter county GAA who would complain that he just wasn't able for the 90 minute matches. His whole fitness was based around the 60/70 minutes of GAA. If stamina was measured, why wouldn't a GAA be less able for 90 minutes when they don't have to be? It wouldn't be GAA bashing surely?

[wws]

lads - three different sports - hurling gaaaball and football - all make differing demands on the body

for one thing you shouldnt use sticks in the EL!

[jorge]

I read something very similar in the Mirror and there was this gaa player who was HUGE.He played for Longford.

[BohDiddley]

Ah, they're just on a gaaah-bashing exercise. The findings of this study contradict the widely-held view of English coaches, who contend that gaah players are "as fit as" soccer players in England.
Do we then conclude that Irish soccer players are much fitter than their English equivalents ?

(p.s. considering that professional soccer players get paid to be fit, then they ought to be much fitter than their gaah counterparts who are only mere amateurs !)

How is it GAA-bashing to run a test and publish the result?
If EL players are fitter, fair play to them. It's not often LoI gets a decent positive plug, and it's a good answer to the various GAA lovers who love to tell you how bad/unprofessional/badly managed Irish football is.

[pete]

Survey obviously doesn't measure skill but may but to bed the lie that eL players are fat pub players.

Some people seem to think GAA players are very fit so it eL players are fitter then that is some positive publicity for the league.

I've never been impressed by the fitness of GAA players. Game is only 70 minutes which is short for major field sport. Pitches are big but players don't tend to run up & down from one end to the other. Most importantly you'll often hear GAA players moaning that they have to play on consequtive weekends.

[hamish]

Wasn't there some other survey a few years ago that stated that Roy Keane ran about 16 miles in the course of every game while other field sports (incl. Gah) were way behind.

Maybe the Galway Fotiepersons can help here. I recall a mixed GAA/Footie game in Terryland a couple of years ago and remember that the EL players were still flying about the place at the end while all the others- including some eggball bloke called Elwood (who played with Mervue Utd in his youth, I'm told) and the Gah players were absolutely knackered. I believe Eric Lebine took to the Gah like a duck to water! :D

[OneRedArmy]

The only thing surprising (to me anyway) was that the stickball players had a higher body fat percentage than the footballers. I would have thought the hurling, with less of an emphasis on shoulder to shoulder challenges and crowding tackes, as well as the speed of the sliotar would have resulted in leaner players.

The fact sacar players are leaner (not fitter) is no real surprise. Physical challenges are not as high impact in soccer therefore there is no real need for the extra bulk.

As mentioned above we have to remember the GAA is 20 mins shorter. The larger pitch is mitigated by the extra players.

[monutdfc]

I read the article. The tests were done on only one squad from each sport: an eL team, a county football team and a county hurling team. None of the teams were named.
The soccer players had lowest body fat % and the greatest stamina. The one area where the gaelic footballers were better was for shorts bursts.
The hurling I'm not surprised at - I'm not an expert, but I'd say a fitter team would not beat a more skilful team, so there's less emphasis on fitness.

[Macy]

Did that former Town player play gaah before or after the EL ? (I mean, how would he complain about the 90 min. matches if he had gone on to play gaah. Wouldn't he have left the 90 mins behind ??)
He was playing both - had to choose and chose the game he could last the course on...

[Troy.McClure]

No surprise if the Limerick Gaelic football keeper was included in the survey. :eek:

Ah now, he's a keeper. Actually he used to be on the books of Cork City and is quite a good keeper (much more adgile than you would think for the size of him)

[hamish]

I read the article. The tests were done on only one squad from each sport: an eL team, a county football team and a county hurling team. None of the teams were named.
The soccer players had lowest body fat % and the greatest stamina. The one area where the gaelic footballers were better was for shorts bursts.
The hurling I'm not surprised at - I'm not an expert, but I'd say a fitter team would not beat a more skilful team, so there's less emphasis on fitness.

Big surprise in that, monutdfc, I'd imagine any team, in any sport, would emphasise short bursts, indeed especially footie players.
Makes a big change from my days with a certain third level team in Galway city (not a club) - we did TWENTY FIVE laps of the pitch following back breaking push ups etc - for training.
Made us certainties for an Olympic Marathon medal but, then, that was in the early 70s. :D

By the way, congrats to Eddie Murray on his recent FAI job promotion - met him a number of times in my footie days and he's a smashing bloke as is his other ex-Gardai colleague who have done so much for the club. Apolosies I cannot remember the latter's name. They built much of Gortakeegan/now Century Homes without any lottery money at first and you have a great set up there. I hate it when people slag you off for small crowds - y'know people in glass houses etc.

[Maynard]

This survey/test or whatever seems a waste of time to me. May as well compare swimmers and 100 metre sprinters, or showjumpers and longjumpers.

There are fat GAA players and fat EL players, there are skilfull, skinny, strong, bulky, long-haired, bald etc etc in all sports and on virtually all teams.

News Just In: "Different Sports Require Diffeerent Attributes Says Genius"

[Maynard]

This survey/test or whatever seems a waste of time to me. May as well compare swimmers and 100 metre sprinters, or showjumpers and longjumpers.

There are fat GAA players and fat EL players, there are skilfull, skinny, strong, bulky, long-haired, bald etc etc in all sports and on virtually all teams.

News Just In: "Different Sports Require Different Attributes Says Genius"