A "Real GAA Man" Views on the LOI - Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

[shedite]

GAA fans don't understand LOI
LOI fans don't understand GAA.

Why can't we all just get along.

[twowheelsonly]

A GAA club here in Cork rents out it's all-weather pitches to a number of local Soccer clubs on a regular basis and are quite happy to take their money. However when a few of these clubs wanted to get together to hold a charity tournament (for a sick young fella AFAIR but I'm not positive) they were told in no uncertain terms that there was no way that any 'foreign game' was holding a tournament on their premises. But yes they could still use the pitches for training!!!!! Hypocrites of the highest order.

[Réiteoir]

There is'nt any kerry team in the loi but i still follow it because its my league.

Do you not go and watch the Kerry League side when they play in the eL Cup and FAI Cup?

[Hibernian]

A lot of members of a GAA club I was part of before I moved out of Dublin for a while attend Pats games players from this club also play football as well as GAA. Theres no ill feeling with any clubs or vice versa.

Also I know of some other clubs that even share facilities.

I find its mainly the older GAA members that provide barriers and who have the hardoned attitudes.

They'll eventually die off.

Any younger members I know or have coached tend to love any sort of sport and were encouraged to play whatever in our eyes keeping them off the street was just as important as fielding a team.

Its not uncommon to see young people in Ballyfermot DLS/Liffey Gaels jackets for example at Richmond and that has been the case for years.

At the end of the day sports clubs/associations should not be at war.

They should be all pushing for the one goal keeping children off the streets and away from drink and drugs.


Agree with you there great post

[gspain]

in fairness the GAA have come a long way in recent years. they still have a way to travel particularly in Northern Ireland although the anti football stuff there is tied into a lot of other things. Guys like Kennedy in Thomas Davis would have been the norm a few years back but now they are isolated much more and in many ways figures of fun.

Football is already by far the biggest sport in the country albeit not LoI football. It's the biggest participant sport but unfortunately for fans of the domestic game this translates into people who play on a sunday morning and watch Man Utd or Liverpool from a barstool on sunday afternoon. They probably go to watch Dublin (or whoever) in the GAA championship as well.

GAA is by far the biggest spectator sport. I'd love it to be true but I don't see domestic football challenging the GAA from that perspective for a very long time. Unfortunately there are still far higher leves of football being played elsewhere whereas the best GAA players play here.

They days of broken glass being spread in goalmouths, goalposts being chopped down etc are gone. Even 10 years ago it would have been impossible to imagine football and rugby being played in Croke Park.

[Rocky77]

What a pathetic defence. This one comes up in almost every thread citing GAA bigotry and only the most feeble-minded are taken in by it.
Football people in Ireland are exercised about GAA only insofar as that organization maintains the kind of attitude reported in the original post. You talk about the other side of the coin: where have you seen this level of ignorance aimed by a football person at GAA or any other sport at community level?

My OPINION is pathetic is it? And for the record, I'd like to think i'm not feeble-minded, but fair. I hate bitterness, as I said earlier. Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in everything and, call me naive, but I'd like to see all sporting bodies strong and healthy, not to the detriment of others.

Where have I seen ignorance? In posts like "The GAA are bigots". Do mean to claim that something like that is a well-rounded, reasoned suggestion? I know some members who are bigoted, I know some members who aren't.

I'm sorry i got dragged into this

[jebus]

I'm sorry i got dragged into this

If ever there was a motto for debates on Foot.ie :D

[oldyouth]

GAA fans don't understand LOI
LOI fans don't understand GAA.

Why can't we all just get along.
I think the difference bewteen the two is that Football fans don't actively try to put GAA down

[Erstwhile Bóz]

That GAA man sounds like a sap. Great fodder for the defenders of the faith on here and plenty of predictably overwrought responses.

Meanwhile real life goes on and I'll be meeting a bloke who has only just stopped celebrating the result of the GAA club finals at tonight's match.

[Jinxy]

I guess this would be a bad time to ask if anyone is heading to Crossmaglen to watch the Dubs this weekend.

[gufcfan]

The main thing that LOI clubs have to do, is to fight the good fight and continue to get involved in community projects. MNS is doing wonders as are the FAI funded promotion officers.

Keep up the good work.

Well said.

LOI supporters sending critism the way of the GAA will only add fuel to the self-fabricated notion within the GAA that the "foreign" LOI is out to destroy the "Local, Patriotic, Poor" GAA.

MNS is doing wonders. And from what I hear and see of our own Club Promotion Officer, they are doing excellent work.

[gufcfan]

I guess this would be a bad time to ask if anyone is heading to Crossmaglen to watch the Dubs this weekend.

The LOI branch of the Dublin GAA Supporters Club will be running a bus departing Parnell Square North @12 midday, next to the Dublin Orange Lodge GAA supporters bus.

[pete]

Why can't we all just get along.

Will someone please think of the children?

BTW we are all great!

[passerrby]

Will someone please think of the children?

BTW we are all great!

accept of course those who are not..great

[Jinxy]

Are there many GAA members posting here? I get the impression there are a few at least.

[micls]

Are there many GAA members posting here? I get the impression there are a few at least.

Me.

But one who loves the game, but hates some of the organisation

[Jinxy]

Well said.

LOI supporters sending critism the way of the GAA will only add fuel to the self-fabricated notion within the GAA that the "foreign" LOI is out to destroy the "Local, Patriotic, Poor" GAA.

MNS is doing wonders. And from what I hear and see of our own Club Promotion Officer, they are doing excellent work.

In all honesty, I don't think that many people involved in the GAA are afraid of the LOI.

[south sligo red]

Me.

But one who loves the game, but hates some of the organisation

Myself also. Bit ashamed to say so to be honest after reading the first post, but i have to say that i,m also a bit ashamed to call myself a loi fan also because of the hatred some guys have shown for the gaa in this thread! I hate the whole "us against them" approach taken by both sides and and would love if we had more fans like kingdomkerry who are just sports fans and just look forward to supporting their local team at the weekend no matter whether its gaelic/football, hurling, football/soccer etc!

[Réiteoir]

In all honesty, I don't think that many people involved in the GAA are afraid of the LOI.

Shamrock Rovers say hello

[Jinxy]

Tell them I said hello back. :confused:


Nice lads.

[kingdomkerry]

Do you not go and watch the Kerry League side when they play in the eL Cup and FAI Cup?



I live in Dublin, if they were playing one of the dublin clubs i would deffo try and go. They only play in the league cup. Dont think they every competed in the FAI cup. Hopefully they will do well in the league cup and people will start asking why they are not in the loi. Already knocked out waterford and got a handy draw against wexford youths in the next round...............

[aidz1]

As a member of my local gaa club and as a regular at my local loi club, i have to say i dislike all this polarisation i see expressed on this site at times regarding the gaa.

there are indeed some lunatics within the gaa, and i'd hazard a guess the same percentage exists within some soccer clubs. but times are changing. im seeing good coordination between local gaa and soccer clubs regarding the arrangement of training and matches for juveniles. And if you wathced the amount of time and effort these people put into their respective clubs, you could only have respect for them.

I am all for people putting in hard work to their local community through sports, no matter which it is. It is all benefical to the the young and the community as a whole.
This is in stark contrast to the folk who exclusively follow an english football team and inject no contribution into their localities (bar the local pubs takings!!). If you want to be at odds with anyone regarding the loi, direct your attention at them folk.

[Raheny Red]

Anyone ever read Fear of the Collar: My Terrifying Childhood in Artane by Patrick Touher? From reading this it is quite evident that the biggest crime a child could commit whilst there was playing 'soccer', shocking stuff. You'd think the denouncing of God or acting the maggot in class would be a bigger punishment than 'playing gah with your feet' :rolleyes:

[HolylandsMan]

The GAA is dead. You heard it here first.

They are on the brink of tearing themselves apart over pay for play which has driven a huge wedge between the intercounty elite and the rank and file members.

If it wasn't for soccer, rugby and the Dubs Croke Park attendences were pitiful last year and are a sign of things to come.

Utter nonsense. Like all sports, attendances go though peaks and troughs, personally I think there has definately been a fall in attendance but there were tens of thousands at many matches last year. Attendance are more than healthy and I don't see this changing any time soon. Yes there are issues over the grants but the issues GAa members have with HQ pale into insignificance compared with the volume of grumbles at the FAI regularly expressed on here.



They're only motivation is money and being bigot's. I won't even go to an international until we move back into LR.


A fair and rounded analysis there certainly.

As far the initial incident the thread started on goes, I think its a terrible attitude for anybody to have. Kids should be free to play the sports they want to play. Personally I think Gaelic football is better sport than soccer. Most people on here disagree and your entitled to your opinion.

While obviously all sports compete to a certain extent, they certainly don't need to be mutually exclusive

[paudie]

Funnily enough my daughters were doing football coaching in school for a few weeks.Gaelic football of course.......They then told me that they were going on a school trip.... to Croke Park and were being encouraged to wear jersies on the trip.Steeling myself to fork out for two Gaa jersies i was delighted when without any input from me my 2 lasses both piped out at the same time.."dont bother Dad we are wearing our Bohs jersies"
Legends in the making and i might even stump up for a camera for them

Great story.:D

I bet there was a tear in your eye when your very well bought up daughters said that.

[Macy]

My OPINION is pathetic is it? And for the record, I'd like to think i'm not feeble-minded, but fair. I hate bitterness, as I said earlier. Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in everything and, call me naive, but I'd like to see all sporting bodies strong and healthy, not to the detriment of others.

Where have I seen ignorance? In posts like "The GAA are bigots". Do mean to claim that something like that is a well-rounded, reasoned suggestion? I know some members who are bigoted, I know some members who aren't.

I'm sorry i got dragged into this
The FAI and IRFU have never banned the GAA from using their stadiums (the GAA would barely exsist for the ex-pat community if it wasn't for Football, Rugby and Cricket allowing GAA teams to use their grounds). The FAI and IRFU have never banned their players from playing GAA controlled games. You are not comparing the relative positions of the sporting organisations when trying to make out that they're as bad as each other.

I don't know any League of Ireland supporter who would try to block any link with any other sporting organisation happens with the GAA, such as in the case above. I'm as anti-GAA as they come, but I think children should have access to as many sports as possible, with the sporting organisations working together to achieve that aim. It shouldn't be about getting exclusivity at underage level, and in my experience and knowledge that is what the GAA wants.

In rural parishes that I would be aware of the GAA deliberatly scheduled underage training and matches to disrupt the football teams - until the kids started picking football first though. I'm also aware of someone being forced out of a high up position for allowing a GAA hall (a different issue, but the money was raised under the pretences of it being a community centre) to be used for Under 10 five a side.

So Rocky, make fair comparisons. Make it fair based on the relative strength of the organisations involved. Make it fair based on actions in the real world, not based on what people say on a football forum. To use the tired old cliche, you are comparing apples and oranges.

[osarusan]

So Rocky, make fair comparisons. Make it fair based on the relative strength of the organisations involved. Make it fair based on actions in the real world, not based on what people say on a football forum. To use the tired old cliche, you are comparing apples and oranges.To be fari Macy, he hasn't tried to compare the FAI with the GAA, at local or national level.


His 2 posts so far-

Bad form alright, I can never understand the paranoia that prevails in irish sport. Kids should have the choice of playing any sport they like. I grew up in a rural area and was severely restricted in this regard.

However, and I ask this in deadly earnest, is the person who made that remark any worse than some of the people who post similar sentiments on these forums, albeit from the other side of the coin?


My OPINION is pathetic is it? And for the record, I'd like to think i'm not feeble-minded, but fair. I hate bitterness, as I said earlier. Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in everything and, call me naive, but I'd like to see all sporting bodies strong and healthy, not to the detriment of others.

Where have I seen ignorance? In posts like "The GAA are bigots". Do mean to claim that something like that is a well-rounded, reasoned suggestion? I know some members who are bigoted, I know some members who aren't.

I'm sorry i got dragged into this

The only comparison he makes is to say that the bile spewed by that GAA guy in the original post isn't confined to the GAA, and that some members of this forum have been guilty of spewing similar bile. And a few of the posts in this thread and other GAA-related threads would back up that suggestion.

[OneRedArmy]

Personally I think Gaelic football is better sport than soccer. Most people on here disagree and your entitled to your opinion. I've no idea how gaelic football could be seen as better than football (if it was hurling I could see your point), at least from a spectator point of view. They've had well over a hundred years and still haven't managed to define the tackle yet.

Also, every unpunished off the ball punch, headbutt or kick reduces the integrity of the game. The old joke about going to a fight and seeing an ice hockey game breaking out is now more appropriate to the GAA.



While obviously all sports compete to a certain extent, they certainly don't need to be mutually exclusiveI suggest you try and spread that message around the GAA. It was on exactly that basis (ie mutual exclusivity) that the GAA was founded and thrived.

[reder]

Did anyone see the new GAA football manager program last night?

I was in a friends house and they were watching it. Anyway, Mary O' Rourke TD said that when the GAA calls, you answer, just like the nurses or the INTO. She said she was speaking as a member of a rural community. A very interesting comment which gives a clear indication of the power of the organisation outside the major cities.

A 'nice' new reality type program promoting GAA football on a Sunday evening.

[Macy]

The only comparison he makes is to say that the bile spewed by that GAA guy in the original post isn't confined to the GAA, and that some members of this forum have been guilty of spewing similar bile. And a few of the posts in this thread and other GAA-related threads would back up that suggestion.
On threads, on a message board. Not in a meeting about getting a school support from sporting organisations, or whilst trying to organise more sport for children. Can you really not see the difference to opinions posted, on a football forum at that, to what happens in the real world? Which is what I was getting at.



A 'nice' new reality type program promoting GAA football on a Sunday evening
Yes, we now have them spending millions on GAA rights, millions on GAA sponsorship of the same thing they have the rights too, and now prime time sunday evening promotion. At the same time, we're told there isn't the money to cover the 1st division of the League of Ireland, and many other sports get even less coverage. Why don't they just go the whole hog and let the GAA collect the licence fee direct?

[oldyouth]

Why don't they just go the whole hog and let the GAA collect the licence fee direct?

Because they have to give half of it to the Barclays Premier League silly:D

[Source]

You can't blame the GAA for trying to promote there own game, maybe if the FAI try to promote the Eircom League better over the years we would have more coverage.
At least the are trying now, but 20 - 30 years too late.

[Erstwhile Bóz]

They've had well over a hundred years and still haven't managed to define the tackle yet.
How are we getting on with our everchanging offside rule, by the way?


I suggest you try and spread that message around the GAA. It was on exactly that basis (ie mutual exclusivity) that the GAA was founded and thrived.
I do hope you have overlooked the historical context of the foundation of the GAA and are not deliberately ignoring it or trying to reduce it to the phrase "mutual exclusivity". Because that would be absolutely ridiculous.

And "I suggest you try and spread that message around the GAA"? Maybe he could drop them a note at the next home soccer international.

[Jinxy]

Which does more damage to Irish soccer. The GAA or the Barstoolers?

[Bluebeard]

Which does more damage to Irish soccer. The GAA or the Barstoolers?

The FAI...

[thischarmingman]

The FAI...
...did more damage. They're far from the main culprits in the last year or so.



P.S.


...100 Posts!!! :eek::rolleyes::p

[John83]

...did more damage. They're far from the main culprits in the last year or so.



P.S.


...100 Posts!!! :eek::rolleyes::p
Steve Staunton?

[Macy]

Which does more damage to Irish soccer. The GAA or the Barstoolers?
The barstoolers are partly the result of the GAA indoctrination about football being a foriegn game. It's okay to watch it on tele or go abroad to watch it, but not to participate at a local level. It's the same kind of twisted logic that says paying players grants based on training and match attendance isn't paying them for training and playing.

[Bluebeard]

...did more damage. They're far from the main culprits in the last year or so.



P.S.


...100 Posts!!! :eek::rolleyes::p

I know, but I wasn't going to resist the obvious gag. As a hardline LOI-er, I'm currently a big fan. Ish.

Congrats on knocking off the milestone, and doing it properly, and not with makey-uppy posts.

[OneRedArmy]

I do hope you have overlooked the historical context of the foundation of the GAA and are not deliberately ignoring it or trying to reduce it to the phrase "mutual exclusivity". Because that would be absolutely ridiculous.Whatever about the historical context of building and propagating an association whose aims implicitly (and arguably explicitly) included the degradation of other sports, what is certain is that this kind of approach should have no place in a modern Irish republic. Things change.

[Jinxy]

The barstoolers are partly the result of the GAA indoctrination about football being a foriegn game. It's okay to watch it on tele or go abroad to watch it, but not to participate at a local level. It's the same kind of twisted logic that says paying players grants based on training and match attendance isn't paying them for training and playing.

You know too much. Watch your back.

[KevB76]

Which does more damage to Irish soccer. The GAA or the Barstoolers?


At local level, the GAA.

For example;
1. Not allowing lads to play junior ball during the GAA season (lads who would quite happily do both if permitted)
2. The "Community" centre mysteriously being re-branded the GAA ground and the junior football team being evicted.
3. The jeckyll and hyde type transformation of a seemingly normal and respected adult into a red-faced, eyes and veins bulging, spitting bellowing completely unreasonable arsehole when one of his neighbours naively dares to question why her sons team cant use the "community" centre ground anymore.

I think you will find a lot of GAA people also fall into the "barstooler" category.

[Erstwhile Bóz]

The barstoolers are partly the result of the GAA indoctrination about football being a foriegn game.
I know you said "partly", but even so that theory would seem to fly in the face of soccer attendances here at the height of GAA and Catholic Church opposition to the foreign game.

A high proportion of barstoolers are of the vital football demographic who a) make soccer the biggest participation sport, but simultaneously b) make LOI attendances crap. These are the feckers that should be annoying you, not the enormous easy target of imagined GAA indoctrination.

"Foreign game" is just an anti-GAA buzzword and it has nothing to do with why these people play five-a-side twice a week, surf football.guardian.co.uk and Liverpool websites all day in work, socialise a million miles away from LOI grounds on Friday evenings, probably talking about English football for much of the night, and watch the Premiership all weekend.

[Erstwhile Bóz]

Whatever about the historical context of building and propagating an association whose aims implicitly (and arguably explicitly) included the degradation of other sports, what is certain is that this kind of approach should have no place in a modern Irish republic. Things change.
Agree with that.