GAA debate

[Macy]

Who said top? I said challenging.... Yes the man with Shels, and he's the missing ingredient to the team (I feel anyway)....

If we play like we have recently we should be okay.... I'd expect at least 2000 at the game considering the fact that the bogball supporters seem to think that the cup is more important than the league....

[max power]

macy i wish you'd stop using that bog ball term, the gaa in longford and the soccer club get along fine and so they should, the away strip are the county colours after all. its good to see the two codes getting along, but if people keeps using terms as you've done it will not help.

[Xlex]

that's the greatest load of codswallop... between Club games and televised inter-county games soccer is being suffocated. I have been to three or four games this year because I have been playing for my club on a Saturday evening... I only see the town play in Dublin... :(

[Macy]

Fook the Gah, and I for one am sick of the club sucking up to the bigots, rearranging fixtures etc...... The bogballers have never reciprocated it - and their condescending attitude to us when we were in the cup final still rankles with me....

[max power]

sorry macy but your problem, get over it and enjoy the fact that young players in the county can play both sports without the so called bigots telling them one or the other.

[Macy]

Originally posted by the dj
sorry macy but your problem, get over it and enjoy the fact that young players in the county can play both sports without the so called bigots telling them one or the other.
Can they though? You honestly believe that? You believe that the Gah would give them a choice? They only compromise when it means fitting proper football around their games - never the other way round.....

btw should this thread be split with this arguement going off topic?

[max power]

xlex i'm on about longford gaa, not lenister or hq policy, at a local level a lot of people i know who follow gaa ( me being one of them ) go to town games and support the club, club games on a saturday evening were always there in the summer, its the fai that went summer football not the gaa.

i'm from longford and i support all codes, gaa, soccer and even the longford all blacks.

its a small county and there is on point in fighting between ourselves, thats such and irish thing to do.

when i played footbal from my club, county, school and rugby and basketball there was no pressure from gaa sources, they tried one year but the players said they were ok playing a few sports and it was fine,

i think this belief is rooted in history in ireland, but in longford the realationship is fine, ok if a player plays both they have to make a decision which they should focus on, thats only fair on the sports they play and their team members, i don't see anyone having a go at shane barrett for playing soccer instead of gaa ???

your parish team is your parish team and you support your locals , i know a lot of ga clubs that warm up with a game of soccer and all enjoy it , alsoa lot of gaa teams play in local soccer leagues in the winter to keep fit.

[Xlex]

i'm on about longford gaa, not lenister or hq policy

Local GAA fixture are fixed to avoid the televisied inter-county league. I hve been to three or four games due to playing league games on a Saturday, there was always championship games on Saturday evening but now there's televised stuff, big games in neighbouring counties and sadly club league/Championship games on Saturday evenings... I may not be able to get the point across good enough but in my experiance the fact that I play the game doesn't allow me attend town games...

BTW, the Paddy Power scandle doesn't endear me to the Grab All Assoc. either

[max power]

xlex no one asked the fai to start summer football, don't balme the gaa, the summer has always been gaa and the winter soccer, thats always the way its been.

the paddy power thing is a whole different issue and is a step towards professional players no matter how much certain people in crowe park dig their heels in.

"the players are the only ones not getting paid, officals in crowe park, manager, trainers both at county level and club all get paid the only ones who don't are the players the gaa are not an ametuar organisation no matter how much they want to be."

the above was said by pat spilanne on newstalk 106 on monday evening.

[Xlex]

I agree that the eL decided to switch to summer soccer but Local League games are been played more and more on saturday evenings and on the outset it would appear that this is little convienant anyway, it's all irrelevent because for once I'll be free for the Limerick game...

On the PP thing, Spillane is spot on...

[Macy]

There really is no point carrying on this if you don't accept what a card carrying member of the GAA has to say.....

[max power]

macy what do you mean ??????

[Xlex]

me?

[Macy]

You're arguing with Xlex, who has said all along that he plays the game with 30 goalkeepers on the pitch.....

[max power]

macy, i'm debating not aruging and i also played the game but due to work commitments i can no longer play.

[The Donie Forde]

Originally posted by the dj
the away strip are the county colours after all.

Sorry for butting in on a Longford thing here, but this REALLY irks me. The blue and yellow are the Longford County GAA colours; the county per se can have whatever bloody colours it feels like. It annoys me because the GAA, which I respect at certain levels, has put its brand on the minds of the nation. Why?
Why do we think we should live our lived tied to 'counties and their colours'? Why, indeed, can we not think beyond 'counties'? No wonder we're so bloody parochial about everything...
Counties are so, well, British that it's truly ironic.

Ok, continue your debate.... :)

Donie

[Xlex]

Originally posted by the dj
macy, i'm debating not aruging and i also played the game but due to work commitments i can no longer play.

with that bloody county board and the mentality that you can't have possibly anything better to do on a Saturday night is a wreck the head...

[max power]

xlex i gig every saturday night so thats the way i can't play. donie forde, a lot of sports use blue and gold, community games teams, i played a lot of rounders growing up and we wore blue and yellow. it is taken that the county colours are normally the same as the gaa as they are the colours the county are best known for.

another reason for saturdat games was this : lads went out on a saturday night, got hammered and weren't able to play on a sunday so a lot of clubs started having games on a saturday evening to get the players before the drik got them.

also the tv coverage is a big issue as well, but sunday evening games are a way around that.

[Macy]

The "county" colours was purely a marketing ploy by the club.... Backfired at the cup final as people just wore their bogball jerseys instead of spending money on town jerseys....

As for all the other sports, they are clearly just falling into line with the Gah as well.....

Interesting to note that Longford GAA only really went to playing on a Saturday night (particularly Championship games) when Town started getting decent crowds on a regular basis.... Coincidence or not, it clearly does the Town no favours....

[Xlex]

They need to market the club to non-townies... it's a good ten years since a name chance was mooted...

The GAA's increased coverage on RTE is the biggest reason why games are on a Saturday evening, you can no longer have 2 matches on a sunday, at 2.30 and 4.00.


Also when the first league was being played, all games were at 11.30 on Sunday mornings, we played for abouyt five weeks at 11.30 in the morning. HQ moved all their games out of the way for the Grand Slam decider against England and what did the county board do? They fixed matches to directly clash with the biggest rugger game in I don't know how many years, go figure...

Why don't the county board use Friday nights? or noon on Sunday's, why don't the county board play 6.00 p.m. saturday games, only has to be done every two weeks on average.

If the county board and the town got on that's what would happen...

[Macy]

Originally posted by Xlex
If the county board and the town got on that's what would happen...
Don't think it's the clubs fault, we've often moved games to avoid a clash (Pats 5pm on a Sunday anyone?).... I don't think the County Board is willing to compromise with a "foreign" sport - it's all take take take with the GAH.....

[Xlex]

I don't really care who's fault it is that there is no relationship between them because it only really affects the supporters. I suppose there's every likely hood that there's as many soccer mules as there is GAH mules. the very nature of the problem requires the GAA to give more than they get because of the frequency of the games involved... Sadly I can't see much happening!!

[max power]

macy i have both my longford soccer and gaa jersey and will wear both with pride, to me you just support one code and fcuk all others, a lot of so called "bogball" people support the club and with one sided out dated views like yours you'll drive them away, at least xlex knows something about gaa, have you played for a club in longford and realised with the local parish team means to the people of that parish ????

this is the way it has been, soccer winter/gaa summer : fai changed that and not the gaa, so ask the fai for answers before you put all the blame at the feet of the gaa.

xlex sunday morning games would work but and there is always a but, in rural ireland a lot of people still go to mass on a sunday morning so either players, manager or someone to do with the club could not make it and there is the saturday night drink reason.

friday evening, i think thats simple, lads not living in longford and working in dublin or the like could not amke it home, traffic etc. if you finish work at 5 you won't always amke it home for a match at half 7, i know it happened to me.

saturday at 6, once again rural longford, farms = cows = milking = not a hope of a game at 6.

all the above are valid points but i think sunday evening would be the best option, would do you think xlex ????

[Macy]

But my point is all those that hopped on the tolka bandwagon put nothing into the club - not even money for a shirt!!!!

You say I have outdated views and then come up with all the excuses under the sun why the Gah have to stick with their times.... The Gah expect players to get down twice a week for training (more for the county players), but the players wouldn't be able to make it for a game!?! Also afaik cows need milking everyday of the week - don't think they have a Sunday off... So surely Sunday has exactly the same issues as Saturdays....

I'm outdated, and you're sticking up for one of the most outdated and backward sporting organisations in the world, let alone the country... They're allowed to be openly hostile and dismissive and call my sport the Garrison or Foriegn Game, but I'm not allowed to call GAH bogball???

[Xlex]

I have made about 60 ~ 70 trips to Longford during the week and on Friday's this year. I think every Club in Longford trains on a Friday. I have had games in Colmcille and Dromard on Tuesday's and Wednesday's. I have a game next Tuesday in Killoe at 7.30. I have had games in Athlone and Ballyleague and Tarmon on Midweek nights. It would really make no change for the several club players in Dublin to play on a Friday night. So really I still think that the points are still valid.

I also believe that the loyal GAA fraternity that attend games would go to an early Sunday mass or to a Saturday evening mass to accomodate a noon match, in fact I think it would make for a good day. anyway all I would ask for is that Saturday matches are played at no later that 6.00pm on Saturday, not at 7.30pm.

Ardagh and Drumlish played at 7.30pm last sunday evening. Dublin players would not have returned to dublin until 11.00 pm at the earliest from that fixture.

In the intermediate laegue we have been missing players because they have choosen the town over playing GAA yet our County board reps have not even tried to get games played early

I'm only applying the awkardness of requests I have been given from a personnal point of view rather than even take into account the preference I would have for going to Flancare for 7.45 on a Saturday evening.

(you have failed to take Macy into this debate because of his reference to bogball, he knows as much about the parochial relevence of the GAA than any of us and he knows more about the commitment required than many of us, so fair dues to his point)

[Xlex]

Originally posted by Macy
But my point is all those that hopped on the tolka bandwagon put nothing into the club - not even money for a shirt!!!!


I wouldn't worry so much about the money for a shirt, they haven't given much money at the gate either...

[max power]

macy & xlex if people are going to gaa matchs on a saturday ans sunday evening and day and have been for a long time with tv and like causing this , the change was made by the fai to summer football. so why don't de town play hteir game son a friday evening, if gaa players can make it home for games on a friday why can't town supporters go to games on a friday and be like the majority of the league ??????

its only an idea ???

[Xlex]

I think that's the way to go... But the club won't they have too much time for Dublin Supporters... home and away...

Longford's away game is the most attractive in the league (timing wise) I think the club will lose out no matter what...

[Macy]

Originally posted by the dj
macy & xlex if people are going to gaa matchs on a saturday ans sunday evening and day and have been for a long time with tv and like causing this , the change was made by the fai to summer football. so why don't de town play hteir game son a friday evening, if gaa players can make it home for games on a friday why can't town supporters go to games on a friday and be like the majority of the league ??????

its only an idea ???
Great Idea - lets compromise as long as football does all the giving, and the gah does all the taking....

[max power]

well almighty and all knowing macy tell us what to do, should we do like the british and start shootiing at the supporters ?????