2005 We're Crap at Sport

After the gusto of earlier part of the decade in which we the Irish thought we could take on the world with our tiger economy, has reality dawned this year in sporting terms that we really are a minute nation that isn't really a serious sports nation, lets face the evidence of this year, Very Average to poor soccer team, Rugby team outclassed and with very little new ideas or talent!! our indigeneous pride gaelic football bullied off the park in Australia, our Olympic medalists are all drug cheats, I think maybe we can start reverting back to the innocent days of the 80's and early 90's when whatever little success we had was greeted with national euphoria..

Agreed, its been an absolutely terrible year for Irish sport.
The football team looked very poor in attempting to qualify for the world cup.
The rugby team are on a serious downward spiral with no players coming through.
Got murdered in the compromise rules.
No Irish athletes coming near medals in major meetings

Golf, boxing and horse racing have been ok I suppose

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our Olympic medalists are all drug cheats

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Who's that then?

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Originally Posted by noby

Who's that then?

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That horse - he knew well what he was up to.

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Originally Posted by noby

Who's that then?

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Lombard, the horse, ex-swimmer.

Should we be surprised we crap at sport? To say facilities are 3rd world would be a compliment.

The only sports we do ok at are boxing (few hungry fighters), golf (once you have golf courses you fine), horse racing (subsidised by the government by massive proportions & loads of plastic paddies).

We need to get schools and college sports as big and popular as possible, the only thing thats being done right in terms of popularity is the schools junior and senior cups in rugby, but because of the intensity of training many of them stop playing, a lot more scholarships need to be handed out!

There are so many things wrong in this country with sports it's hard to see any good times ahead.
Our facilities are non existent and the government never gives funding worth a toss.In other countries such as Australia they have 1st class facilities with top coaches and excellent academies for all sports.
In this country we can't even build a football stadium even though we have been to 3 world cups and a euro championship.The one stadium that is in the country the owners don't want to share it.Funding at any level is non existent.We don't have proper coaches.Without the facilities athletes can only go so far and thats it.They either emigrate to continue their training or pack it in altogether.The GAA has to much of a grip on kids and playing other codes does not go down well at all.Most of our sports stars are from Dublin which suggests to me that you need to live there to have any chance.We should have an Olympic size swimming pool plus athletic facilities in all major centres in the country.More participation needs to happen at school level and the right facilities & coaching needs to be available to everyone.
Unfortunately we have a government who would much sooner waste money on electronic voting and consultancy fees than invest money in something as simple as sports facilities.

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Originally Posted by Wiseguy

The GAA has to much of a grip on kids and playing other codes does not go down well at all.

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Typical sporting fascism!!

Ireland are 8th in the A1 Grand Prix. See here

Pending Sundays result, Cork will be the only county in the country to win anything of substance in sport this year.
Money must be invested around the country to help the lesser countys catch up. :cool:

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Originally Posted by Risteard

Pending Sundays result, Cork will be the only county in the country to win anything of substance in sport this year.
Money must be invested around the country to help the lesser countys catch up. :cool:

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Excuse yerself there good man, Sligo Rovers won the first division. It may not be of substance to you but it certainly was to me;).

Couldnt agree with you more this has been the worst year for awhile. The scary thing is i cant see the next few years getting any better. There is always the eurovision, next year :rolleyes:

Agreed, it started with such high hopes and just look where we and Shelbourne ended up.

Sorry sligoman.
Forgot the 13th place trophy.
:)

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Originally Posted by Risteard

Sorry sligoman.
Forgot the 13th place trophy.
:)

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:mad:, I'd rather have finished 13th than 11th or 12th though;).

2005 We're brilliant at sport.

I heard on the radio this morning that we won the amateur Elephant Polo Cup at the weekend.

That pond-life Curtis wrote an article on this very topic yesterday in the Sunday Rag (us being crap, not the Elephant Polo :) ) Wonder if he got the idea here.

Just in case if you are reading this Curtis would you please learn some basic English then get some basic English books about sport so we can attempt to make a silk purse out of your sow's ear of a journalism career :eek:

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Originally Posted by Wiseguy

There are so many things wrong in this country with sports it's hard to see any good times ahead.
Our facilities are non existent and the government never gives funding worth a toss.In other countries such as Australia they have 1st class facilities with top coaches and excellent academies for all sports.
In this country we can't even build a football stadium even though we have been to 3 world cups and a euro championship.The one stadium that is in the country the owners don't want to share it.Funding at any level is non existent.We don't have proper coaches.Without the facilities athletes can only go so far and thats it.They either emigrate to continue their training or pack it in altogether.The GAA has to much of a grip on kids and playing other codes does not go down well at all.Most of our sports stars are from Dublin which suggests to me that you need to live there to have any chance.We should have an Olympic size swimming pool plus athletic facilities in all major centres in the country.More participation needs to happen at school level and the right facilities & coaching needs to be available to everyone.
Unfortunately we have a government who would much sooner waste money on electronic voting and consultancy fees than invest money in something as simple as sports facilities.

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All very well but up to 10 years ago this country was impoverished and had been for centuries prior to that. Consequently, it is only within the last few years that we could afford to make the investment in sport.

The Government can't win if it puts too much into sport because the large section of Irish society which has little or no interest will say why isn't the money going into the health service etc etc and it's a hard argument to counter. We saw Bertie having to pull back over the Bertie Bowl because of opposition from the PDs who don't have much interest in sport.