Losing Bertie

[paul_oshea]

Anyway we all know politics is a popularity contest anyhow

[bohsRap]

FACTS ARE REGARDLESS OF YOUR PERSONAL VIEWS... HAVE THE FAI BEEN BETTER OFF DURING HIS TIME IN POWER

Thats doesn't make sense. I didn't mention my personal views in my post, only facts.

Personally I'm not too sure a change of taoiseach will have much bearing on the FAI or our national team.

[holidaysong]

If Dermot Ahern was the next Taoiseach then we'd be sorted!

[pete]

TBH I could little if leader of the country is a sports fan or not. Funding for sport is not dependent on attending events. Enda Kenny attended the Cork City v Drogs FAI Cup final in 2005 & was sitting next to City fan in VIP section. Funding has increased due to greater state funds available. I don't know if Bertie was there too.

Bertie picks Drumcondra as it is convenient. If he was honest he would admit he not a big football supporter. For a lot of people Manchester United is entertainment like going to the cinema so doesn't necessarily make anyone a football supporter. It is obvious he is a Dubs GAA fan though.

In sporting terms Bertie gave us the Bertie Bowl (at a guess a 200m+ white elephant. As mentioned above it was his decision to kill Eircom Park. Who knows if it would have been completed as costs were rising but so also was the wealth of the FAI & the country. His governments also subsidise the Horse & Dog Racing industry but 50m a year including pay half all prize money. As a GAA fan his government have agreed to pay amateur GAA players which for unknown reasons make them more special than all other amateur sports people.

[Soper]

Ireland really held their own against Cyprus...their own todgers

[back of the net]

Is LoI big in Offaly?

it soon will be - go on tullamore

[ramsfan]

remember reading the paper after rugby world cup some reporter said about stan, eddie osullivan and bertie, he said they the media had pushed stan out eddie was in the process of being pushed and then bertie would be houndy until he left, how right he was, but who will they go after next................

[pete]

Moderator: Off Topic posts from ciaran & replies moved to rubbish. Keep it on topic.

[Junior]

and who says politics and sport dont mix eh?

[livehead1]

.

As a GAA fan his government have agreed to pay amateur GAA players which for unknown reasons make them more special than all other amateur sports people.

Come of it; if your a GAA fan you'll be well aware that there are only amateur in the sense that they don't get a wage from the sport they dedicate their lives to. If you can find me many other amateur sports that attracts millions of viewers on TV and 80,000 in the stradiums then I'd like to see it. Untill then, there much more 'special' than all other amateur sports people.

[Macy]

As has been said, the FAI (for good or ill) would've had it's own ground by now if it wasn't for Ahern and his non-existant Bowl. Would've meant far less funding from Government than they're putting into Lansdowne too.

His Government clearly favoured other sports, such as Horse Racing and Dog Racing and the GAA more than football (or a range of other sports).

And the vast majority of the money is lottery money anyway, not from Government coffers, it's just how they spin it.

[Dodge]

And that my friend says everything about the LOI fans.

How so? Its a comment by a non LOI an on people with no interest in the LOI?

i await your explanation

[Schumi]

Come of it; if your a GAA fan you'll be well aware that there are only amateur in the sense that they don't get a wage from the sport they dedicate their lives to. If you can find me many other amateur sports that attracts millions of viewers on TV and 80,000 in the stradiums then I'd like to see it. Untill then, there much more 'special' than all other amateur sports people.

So they deserve government funding because their organisation has more money than any other amateur sport?

[finnpark]

His Government clearly favoured other sports, such as Horse Racing and Dog Racing and the GAA more than football (or a range of other sports).

That goes back to the days of Haughey and carries on today. Did you know that jockeys and trainers pay no tax on their winnings and bookmakers' betting tax was abolished. Millionaires paying no tax. If the FAI bribed them too, soccer in this country would be in a very healthy state Of course we are the fools,, its all coming out of our pockets at the end of the day.

[Bluebeard]

As has been said, the FAI (for good or ill) would've had it's own ground by now if it wasn't for Ahern and his non-existant Bowl. Would've meant far less funding from Government than they're putting into Lansdowne too.

His Government clearly favoured other sports, such as Horse Racing and Dog Racing and the GAA more than football (or a range of other sports).

And the vast majority of the money is lottery money anyway, not from Government coffers, it's just how they spin it.

I agree completely, but, at the risk of defending defending them, prior to player "Assistance" the GAA has received very little in comparison to the horses and dogs. Even the £60m for Croker was over three years. In the same budget, I seem to recall something like £157m to horses in various ways, while £90m went to the dogs*. While the GAA are doing better than the FAI, they are really not the "enemy as regards funding.

Then, look at cycling, volleyball, etc. What do they ever get. Ireland had two of the most collossal cyclists in the 80s, Kelly certainly worthy of a place among the greatest ever. CJH jumped that bandwagon. What about Cycling in Ireland now - what funding is it receiving? Did anyone know we sent David O'Loughlin to the world track championships where he finished 6 in his discipline? Had we a velodrome, how might he have done? I had a friend who was among the top Irish Volleyball players and she was quitting at the age od 26 because she couildn't continue - there was funding enough only for a men's or a women's team, plus a few voluntary coaches and to keep the office going.

While football is treated as second cousin to Gaelic (don't get me start about the way hurling is treated), we are way better off than other sports, and the GAA are in the poor house compared to the dogs and the horses. Decisions about funding of sports should be removed from the government, and put in the hands of an independent body with a view to the general health, wellbeing and development of sports participation and sports development in Ireland.

Vote for me at the party congress next month, and I promise you-

* these figures are rough memory - anyone can correct them, brilliant, please show me the error of my ways!

[Macy]

And the capital grants to GAA clubs compared to the football clubs? (and seriously not having a go at the GAA here, but at the Government allocation).

[Shedender81]

I agree completely, but, at the risk of defending defending them, prior to player "Assistance" the GAA has received very little in comparison to the horses and dogs. Even the £60m for Croker was over three years. In the same budget, I seem to recall something like £157m to horses in various ways, while £90m went to the dogs*. While the GAA are doing better than the FAI, they are really not the "enemy as regards funding.

Then, look at cycling, volleyball, etc. What do they ever get. Ireland had two of the most collossal cyclists in the 80s, Kelly certainly worthy of a place among the greatest ever. CJH jumped that bandwagon. What about Cycling in Ireland now - what funding is it receiving? Did anyone know we sent David O'Loughlin to the world track championships where he finished 6 in his discipline? Had we a velodrome, how might he have done? I had a friend who was among the top Irish Volleyball players and she was quitting at the age od 26 because she couildn't continue - there was funding enough only for a men's or a women's team, plus a few voluntary coaches and to keep the office going.

While football is treated as second cousin to Gaelic (don't get me start about the way hurling is treated), we are way better off than other sports, and the GAA are in the poor house compared to the dogs and the horses. Decisions about funding of sports should be removed from the government, and put in the hands of an independent body with a view to the general health, wellbeing and development of sports participation and sports development in Ireland.

Vote for me at the party congress next month, and I promise you-

* these figures are rough memory - anyone can correct them, brilliant, please show me the error of my ways!

I dont disagree with you.. but the plain fact is we the soccer family got more out his govt than we ever did before


As for the cycling... Funding may have something to do with how clean the sport is.....

Andrew Bree... really an over the counter deconjestant ;-)))

[Dodge]

As for the cycling... Funding may have something to do with how clean the sport is.....

name one track cyclist who's been found guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs

[kingdom hoop]

Good post Bluebeard. I think a more independent body, extricated from the political realm and the associative baggage, for divying up sports grants would be a great leap forward. (Interestingly, as it happens, Ireland has the highest rate of proliferation in regulatory agencies in the developed world!)

[Bluebeard]

And the capital grants to GAA clubs compared to the football clubs? (and seriously not having a go at the GAA here, but at the Government allocation).

Again, I don't disagree, but the fact is that while we have been cavilling about the GAA and what they got, (and other sports about us), the government cleverly played divide and conquer, so we got caught up rowing with the GAA, while the greyhounds and horses got Zimbabwean figures of money. End result? Football and GAA fans fight among each other drowning out the demands of the smaller sports, who need the money even more to develop, while the biggest funders of the party see money flow into what interests them without anyone kicking up a fuss becasue they are too caught up with the "But if he got that, why did I only get this?" QED.