Granny rule is mother of dependency? Locker Room from the Times today

[Tired&Emotional]

Yep Pete. Some people don't like the idea of 2nd/3rd gen players, I don't mind, IF they are good enough and we do well - but for God's sake, they have to be good enough....

[klein4]

I think to be fair to Stan he is looking for people who are good enough, irrespective of whether you were born here or born there. I don't agree that he is just looking for eligibility

Getting back to Tom Humphries article itself, I'm never really sure what to make of his comments on football. He's a GAA fan with a typewriter, basically - a fairly articulate one, mind, but it's very obvious that GAA is his thing. Every now and then (maybe once or twice in every 100 Locker Room columns) he writes something about association football, and I find it very hard to take him seriously, knowing that he is not particularly interested in it. His comments on the current situation reflect his lack of knowledge and lack of interest in soccer. god knows if Brian Kerr had someone more like Tony Cascarino and less like Gary Doherty available to him when we were at home to Israel, for example, we could now all be planning our summer holidays around a trip to Germany. Stan just wants to be able to have a look at what's available, that's all! And if some people see that as some sort of betrayal, I dunno - we all seemed happy enough when Ray Houghton was scoring goals for us in major finals!

I have to disagree with you there about humphries. I dont think bein a gaa fan and a soccer fan are mutually exclusive. he seems to know his stuff on both counts and is a pretty good writer. With Staunton I think he should have kept his granny rule comments to himself. even if that was goin to be the policy he was goin to persue he should have been a bit more subtle about it. steep learning curve for him with dealing with the press and dont be surprised if he becomes a bit more guarded in his dealings with them.and rightly so.

[Gandhi]

I have to disagree with you there about humphries. I dont think bein a gaa fan and a soccer fan are mutually exclusive. he seems to know his stuff on both counts and is a pretty good writer. With Staunton I think he should have kept his granny rule comments to himself. even if that was goin to be the policy he was goin to persue he should have been a bit more subtle about it. steep learning curve for him with dealing with the press and dont be surprised if he becomes a bit more guarded in his dealings with them.and rightly so.

I didn't say being a gaa fan and a soccer fan are mutually exclusive. But if you read his column regularly you'll have noticed he is far more into GAA than any other sport. He is also a good writer - I did actually say that by the way!
I was making the point that his comments reflect the fact that soccer is not his main area of interest or knowledge, because he seems unaware of the lack of quality in the current squad. And I'm not saying that to get on anyone's case, it is just stating the obvious. And if he doesn't see that, he isn't that much of an Ireland supporter (I'm not questioning anyone's patriotism, I just think he doesn't devote sufficient time/ interest to realise that one of Stan's main problems is the lack of quality in the current squad)

[colster]

I have no problem with the Granny Rule but I think they should change the Rule so that you have to declare by the age of 21.
I think that anyone who plays for the senior team must have played or been eligible for an under age team.
I think while the rules allow it fans are going to be divided over the likes of Nolan, McSheffrey, Kitson.
What do you think?

[Roverstillidie]

my main problem with humphries is that he is a boyezzzz cu.nt.

to say he writes a football article once every year is utterly wrong. remember the keane saga?

stauntons first press conference and he puts his feet in it. magic.

[Gandhi]

my main problem with humphries is that he is a boyezzzz cu.nt.

to say he writes a football article once every year is utterly wrong. remember the keane saga?

stauntons first press conference and he puts his feet in it. magic.

god almighty does anyone actually read what other people post before they go off the deep end disagreeing with it? Did I say "he only writes one soccer article a year"
of COURSE he wrote loads about roy Keane/ Saipan but he was involved because it was the World Cup, it was big news, blah blah blah. How many articles has he written about Roy Keane's move to Celtic? Drogs winning the Cup? Kevin Doyle's transfer to Reading? He doesn't write about soccer unless there is some sort of big story (such as Ireland getting a new manager), the rest of the time he really has no better than a vague interest, compared to his real interest which seems to be GAA! Sheesh!

[Roverstillidie]

god almighty does anyone actually read what other people post before they go off the deep end disagreeing with it? Did I say "he only writes one soccer article a year"

yes you did, here

Every now and then (maybe once or twice in every 100 Locker Room columns) he writes something about association football, and I find it very hard to take him seriously, knowing that he is not particularly interested in it. !

ie once or twice every two years.

you silly ****er.

[NeilMcD]

Also to be fair to him Emmet Malone is the Football Correspondent. Humphries is the feature writer. So he writes about the Olympics and the World Cup etc. He also has his column every Monday which is locker room which could be about any sport every week but its about GAA a good bit and probably soccer 2nd. But he also writes about rowing and athletics etc. I am not sure people realise how papers work. You can't just come in and write about anything u want. Its Emmet Malone that is the Soccer correspondent for the times so its his duty to write about Doyle at Reading etc. Humphries deals with the big stories. Maybe coming up to a big match he may interview an Ireland player or manager, i.e. Duff or Kerr.

[eirebhoy]

you silly ****er.

Come on, there's only one thing posts like that lead to.

In case anyone is interested, Humphries article in today's Irish Times is about Leo Messi.

[klein4]

the thing that always bothers me about humphries(and anyone else who writes about GAA) is that he has no problem earning money writing about how GAA players shouldnt be allowed be paid for playing. does he not see the hypocracy in that?

[Jerry The Saint]

the thing that always bothers me about humphries(and anyone else who writes about GAA) is that he has no problem earning money writing about how GAA players shouldnt be allowed be paid for playing. does he not see the hypocracy in that?

Probably not. To be honest I don't see it either. Did I miss some big debate about whether sports journalism would suffer if people started getting paid for it

[OwlsFan]

Humpreys is a GAA man through and through. He wrote this afterall:

GAA versus soccer
no contest


By Tom Humphries
LOCKERROOM:


[THIS IS FROM 1995, AT THE START OF THAT YEAR'S GAELIC FOOTY SEASON]

101 reasons why the GAA is better than Soccer

1. Paul Gascoigne.
2. Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney on a sunny day is one of the loveliest sights in sport.
3. Bribery scandals.
4. Because the championship has always been the Championship. The League of Ireland has had more new improved formulas than most washing powders. Indeed it's not even the LOI anymore.
5. Because by and large GAA heroes don't turn into villains overnight. One week this column would have happily borne Eric Cantona's children. The next week Eric was playing with Manchester United and this column wouldn't give him the time of day. Same old Eric both weeks though.
6. Most GAA players lead fuller lives than your average pro soccer player, thus they have more to talk about and fewer clichés to use.
7. The PA announcer at Landsdowne Road soccer internationals need to be shot. We hate the Mexican wave.
8. Bohs never Win anything anymore.
9. The offside rule can be really tedious.
10. Andy Gray.
11. Jimmy Hill.
12. Micheal O'Murchearaigh.
13. No GAA team would ever wear a strip as vile as Chelsea's away strip last season (1994 - 1995).
14. Nobody sings "you'll never beat the Irish" at GAA games.
15. When Jurgen Klingsmann did his witty diving celebration at the start of the English season every lame brain in the game did the same thing for three months. Why?
16. Since Dalymount decayed, professional Irish soccer has no place to call home despite two World Cups and a Euro Championship.
17. RTE would never foist Brendan O'Carroll on the GAA viewership.
18. There is no piece of sporting equipment available anywhere that is as lovely as a well crafted hurley.
19. Vinnie Jones would bawl like a baby if he ever came up against Brian Mullens (Brian McGilligain, Brian Corcoran..) And that's just three Brians that spring to mind.
20. If something goes wrong the GAA always comes up with some excuse. "The crowd arrived too early" "The cat was sick" In soccer nobody is ever to blame. Rioting in Landsdowne Road can be put down to what insurers call an act of God.
21. The GAA may not appreciate its women as much as it should but at least we all know who Angela Downey is. The most famous woman in English soccer is Dani Behr.
22. It's hard to feel passionate about any sport that John Major feels passionate about. Plus David Mellor never made love to anyone while wearing a GAA jersey.
23. "Clash of the Ash" was a lovely film about hurling. "Escape to Victory" was a soccer film with Pele and Sly Stallone in it.
24. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go.
25. Spivs. Who asked DISC to ask Wimbledon to move to Dublin anyway.
26. People working for Irish soccer clubs who double as scouts for English clubs. Some mistake surely.
27. No soccer manager was ever as warm and as entertaining as Eamon Coleman.
28. No segregation at GAA matches.
29. No naff furry hats on men who should know better at soccer matches.
30. No naff jewellery on men who should know better at GAA matches.
31. There were 15,154 fans at Irelands last home World Cup game pre Jack Charlton. Now you couldn't squeeze all the "real" fans into the Maracana with a shoehorn.
32. The GAA player who performs in front of 70,000 at the weekend will be teaching your kids on Monday or he'll be selling you meat or fixing your drains or representing you in court. The soccer player who performs in front of 70,000 fans at the weekend will be moaning about too many games and trying to sell you his personalised brand of leisure wear.
33. GAA players don't sell stories to the Sun.
34. GAA players don't have stories that the Sun would like to buy.
35. Bungs.
36. Backpasses.
37. Barry Venison's dress sense.
38. Jack Walker can buy a league title. You can't buy an All-Ireland.
39. Penalty shootouts. What was wrong with the old interminable FA cup replay sagas eg Leeds and Ipswitch 1975. Heartbreaking but memorable.
40. Jack Boothman doesn't care if America doesn't like GAA. Joao Havelange loses sleep over it.
41. Nobody ever proposed making GAA goals bigger. Not even Charlie Redmond.
42. GAA nicknames are better: Sambo Hunter, Fat Larry, Babs, Bingo and so on. Soccer players just add a Y to each others surnames.
43. The Munster Hurling Final.
44. The Munster Football Final.
45. Dublin vs Meath is a real local derby. What does Liverpool vs Everton mean to Jan Molby or Daniel Amokachi.
46. You always remember what county your Irish teacher came from.
47. We care so much about the weaker GAA counties that we sensitively refer to them as the "so called weaker counties". English soccer just makes the premier league smaller.
48. How many soccer players does it take to change a light bulb? Eleven. One to stick it in. ten to hug and kiss him afterwards.
49. Why can nobody agree on the size of the crowd at domestic soccer games.
50. Under age players get to be part of the biggest days in hurling and football. The Irish U21 team are sadly neglected. The "real' fan seldom turn up to see them.
51. Soccer players go to Rumours. GAA players go to the pub.
52. If a GAA player ever jumped at a spectator like Eric Cantona did the rest of his team would join in. So would the rest of the crowd.
53. You can't play a defensive game of football or hurling.
54. Razzmatazz. OK the Artane Boys band may be boring but why does it take Sky 3 hours to show a 90 minute soccer game.
55. Soccer players always describe the game they have just played in the same guarded way. There is nothing like a GAA player cutting loose "He ate the ****e out of us" said an Offaly player of Eamon Cregans half time speech in last years All Ireland.
56. The championship means summer. The FA (or FAI) Cup means winter.
57. DJ Carey in full flight.
58. Barry Fry, Ken Bates, Ron Noades, Robert Chase. Take your pick.
59. Television runs soccer. Schoolteachers run the GAA.
60. Vinnie Jones grabbed Gascoignes testicles. Paudie O'Se decked Joe McNally during the National Anthem. McNally learnt his lesson. Gascoigne just got worse.
61. Joe Brolly in full flight, on the field or off it.
62. Jimmy Barry Murphy was the coolest skinhead ever to grace a playing field.
63. There's nothing like seeing the bonfires blazing when a winning team reaches it's home borders.
64. The GAA season always leaves you wanting more. The soccer season leaves soccer people demanding less. Fewer games please.
65. Three points for a win is a distortion of the games natural balance.
66. "Soccer isn't a matter of life and death, it's much more important than that" isn't such a witty thing to have said.
67. The GAA is just a part of life and death.
68. Gaelic Games is harder to play. Niall Quinn and Kevin Moran got out and went to soccer. You never see anyone coming the other direction.
69. GAA players run faster, hit harder and last longer. Nobody acts like a grenade just went off if they get tripped.
70. Soccer is so subtle that Wimbledon can win the FA cup.
71. There's no one quite so bitter as a soccer bigot.
72. They think Ryan Giggs is the new George Best. Sure sign of decline.
73. GAA teams are numbered one to fifteen, soccer teams read like the national lottery results.
74. All soccer players wear shinguards. Some hurling players even wear helmets.
75. Ever penny we put into soccer stays at the top. Most of what we spend on GAA trickles down.
76. The GAA is about where you're from. Soccer is mainly about who you like.
77. A scoreless draw in GAA would be quite a novelty.
78. The GAA offer a journalist the chance to travel to Kerry regularly.
79. The GAA won't sell us all out by starting a European SuperLeague.
80. Under 13,000 fans attended the FAI Cup final. "Real" fans would rather watch Wimbledon play AN other at a new characterless stadium built by suits for suits.
81. Old soccer players get testimonials, Old GAA players just slip down to junior. Dog rough it is too.
82. Bubble perms never made it to Croke Park.
83. Throw ins set the adrenalin pumping faster than tip offs.
84. GAA fans never have time for the Mexican wave.
85. Rupert Murdoch doesn't own the GAA.
86. Ghosted soccer biographies.
87. All of soccer works to filter the best players to the top teams. GAA sides always get to keep their heroes.
88. Dual players still carry a certain romantic cachet.
89. The Dergvate, Gay Priors pub, Tommy Tubridy's, The Bradog, The Drovers, MacGleogans, The Pound Bar, Mc Sweeney's.
90. No soccer team has a name quite as lovely as that belonging to Fighting Cocks of Carlow.
91. Danny Lynch. The thinking person's PR man.
92. The InterToto Cup. The ZDS Date Cup, The Simod Trophy.
93. Guinness ISN'T inscribed in large letters on the Liam McCarthy Cup. Carling IS inscribed in large letters on the Premier league trophy.
94. Doubling on an overhead sliotar is a more beautiful thing than volleying a soccer ball.
95. Roy of the Rovers was a prat.
96. GAA goalposts cast nicer shadows on summer evenings.
97. There are always two men in white coats behind each goal at GAA games. Very wise.
98. The new Cusack stand. We call it space age.
99. Sideline cuts, high catches, summer schools to define the tackle.
100. The Dubs.
101. The Championship is here again.

[del fuego]

Humpreys is a GAA man through and through. He wrote this afterall:

GAA versus soccer
no contest


By Tom Humphries
LOCKERROOM:


[THIS IS FROM 1995, AT THE START OF THAT YEAR'S GAELIC FOOTY SEASON]

101 reasons why the GAA is better than Soccer

all sounds a bit tongue in cheek to me! Doesn't seem like he's taken it too seriously.

[Bald Student]

4. Because the championship has always been the Championship. The League of Ireland has had more new improved formulas than most washing powders. Indeed it's not even the LOI anymore.

We can hardly fault him on that one.

[Den Perry]

what a f***** tosser. I can't believe he wrote some of that ****. It does my head in when people say "sure you could watch a soccer match for 90 minutes and no goals scored.....you wouldn't see that in a hurling match!!!"

Well I would rather watch a nil-nil draw between Darlington and Hartlepool than Kilkenny beating Offaly and Wexford by 30odd points i the Championship...don't get me wrong, I love hurling but I hate that sh*t talk.

Also his refernce to Quinn and Moran and the fact that soccer players would not change to GAA? fact is because you get paid for playing soccer mate. You can make a livingout of it. Don't anybody try and tell me Gaelic football is a more skillful game than Association football

[NeilMcD]

I think it was a joke to be honest.

[gustavo]

the fact that he is using mostly english soccer examples is telling i mean what has that got to do with why it gaa is supposedly better

[Gandhi]

he just prefers GAA, he doesn't write about association football unless he has to (normally), he doesn't know as much as he should before opening his mouth to talk about it given the privileged position he enjoys as a member of the media, but there you go
I suppose it would be a dull old world if we all had to take out a qualification in something before we were allowed to have an opinion on it

[Gandhi]

yes you did, here



ie once or twice every two years.

you silly ****er.

oh silly me
whatever, lad.

[Emmet]

Yep Pete. Some people don't like the idea of 2nd/3rd gen players, I don't mind, IF they are good enough and we do well - but for God's sake, they have to be good enough....

I think that's the crucial point there - they have got to improve the team not just add to the squad. When Charlton was at it in the 80s he did bring in some very good players who really enhanced the side - I think that is what Staunton / Robson should be looking at: actually asking themselves will this player make what we already have better?