Stephen Hunt

[ForzaForth]

Stephen Hunt's pub in Rosslare is opening this weekend according to his Twitter account.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www1.skysports.com/transfer/n...l-with-ipswich

Contract extensions for Stephen Hunt and Mick McCarthy at Ipswich.

[Stuttgart88]

In what thread was the Stephen Hunt v Joe Brolly spat discussed?

Anyway, I think Hunt had no case to answer and Brolly made a fool of himself, but in any event Hunt wins the row hands down in this article. Only criticism is that maybe he got too riled by Brolly.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-30805040.html

The excellent GAA and Sligo Rovers loving Eamonn Sweeney has a good response too

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gael...-30805047.html

[tetsujin1979]

Brolly's been digging a hole for himself ever since his remarks about Kerry not having any players coming through earlier this year. Hunt made himself a target with his original article about GAA players and the commitment shown by footballers to their careers.
Whatever respect I had for Brolly has gone in the last few weeks, after his comments on NewsTalk about Roy Keane, and now engaging with Hunt in a battle of words - and losing. Hunt's acquitted himself well, gave his arguments, explained them, and stood by them. Brolly's swore a lot and shouted remarks from the parapets. The comment about Brian Cody mopping the changing rooms after training was ludicrous

It just shows you the difference. Do you think Louis van Gaal is going to mop the Old Trafford changing room floors? You gotta be kidding me – unless he’s being paid a huge amount by a mop-making company.

Of course Van Gaal isn't going to mop the floor, he's too busy managing the club! If I walked into a changing room and saw the manager mopping the floor, I'd think the place was out of money!

[Olé Olé]

I agree with Tets. Not exactly what one expects when a softly-spoken solicitor from Derry collides with an often incomprehensible Waterford footballer.

[geysir]

I didn't read what Brolly wrote and Hunt's article was in reaction to Brolly, fair enough, but what Sweeney neglects to explain is the context for GAA players whining about Hunt's comments. From what i read the GAA players were mainly doing a version of the Four Yorkshiremen", in reaction to Hunt,saying 'after training i just rest' .. 'rest all the time'. 'have a total rest'. 'I rest between rests and then follow up with another rest'.
The reaction was mainly around the 'rest' bit, 'rest would be luxury, I would love to have a rest now and again but after training I have to go out and work and after work I have to go and train'.

[DeLorean]

Hunt's first article was a bit all over the place though and left himself (and his fellow soccer players) open to criticism/jokes. It was suicide really because he had the winning of this little battle hands down, if he just put as much care into the first article as he did the more recent one. He got there in the end I suppose.

This was his first article for anybody who missed it.

And Brolly's reply.

[paul_oshea]

The general consensus was that Hunt is a flute and is hardly in a position to be making the comment especially when he was out of contract and is "only" with Ipswich.

Eamonn Sweeneys piece was very good I thought and fair play to him, really enjoy his articles, ye'd know he is from the west. He has a lot of cop on.

I listened to hunts radio interview and i understood clearly what he was getting at, he wasnt as coherent or succint in the original article but it was pretty clear what he was trying to say. Anyone with an agenda though would have ignored that, but for the general public they all thought it was an out of touch Footballer who doesnt know what he is talking about.

[DeLorean]

In fairness, I love Gaelic Games but some of the pretentious notions amongst it's followers is squirmingly cringing. Same goes for those who don't like it referring to Gaelic Football as bogball, etc. I really don't understand the logic behind sport-wars.

[paul_oshea]

Well a lot of people I spoke did mention that the Dublin footballers, Mayo and to a lesser extent Donegal would be well up there in terms of the training they do. But that's the whole point, he wasn't on about the training and he never said that, he got sidetracked with that a bit on the radio interview as well.

I definitely feel there is more of the anti brigade from GAA circles, its the majority inner city dubs or working class areas and a few in cork that refer to GAA as bogball, but there are a far less number.

There is definitely a trait of inverted snobbery in GAA, but as I have pointed out to many in the past, when the time comes even the most die hard(almost always CD or Tets no doubt will pull out a few exceptions to the rule - or maybe not cos they are coming with a soccer agenda) will follow the money a la hunty, doyle, long and coleman. 2 of the that group would definitely have been involved at some stage at inter county level.

[DeLorean]

There is definitely a trait of inverted snobbery in GAA

Yeah and we can't forget that there's an internal snobbery civil war going on as well, mostly comprised of 'hurling people' who hate Gaelic Football.

[geysir]

If the amount of training had little or nothing to do with Hunt's point then he shouldn't have made an expansive meal of the training/rest descriptions in the article
What Sweeney blithely ignored to mention was that most of the GAA players he referred to were mocking Hunt over the training/ rest /training /rest description,
a lifestyle that a serious county player could only dream about for 7 months of the year. And that's where perceptions of Hunt's credibility, fell árseways in that article.

[DeLorean]

Brolly's been digging a hole for himself ever since his remarks about Kerry not having any players coming through earlier this year.

And strangely enough, that seemed a reasonable point of view at the time.

[eitoof]

Quite possibly the most tedious "argument" I've ever come across.

My oranges are much better that your apples.

[BonnieShels]

But have you seen his banana? Woof.

[Stuttgart88]

Hunt's first article was a bit all over the place though and left himself (and his fellow soccer players) open to criticism/jokes. It was suicide really because he had the winning of this little battle hands down, if he just put as much care into the first article as he did the more recent one. He got there in the end I suppose.

This was his first article for anybody who missed it.

And Brolly's reply.

I'm struggling to see much wrong in Hunt' first article. The headline probably wasn't attributable to Hunt.

The article goes:
Brolly thinks footballers aren't role models
They can be role models though.
Most have clean living, even totally boring lifestyles because they are so focused around training and recovery
Hunt is from GAA country and loves it, so there is no natural disrespect
But full time pro football is very demanding and many fall by the wayside, even if they have the talent, because it is such a tough environment to succeed in
GAA players probably think they could do it too, but knowing both sports Hunt says footy is way tougher than these guys think

I suspect Hunt is fed up with the footballers have it easy jibes. The only mistake I found in Hunt article is the "wouldn't know what hit them" bit which comes across as antagonistic, but I suspect was prompted by Brolly's' digs.

I think Brolly has made a tool of himself here. Hunt comes across as much smarter in his writing (based on his other articles) than as a spoken interviewee. He has gone up in my estimation.

I reckon there are similarities between footballers, actors, singers etc. A tiny proportion get all the big gigs. For the rest it's tough.

[Stuttgart88]

The general consensus was that Hunt is a flute and is hardly in a position to be making the comment especially when he was out of contract and is "only" with Ipswich.

Eamonn Sweeneys piece was very good I thought and fair play to him, really enjoy his articles, ye'd know he is from the west. He has a lot of cop on.

I listened to hunts radio interview and i understood clearly what he was getting at, he wasnt as coherent or succint in the original article but it was pretty clear what he was trying to say. Anyone with an agenda though would have ignored that, but for the general public they all thought it was an out of touch Footballer who doesnt know what he is talking about.

The whole thing has got nearly ten thousand views on thescore.ie and the opinion there is quite strongly in favour of Hunt.

[geysir]

I'm struggling to see much wrong in Hunt' first article. The headline probably wasn't attributable to Hunt.

The article goes:
Brolly thinks footballers aren't role models
They can be role models though.
Most have clean living, even totally boring lifestyles because they are so focused around training and recovery
Hunt is from GAA country and loves it, so there is no natural disrespect
But full time pro football is very demanding and many fall by the wayside, even if they have the talent, because it is such a tough environment to succeed in
GAA players probably think they could do it too, but knowing both sports Hunt says footy is way tougher than these guys think

I suspect Hunt is fed up with the footballers have it easy jibes. The only mistake I found in Hunt article is the "wouldn't know what hit them" bit which comes across as antagonistic, but I suspect was prompted by Brolly's' digs.

I think Brolly has made a tool of himself here. Hunt comes across as much smarter in his writing (based on his other articles) than as a spoken interviewee. He has gone up in my estimation.

I reckon there are similarities between footballers, actors, singers etc. A tiny proportion get all the big gigs. For the rest it's tough.

Hardly anybody in the GAA world takes Brolly seriously. For most viewers of the Sunday game, Brolly grates on the nerves, he is disrespectful to footballers, to teams, to managers and to his fellow pundits, he has a rare capacity to wind up everyone. Brolly is a barrister and reenacts that provocative style of argument in the real world, when he should just leave it behind in his workplace.

[paul_oshea]

I have to say he is one of the worst speakers in the gaa world I've heard especially considering he is a barrister. I've seen many and most of the well known figures. I'd even put dara o'se ahead of him there was something more human about him and you could relate to, I got nothing from brolly in that respect and a lot of waffle.

His poor wife if the tea is cold or the spuds undercooked.

[BonnieShels]

I actually don'r mind Brolly as a pundit. I hate these public provocations. They should be kept for winding up Spillane and only Spillane.