Stephen Hunt

[geysir]

I agree, provocations are best kept private and intimate.

[DeLorean]

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

Did you read the first Hunt article at the time or with the hindsight of the follow up? I'm not saying that you wouldn't have understood what he was getting at, but I do think it reads a lot more clearly having read his second piece. I knew reading the first article that he was inviting a hammering. He was basically saying that the GAA players wouldn't be able to cope, having to rest all of the time instead of going to work. That was never going to go down too well or elicit much sympathy. He never even referenced that while he's busy resting, the typical GAA player was probably laying blocks or cutting silage.

It doesn't really matter if the actual headline was attributable to Hunt or not, as this line implied the same thing (in fact, the wording was a lot stronger):

As somebody who grew up in the GAA, I can tell you that, as much as I love the games, if GAA players tried to live with the level of commitment shown by a professional footballer, they wouldn't know what hit them.

[Olé Olé]

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.

I'm from Kerry and when Kieran Donaghy gave it the whole 'well Joe Brolly, what dya make of that?' I cringed. The reaction was exactly what Brolly sought and he got it on the biggest stage in gaelic football- the pitch on Croke Park on All Ireland final day.

He's a wind-up merchant and is provocative, but he can some very valid points when he shies away from that tone. Either way, I don't disdain him but I wouldn't take his bait. Hunt has done this but has maintained a degree of poise so marks to him. Shouting down a microphone on-pitch doesn't exactly demonstrate poise.

[Stuttgart88]

Did you read the first Hunt article at the time or with the hindsight of the follow up? I'm not saying that you wouldn't have understood what he was getting at, but I do think it reads a lot more clearly having read his second piece. I knew reading the first article that he was inviting a hammering. He was basically saying that the GAA players wouldn't be able to cope, having to rest all of the time instead of going to work. That was never going to go down too well or elicit much sympathy. He never even referenced that while he's busy resting, the typical GAA player was probably laying blocks or cutting silage.

It doesn't really matter if the actual headline was attributable to Hunt or not, as this line implied the same thing (in fact, the wording was a lot stronger):

Yes, it was that passage you quoted that I felt was the bit that let Hunt's first article down. I thought at the time of the first article there was little really to get worked up about, except that line did invite a reaction.

[DeLorean]

Yeah but wasn't that line the essence of the whole piece? The rest of the article was an explanation of why he felt that way, i.e. he has so much resting to do. I thought the whole article was poor to be honest, complaining about having to collect his kids from school or some guy from the airport. Surely those basic chores are common across the footballing world and won't put him at too much of a disadvantage. They certainly don't justify claiming that somebody who has a far more hectic and stressful schedule mightn't be able to hack it. I had enjoyed his articles previously, and his most recent one is far better constructed, but I can see why he came off as a bit of a spoiled prima donna to a lot of people, without further elaboration.

[Stuttgart88]

I honestly didn't see it that way.

[geysir]

I'm from Kerry and when Kieran Donaghy gave it the whole 'well Joe Brolly, what dya make of that?' I cringed. The reaction was exactly what Brolly sought and he got it on the biggest stage in gaelic football- the pitch on Croke Park on All Ireland final day.

He's a wind-up merchant and is provocative, but he can some very valid points when he shies away from that tone. Either way, I don't disdain him but I wouldn't take his bait. Hunt has done this but has maintained a degree of poise so marks to him. Shouting down a microphone on-pitch doesn't exactly demonstrate poise.

I don't see the relevance of comparing the poise of Hunt as he takes yet another rest to compose a poorly expressed piece about how much he has to rest, with the wild emotions of a footballer just after he has won the biggest game of his career and playing a big part in it.

Whether Brolly can make a valid point now and again hardly justifies his existence as a crazed. rude. out of control pundit on rte. You may not be aware but Brolly has written quite some nonsence in columns for the Irish News, because he might write a good piece now and again doesn't add any sense to his many poor pieces.
I don't have an issue at all with Hunt replying, I'd encourage anybody to take issue with Brolly. It's just what Hunt wrote was so corny and poorly constructed and that was exactly why most GAA players (who were referred to by Sweeney) parodied Hunt and his rest routine and having to drive his range rover for 800 metres.

[Stuttgart88]

According to Brolly it was a Ferrari.

[eitoof]

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/co...-30815376.html

Diarmuid Lyng, brother of ex Preston and Ireland underage international, Ciaran wrote this. I think he nailed the "argument" with his closing line.

[Charlie Darwin]

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.

Well in the case of the Dublin footballers, at least, there wouldn't be an awful lot of them with any sort of meaningful job. They train to a pretty good level of professionalism and they live the lifestyle too.

I thought Hunt's original article was very good, but I can see DeLorean's point that it doesn't really read as well if you don't already see where he's coming from, and the rest anecdote was low-lying fruit for a professional troll like Brolly.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/stephe...54217-Dec2014/

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-30865637.html

Hunt on the farcical preparations for Euro 2012.

"One Sunday morning, I went on Setanta with Paul Kimmage. Things were going well, I thought, and then with one sentence, he finished me. "My son wants James McClean to be in the Ireland squad." I stumbled and tried to think of a riposte. "Well, my daughter wants me to be in it," I said, but this wasn't much of an answer. Hell, it might not have been true. She was two years old at the time."

lol

I was still obsessively resting so when my wife would suggest joining her for a walk I would always say I couldn't. Sheasy was the same but David Forde was making us look bad.

Everywhere the wives went, they'd meet Fordey. "He's a real gentleman," my wife would say. "He's always holding doors open for us."

Fordey, or Clark Kent as we started calling him, was out being gallant while we stayed in the hotel, resting. "David Forde's over here having coffee, why can't you have a coffee?" my wife asked.

"He's third-choice 'keeper," I told her. "He's allowed go out. Me and Sheasy have to rest."

lmao

[dong]

Great piece. I hadn't read much of his previous stuff but that reads well.

[Fixer82]

Love reading his articles.
Piece like this gives us real insight. Sounds like they were bored off their heads. 'Stale' is a word that comes to mind.
Delighted he told Tardelli to f@€k off too

[SwanVsDalton]

Cracking read that. Alternately hilarious and tragic.

[tricky_colour]

I don't really see why you can't go for a walk when resting, it is hardly a strenuous activity, they can do their resting
when they are on the pitch like the rest of the squad

Serioulsy though if you are that bad you can't go for a walk you should not be there.

[DannyInvincible]

Enjoyable read, the above piece. However, just one thing; Hunt bigs up his supposed professionalism (and criticises another player's supposed unprofessionalism for playing a golf simulator with his son on the morning of the Spain game when he should have been resting), but since when did sentimentality have a place in professional sport? Does he think he should have played at the Euros simply in return for his dedication and loyalty?

I don't really see why you can't go for a walk when resting, it is hardly a strenuous activity, they can do their resting
when they are on the pitch like the rest of the squad

Serioulsy though if you are that bad you can't go for a walk you should not be there.

Muscles need inactivity to repair and recuperate. I'd be surprised if Hunt's opinion on this isn't influenced very strongly by a consensus within sports medicine.

[tricky_colour]

Enjoyable read, the above piece. However, just one thing; Hunt bigs up his supposed professionalism (and criticises another player's supposed unprofessionalism for playing a golf simulator with his son on the morning of the Spain game when he should have been resting), but since when did sentimentality have a place in professional sport? Does he think he should have played at the Euros simply in return for his dedication and loyalty?

Muscles need inactivity to repair and recuperate. I'd be surprised if Hunt's opinion on this isn't influenced very strongly by a consensus within sports medicine.

I don't think mild activity would do any harm, might even be beneficial. I mean in general exercise is good for you and inactivity is bad.
When muscles are in active they tend to lose strength, If you feel fit enough to walk you should be OK IMO, the experts are often not as expect as
they would have you believe.

[DannyInvincible]

That's not true. Muscles repair themselves when inactive. Prior exertion will result in strengthening through such repair (combined with the necessary nutrition, of course). Sure, exercise is good for you, but no muscle will be able to develop or regenerate through constant exercise. Rest is absolutely essential to muscle growth.

Are you suggesting that you would have a better understanding of this than a qualified doctor or medical practitioner? Their expertise is not self-professed. They have training and qualifications to back it up.

[geysir]

It's different strokes for different folks. Hunt might already have sucked out much of his his energy reserves, he might have taken repeated doses of steroids, his adrenals may already be exhausted. And considering his owl like alertness and hyper type personality, maybe he should relax and give his adrenals a rest.
It's not rest where a person recuperates, it's when they sleep, that's where the body does the repair work needed, therefore the professional's discipline is to ensure a good nights sleep and that there's enough nutrition for the repair. A person who goes out and has a few pints in the evening will not have the required deep sleep needed for the repair.

[OwlsFan]

I wonder who he was having a go at here:

"I remember one player spent what seemed like five minutes picking his family out and waving to them during the warm-up. I wondered about that. Was this a lap of honour or were we here for business? Pick out" your family and give them a wave but don't start blowing them kisses for a few minutes like it's a curtain call at a Broadway show. I thought it was unprofessional.