Why so anti GAA?

[clash]

How in gods name can you say we are sports mad with that sectarianism existing and no one batting an eyelid .... that fact that they can actually over look that in that advert (which doesn't have an eL) spells it out.

We're sports mad because for our size we have a LOT of sports and a LOT of sports attendances and a LOT of diversity.

What "ban" on foreign games ? So the GAA doesn't let foreign games into their stadia unless asked and paid for. Its their property, their stadia why shouldn't they only let in who they want to and get money for it ?

I play Rugby, have done for years. Do any of the GAA people i know care ? No because some of them play soccer/rugby too.

But the 'soccer' they watch is in a country where the game they banned has its origin.

Again, whats your point ?

GAA fans/players would almost all watch soccer/rugby whereas you can't say the same for soccer fans.

[A face]

What ban is that ?

GAA members in Kerry spreading broken glass on pitches where a foreign game is played

1. I'm COI, Sam McGuire was COI and one of the last Presidents of the GAA was COI. Theres no Sectarianism in the GAA.

There is .... i'm sorry clash, there is no getting away from it. I hate saying it but there is.

2. I don't agree with American Football being played in Croker but they were a "once" off.

Three or four times wasn't it ?? Am i wrong here ??

Don't know anything about it.

You're better off ... horrible story

Your point ?

I think they are just general points about the GAA

Again, your point ?

Same again

The government funding was relatively small compared to the price of Croke Park and other grounds. The FAI have access to the same funds.

Dont want to go here but all i'll say is it isnt a level playing field

1. What political power ?

That'll be the power the exercise on a regular basis, clash .... its there, its a can of worms bring this one up but believe me, its there

2. And what sport has a higher participation then GAA in this country ?

That'll be a foreign game ...... Sawkir !!

???

Double standards, and hypocritical is what he's saying.

Most GAA league games have higher attendances then EL finals.

Not a chance .... i only go to GAA league games because of the rat race that is tickets for All Ireland, attendance are brutal. Either Cork or Kilkenny have been in the All Ireland final for the last few years .... when they play a league game in either Cork or Kilkenny the attendances are very poor, same team barr a few changes you know yourself but the crowds are nowhere to be seen. Good games, seriously ... nothing to suggest there would be a low attendance but there is.

[A face]

We're sports mad because for our size we have a LOT of sports and a LOT of sports attendances and a LOT of diversity.

We do have different codes but if you were to compare funding, resources, media coverage you wouldn't see that picture.

What "ban" on foreign games ? So the GAA doesn't let foreign games into their stadia unless asked and paid for. Its their property, their stadia why shouldn't they only let in who they want to and get money for it ?

GAA members in alot of clubs cannot play other sports, this has relaxed in recent times but is definitely still very evident. Alot of schools even go to the extent that not only do they ban 'foregin games', they ban either hurling or gaelic (whatever county is stronger) .... i mean clash, if its on that kind of level, you'd have to admit .... it is a problem.

There are countless stories to be told on this topic

I play Rugby, have done for years. Do any of the GAA people i know care ? No because some of them play soccer/rugby too.

Likewise in soccer football, but people are allowed to open play for other codes and would not suffer at the hands of selectors, obviously if you dont train then its a different matter but that can be said for every sport.

Again, whats your point ?

Do you not see anything wrong with that?

GAA fans/players would almost all watch soccer/rugby whereas you can't say the same for soccer fans.

I'd say more so with soccer crowds, there is actually not restriction on that level. What i'm saying is that if you are a member of a GAA club and it was common knowledge that you went to the FAI cup final or something, heads would turn, not from all but i have seen this myself.

[reder]

I like this debate.

Anyway I have 2 personal experiences to add.

Firstly in my final year in uni, we all had to complete individual projects and we had to select our topic before the end of the 3rd year. During the summer of 3rd year a guy from my class who played intercounty football won a Leinster Championship medal. He had always been struggling with the course barely passing each year and by his own admission was really screwed with the final year project. Anyway we all arrived back in Sept after his win and noticed that a new but very easy project had appeared on the list and it was assigned to him. He still struggled but managed to submit it and ended up with a 1:1. The next year he pursued a masters but dropped out but still managed to get a job as a consultant in a financial company, (with no industrial experience) where he got extra time off for games. I know people with 1-1 on scholarships who couldnt get even an entry level job!

Secondly I worked in research in BOI on Baggot street and once in a blue moon we had "team jersey" day for charity. Unofficially, it was made abundantly clear that non-gaa jerseys were not allowed.

Face it clash, there is a serious sectarian problem running right through the GAA.

How well was the minutes silence for the London bombings observed last year during the Ulster final in Croke Park. (Look up archives of the Herald and see the front page from the Monday after if you dont know.)

[MariborKev]

What "ban" on foreign games ? So the GAA doesn't let foreign games into their stadia unless asked and paid for. Its their property, their stadia why shouldn't they only let in who they want to and get money for it ?

And even if you ask and offer to pay, you still won't get in......

[bigmac]

On the offer point -> Why would the GAA need/want Landsowne for ladies/underage ? They have more then enough stadia to fill ladies/underage if Croker was ever unavailible. What they don't have is stadia for (or at least stadia in Dublin) to fill senior mens football and hurling.

You asked had the FAI/IRFU ever offered Landsdowne to the GAA - the answer is clearly yes. The same courtesy was not extended reciprocally.

We're sports mad because for our size we have a LOT of sports and a LOT of sports attendances and a LOT of diversity.

No we don't have a lot of attendences. Aside from the bandwagon support and occasional big day out, Irish people in general are not passionate, committed and loyal supporters of Irish teams. The lowest attendences for any team's home match is an indication of how many "sports mad" people follow that team, and I think you'll find, in all sports, that it's pretty pathetic when compared to a final.

Most GAA league games have higher attendances then EL finals.

Not comparing like with like. There are 5 premier division teams in Dublin (plus Rovers), who each play 16-17 home matches a year. Therefore supporters are split amongst these 6 clubs. If you add up the average gate of each of the clubs, then you get just under 8000 attending soccer matches in Dublin.
There is one Dublin football team, who play 3-5 home matches in the league (depending on progress.). What is the average gate for a Dublin league match? Even more interestingly, what is the average gate for a Dublin Hurling league match?

On the GAA's attitude towards other sports, why is it that soccer and rugby are given special status in the pantheon of foreign sports? Why was there boxing and American Football in Croke Park, and All-Ireland dates changed to accommodate a few rounds of golf, but there was such a furore over rugby and soccer?

In a final point, both Croke Park and Merrion Square are unrepresentative of the grassroots of both associations. There are hardcore power-hungry people who love nothing more than being on committees and wielding the rule book for their five minutes of fame, when the people who really do all the work, the coaches, players and parents just go about their business quietly. I KNOW that this is the case in the FAI and no less than Sean Kelly said that the ordinary people in the GAA don't care what Croke Park says.

[clash]

GAA members in Kerry spreading broken glass on pitches where a foreign game is played

Never heard that, when was it ?

There is .... i'm sorry clash, there is no getting away from it. I hate saying it but there is.

So your saying "my" kind isn't welcome in the GAA ?

Three or four times wasn't it ?? Am i wrong here ??

By "Once off" i sort of meant its more a "show for shows sake". i.e > American Football is never going to take off in Ireland, it isn't a competitior to the GAA at the moment. I don't see it as any different to allowing Bono into Croke Park. (Which i also don't like).

Dont want to go here but all i'll say is it isnt a level playing field

And why not ?

Not a chance .... i only go to GAA league games because of the rat race that is tickets for All Ireland, attendance are brutal. Either Cork or Kilkenny have been in the All Ireland final for the last few years .... when they play a league game in either Cork or Kilkenny the attendances are very poor, same team barr a few changes you know yourself but the crowds are nowhere to be seen. Good games, seriously ... nothing to suggest there would be a low attendance but there is.

But lower then your standard EL match ? I highly doubt it. I was in Semple there for the league semi's.

[anto eile]

I think you will find that this is an issue in the majority of schools the length and breadth of the country. It was certainly the case in Primary school for me. Not so much in secondary.

10 years ago me and my classmates in primary school (an irish school) approached the headmaster to set up a football team in the school. we all played gaa and basketball,and both quite successfully too, for the school,yet the idea of the school haveing football wasnt even considered.

ive played both football and gaa for many years,enjoyed both immensely,and successfully,so im in a good place to pass comment,when i say that sporting bigotry is a one-way thing in this country,and it doesnt stem from the association kind of football

[anto eile]

.... talk about WUMage

Although I agree that the fuc|<ers shouldn't be booing Rangers players.

youre right there.
they should be booing every opposition player

[Terry]

right going by what you have said, it fairly obvious that you are/were a limerick supporter if indeed you did support a club. I cant believe that the hatred in the city towards the GAA is as big as you say? Im not a support of the GAA at all as a few GUFC supporters could tell you but I would never go to such lengths as you have said that you say you have seen.

[daveh]

All i can say lads is that i love the eircom league and the GAA equally and i cant see why others dont

I never saw the rivalry thing in my own community and i happily played both soccer and hurling and football with no hastle whatsoever,maybe i was just lucky but i know of other people on this forum who do the same even today, its just not a big deal to anyone where I live

For what its worth I only play Hurling now but I gave up soccer on my own, no pressure to do so

[khoop]

Asking an Irish soccer fan why he hates the GAA, would be a bit like asking the Jews why they hate Hitler.

[Sam Savic]

A few people posting here seem to be under the impression that the gaa have opened up Croke Park. Not really. Rule 42 still exists. Munster needn't ask to play at the Gaelic Grounds etc.
Personally, I would rather Ireland played their home matches in Celtic Park until Lansdowne is ready. The FAI should not be funding an organisation that has a racist rule on its' books.
Also, the gaa have received more structural funding than ALL other sports that are registered with the Sports Council.
You only have to read about the bigoted comments coming from the hierarchy at Thomas Davis to understand why Rovers fans, who formerly supported gaa in the county, have given up.
Another reason why I dislike the gaa - compare a coaching session of 12 to 15 year olds at a gaa club to coaching at a football club: gaa club - "you have to turn up for us on Sunday or else......". football club - "I don't mind what sport you play, whether it's running, swimming or cycling, it can only benefit you in the long run". Not typical at every club of course, but the above is a genuine case of two Level 2 coaches in their respective sports.

[Réiteoir]

Didn't the GAA rufuse to let Omagh Town use a larger capacity GAA Ground to host a friendly against a Liverpool XI to raise money for the families of the victims of the bombing up there - because a game of football would be played on perceived "sacred ground"?

[MariborKev]

Correct!!!

[sullanefc]

Didn't the GAA rufuse to let Omagh Town use a larger capacity GAA Ground to host a friendly against a Liverpool XI to raise money for the families of the victims of the bombing up there - because a game of football would be played on perceived "sacred ground"?

Well that's just disgraceful if true.

[Réiteoir]

Correct!!!

Thought so - there was a double page article on it in "When Saturday Comes" a few years back

[Marked Man]

Anyway. One thing about 'soccer' - at least it wasn't made up in the late nineteenth century to mimic 'soccer'.

.

And football was?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...icsports.html:

Ancient Origins

Gaelic football and hurling have been arousing Irish passions for a long, long time. Football became popular as early as the 16th century, when teams might have consisted of all the able-bodied men of a town or parish. In those earliest days, the rather unorganized game would begin between the two towns and end when one side had managed to force the ball across a line into the other's territory.

Or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelic_football:

The first reference to any code of football in Ireland occurs in the Statute of Galway of 1527, which allowed the playing of football and archery but banned "hokie' — the hurling of a little ball with sticks or staves" as well as other sports. However even "foot-ball" was banned by the severe Sunday Observance Act of 1695, which imposed a fine of one shilling (a substantial amount at the time) for those caught playing sports. It proved difficult, if not impossible for the authorities to enforce the Act and the earliest recorded match in Ireland was one between Louth and Meath, at Slane, in 1712.

By the early 19th century, various football games, referred to collectively as caid, were popular in Kerry , especially the Dingle Peninsula. Father W. Ferris described two forms of caid: the "field game" in which the object was to put the ball through arch-like goals, formed from the boughs of two trees, and; the epic "cross-country game" which lasted the whole of a Sunday (after mass) and was won by taking the ball across a parish boundary. "Wrestling", "holding" opposing players, and carrying the ball were all allowed.


I think you'll find that the only truth to the "mimicked" idea is that the founders of the GAA liked the way that soccer's rules had been codified, and that the GAA could learn from this--not that the game was invented by mimicking soccer. http://gaa.ie/page/the_birth_of_cuma...eas_gael.html:

Cusack professed he admired the English Amateur Athletics Association and stated that the GAA "could not do better than adopt somewhat similar rules".

[Macy]

What ban is that ?

GAA members were banned from playing or attending foreign sports. Christ, they even expelled Douglas Hyde for daring to attend an international football match when he was president.

This thread should be locked, as it's clear this WUM is either 12 or doesn't know enough about the organisation he's trying to defend to back his arguement.

[BohDiddley]

Before it's locked, does anyone know of any decent books or studies on the history of GAA, it's opposition to 'sacair', the ban, and suchlike?
It'd be great to get some substance on this -- and to educate our delusional friend.