Unpopular GAA opinions you hold

dxhound2005 · 02-09-2014 2:10am

Would it be unpopular to consider that the rules should apply equally whether it is one on one or fifteen on fifteen in a mass brawl? A referee and some other officials standing a few feet away from something like what happened in Armagh or Limerick this year should be able to pick out some individuals who dragged an opponent to the ground or aimed a kick or a punch. Black card and red card offences. He couldn't be blamed for not being able to see everything.

Instead of which we have commentators saying it's just handbags and shure what can the ref do. Thats just nonsense and it is compounded by the referees themselves usually showing a couple of yellow cards when the melee is over.

If the ref had to apply the rule by the book in sending Keegan off why does it go out the window when twenty players do a lot worse? It is a red card offence to contribute to a melee. We might have a few games at ten a side until the players get the message that mass brawls will not be given the fools pardon any more. But it would be worth it in the longer term. If things go on the way they are heading we will have a very serious injury and then the hand wringing will commence.

http://www.gaa.ie/about-the-gaa/rules-and-regulations/

[I]Immediate Ordering Off Infractions (Red Cards)

1. Striking or attempting to strike with arm, elbow, hand, knee or head.
2. Kicking or attempting to kick with minimal force or with force or causing injury.
3. Behaving in any way which is dangerous to an opponent.
4. Spitting at an opponent.
5. Contributing to a melee.
6. Stamping.
7. Inflicting injury recklessly.
8. Abusive language towards a Referee, Umpire, Linesman or Sideline Official[/I].

Prop Joe · 03-09-2014 10:13am

Eamonn Fitzmaurice is tactically naive,In many many games his tactics have failed.

Cork this year in the Munster final was an exception playing Declan O Sullivan as a Quarter Back

v Mayo twice this year tactics went out the window & Dublin last year was all the Gooch

In saying that though....Fitzmaurice i believe is a super man manager and install's belief in his players.

hurdles1 · 03-09-2014 11:11am

going to put mute button on the tv this weekend. every player/pundit interview we will have to listen to the same ****
over and over again...... suppose... suppose...suppose they have to include this word every sentence.
then we have the regulars.. stepping up to the plate.......dirty ball......match ups....were goin in....goin up.... physicality....
i suppose.....hype.....waiting in the long grass.... suppose suppose .. ah fcuk it give it one more suppose....
with the rail strike id say traffic will be crazy, the big question is. where are all the buses going to stop so a fella can
have a piss and an auld hang samwitch......

citykat · 03-09-2014 12:10pm

hurdles1 wrote: »

going to put mute button on the tv this weekend. every player/pundit interview we will have to listen to the same ****
over and over again...... suppose... suppose...suppose they have to include this word every sentence.
then we have the regulars.. stepping up to the plate.......dirty ball......match ups....were goin in....goin up.... physicality....
i suppose.....hype.....waiting in the long grass.... suppose suppose .. ah fcuk it give it one more suppose....
with the rail strike id say traffic will be crazy, the big question is. where are all the buses going to stop so a fella can
have a piss and an auld hang samwitch......

you forgot...hunger...

ProudDUB · 03-09-2014 12:57pm

citykat wrote: »

you forgot...hunger...

....and manliness

and

....shure there was no malice in it at all...

eyescreamcone · 04-09-2014 3:21pm

Who wants it more??

Ronie32 · 04-09-2014 3:46pm

Ref was right to send off Lee Keegan, should never have been rescinded, a kick is a kick!

Realt Dearg Sec · 04-09-2014 4:01pm

Ronie32 wrote: »

Ref was right to send off Lee Keegan, should never have been rescinded, a kick is a kick!

Is that an unpopular opinion? I mean, I suppose when it comes to refereeing decisions, every opinion is unpopular. If they send someone off correctly we respond that 'he's not that type of player' or 'technically it was a red but it ruined the game', or my favourite, 'by the letter of the law the ref was right, but it wasn't a dirty game so he should have stayed'. If they don't send someone off who should have been then we say 'he should have been gone'. Sunday Game analysts are the worst for this. One week they will complain that the ref was 'making himself the most important person there' by blowing the whistle all day, and the following week the same analyst will have a whole clip show with a litany of small fouls that the ref failed to blow up. The analyst always looks clever and the ref always looks like a gimp.

And then we complain about the standards of reffing, while changing the standards every week. You have to love the Association in fairness.

EDIT: regarding what you wrote, you're obviously right. He kicked him. But he's not that type of player, there was no malice in it, it ruined the game as a spectacle, and the ref was wrong even though he was right. And then the CCCC or whoever went along with that, for no reason whatsoever that's within the rules.

keane2097 · 04-09-2014 4:43pm

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Is that an unpopular opinion? I mean, I suppose when it comes to refereeing decisions, every opinion is unpopular. If they send someone off correctly we respond that 'he's not that type of player' or 'technically it was a red but it ruined the game', or my favourite, 'by the letter of the law the ref was right, but it wasn't a dirty game so he should have stayed'. If they don't send someone off who should have been then we say 'he should have been gone'. Sunday Game analysts are the worst for this. One week they will complain that the ref was 'making himself the most important person there' by blowing the whistle all day, and the following week the same analyst will have a whole clip show with a litany of small fouls that the ref failed to blow up. The analyst always looks clever and the ref always looks like a gimp.

And then we complain about the standards of reffing, while changing the standards every week. You have to love the Association in fairness.

EDIT: regarding what you wrote, you're obviously right. He kicked him. But he's not that type of player, there was no malice in it, it ruined the game as a spectacle, and the ref was wrong even though he was right. And then the CCCC or whoever went along with that, for no reason whatsoever that's within the rules.

You have the inevitable buffoonery of the same fans calling for common sense on the Sunday spitting fury over lack of consistency the following Saturday then.

Dots1982 · 04-09-2014 5:16pm

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

it ruined the game as a spectacle, QUOTE]

eh no it didn't

BonnieSituation · 04-09-2014 5:19pm

I discount the values of All-Irelands won in the past... With the 80s barely being worthwhile, the 90s somewhat valuable. Pretty much anything before 2001 is scratched in my head.

Dots1982 · 04-09-2014 5:22pm

BonnieSituation wrote: »

I discount the values of All-Irelands won in the past... With the 80s barely being worthwhile, the 90s somewhat valuable. Pretty much anything before 2001 is scratched in my head.

I agree with this in terms of analysing the game in the present day but not in terms of players and teams from any era before 2001 should be forgotten.

BonnieSituation · 04-09-2014 5:38pm

I would never discount the players. I always believe that the cream will rise to the top. Ring, Rackard and Ó Sé would still be class now.

MaroonAndGreen · 04-09-2014 6:06pm

BonnieSituation wrote: »

I would never discount the players. I always believe that the cream will rise to the top. Ring, Rackard and Ó Sé would still be class now.

Only if they got themselves in the same physical condition as today's top inter county players. Otherwise, they'd be fcuking eaten IMO.

Our games and players are way ahead of what theyve ever been

BonnieSituation · 04-09-2014 6:08pm

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Only if they got themselves in the same physical condition as today's top inter county players. Otherwise, they'd be fcuking eaten IMO.

Our games and players are way ahead of what theyve ever been

That's a given. As I said the cream always rises to the top.

If Páidí was playing today he would have the conditioning as that's the standard.

MaroonAndGreen · 04-09-2014 6:11pm

BonnieSituation wrote: »

That's a given. As I said the cream always rises to the top.

If Páidí was playing today he would have the conditioning as that's the standard.

But in looking back and comparing these players from different ages, do we apply the thinking that ''oh well they would be conditioned like today's players if they were around now'' or do we credit much of today's players as being better because they are better physically than the guys of 20-30 years ago?

Mountainlad · 04-09-2014 6:19pm

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

But in looking back and comparing these players from different ages, do we apply the thinking that ''oh well they would be conditioned like today's players if they were around now'' or do we credit much of today's players as being better because they are better physically than the guys of 20-30 years ago?

Not as black and white as that though. There are plenty of socio-economic factors at play there.

Even consider the Country is much wealthier, there is better knowledge now about physical conditioning. They train more often but going back to O'Sé's time anyway getting to training was probably even more difficult.

It's like people talking about the higher scores or pace of the game in hurling, but that has a lot to do with better pitches, hurleys and sliotars.

MaroonAndGreen · 04-09-2014 6:33pm

Mountainlad wrote: »

Not as black and white as that though. There are plenty of socio-economic factors at play there.

Even consider the Country is much wealthier, there is better knowledge now about physical conditioning. They train more often but going back to O'Sé's time anyway getting to training was probably even more difficult.

It's like people talking about the higher scores or pace of the game in hurling, but that has a lot to do with better pitches, hurleys and sliotars.

But what I mean is... the best players nowadays are better than the best in previous decades. Does it really matter why?

Mountainlad · 04-09-2014 6:56pm

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

But what I mean is... the best players nowadays are better than the best in previous decades. Does it really matter why?

I don't like the comparison of eras myself to be honest.

If even for the simple reason that most commentators weren't around to be able to compare the former set of players against nowadays.

I think any player/team should be compared to those that played in the same era, decade even rather than before because it's pretty irrelevant otherwise and not a like for like comparison.

Whoever made the point above about past achievements should be disregarded when it comes to judging a current group of players for a County, I couldn't agree more and yet the media's favourite word still seems to be tradition.

dxhound2005 · 04-09-2014 7:37pm

Mountainlad wrote: »

Not as black and white as that though. There are plenty of socio-economic factors at play there.

Even consider the Country is much wealthier, there is better knowledge now about physical conditioning. They train more often but going back to O'Sé's time anyway getting to training was probably even more difficult.

It's like people talking about the higher scores or pace of the game in hurling, but that has a lot to do with better pitches, hurleys and sliotars.

If they are training more often they could be in contravention of Rule 11 which prohibits full time training. It was introduced in 1954 to stop teams going into full time training camps in the weeks before All Ireland finals. I know that Kerry and Cavan were "guilty" of this and probably others. When I hear people saying that GAA players are as fit as professional soccer players and they are professional in all but name it makes me wonder how this is achieved, if all of them are truely amateur. Full time training to me would be the equivalent timewise of what professional soccer players do.

Probably just another example of the rules being ignored like the one that says it is a red card to participate in a melee. All the discussion about the nuances of how various rules are being implemented by referees and this elephant in the room is being ignored.

CrabRevolution · 04-09-2014 7:50pm

"Not enough shocks in the championship lately" is like saying "I don't find enough money on the road".

Shocks are called shocks because they are rare, they are by most measurements not supposed to happen, and when they do it generally wasnt predicted.

Another thing that annoys me is that too many people seem to be determined not to let themselves enjoy the championship until they run out of excuses, and even when they do finally admit they've seen good thing, all they do is complain that it took them this long to enjoy it. For example:

After a shock result in provincial first round: "A disgrace, X obviously dont care about the provincials, what an awful champpionship"

After a shock result in Qualifiers: "Obviously X were focused on the provincial title and qualifiers mean nothing to them, what an awful championship"

After a shock in AI semi/quarter: "Great to see, but shame it took this long to happen, really was an awful championship wasnt it?"

Mountainlad · 04-09-2014 10:19pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

If they are training more often they could be in contravention of Rule 11 which prohibits full time training. It was introduced in 1954 to stop teams going into full time training camps in the weeks before All Ireland finals. I know that Kerry and Cavan were "guilty" of this and probably others. When I hear people saying that GAA players are as fit as professional soccer players and they are professional in all but name it makes me wonder how this is achieved, if all of them are truely amateur. Full time training to me would be the equivalent timewise of what professional soccer players do.

Probably just another example of the rules being ignored like the one that says it is a red card to participate in a melee. All the discussion about the nuances of how various rules are being implemented by referees and this elephant in the room is being ignored.

Hmm...that's an interesting one. In 2008, Tony Griffin took a year out from his studies to concentrate on hurling. He was the only player I've ever known to basically do this. I guess players would be full time training so to speak in any foreign training camps they'd have.

Ronie32 · 04-09-2014 10:38pm

Maor Foirnes/Runners deserve everything they get when they get involved in scraps on the pitch, shouldn't be there in the first place!

citykat · 04-09-2014 10:55pm

Mountainlad wrote: »

Hmm...that's an interesting one. In 2008, Tony Griffin took a year out from his studies to concentrate on hurling. He was the only player I've ever known to basically do this. I guess players would be full time training so to speak in any foreign training camps they'd have.

I read an article about your Eoin Kelly saying he quit his job in B & L to concentrate on hurling.
AFAIK Oisin McConville also quit working to concentrate on football also.
I'd say there's more but they probably kept it low profile.

citykat · 04-09-2014 10:56pm

Ronie32 wrote: »

Maor Foirnes/Runners deserve everything they get when they get involved in scraps on the pitch, shouldn't be there in the first place!

Nothing unpopular about that...

Ronie32 · 04-09-2014 10:58pm

citykat wrote: »

Nothing unpopular about that...

What about all the fuss over the doctor and the Armagh player??

citykat · 04-09-2014 11:02pm

Ronie32 wrote: »

What about all the fuss over the doctor and the Armagh player??

Probably something to do with him looking like a rag doll. Just media driven BS.

Ronie32 · 04-09-2014 11:07pm

citykat wrote: »

Probably something to do with him looking like a rag doll. Just media driven BS.

He was obviously at/saying something we didn't fully see. No player pushes a doctor to the ground for no good reason. Agree with you on the media.

Mountainlad · 04-09-2014 11:15pm

citykat wrote: »

I read an article about your Eoin Kelly saying he quit his job in B & L to concentrate on hurling.
AFAIK Oisin McConville also quit working to concentrate on football also.
I'd say there's more but they probably kept it low profile.

How long ago was that? Using the two above examples I wouldn't be advising anyone to do it.

Morte · 04-09-2014 11:25pm

2005 when he was captain I think. I recall him saying the county board gave him some part time work with summer camps.

Unpopular GAA opinions you hold

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