Are the Dublin footballers the first Professional GAA team??

freddiek

this group of players have reached levels of athleticism and physicality never seen in my lifetime (30 odd years) watching Gaelic football.

there have been great teams in the past but none I believe as focused and dedicated to winning All-Irelands as this Dubs team. its an open secret that not too many of the panel have nine-to-five jobs to worry about and there are some teachers there too that have the whole summer off to concentrate on the GAA.

i bet you when these players are asked what they do, they don't say teacher/doctor/whatever, they'd reply "Gaelic footballer". You have to give them credit for having this professional mindset.

its not clear to me how the other top counties can reach the Dubs' level. its really a matter of catching them on a bad day as both panel-wise and infra-structurally at county level the Dubs are way ahead.

they are about as professional now as they could possibly be without having contracts for payment and that might not be so far away now.

the Dubs are currently 4/9 having just won their province for i think the ninth time in the last 10 years. the Bookies reckon they are unbeatable. I certainly don't ever remember odds like that before for a football team at this stage of the Championship.

hefferboi

They don't get paid a salary so no, they're not a professional team.

Fr Tod Umptious

No OP they are not.

Other teams put in as much effort as Dublin in training, dedication etc, see Donegal 2012.

At the moment Dublin are the best team in what is otherwise a poor championship pool, Cork , Kerry, Meath, Tyrone, Galway etc are all going through rebuilding phases.

They just happen to have a deep panel and a sound manager, but they are no fitter or more dedicated than other teams at the moment

keane2097

Other counties can catch them by training way more coaches, putting more work in at underage level and finding a trainer at senior level who pays as much attention to the numbers game and how it impacts on tactics as Jim Gavin does.

P_1

To be honest I'd imagine that most players in the top counties are probably in jobs that allow them to dedicate a lot more time and effort to their training than other amateur sportsmen. It's kinda similar to how rugby players got by in New Zealand before rugby went professional.

freddiek

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

No OP they are not.

Other teams put in as much effort as Dublin in training, dedication etc, see Donegal 2012.

At the moment Dublin are the best team in what is otherwise a poor championship pool, Cork , Kerry, Meath, Tyrone, Galway etc are all going through rebuilding phases.

They just happen to have a deep panel and a sound manager, but they are no fitter or more dedicated than other teams at the moment

wow, I didn't expect anyone to argue the point that the Dubs are the fittest team around. I thought that was a no-brainer. They're built like brick outhouses and yet are also speedier than players from other counties.

as for the dedication bit, players from other counties just don't have the same time to devote to the football.

Moneymaker

Yawn.

ToxicPaddy

I know a few players of inter county football and hurling. A lot of them get jobs off the back of this and the jobs are flexible enough to allow them put in the hours required for training especially coming up to big games.

It looks good for the company to have such high profile people on their staff and it's benefits the players to have such flexible employers.

Dublin are no different to any other teams who do the exact same things.

Fr Tod Umptious

freddiek wrote: »

wow, I didn't expect anyone to argue the point that the Dubs are the fittest team around. I thought that was a no-brainer. They're built like brick outhouses and yet are also speedier than players from other counties.

as for the dedication bit, players from other counties just don't have the same time to devote to the football.

Take off the blue tinted glasses.

P_1

ToxicPaddy wrote: »

I know a few players of inter county football and hurling. A lot of them get jobs off the back of this and the jobs are flexible enough to allow them put in the hours required for training especially coming up to big games.

It looks good for the company to have such high profile people on their staff and it's benefits the players to have such flexible employers.

Dublin are no different to any other teams who do the exact same things.

I'd hate to be THAT person but that doesn't exactly strike me as being fair to the regular person. I'd imagine that, say Colm Cooper, for example mightn't be the most popular among his colleagues in Ulster Bank for being able to have such a flexible schedule and probably earn the same wage as somebody in the same office who has to put in more work to cover for his flexible schedule.

irishgeo

The GAA are throwing money at them , I am not surprised they are so far ahead.

flutered

back in the day when a well known builder had a connection with them, the were supposed to be on a house each to bring sam back, they failed, so?.

Fr Tod Umptious

P_1 wrote: »

I'd hate to be THAT person but that doesn't exactly strike me as being fair to the regular person. I'd imagine that, say Colm Cooper, for example mightn't be the most popular among his colleagues in Ulster Bank for being able to have such a flexible schedule and probably earn the same wage as somebody in the same office who has to put in more work to cover for his flexible schedule.

AIB

Donaghey and Darran O' Sullivan Ulster Bank.

BrianBoru00

4/9 is a ridiculous price for a team that has won "1 in a row"

Leinster is probably the weakest of the four provinces at the moment and the opposition just arent putting it up to them.

rebel girl 15

Given that the players are not paid, then the answer is no, they are not professional

I'm locking the thread, not going anywhere