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What Are The Things You Miss Most In The GAA?

  • 20-04-2018 8:56am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 1,541 ✭✭✭


    Seen this somewhere else. As the title says what do you miss abut the GAA that doesn't happen anymore?


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,930 ✭✭✭jr86


    Was watching Kerry v Dublin from 01 recently and the direct football was a joy to watch. There was precious little hand-passing backwards. When anyone received the ball out the field, the default position was to head towards the opposition goal and find a forward with a kickpass. Nowadays - for many teams - it's turn around and find someone with a handpass and slowly build an attack

    The game is just so much more advanced now though. Club teams train more nowadays than inter-county players did a decade or two ago. It's funny re-watching matches from over 10 years ago or so. The warm ups are the most unstructured exercises going! Pretty much just taking pot shots into the goal and trying to avoid being hit by balls flying everywhere!

    I played junior club football two years ago and the warm up was more advanced than top level inter county stuff back then


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,236 ✭✭✭Dr. Kenneth Noisewater


    Flags! They used to bring great colour to games, but nobody seems to bother with them anymore.


  • Registered Users Posts: 21,079 ✭✭✭✭PARlance


    I miss full backs like Seamus Moynihan. The game has changed and the FB role isn't what it was, seeing the likes of Moynihan fielding a ball and bursting out of defence was a thing of beauty.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,665 ✭✭✭Bonniedog


    Not having to wear a helmet.

    Could never get used to them. Was like being the Man in the Iron Mask or Hannibal Lecter.

    Myself and the Rock both retired over this. thereby, all similarities end ................


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,541 ✭✭✭cms88


    Flags! They used to bring great colour to games, but nobody seems to bother with them anymore.

    Was thinking that myself. When did they actually stop? Long sleeved jersey's during the league are another thing that has gone


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  • Registered Users Posts: 6,665 ✭✭✭Bonniedog


    cms88 wrote: »
    Was thinking that myself. When did they actually stop? Long sleeved jersey's during the league are another thing that has gone


    Croke Park said that flags would be prevented from being brought inside a few years ago. Not sure it is strictly enforced as you still see some, but it has probably put people off bringing them in case they are taken.


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,569 ✭✭✭✭ProudDUB


    Bonniedog wrote: »
    Croke Park said that flags would be prevented from being brought inside a few years ago. Not sure it is strictly enforced as you still see some, but it has probably put people off bringing them in case they are taken.

    Was just thinking the same thing.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Fann Linn


    Was nice being able to walk into Croker without being searched.
    Sad state of affairs.


  • Registered Users Posts: 565 ✭✭✭gobo99


    Pitch invasions. I understand the reasons behind it, but still....


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,101 ✭✭✭rpurfield


    Meath winning All Irelands


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  • Registered Users Posts: 10,812 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    The Offaly team of the nineties, or just generally the stories of players who were fond of the fags and sauce, and got by on their pure talent. There was a bit of bouldness to that offaly team, you want see their likes again these days.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,793 ✭✭✭CrabRevolution


    Flags are mostly gone but partly replaced by jersies. I saw a photo of an all Ireland hurling final in early 90s and there were more flags but it really stood out how nobody wore jersies in the crowd.


  • Registered Users Posts: 677 ✭✭✭davegilly


    gobo99 wrote: »
    Pitch invasions. I understand the reasons behind it, but still....
    Wait till Mayo win the all Ireland..........


  • Registered Users Posts: 336 ✭✭wazzer1


    Heard that one before somewhere


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,930 ✭✭✭jr86


    The Offaly team of the nineties, or just generally the stories of players who were fond of the fags and sauce, and got by on their pure talent. There was a bit of bouldness to that offaly team, you want see their likes again these days.

    I was at an intermediate county final only about 15/16 years ago and there was players smoking out on the pitch during the trophy presentation!!

    You'd never see it in a million years anymore. The equivalent team nowadays would have zero full time smokers or hard drinkers

    Probably a sign of the times overall. A lot of those players that smoked/went to the pub regularly back then don't do so at all now, even though they're 10/15 years retired!


  • Registered Users Posts: 967 ✭✭✭J Cheever Loophole


    Only a small issue, but as a former keeper, I used to enjoy the fact that kick-outs following a wide were from the corner of the small square, and following a score were from the '21'.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,797 ✭✭✭munchkin_utd


    Flags are mostly gone but partly replaced by jersies. I saw a photo of an all Ireland hurling final in early 90s and there were more flags but it really stood out how nobody wore jersies in the crowd.
    sure you couldnt get them back in the days for anything but the very most successful counties, and Cork/ Dublin.

    I remember asking the sports shop back in 92 or 93 when Cavan were actually not bad, should have beaten Donegal in Breffni when they went on to win the all ireland and ran every other top Ulster team very close - but no, Cavan replica jerseys as a rule just weren't available.

    Whether that was because O neills wouldn't make them, or whether the country was that poor those days that there was no demand for relatively expensive jerseys, I don't know.


  • Registered Users Posts: 918 ✭✭✭RoscommonTom


    the fellas selling the tubs of ice cream,


  • Registered Users Posts: 34,034 ✭✭✭✭The_Kew_Tour


    Straight Knockout.

    I don't give 2 fiddlers what anyone says, the buzz and hype was 10 times greater leading up to games and on the day of games.


  • Registered Users Posts: 637 ✭✭✭jeff bingham


    The ground pull in hurling. Was a skill in itself which has largely disappeared. I can see why it died out but was still a great sight to see


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  • Registered Users Posts: 10,812 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    The ground pull in hurling. Was a skill in itself which has largely disappeared. I can see why it died out but was still a great sight to see
    Come to Texas and watch the hurling here some time. It's alive and well among people who can't rise the ball!

    It was the first victim of the gradual transition of hurling from a game about territory (get the ball as far forward as you can, whether on a puckout, a clearance, or pull (especially if you don't rise it first time), and let the forwards worry about it, battle with the man you're marking), to a game about possession (pick a man with a (often short) puckout, handpass out of trouble, dig into a ruck to get the ball into your hand rather than pulling and creating a 50/50 situation, keep ball low to help forwards etc, run off the shoulder to give options, and the sweeper). There's a good reason behind all of the changes and you can't go backwards in any sport, but it makes it a little less raw, more focused on strategy than on pure mental strength and cuteness. There's a lot to like about the way the game is being played by some teams these days, but the Tipp KK matches of the early 2010s may be the last of a dying breed of inter-county battle.

    To be fair, that transition began when the Rackards decided to start catching the ball, and Ring said that that wasn't hurling at all, so it's not a new thing by any means.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,012 ✭✭✭TheRiverman


    Gaelic football.


  • Registered Users Posts: 11,569 ✭✭✭✭ProudDUB


    Pitch invasions on All Ireland final day. The excitement of the crowd, the colour, the flags all waving as everyone gathers in front of the Hogan Stand for the cup presentation....it's a fabulous thing to see.


    I know the players don't like them and that is fair enough, but I still miss them. They are uniquely Irish and uniquely GAA.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,458 ✭✭✭billyhead


    John 3:17. Is the chap whom held that sign dead?


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,235 ✭✭✭theoneeyedman


    Gaelic football.

    Contests for the ball in football. Has improved very slightly in the last year with the mark from the kickouts but game is too technical/sanitized now.

    Other things.... junior/casual football: killed off by H&S bullsh1t.. Managers writing teams out on the back of a cigarette box.. Smoking at halftime... Drinking before a game... Sessions after training/games... Flags..... 'ices, tubs of ices'.... Crepe paper hats - peel off the little Roscommon sticker, and invariably there were Clare and Tipperary stickers underneath.... Corner backs with bellies hanging out over their shorts... Lads home from America with tans and white boots playing a championship game and disappearing again...

    Not missed but thankfully not as common or tolerated these days: hatchet men.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 610 ✭✭✭Sprinter Sacre


    Mikasa gloves. Lads spitting on their hands instead of using gloves. Every young fella in Cork spat on his hands after seeing Colin Corkery do it.

    Goalies not wearing helmets. Lads like Cummins, Davy, Fitzhenry, Donal Og would be far less iconic if they wore helmets their whole career. I obviously see the benefits of wearing a helmet, but it's just not same.

    The old 21 yard frees.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,458 ✭✭✭billyhead


    Not that they were fashionable or anything but those farmer hats in county colours (remember the paper hats aswell) and headbands:D


  • Registered Users Posts: 502 ✭✭✭Davys Fits


    Come to Texas and watch the hurling here some time. It's alive and well among people who can't rise the ball!

    It was the first victim of the gradual transition of hurling from a game about territory (get the ball as far forward as you can, whether on a puckout, a clearance, or pull (especially if you don't rise it first time), and let the forwards worry about it, battle with the man you're marking), to a game about possession (pick a man with a (often short) puckout, handpass out of trouble, dig into a ruck to get the ball into your hand rather than pulling and creating a 50/50 situation, keep ball low to help forwards etc, run off the shoulder to give options, and the sweeper). There's a good reason behind all of the changes and you can't go backwards in any sport, but it makes it a little less raw, more focused on strategy than on pure mental strength and cuteness. There's a lot to like about the way the game is being played by some teams these days, but the Tipp KK matches of the early 2010s may be the last of a dying breed of inter-county battle.

    To be fair, that transition began when the Rackards decided to start catching the ball, and Ring said that that wasn't hurling at all, so it's not a new thing by any means.

    Good point but there is still a place and time for ground hurling especially in the goal mouth. I cringe when I see young lads tyring to pick the ball up aroung the goal when a ground strike would shock them all.


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,812 ✭✭✭✭Realt Dearg Sec


    Davys Fits wrote: »
    Good point but there is still a place and time for ground hurling especially in the goal mouth. I cringe when I see young lads tyring to pick the ball up aroung the goal when a ground strike would shock them all.

    Absolutely agree with that. I'm still a fan and practitioner of pulling on the ball out the field if you don't lift or catch the ball first time, think at lower levels of the game it's a bad idea to over-emphasise possession because 1) you're too likely to make handling mistakes and give up ball and 2) your opponents are almost certainly the same, so playing for territory is still the smart option. But yeah in front of goal it's pure lunacy especially for people still learning the skills.

    Another trick I always liked (wish I had the skill to really execute these things properly mind you), and playing against younger players they fall for it every time: as a forward, running out to the first low ball coming into you in a match, go like you'll rise it then at the last second stand over it and pull on the ground and let fly. Players don't expect it and will either over-run you or flinch back when you pull. Either way you'll get the ball up towards the square for your full forward hopefully, and more importantly the lad you're marking will be expecting you to pull again next time, possibly stand off you, and leave you a nice clean bit of space to rise it unimpeded.

    Learned that from an Offaly man, great trick.

    You can do the same thing with a high ball, go up like you're catching it, then turn and pull on it in the air (another great skill largely gone from the game, look at the old GAA gold videos and it was the norm under a high ball for forwards to try to send it onward. These days it's either catching or batting it down). You might find a player is less gung-ho about putting his hand up next time if he thinks you're the type to pull in the air like that.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 6,665 ✭✭✭Bonniedog


    The only flaw with pulling on the ball on the ground or in the air is that you will inevitably be penalised if you make contact with an opponent.

    There were a few examples of that in Cuala/Mellowes semi final where Callaghan and at least one Mellowes player picked up yellows for pulling legitimately on the ball.


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