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Any other Irish sports fan dislike Gaelic football and hurling?

Sheridan81

I've always been a big sports fan.

Soccer, tennis, boxing, MMA, badminton, wrestling, BMX racing ,athletics, baseball, American football, basketball, golf, snooker, gymnastics, rugby, field hockey, ice hockey, handball, swimming, all the Olympic disciplines etc. you name it, at one point or another, I've enjoyed it.

Possibly the only two sports I've never liked, and almost have a disdain for, are ironically the two sports native of this isle: GAA and hurling (as well as camogie).

I do not understand the obsession and excitement generated by these two minority sports. In my opinion, both are dull and repetitive. I do not know how some people can view some of the players as minor celebrities.

When Donegal won the All Ireland recently I couldn't have cared less. Whenever I was forced to to play Gaelic in school I would just kick the ball from the ground as if I was playing soccer. What was the point of picking it up? It didn't even seem necessary. Another player used to do the same and aim for goal every time and score a lot, only to be admonished by our GAA loving coach to go for the point. It made no sense.

Am I alone in being Irish and loving most sports but disliking probably the two most Irish sports of all?

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koppy

Feel the same. For me I think been forced to play it in school is what turned me off it.

McDermotX

Gaah and Hurlin'

Wouldn't cross the road to watch/play 'em.

The Bishop Basher

I love sport but don’t think anything could interest me less then football and hurling.

The jerseys look like something out of the 50’s and I despise the whole parish pump bull**** that seems to go with it. I’d always switch off or fast forward through the Gaa section if reeling in the years is on. It’s all so feckin cringeworthy.

I also have zero pride in being from a particular county. I just happened to be born there so I don’t get the inter-county nonsense either but each to their own.

Tilikum17

Hurling is the greatest sport of them all.

Eggs For Dinner

Never got in to this GAA vibe. I'm 57 and never gone to a game at any level and it's not on my bucket list

Fann Linn

One man's meat is another man's poison.

Allinall

I support Dublin football with a passion, and go to every All Ireland final when I get a free ticket.

theteal

Possibly a weird one here as I played football for near 30 years, at quite a high level for most of that time and loved it for the most part. Now it has always taken extreme effort on my part to watch a football match, I'll keep an eye on certain players alright but in general watching most matches bores the arse off me. The lack of skill, the inability to ping accurate kick passes for example - it's just running and fist passes now.

Hurling on the other hand, nah, love it.

WesternZulu

Not everyone is going to like the same thing so not everyone is going to like GAA and that's ok.

However, I always get a sense that a sizable proportion of people who actually hate the games have some sort of inferiority complex about them. If both sports were America they'd probably think they're brilliant.

For instance someone mention the jerseys... does that really impact on their enjoyment?

The same poster mentioned the parish-pump aspect as being cringe worthy. Newsflash, all sports are tribal at their very heart!

The OP said he/she refused to pick up the ball because it was pointless. All sports are pointless to some extent. Would he/she have done the same playing rugby?

I am a big sports fan too and I think it's great we've our own sports. In a world where money has ruined the essence of some sports they are a welcome contrast. They're fast and skillful and really light up the summer.

munsterlegend

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

Never got in to this GAA vibe. I'm 57 and never gone to a game at any level and it's not on my bucket list

You opt into sports so it’s not an obligation. However the gaa in Ireland has always been more that just a sporting organisation.

It was crucial in our path to independence and has been in particular a location where the local rural community can come together for all types of different social events.

I love our national games and have done since I was a child being brought to games. It was a great way to know the geography of your local area though nowadays travel is much more common.

I have lived abroad and the gaa plays a huge part in the Irish community reminding us of where we are from and what it means to be Irish.

Capra

WesternZulu wrote: »

Not everyone is going to like the same thing so not everyone is going to like GAA and that's ok.

However, I always get a sense that a sizable proportion of people who actually hate the games have some sort of inferiority complex about them. If both sports were America they'd probably think they're brilliant.

For instance someone mention the jerseys... does that really impact on their enjoyment?

The same poster mentioned the parish-pump aspect as being cringe worthy. Newsflash, all sports are tribal at their very heart!

The OP said he/she refused to pick up the ball because it was pointless. All sports are pointless to some extent. Would he/she have done the same playing rugby?

I am a big sports fan too and I think it's great we've our own sports. In a world where money has ruined the essence of some sports they are a welcome contrast. They're fast and skillful and really light up the summer.

You summed up my thoughts on it there exactly. I know a few people whose attitude towards the GAA is like the OP and all of them regularly come out with statements like "it's so embarrassing" when someone does something uniquely Irish or they see someone with a very strong Irish accent on TV. It's definitely more to do with their inferiority complex to do with being Irish rather than anything to do with the quality of the sport.

petros1980

The OP doesn't like 'minority spirts' gaelic and hurling : but is a fan of BMX racing, badminton, and hockey

ðŸ˜‚ðŸ˜‚

Woke Hogan

I'm not into either sport but to each their own blah blah blah.

That being said it annoys me how they're both marketed for having a monopoly on Irish-ness. "It's our game/our club/our town" kind of stuff. It's not appealing to those of us who think parochialism is a bad thing.

Collie D

Each to their own but you say one of your reasons for not liking the games is they’re dull and repetitive. And you like watching snooker?

Capra

Woke Hogan wrote: »

I'm not into either sport but to each their own blah blah blah.

That being said it annoys me how they're both marketed for having a monopoly on Irish-ness. "It's our game/our club/our town" kind of stuff. It's not appealing to those of us who think parochialism is a bad thing.

Is parochialism a bad thing when the local tidy towns committee is out making their area nice and clean? I can't really see a valid argument for saying people shouldn't be more concerned with their own locality rather than some area where they have no links.

Woke Hogan

Capra wrote: »

Is parochialism a bad thing when the local tidy towns committee is out making their area nice and clean? I can't really see a valid argument for saying people shouldn't be more concerned with their own locality rather than some area where they have no links.

No. But I do think parochialism is a bad thing when it's insinuated that someone is less "Irish" because they don't follow or play GAA.

el Fenomeno

Hurling was religion in my school, and if you played it then you had a lot of perks. You got to miss lots of class for training, you had extra favour and lenience and preferential treatment from teachers, our school's social calendar revolved around the hurling team etc. Even if you didn't play but made the effort to support the team and travel to games etc. you'd make life easier for yourself.

I didn't play or go to games - I hadn't liked hurling for years so life was a little bit tougher in our school for someone like me. So I don't hate the sport, I just hate how much of a pedestal it's held on in rural communities.

The reason I stopped playing was that I was always a substitute at under age level. We're talking under 12 etc. I was rarely brought on in games. Granted, I wasn't very good but at that age it shouldn't have been about that. I always went to training as much as those who got picked every game. That sowed seeds of resentment for me which are now fully blossomed

[Deleted User]

I recently got back to watching it myself, sky sports have it now i wonder how many people pay for that?

I still cant believe its classed as an amateur sport though the gaa must be raking it it:P

There have been some great games the last few weeks, i'm not a fanatical fan of it i usually mute the half time analysis just like football (soccer) some of the comments by the pundits are meh, if the ball hit the back of the net it would have been a goal, jaysus really.

I think the jerseys have improved a lot and i really like the training gear, i have always liked the Tipp jersey reminds me of Boca Juniors.

" Come on the Rebels"

[Deleted User]

I absolutely love watching hurling matches and think the fitness and skill involved is phenomenal at all levels ,I also like watching some other sports but for me hurling is definitely the most enjoyable.

gifted

Never really liked the GAA growing up ....it's only since I had my own kids and they joined the camogie teams that I can see what it brings .....my 3 girls play u7 to u11 and they love the blitzs....they have made lovely friends, my eldest just had a play date with a girl she met on the camogie team......they love the cul camps, they love the treats after the blitzs.......it's not all about parish pumping, a lot of it, especially at underage, is about having fun and making new friends. ......

RoversCeltic

There is a reason that after 125 years hurling is only taken seriously in tipp and a few counties that border it. It's not that good. If it is good, then the gaa has failed it.

I like most urbanites am put off by the whole green Orangeman bigotry of the GAA.

Gaelic games went free to air in Australia and was pulled after 1 season. It's viewing figures in Britain are pathetic so for people looking in they are woeful sports

The Bishop Basher

gifted wrote: »

it's not all about parish pumping, a lot of it, especially at underage, is about having fun and making new friends. ......

Most team or social activities are about having fun and making friends. But most manage to do so without the parish pumping bollixology attached.

Stevieluvsye

Can't stand it. Can't stand the GAA.

Hate the way the refer to Football as soccer, hate the way if you are in one of the clubs instead of showing Liverpool V Manu they'll stick on Claires against rachels u14 camogie qualifier on TG4

Can't stand the way the club and county players walk, like they are celebs.

Can't stand the music that comes on the start of the Sunday game.

I like Ger Canning

DarTipp

I haven't played either since I was in primary school, I much prefer hurling and is a far more exciting game to watch and football imo is the poorer relation and a lot of the games I would find hard to watch fully except the AI final

[Deleted User]

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

Can't stand it. Can't stand the GAA.

Hate the way the refer to Football as soccer, hate the way if you are in one of the clubs instead of showing Liverpool V Manu they'll stick on Claires against rachels u14 camogie qualifier on TG4

Can't stand the way the club and county players walk, like they are celebs.

Can't stand the music that comes on the start of the Sunday game.

I like Ger Canning

That happens in a lot of sports in pubs, i remember a Liverpool v Man U game been turned off for a rugby game, the pub was full of both sets of footie fans and about 10 rugby lads came in to watch it.

The barman couldn't find the remote to switch the football to the other big screen, so we lost out.

Apparently they had it booked to watch it ???? wtf like.

If a sport brings people and communities together i'm all for it, if you don't like it dont watch it simples.

Ger Canning = legend

Your Face

When I was younger I watched GAA. Hurling and Football. I liked it.

Later on I went to a school that mainly played hurling. I stopped watching around that time.
I think the attitude of the Games teachers towards those who didn't play hurling put me off it.
I started watching it again a few years after and I think it's great. I just never bought in to the whole culture of it.

[Deleted User]

How anyone could find hurling boring is beyond me. A game played at an electrifying pace, and ferocious intensity. Then again, I can't abide cricket for its torturous length. Judge not lest ye be judged.

[Deleted User]

Your Face wrote: »

When I was younger I watched GAA. Hurling and Football. I liked it.

Later on I went to a school that mainly played hurling. I stopped watching around that time.
I think the attitude of the Games teachers towards those who didn't play hurling put me off it.
I started watching it again a few years after and I think it's great. I just never bought in to the whole culture of it.

I know if you were any good at either sport but more so the hurling you were treated like a god.

Some of the teachers i remember were two different people when it came to hurling and teaching, mild mannered in the class, psycho on the pitch:D

I was way too small and skinny to play either sport, even though i wanted to play, i used to get battered around the pitch but i was eventually shoved aside with some other lads and sent to another class when training was on, that hurt more i think.:(

ShyMets

I can think of a few posters who are going to have a field day with this thread:D

[Deleted User]

Deleted User wrote: »

How anyone could find hurling boring is beyond me. A game played at an electrifying pace, and ferocious intensity. Then again, I can't abide cricket for its torturous length. Judge not lest ye be judged.

I love the cricket:P