Mayo GAA Discussion

I believe it to be true from what I've heard. But its also been reported here since which also suggests Burke is leaving too:

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/09/17/no-comment-over-mayo-gaa-speculation/

And that my friend is why Mayo will not win an AI in our lifetimes. The inability to take on board any sort of criticism, constructive or otherwise.

You've summed it up nicely.

Funny how you criticise others myself included but won't accept criticism for Mayo players.

These are grown men, not children. IF they can't take criticism, they won't have the wherewithal to win an AI anytime soon.

Shouldn't be criticised? I've heard it all now!

When I played I took plenty of criticism AND WORKED TO IMPROVE MYSELF BECAUSE OF IT AND TO PROVE DOUBTERS WRONG. I certainly didn't go away crying about the criticism.

An inability to take on board criticism is a fatal flaw for anyone trying to win anything.

Tyrone and Mickey Harte had plenty of criticism in recent years. They got rid of Harte and won an AI because of it. Left to guys like you, he'd still be in charge of Tyrone, because hey you're not allowed criticize anyone these days.

I think you are conflating criticism and abuse. It is fine and appropriate to analyse a players or managers performance but some of the stuff on social media particularly but also, much more regrettably, in some national media outlets has been personal and cutting beyond what is acceptable even if they were professionals.

I'm not conflating anything. It was the other poster who was conflating it. Unlike a lot of people I don't criticize the players for commercial activities and you can read back my posts. I also try not to personalise criticism and try to stick to a general point such as players who aren't performing shouldn't be playing, or that we don't have a proper midfield or strength in depth in that area, and we have very few forwards who can score from play and those we do have such as Darren Coen were brought on way too late in the final. We also have far too many playmaker forwards as opposed to scoring forwards.

This is legitimate criticism. For people to bury their heads in the sand or say you can't criticize some players and management after an abysmal AI final display is not a helpful approach.

From what I can see, we are as far away from an AI as ever, particularly when you look at the issues we have in midfield and forwards.

I not a believer of criticising amateur players individually. Nobody steps over the white line with anything other than the full intention of giving their best. Some days no matter what he tries it just does not work out. I would not see much wrong with comments that a lad has lost pace, form or had a poor day out as a problem, but this personalised abuse of players on some media platforms from keyboard warriors who never kicked a ball in their lives is disgusting and any true GAA supporter having it said to them imo would be more than entitled to take the head off anyone saying it. GAA county players may make a few bob from the sport from commercial interests, and good luck to them, but other than that financially make very little. If anything it often costs them money along with all the hassle to home-life giving the kind massive of commitment required at county level.

Management for me, especially over the last number of years, is a different matter though. We may all pretend it is not the case, but in latter years there is a lot of quiet money circulating around management, (even at club level), and some of that, even the amounts paid officially to backroom staff, is eye-watering. As I said, no lad goes out to play badly. It can just be one of those days where nerves or misfortune plays a part, but it can also have a lot do do with a player being asked to play out of position or simply not being good enough. None of those I would see as meriting criticism of an amateur player. If there is going to be any criticism then it should be, for all intents and purposes nowadays, the professional that selected him or left him out there when nothing was going right for him. And by criticism I do not mean personal abuse.

I`m not from Mayo, so if anyone thinks this is aimed at James Horan or any members of his backroom staff it is not. When it comes to my own county it is the same opinion I have expressed over a good number of years.

Ah come on. What will the excuse be next year?

You can't win a final when your tactics, selections and substitutions are all wrong. Even Dublin at their peak wouldn't make those mistakes.

As for cult of the manager, the manager will always be the most important person involved. Tyrone management got everything right, they looked like they had years of experience, whereas Mayo management looked clueless. And funnily enough, if you look at AI finals over the last decade or more, its often the newer less experienced manager who gets it right - fresh perspective, fresh ideas, fresh voice, not as set in their ways - there is a lot to be said for it.

Tyrone got everything right? They coughed up 4 goal chances which on another day would have been their undoing.

Are we really saying as fans, we are not allowed critique a players individual performance as well as the teams and sidelines performance? I get the abuse and the personal stuff, that's a disgrace, but its nothing new either! Not sure I remember anything like this before, maybe because social media wasn't a thing really in 2006 when we didn't show up for an all ireland! Bebo aside that is!

EG, I think Tommy Conroy should have passed to AOS instead of taking it on himself, or I think Robbie should not have left his line for either goal. Is that not allowed now or is that just fair critique?

2 things here.

20 years ago very few would have had the platform and/or access to the eyes of the player involved for this to be an issue. Nowadays the loud hailer of twitter (mostly), and the internet in general has allowed everyone to have their say.

Issueing statements isn't going to change the opinion off, or indeed "posting style" of the people they are targeted at - it's literally just to be seen to be doing something. But it nearly always results in more publicity for those with those issues, as opposed to protecting anyone.

The same opinions (different players and people involved) were out there 20 years ago - just without the audience/platform to magnify them.

The thing is if you compare let’s say soccer for instance. The league is the main competition and generally the best team will win it. Cups are different. Chelsea won the European cup last year. No one can convince me that Chelsea were a better team than man city last year. What we have in Ireland is a fantastic thing in the gaa but the all Ireland is a cup competition. Anything can happen on a given day and I feel mayo unfortunately just didn’t get going in most respects in the final. This talk of how good Tyrone are is comical. Kerry should of beaten them and Dublin would of hammered them. Watch Dublin winning a three in a row easily now everyone (and I’m from Meath)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and whether a comment is fair or abusive is also in the eye of the beholder.

When I write anything on this board or in any other aspect of my life particularly work I always ask myself would I be ok with it if it became public that I wrote it or alternatively would I be happy to repeat what I have written to a public audience of 500 people. That is my personal standard. To each his own.

I believe in free speech and when I do that I also have to believe in the right of people who I totally disagree with to air their opinions and views.

At the rate we are going I wonder will we have a new crime in 25 years of "being mean to a person" which will have the same consequences as physically assaulting them.

As I predicted last week The Mayo GAA Board have come out and condemmed people for effectively "being mean" to the Mayo Players and Management. As has been proven time and time again they (Mayo GAA Board) are incompetent but yet they now seem to think that they are some sort of higher Authority on standards of behavior. They cannot organise the winning of an AI but they hope to the change standards of social media behavior. They will fail in this endevour as well.

Whether someone is a professional or an amateur should have absolutely no impact on what is acceptable comment about them. The same standard should apply to both whatever this standard is.

Michael Ring is a professional politician, Amy Huberman is a professional actress \ media personality, Johnny Sexton is a professional Rugby Player. They probably all get lots of negative social media comment some of it abusive. This is not acceptable as nowhere in their job description is having to accept abuse included.

Each year within the GAA the amateur ethos disappears a bit more. It seems to be pretty accepted that vast majority of backroom staff on county teams are paid, the number of paid administrators is increasing in every county and the the professional \ amateur line for players is becoming very blurred what with commercial income derived from playing, jobs within GAA as professional coaches \ development officers and probably somewhere in the country players are actually being paid to play.

Personally I have no issue with any of this its just that I cannot stand the hypocracy around the amateur ethos of the GAA.

On a separate issue where does all this money come from ? Mainly the fans, the GAA Club member etcs. For some social media is the only outlet they have to voice their frustrations on what they are getting for their money. This past 10 years somewhere between €10-€15 million has been spent on the Mayo team. A singularly bad investment by any standard

From my point of view, this manager has done a great job at a time when we were supposed to be in transition and gotten to 2 All Ireland Finals and finally got the Dublin monkey of our back. But if he is not going into 2022 and expecting to win the AI then what's the point? From a fan point of view, if he gets to the AI final and loses again he has to go. To be honest i don't think he should get a third shot in this tenure but that's just me!

Breaffy v The Neale is live on TG4 on Sunday.