The Sunday Game Thread

tayto lover wrote: »

Of course there is BUT Monaghan were just as bad imo.
They could have won if they played football.
I also feel that there's a lot of lads just waiting for the chance to criticise Tyrone and can't hold back.
I have seen many teams use spoiling tactics over the years. It's not a new phenomenon in the GAA.

Generally it is more obvious when they are winning. You are right, Michael Murphy provoked a red card at the weekend as well but he didnt throw himself to the ground when 'struck'. Spoiling tactics are a pain, but I do think that its different to the issue of diving. Tyrone do try to be an ultra physical team and provoke only to dive when challenged. Its the idea that they think its smart thats the problem. They have several very good footballers and its a horrible way that they are asked to play when winning.

It was nice to see Tayto lover show some self-awareness about Tyrone. You show none. The idea that the provocation when losing and cynicism when winning isnt a pre-defined tactic is ridiculous.

Jayop wrote: »

Sweet Jesus I've heard it all. Someone dead almost forty years is a credible source I suppose.

Next time Morgan is posting he'll be referencing it.

No. I would view it more credible source than someone who has yet to see a problem with Tyrone's way of doing things and thinks there was only one dive in the game yesterday. Someone who sees a difference between diving and feigning injury (and that's only on this page of the thread.) Someone with these views will do well to have any credibility in any discussion on Tyrone.

Well I hear Harte has fully backed McCann this morning.

JRant wrote: »

Well I hear Harte has fully backed McCann this morning.

You see this is the sort of sh*te that that is spouted both here and in the media that makes me annoyed. Using "Well I hear" as three weasel words before your statement does not then give you free reign to spout pure ****e which gets picked up later as fact.

You know what's a bigger cancer on our game than some young lad that took the head staggers for half a second and did something dumb; it's the despicable, factually dubious, constant drip drip drip of poisonous negativity and bile from substandard "pundits" and armchair players/managers. The odd bit of dodgy nonsense that might happen every now and then on the pitch has always happened as long as the game has been played between neighbouring parishes up and down the country. It is actually this vindictive, click-bait style "journalism" and comment that is new, pervasive and will inevitably hurt our game. If it continues the hard natural rivalry, but usually vibrant community, between the Gaels and gaelic supporters will be the real victim.
I hope my opinion is wrong, I really do. I miss looking forward to the Monday morning ritual of getting The Irish News and drinking in page after page of top class coverage of football, now I have to hoke through the bitterness and gossip to get to any actual comment on the actual football.

James74 wrote: »

You see this is the sort of sh*te that that is spouted both here and in the media that makes me annoyed. Using "Well I hear" as three weasel words before your statement does not then give you free reign to spout pure ****e which gets picked up later as fact.

You know what's a bigger cancer on our game than some young lad that took the head staggers for half a second and did something dumb; it's the despicable, factually dubious, constant drip drip drip of poisonous negativity and bile from substandard "pundits" and armchair players/managers. The odd bit of dodgy nonsense that might happen every now and then on the pitch has always happened as long as the game has been played between neighbouring parishes up and down the country. It is actually this vindictive, click-bait style "journalism" and comment that is new, pervasive and will inevitably hurt our game. If it continues the hard natural rivalry, but usually vibrant community, between the Gaels and gaelic supporters will be the real victim.
I hope my opinion is wrong, I really do. I miss looking forward to the Monday morning ritual of getting The Irish News and drinking in page after page of top class coverage of football, now I have to hoke through the bitterness and gossip to get to any actual comment on the actual football.

Ha, angry much?

I heard it reported on RTE radio 1 this morning, hence the "i hear" bit in my post. Nothing weasel about it.

As for the rest of your post, you couldn't be more wrong. Don't blame the media or fans for the carryon of this Tyrone team. It's 100% their own doing.

Jayop wrote: »

No he didn't. He said he was wrong, he apologided and he would do it differently.

Where did he apologise? This is the only source I have seen of what Harte said about the incident:

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/mickey-harte-claims-darren-hughes-and-tiernan-mccann-share-blame-over-dive-incident-31441263.html


I don't see an apology in here. He just says McCann would act differently if it happened again.

The line at the end of Harte's response sticks out:

Is that a worse thing to do than punch somebody in the back of the head? Somebody else will have to give me the answer.

The reason it sticks out is because I happen to be reading his book at the moment. He addresses sledging and guff-giving early on and puts it in similar terms. Basically saying if he had to choose between someone whispering in his ear all game and someone punching him in the back of the head he would choose the whispering.

And that seems fair enough, only that it seems to ignore a fairly obvious third option. Harte denies he ever sends his teams out to spew rubbish at opposition players, but it seems to have at least tacit approval from him on the basis that other things they could be doing are worse.



TBH, this matches what Harte more or less always says on these sorts of things. I believe this is genuinely his opinion - diving, sledging etc don't hurt anyone and he's too bothered.

You could easily agree with his position that Paul Finlay's rabbit punch is way worse than diving or slabbering so why all the fuss about these incidents and not the rabbit punches?

The reality, I think, is that GAA people in general are way, way more aggravated by actions like this than Mickey Harte (and the rest of Tyrone taking their cue from him) is. That's where the disconnect between Tyrone people screaming "media bias" and everyone else screaming "are ye ****ing serious?" comes from imo.

Rightly or wrongly, we all outside think Tiernan McCann's dive is way more **** behaviour than Finlay leaving the knee in, while Mickey Harte thinks McCann is small beans by comparison.

The phrase "cancer on our game" is the real cancer on our game.

hmm, not sure I'd agree with those nominees for MOTM tonight.