Money, Dublin and the GAA

[Tubberman]

We've followed some bad Dublin sides in the 90s and 00s but we still went to the games. I remember losing a league final to cork in Pairc Ui Caoimh in the pissing rain when there were more dubs fans there than cork fans. It's a sad state of affairs when people will only go to games they know their team will win. That's so childish it's actually funny.

Yeah and i was at league games in Parnell Park.

Lucky you.

I wish all the dubs home League games were in parnell park. There were some cracking matches there over the years. I remember a Meath supporter throwing a cup of tea at Whelo and Whelo having to be held back from going up into stand after the person.

I remember the time James Nallen lost the rag with Whelo and followed him about 30 yards up the field to give him a good box on the lug. I didn't see what Whelo did to annoy Jimmy but he had floored one of the Mayo backs.
I was told by the guy next to me that it was a clumsy tackle rather than a dirty one but Nallen must have thought otherwise.

When was this? Doesn't sound like Jimmy Nallen and I'd say your memory is playing tricks.

I remember in the 2006 semi, Whelo taking McGarrity out of it with a box in the side of the face. McGarrity got replaced by Barry Big Bird. I believe Brady put Whelan on his arse when he came on.

Whelan did more than box McGarrity - he nearly took the head off him when he was coming down from outfielding Whelan - it was ridiculously dangerous and malicious and a definite red, but that didn't happen.
I doubt Jimmy Nallen ever hit anybody a box, he was too much of a gentleman tbh.

Brady came on and fairly quietened the big bully boy
Here's the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKqzMrBfSyQ&t=1120s

[Rossfan]

We've followed some bad Dublin sides in the 90s and 00s but we still went to the games. I remember losing a league final to cork in Pairc Ui Caoimh in the pissing rain when there were more dubs fans there than cork fans. It's a sad state of affairs when people will only go to games they know their team will win. That's so childish it's actually funny.

Dublin won every other Leinster title during those two decades ffs.

It's a mark of the lack of perspective many Dubs have that they would consider the teams that produced that sort of return as 'bad'.

Perhaps also explains why many of those same Dubs don't seem to understand the problem with 15/16.

Dubs won Leinster in 1995 and didn't win it again until 2002.  It was only really from 2006 they started dominating in Leinster and even then they were getting battered in All Ireland quarter finals and/semi finals.

While that dubs side of the late noughties was a decent side, but no world beaters the rest of Leinster was pretty much rubbish. I'm not sure what the reasons are for that, but I'm sure someone can find a way to blame the dubs

All examples or comparisons pre-2011 are irrelevant. You can say Dublin suffered this or Dublin lost that. That was a different Dublin. A Dublin without finances.

I will be cheering on Dublin again this year. The only way for this to stop is for Dublin to keep winning. The only problem is how long the GAA decide to go on with this fiasco. They have already let Leinster drift into the quagmire for nearly 2 decades! God only knows how long this fiasco can go on before someone shouts stop!

Since the Qualifiers came in Leinster falling into a quagmire wasn't too serious.
Now that the AI has sunk its a different story but the GAA top brass are still ignoring it, helped by various media useful eejits and needy Co and Provincial Chairs.

[macker15]

We've followed some bad Dublin sides in the 90s and 00s but we still went to the games. I remember losing a league final to cork in Pairc Ui Caoimh in the pissing rain when there were more dubs fans there than cork fans. It's a sad state of affairs when people will only go to games they know their team will win. That's so childish it's actually funny.

Dublin won every other Leinster title during those two decades ffs.

It's a mark of the lack of perspective many Dubs have that they would consider the teams that produced that sort of return as 'bad'.

Perhaps also explains why many of those same Dubs don't seem to understand the problem with 15/16.

Dubs won Leinster in 1995 and didn't win it again until 2002.  It was only really from 2006 they started dominating in Leinster and even then they were getting battered in All Ireland quarter finals and/semi finals.

While that dubs side of the late noughties was a decent side, but no world beaters the rest of Leinster was pretty much rubbish. I'm not sure what the reasons are for that, but I'm sure someone can find a way to blame the dubs

All examples or comparisons pre-2011 are irrelevant. You can say Dublin suffered this or Dublin lost that. That was a different Dublin. A Dublin without finances.

I will be cheering on Dublin again this year. The only way for this to stop is for Dublin to keep winning. The only problem is how long the GAA decide to go on with this fiasco. They have already let Leinster drift into the quagmire for nearly 2 decades! God only knows how long this fiasco can go on before someone shouts stop!

Since the Qualifiers came in Leinster falling into a quagmire wasn't too serious.
Now that the AI has sunk its a different story but the GAA top brass are still ignoring it, helped by various media useful eejits and needy Co and Provincial Chairs.

You write plenty of about in your Sunday Indo columns Colm ...🙄🙄

[Lar Naparka]

We've followed some bad Dublin sides in the 90s and 00s but we still went to the games. I remember losing a league final to cork in Pairc Ui Caoimh in the pissing rain when there were more dubs fans there than cork fans. It's a sad state of affairs when people will only go to games they know their team will win. That's so childish it's actually funny.

Yeah and i was at league games in Parnell Park.

Lucky you.

I wish all the dubs home League games were in parnell park. There were some cracking matches there over the years. I remember a Meath supporter throwing a cup of tea at Whelo and Whelo having to be held back from going up into stand after the person.

I remember the time James Nallen lost the rag with Whelo and followed him about 30 yards up the field to give him a good box on the lug. I didn't see what Whelo did to annoy Jimmy but he had floored one of the Mayo backs.
I was told by the guy next to me that it was a clumsy tackle rather than a dirty one but Nallen must have thought otherwise.

When was this? Doesn't sound like Jimmy Nallen and I'd say your memory is playing tricks.

I remember in the 2006 semi, Whelo taking McGarrity out of it with a box in the side of the face. McGarrity got replaced by Barry Big Bird. I believe Brady put Whelan on his arse when he came on.

For once, my memory is okay. It was a league match under lights and the fact that James lost the rag surprised everyone, including me. What  was also noteworthy was that the ref didn't react. He had to have seen it.
On the other hand, the lug pulling incident wasn't as dramatic as it was made out to be. Whelan had been dumped on his arse and was winded. Brady moved in behind him, leaned over him and tweaked his ears. Obviously, I don't know what Brady said to him but the incident was over in a few seconds. I doubt if most who went to the game were aware of what had happened and the tv commentary didn't make a big deal of it but Whelan stayed clear ob Brady for the rest of the game.

[sid waddell]

People are leaving rural Ireland in droves, businesses are closing and rural clubs are having to amalgamate in order to stay solvent. To exacerbate the gap between Dublin and the rest, the majority leaving the countryside and moving to Dublin are GAA activists or at the very least supporters.
Without the input from those moving in, Dublin football would be in serious trouble- assloads of Alll Irelands notwithstanding.
Enjoy the good times because they are not going to last.

People have always left rural Ireland in droves

But the population of pretty much every county is increasing

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp2tc/cp2pdm/pd/#:~:text=Of%20the%20173%2C613%20increase%2C%20138%2C899,rural%20population%20increase%20by%204%2C025.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/stephen-collins-death-of-rural-ireland-is-a-myth-1.3626895?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fopinion%2Fstephen-collins-death-of-rural-ireland-is-a-myth-1.3626895

[sid waddell]

We've followed some bad Dublin sides in the 90s and 00s but we still went to the games. I remember losing a league final to cork in Pairc Ui Caoimh in the pissing rain when there were more dubs fans there than cork fans. It's a sad state of affairs when people will only go to games they know their team will win. That's so childish it's actually funny.

Dublin won every other Leinster title during those two decades ffs.

It's a mark of the lack of perspective many Dubs have that they would consider the teams that produced that sort of return as 'bad'.

Perhaps also explains why many of those same Dubs don't seem to understand the problem with 15/16.

That's how all historically successful counties think

Kerry certainly think like that, so do Cork, Kilkenny and Tipp in hurling

At provincial level, if Galway or Mayo went five years or more without a Connacht title, that's a famine

Cork haven't won the All-Ireland hurling championship for 16 years, and it's considered a serious crisis

Tipp went 16 years without Munster and officially considered it a famine

[Lar Naparka]

People are leaving rural Ireland in droves, businesses are closing and rural clubs are having to amalgamate in order to stay solvent. To exacerbate the gap between Dublin and the rest, the majority leaving the countryside and moving to Dublin are GAA activists or at the very least supporters.
Without the input from those moving in, Dublin football would be in serious trouble- assloads of Alll Irelands notwithstanding.
Enjoy the good times because they are not going to last.

People have always left rural Ireland in droves

But the population of pretty much every county is increasing

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp2tc/cp2pdm/pd/#:~:text=Of%20the%20173%2C613%20increase%2C%20138%2C899,rural%20population%20increase%20by%204%2C025.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/stephen-collins-death-of-rural-ireland-is-a-myth-1.3626895?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fopinion%2Fstephen-collins-death-of-rural-ireland-is-a-myth-1.3626895

People are leaving rural Ireland in droves, businesses are closing and rural clubs are having to amalgamate in order to stay solvent. To exacerbate the gap between Dublin and the rest, the majority leaving the countryside and moving to Dublin are GAA activists or at the very least supporters.
Without the input from those moving in, Dublin football would be in serious trouble- assloads of Alll Irelands notwithstanding.
Enjoy the good times because they are not going to last.

People have always left rural Ireland in droves

But the population of pretty much every county is increasing

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp2tc/cp2pdm/pd/#:~:text=Of%20the%20173%2C613%20increase%2C%20138%2C899,rural%20population%20increase%20by%204%2C025.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/stephen-collins-death-of-rural-ireland-is-a-myth-1.3626895?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fopinion%2Fstephen-collins-death-of-rural-ireland-is-a-myth-1.3626895

sid, what happened in the past is irrelevant.
What's happening now certainly isn't.
Apart from the fact that Stephen Collins is a complete and utter gobshite, his article is a good example of what can be done if someone has time on their hands and is hell bent on causing controversy.
I am referring to rural Ireland - the heartland of the GAA. If you choose to rely on census returns, you will see that most counties recorded modest increases between 2011 and 2016 but, as Mark Twain one put it, there are three types of lies; lies,damn lies and statistics.
People are fleeing the land but urban areas, larger ones anyway, are showing relatively modest increases. Another factor  that is skewing the picture is the  modern innovation of inward immigration - people coming from other countries to live in Ireland. The vast majority come from non-GAA backgrounds so their numbers will be recorded on census returns but this does little or nothing to halt the depopulation of rural areas.
As part of my field work when preparing for a degree in 1969, I carried out a comprehensive socio-economic study of my home locality.    At that time there was a total of 21 viable households in the area under study.
Today, there are just ten inhabited dwellings there. There are children of school-going age in just one. The local national school shut down over 20 years ago and the field where the kids met to play football is now planted with conifer trees.
That's just one area I am familiar with but any Mayo person will know of of plenty more.
The local town, Swinford, has added on a couple of dozen extra houses since I did my research work but those who moved in do little or nothing to enhance community relations. The local GAA club still survives but now draws its membership from a wider area than was the case. The availability of cars is a big help but, really, it's a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Some players live outside the parish and in earlier times would have played for their own parish clubs.
No mistake sid, Armaggeddon is just a heartbeat away.

[TheGreatest]

Paywall

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/dublin-has-invested-funding-in-coaching-kids-which-doesnt-equate-with-creating-super-race-of-winners-40164953.html

[Lar Naparka]

Paywall

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/dublin-has-invested-funding-in-coaching-kids-which-doesnt-equate-with-creating-super-race-of-winners-40164953.html

As you know by now, I'm not the one to pee on anyone's parade- unless of course I have good reason to.
Unfortunately, this  is one of those times...
I'm reproducing that accompanies Potts' article.
the picture and its caption
"Future stars: Scoil Lorcáin, Monkstown players celebrate after they beat St Olaf's, Balally in the Sciath Comhar Linn final at the Cumann na mBunscol Dublin Finals at Croke Park"

A casual observer would regard this as a public relations coup for Dublin GAA's development initiative.
The involvement of Cumann na mBunscol is incidental.
The truth of the matter is somewhat different I'm afraid.
Cumann na mBunscol, the Irish Primary Schools Federation, have been organising Gaelic games at primary level since 1971 and are still doing so. The game referred to in this article was played under the auspices of Cumann na mBunscol and not Dublin GAA in any shape or form.
Most schools would acknowledge the cooperation of local Gaelic clubs and I certainly know of numerous cases where clubs supply coaches to assist with team preparations but I fail to see where the expenses claimed for running this involvement come from.
In all cases I know, the coaches are paid Fás apprentice rates and this expense is shared between club and county board. I don't suspect that the GAA are deliberately puffing  the cost of financing their work but I can't see where all the expenses allegedly involved are going.
Anyone care to enlighten me?

[Rossfan]

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/leinster-gaa-extend-dublin-model-across-province-40205934.html

All they need to do tgem is
Divide Dublin into 2
Have 1 East Leinster team.
That will give them 3 Units with 700k people in each.

[macker15]

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/leinster-gaa-extend-dublin-model-across-province-40205934.html

All they need to do tgem is
Divide Dublin into 2
Have 1 East Leinster team.
That will give them 3 Units with 700k people in each.

Will the sheepstealers amalgamate with Leitrim and Sligo? Ye might actually Mayo a proper challenge in Connacht?

[Rossfan]

Do you mean Mayowestros who won 1 of the last 5 Connacht Titles?
Meanwhile in Leinster we have a 15 out of 16 team
and in All Ireland an 8 out of 10 team.

I see Pat Gilroy has started this years media campaign....
Dublin won't win 8 of the next 10 he says.
He's right, it will be 10/10.

[macker15]

Do you mean Mayowestros who won 1 of the last 5 Connacht Titles?
Meanwhile in Leinster we have a 15 out of 16 team
and in All Ireland an 8 out of 10 team.

I see Pat Gilroy has started this years media campaign....
Dublin won't win 8 of the next 10 he says.
He's right, it will be 10/10.

Mayo were looking at the bigger picture while Roscommon and Galway peaked for Connacht final.

[macker15]

Do you mean Mayowestros who won 1 of the last 5 Connacht Titles?
Meanwhile in Leinster we have a 15 out of 16 team
and in All Ireland an 8 out of 10 team.

I see Pat Gilroy has started this years media campaign....
Dublin won't win 8 of the next 10 he says.
He's right, it will be 10/10.

How much were Kildare, Westmeath,  Meath and Laois paying Micko, Paidi , McGeeney and Banty during the boom? Could they have invested that money into underage structures?? 

[Rossfan]

And where would they get an extra million population?
Not to mention most of their games at home.