Messages

You can mention the incident but I think it's very bad judgment to name a player when this is complete speculation. Indeed I'd wonder if it's libel.

Any 'evidence' is about as reliable as Chinese whispers at this stage and yet this now attaches itself to the player's reputation. I really think the administrators should remove the player's name.

As BNM points out the Ref booked him for it but pretty sure it won't make it's way into any Referees report because this sort of stuff gets brushed under the rug. It a pretty nasty sort of a crime and hope this isn't what's going to creep into the game, the time to address it is early on. If he wasn;t booked for this what was the booking for?

As AZ points out, the Offaly CB are unlikely to try follow up on this but it still doesn't make the crime any worse.

Heard this morning that Rob Kelly's injury is not serious and he'll be back training this week.

Very nasty carry on by Kelly at the weekend chewing on Ross Brady chest, there is no place in the game for that type of carry on. Hope this isn't the type of tactics that is creeping into the game. Croke Park need to stop this early on but there doesn't seem to be any mention of it anywhere.

No one is calling an Offaly win, the ignorance is A. Not knowing Seanie 'Straffan Johnson is not eligible and B. Actual calls to boo him or shall we say make him feel welcome, now that is embarrassing and frankly pathetic. The lad is an amateur and what gripe would Offaly have with him, really sad so see things like that creep into the game, but sure that must be part of the ethos and up there with diving as well as no one seems to have interest in cleaning these things up.

We have enough to be worried ourselves as well, there is only some many moral victories one can take.

Why not be accurate?
On the first point, the whole saga is still going on. Look at the indo on Wed that started the discussion on that website

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/johnston-to-get-green-light-for-offaly-clash-after-new-twist-in-transfer-saga-3137433.html

So where does that leave the intelligence level of the rest of the country?

On the 2nd point, the first poster asked about booing
"Do we boo him when he comes on?
The arguments...

Yes we should - Let them know we aren't happy with big teams trying to cherry pick talent, buy success and not act in the spirit of the association. If we're being well beaten, it would be a good way of venting some frustration.

No we shouldn't - It would be unbecoming of gentlemen like us. They're amateur players and shouldn't be abused. Johnston and Kildare haven't broken the rules."

Only one poster replied and they said not to boo. So I dont think there are any call to boo.

Yes, there are issues that need to be addressed in the GAA, booing and diving are some. Maybe a bigger issue that could be looked at also is questionable inter-county transfers, but then Kildare is above all that.

Anyone see the Sharks/Blues bust up Saturday evening in the Hockey, round 2 today. Some hammering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dN0kF_zif8&feature=youtube_gdata

So these lads are in the Super bowl semi-final so to speak, they get paid thousands each week so how much do you think the extra "bounty" on a lads head motivates them? The actual "Bounty" here is tiny compared to what they get paid on a weekly basis and they may never get a chance to play in a Super Bowl so I'd find it hard to believe that this small amount of cash would be motivating to them. Maybe having their name up in the dressing room as the lad that bust open player X would be more of a motivator but that will be there even without the bounty.
I'm not saying this bounty system is OK but just find it hard to see how it will get a lad more motivated than he should already be.

That is true to some extent but there is a price to pay for playing in a big money business like the NFL.

NFl chief Goodell is cleaning up the dark side of the game and the Saints got caught running a bounty system so they are going to be hung out to dry. It is a big money media business and the Saints are going to suffer because of that reality there are cameras and sound recording equipment every where
and the NFL will face massive lawsuits from injured and broke players beccause of this.

They are lucky Brett Favre isn't broke because he would have a big lawsuit from his treatment in the 09 NFC championship game.

The only player I ever saw take it handy on an opponent when he had him dead to rights was the late, great Reggie White, he was so good he literally jumped over player to get to the QB, and once there, he wrapped him up and dropped to the ground without injuring him.

Speeches like the one being banded about on tv and the web are the norm, they happen all over the country and if everyone is trying to be a human highlight reel where is the problem?

The unfortunately named saints simply got caught saying and doing what others have done for decades, the whole thing is hypocrisy, period, end of!

Sure it's only confirming what we all knew or suspected all along  - that the FF/Builder/Developer mafia  milked us for decades until the banks finally gave them so much rope they hung us and themselves. 

Add the legal system as well to that list of people that Milked us, this thing has been going on for 15 years and only confirms what we all knew with not one person being held accountable....... The country is bankrupt but these suits will still get their 7 figure fees paid by the taxpayer.

Lads i sat up for Alabama and LSU last Night,and it put me to sleep. Was i alone there?
Id have loved to have seen Oklahoma State in the mix,they would have made it more exciting.

As i said earlier, crap game. However, remember if OK state were in the game it would have been LSU not Alabama. I'd like to have seen Stanford there, they were better than OK state in the Fiesta bowl but for a poor kicker!
Still believe a playoff would be great, December Madness! They have 4 BCS bowl games and add two more, maybe cotton bowl and another one you have 6 there for a Q/F, S/F and then final.

Crap game.
The BCS needs to bring in a playoff. These teams were off for over 40 days after playing every week prior to that, no reason the top eight teams couldn't have a Q/F, S/F and Final. There would be no questions then around who the real No 1 team is. I still think over the season LSU had the more impressive schedule, beat way more top 10 teams than Bama and obviously got caught tonight when they had all to loose and Bama had nothing to loose.

Two classic games, Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. Both came down to the last play, Rose Bowl the QB didn't spike the ball fast enough on the opposition 20 yard line to stop the clock and Oregon win. Fiesta bowl, kicker misses for Stanford win with last kick of the game to put into OT, then misses in OT for OSU to win. Poor lad is a 1st year and I'm guessing pretty lonely in the dressing roon after teh game.
Couple more good ones to come over the week but next Monday will be a tense 3-0 win, flip of a coin to who however.

Anyone wanting to watch great americian football watch the college games this week, Rose bowl, Fiesta bowl etc. all leading up to the championship game Next monday. Great games and true pasion where these guys are not overpaid spoilt convicts .....yet.
All that is good about this sport

Fair play AZ for running a top class competition and giving the reports.

Good to see Offaly win the Senior and Junior comp 

Let me know if you get the trophies, if not I'll get one myself to stick on the mantle piece and offer it up for next years Junior comp

When life gives you lemons you make lemonade.

This is a golden opportunity for the GAA to grow internationally and not repeat the mistakes of the past when the games were just seen as a bit of entertainment for emigrants and were kept to the Irish community. The influx of players into clubs outside of Ireland needs to be translated into a new effort to get the games out there beyond the Irish community where they can truly grow.

Well the carry on in San Francisco this year with the young lad in a coma for a few weeks won't encourage too many locals to join the GAA. Added to that the response of the local GAA authority where they showed no spin in trying to protect their own players and lay down a marker that it's unacceptable for that sort of carry on. Why would anyone want to let their son/daughter out to play a game that is run by a bunch of amadan's???

Of course we could do this. When people talk about NZ not making money they are not looking at it correctly. The main reason NZ didn't make money is the physical fact that its located in a place that make it expensive to travel to. If it was held in Ireland all the 6 nations teams would have big following, NZ and Aus bring a large crowd no matter where the WC is held (back to the Rugby nuts comment) and I would say the same about SA. The other nations won't set the world alight with the support they have even if it was held in their back yard.

How much would it cost? We'll if we got together as a country IRFU and GAA then it can be done easily. Last WC there were 4 groups (same as Euro champ.) so all you need is 8 grounds really but to spread things around

Leinster - Aviva (50K), Croke Park (83K), with Portlaoise (27K) and even Tullamore 20K
Munster - Thomond (27K), Thurles (50K), PiC (50K)
Ulster - Clones (36K), Raven (revamped)
Connacht - Castlebar (42K), Tuam (25K), Roscommon(30K)

The grounds would need a bit of work but this wouldn't take a lot of money to do and with a bit of a get up and go attitude could be done. This sort of thing is needed in the country right now, get things moving again, positive attitude and all that. Never mind sharing it with another country, just go do the thing alone.

The GAA would get a number of grounds upgraded, paying for some themselves, some through IRFU and some through the goverment. Course money is tight now but all parties need to look at the benifits long term in getting people/players for the two associations back to work and turning an economy.

Who'll pay the bill? The tax payer, with RTE being State run

Will anyone get the chop? No, because of all the public service protection

If anything happened like this in a privite owned company heads would roll. But instead every house in Ireland needs to have a TV lisense to pay to support these clowns.

Just seen this, In as well - cheers Shifty