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Eveyone else is running a poll so why not us. I may have left some glaring omissions in the options so feel free to name others who you feel should be on the list

 

One rag highlights the launch of another

From Irish Indo

THERE may be six months to go before the championship starts - but that hasn't stopped Dublin GAA coming out with a new team jersey just in time for Christmas.

In a move more usually associated with Premiership

soccer clubs such as Manchester United, Dublin GAA is bringing out yet another new shirt - just three years after its last change.

It may be February before any county football resumes, but Arnotts threw open its doors at 8am today to allow in the desperate hordes of diehard Dubs who couldn't survive another minute without the latest geansai.

They've ditched the usual practice of issuing the new kit in April just before the championships kick-off, in a thoughtful gesture which Arnotts said would facilitate those who want to buy new jerseys as Christmas presents.

The move should be greeted with cynicism and smacked of practices more common overseas, said Dublin City Councillor Tom Brabazon (FF).

"This kind of Manchester United commercialism is putting parents and children under financial pressure and it really is unfair of the County Board to do this," he said.

The price of children's jerseys has been increased from between €28 and €37 to between €30 and €40, and the adult version is unchanged at €55.

However, the timing coming up to Christmas is "incidental", and was based more on the fact that several counties were coming out with new kits shortly, and the launches had to be staggered, said sportskit-maker O'Neill's marketing manager Cormac Farrell. "Dublin supporters have been demanding a new shirt."

The decision on a new kit was agreed between the Dublin County Board, the sponsors Arnotts and themselves with each getting a share of the price.

[BOLD]

This is certainly one way of trying to coerce the powers that be into submission - however I was under the impression that GPA membership was open only to current Inter-County players. The playesr that I have highlighted in BOLD below are now retired, so can they still be members?

From Todays Indo - Shane Scanlon :

SEVERAL leading GAA stars are poised to take the unprecedented step of standing in next year's general election as the row over sports grants between the Government and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) escalates.

A high-profile member of the GPA has confirmed to the Irish Independent that there's growing support within the players' organisation for the plan to run a number of well-known hurlers and footballers in marginal constituencies.

This drastic step is being considered in the wake of Fianna Fáil's failure to give direct backing to the sports grants initiative proposed by the GPA and the GAA.

Were such household names as Kildare legend Glenn Ryan, Kerry stalwart Seamus Moynihan, Kilkenny superstar DJ Carey, and Cork hero Seán Óg Ó hAilpÍn to allow their names into the Dáil hat, they have the potential to inflict considerable damage on Fianna Fáil.

There's widespread anger among players following last Friday's GPA Banquet where Taoiseach Bertie Ahern - who was the guest of honour - gave his response to the mounting tension between the Government and the players' body.

"A lot of senior players were furious with Bertie's fudge on this issue the other night," said the GPA member, who didn't wish to be identified.

"We're fed up with the string of conditions being placed on players getting grants. It looks to us like we're being given the run-around. I think it's time the current GPA officers started to up the ante. There were a lot of us putting pressure on them last week and I believe there are a number of players prepared to stand."

When contacted last night, GPA boss Dessie Farrell was giving little away, but significantly, the ex-Dublin forward didn't deny the report.

"We have made no official plans to stand candidates in the election," said Farrell. "Many of our members have been approached by opposition parties to stand alright, but that's par for the course.

"I've heard the suggestions, but I think someone is jumping the gun and I'd like to know where he's getting his information," added Farrell.

Farrell added: "If I could borrow a phrase from Sports Minister John O'Donoghue's statement last week: I'm ruling nothing in or out."

Addressing players at the GPA awards ceremony on Friday, the Taoiseach seemed to hurl the ball back into the GAA's court on the grants issue, linking it to a potential move towards semi-professionalism.

"The role of the Government is rather to empower the governance structures for individual sports not to supplant them," Ahern said.

While the Government would have difficulties with funding a scheme of payments for inter-county players on a 'pay-for-play' basis - not least because of its down-stream consequences for other organisations across the spectrum of sport - the Sports Minister has signalled his readiness to explore options under which additional funding could be made available to the GAA for specified infrastructural purposes.

"The consequence of such an approach would be to free up resources within the Association which would then become available to enable County Boards put more resources into addressing player welfare issues."

However, this elaborate response has been viewed by the GPA grassroots as a classic political sidestep.

If I have a pic on my hard dirve, how can I use that as an avatar, the profile section allows for a URL to b e entered so i tried just putting the file path in this field ? Any ideas?

Might as well start this one also - still awaiting on JOM to make a decision