AFL 2008

[Sam Maguire]

Any of you know the craic with buying AFL jerseys online. Do you know of the best websites?

[mhacadoir]

lads, do any of yous know good AFL sites/ blogs etc? need it for part of my course! All help greatly appreciated!

[ykickamoocow]

lads, do any of yous know good AFL sites/ blogs etc? need it for part of my course! All help greatly appreciated!

This is the biggest AFL forum

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/index.php

[mhacadoir]

cheers!!

[ykickamoocow]

cheers!!

No problem. Here are some wikipedia pages which has plenty of information if you want it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Football_League

[AFS]

Lads, seeing since I don't really follow AFL that closely i'm just a bit curious about what level are the Irish boys at out there? We hear a lot about Kennelly and Clarke in Ireland but how do they fit in with the rest of the AFL.

For example, Kennelly (and probably Clarke) are shoo-ins for the Irish IR team if the series is revived, but would they be near the Aussie team?

And on Clarke, was his first season so amazing mostly because he is an Irish lad that has only been playing the sport for a year or two, or was it a genuinely impressive debut season by anyone's standards?

Also, how are the other boys getting on - the O'Halpins or any of the boys that have just gone out (Dyas, Shields, etc.)?

[Jinxy]

lads, do any of yous know good AFL sites/ blogs etc? need it for part of my course! All help greatly appreciated!

This is the biggest AFL forum

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/index.php

The average bigfooty poster seems to be a poorly educated teenage boy who hates everything other than the club he supports. If you are after an intelligent discussion, I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[mhacadoir]

sam maguire -

i have just been on the official AFL website www.afl.com.au and there is a merchandise shop on it.

i checked out collingwood, and prices for a guernsey os $109, about 50 quid sterling. sydney swans is $120. quite expensive.

[hitzelsperger]

sam - keep an eye on ebay, some good jerseys on it for cheap as fook, i recently got long sleeve carlton blues jersey for £23quid inc postage from oz...

also try rebelsports.com.au

[BallyhaiseMan]

AFS asks a very interesting question,

Are the lads Tadgh,Colm Begley,Marty Clarke being overhyped a bit because they are Irish,(im not doubting how good the lads are ,or how hard it must be to adapt to the game)

or is Tadgh at the level of the Barry Halls, Ben Cousins, Chris Judd,Matthew Pavlich,Daniel Kerr (up there with the very best).

[zoyler]

Tadgh certainly is judging by the difference he made when he made what they were calling his comeback game last weekend.He was the best afiekd for the Swans involved in nearly everything they did. 

Claaarke had a grteat start last year but a mare last Saturday so was dropped to the VFL team this week tpo help him find form.  Begley is going well but neither is at Kennellys level yet

[Frank Casey]

Young Horse to return!!!!

This is from www.kerrygaa.ie and was also reported in some of the Sunday Papers. I'm sure his Dad would be so proud to see him in Green and Gold on the third Sunday in September.

Tadhg Kennelly to Return to Kerry Football 
Sunday, 23 March 2008 
Tadhg Kennelly has sensationally revealed that he plans to return home to Ireland next year to try to win an All-Ireland medal with Kerry.
The 26-year-old from Listowel has established himself as one of the top players in Aussie Rules over the past seven seasons but his current deal with the Sydney Swans, with whom he won an AFL title in 2005, expires at the end of next year.

And Kennelly is not interested in extending his stay in Australia as he has his heart sent on lifting Sam Maguire.

"I'm definitely going home next year to try to win an All-Ireland medal," he told the Irish Mail on Sunday.

"I will always miss Aussie Rules and I won't cut my ties to Australia, but I want to win an All-Ireland with Kerry."

Kennelly has enjoyed all the benefits of professional sport during his time in Australia and one would imagine that he would be in favour of the GAA doing away with it amateur status.

But that is not the case. Indeed, he feels that the core values of the game would be corrupted by professionalism.

However, Kennelly does believe that inter-county players should receive some financial reward for giving over so much time to the sport.

"I would never halve left the GAA if Gaelic football was professional and players were paid the same as in Aussie rules, but I hope that the GAA doesn't try to pay its players professional wages," he said.

"Aussie rules is a franchise business.... but Irish sport is completely different.

"In Ireland, players compete for their counties, their local clubs and their families. There is more passion and players are driven by a different culture.

He continued: "Some of the county boards in Ireland look after their players very well but I think there is room for players to get more recognition in terms of a long-service award.

"There's a retirement fund out there for the players and for every year you play you get $15,000. If you play for 10 years you get $150,000 on retirement as a lump sum.

"When you think about it, the GAA isn't really amateur when you see country managers getting paid, full-time country secretaries, and players getting mortgages paid.

"Maybe the GAA needs to look at setting up a fund to help players who have given up their best years to Gaelic.

"But given that Australia's population, over 20 million, compared to Ireland which is only 5m, means GAA players should stay amateur."

[orangeman]

But will he really come home Frank - I'd love to see him home playing for the Kingdom - a lot of posters here reckon he's simply negotiating his contract in public ??

[Frank Casey]

Thats a fair point but I've a feeling he might. He has always said that he wanted to pick up a Celtic Cross, and follow in his Dad's and brother's footsteps. If this was an attempt to get another better contract then, after this one, we're looking at a fellow hitting 30 and prospects more limited for getting on to a Kerry side.

Its really now or never for him and I truely hope its now.

[orangeman]

Financially he'd be worse off - but perhaps it's something he feels that he really NEEDS to do.


But isn't there a chance that he mightn't make this fantastic Kerry side ? Who would step aside for him ? Where do you think he'd be best suited to play in GAA ?