Joe Brolly

[JoG2]

Joe's latest article, on the competitive arms race in the GAA, has some hits and misses.

"As with just about everything Joe has ever said about this deal, this is spectacularly wrong. Broadcasting rights have always been negotiated by a small team and have never required approval by Congress."

thats all well in good for any negotiations in the past re championship football, but this deal meant those producing the game, ie the gaels of Ireland would now have to pay for the privilege of watching their product. To this end, this proposal would should have went before congress.

And before I'm lambasted, having played and help run teams overseas, I'm all for promoting the game, but not at the expense of the afore mentioned people losing out

[Eamonnca1]

GAA people outside of Ireland (we're still Gaels) have been paying to watch the game for years, and in North America we're still doing so. What's so special about GAA fans in Ireland that they have to be given priority over those outside the country?

In any case you had to pay to watch the product for years by going to the match because only about six games a year were on TV. When did you become entitled to see everything free of charge without getting off the couch? Are you one of these people who climbed over the wall to avoid paying at the turnstile?

[StephenC]

EAMON McGee admits to being baffled — and annoyed — by it all.
Over the past few weeks, the debate in the GAA — partly driven by Joe Brolly — has been about supposedly unsustainable demands on players.
We're told again and again that players are forced to live sterile lives, that they endure rather than enjoy Gaelic football.
McGee has been around the block. He started out with Donegal in 2003 and turns 31 in April.
And he doesn't recognise the picture of the game that's being painted.
"It really frustrates me to be reading this craic,'' he said.
"I got really, really mad reading Joe Brolly's article saying we're under pressure and we're slaves and all that.
"I have never been in a dressing-room where the door was locked. I could always leave.
"I'm sure if it was affecting my life to such a degree, I could just walk away. Nobody's keeping players there.
"I've heard former players saying 'it affected me, I wasted three years of my life' and all this kind of stuff.
"If you want to have the craic, play reserve football.
"If you want to take it a wee bit seriously, play senior football.
"If you're in there to win and willing to make the sacrifices, go up to county level.
"County players could be looked after a bit better in terms of education.
"There is definitely stuff to work on, and the GPA are doing good work there.
"But I enjoy it. I get up for the gym in the morning and I enjoy it.
"I have the craic with the lads when we meet up.
"I just find it ridiculous. Joe Brolly's banging on about the pressures on the modern footballer and he's the man who called out Sean Cavanagh live on TV saying he's not a man, that he wouldn't have a pint with him or whatever.
"He made a personal attack on Rory Kavanagh as well, and Rory had to go into school and teach kids the following day."
A few years back on The Sunday Game, Brolly declared that "watching Rory Kavanagh go on solo runs must be one of the most depressing sights in Irish life."
So McGee finds Brolly's current stance hard to take.
"This is the same boy now that's giving out about f**king pressures on inter-county footballers,'' he said.
"And he says too that it's win it all costs and that this is ruining the game.
"But that's not exclusive to Gaelic football. That's in all sports.
"Children are brought up to win at all costs. That's a societal problem."
McGee will start against Fermanagh in the McKenna Cup today at Ballyshannon.
A bitterly cold winter Sunday is a far cry from his last outing with the county — September's All-Ireland final.
But McGee maintains that it still has an appeal — as does working with new Donegal manager Rory Gallagher.
"I f**king hate January but there's still a bit of buzz about it,'' he said.
"I remember this time last year and we were doing a bit of dogging in training.
"Karl Lacey just emptied himself on one of the runs and then stepped up to lead the run out again.
"That kind of stuff is really inspiring and drives you on.
"Those are the moments that you get a wile buzz from.
"Rory can't sell Jim's product, Rory has to sell his own game-plan, his own vision.
"You get these coaches at club level and they try and copy Jim McGuinness's plan and they can't sell it properly.
"Rory has to make his own mark.
"There is stuff that we're good at and we'll try and hold on to, but Rory will be putting his own stamp on Donegal.
"After we won the All-Ireland, I said an important part of it was the triangle of Jim, Rory and Michael Murphy as captain.
"Rory is just very knowledgeable. He doesn't bluff you. He calls a spade a spade.
"He knows his stuff and you respect him."
McGee makes it clear, though, that he wouldn't still be around if he'd pocketed a second All-Ireland medal last September.
"Definitely. That was the plan. Walk away and try and won something with the club,'' he said.
"But the fact that we lost made it harder to walk away from it.
"A lot of the older players talked about whether we'd go back.
"It was very, very important who Donegal appointed as manager.
"Because Rory came in, he definitely staved off a lot of retirements that would have come down the line."
In the final defeat to Kerry, McGee marked Kieran Donaghy and it nags at him that the full-forward had such a big impact on the game.
"I'm still disappointed that he was so influential,'' he said.
"I'm not being cocky here or anything but I would have set myself high standards throughout the year.
"I felt that, in the majority of games, I lived up to those standards.
"In the All-Ireland final, Kieran got the better of me so I was disappointed coming off it.
"The winners are up there. They're in the media, they're being interviewed and there's just constant reminders of what happened.
"You're thinking 'maybe if we'd done something different'...it's difficult to take but we're not going to go home and hide under the sheets.
"We're big boys now. We have to be fit to take it. That's part of sport too."
Young players like Ryan McHugh, Darach O'Connor and Odhran MacNiallais played a big part in Donegal's resurgence in 2014.
And McGee expects them to become even more influential.
"Paddy McBrearty is another. People think he's been around for ever but he's still only 21,'' he said.
"They did wonders last year and we'll be expecting a bit more from them this year.
"I know Odhran well and he has the ability to push on further.
"I watched him in the McKenna Cup game and I'm convinced he'll be the best Gaoth Dobhair player to play for the club and for the county.
"I don't want to give him the kiss of death!
"But he has the ability and, if he puts the hard work in, that's what he's capable of."

SIDEBAR
ON THURSDAY morning, Eamon McGee and Neil Gallagher headed for breakfast with Rory Kavanagh in Letterkenny.
They met to mark the retirement of Kavanagh — the first of Donegal's 2012 All-Ireland winning side to walk away.
"It's very, very sad for the older lads,'' he said.
"There was a group there — Rory, myself, Christy Toye, big Neil Gallagher, Colm McFadden...we would have been the tracksuit ravers!
"We were the boys who were knocking about the Grill (Letterkenny nightclub) back in the day.
"We'd have been in there after any oul' League game.
"Then we were winning Ulsters, winning an All-Ireland...and there's a close bond between all of those lads.
"Rory's the first to go, so it's sad.
"When it's someone that you started out with at senior level that retires, it hits home.
"It's hard to put Rory's contribution into words.
"I tweeted that he was one of the best, and that wasn't an off-the-cuff remark because he's retired.
"I watched a lot of the club championship games and he was the stand-out performer for Eunan's.
"He's in good shape, physically, but he feels himself that he's put the shift in.
"He owes Donegal football nothing.
"A lot of the boys tried to talk him out of it but he had his mind made up from some time last year.
"Rory has to do what's best for Rory."

SIDEBAR TWO
DONEGAL enjoyed unprecedented success under Jim McGuinness, winning three Ulster titles and an All-Ireland.
But they also endured four of the toughest defeats in the county's history.
In the 2011 All-Ireland semi-final, it seemed as if eventual champions Dublin were there for the taking.
Donegal crashed to Monaghan in 2013, when they were chasing an historic hat-trick of Ulster titles.
That was followed by a humiliating 16 point thrashing by Mayo in Croke Park.
And last September's loss to Kerry was particularly tough, given how well Donegal had played against Dublin in the semi-final.
"The Dublin game in 2011 was one we definitely feel we let away from ourselves,'' said McGee.
"And if we'd pushed on a wee bit, we could have won.
"Losing to Monaghan and Mayo was just so disappointing.
"To go from the level we were at...we'd f**king gone a long way back.
"The Kerry defeat was the toughest to take.
"Kerry were the better team on the day but we just never got up to the level we reached against Dublin.
"It's something we have to live with.
"They were tough defeats, but the highs did outweigh the lows."

https://medium.com/@KCsixtyseven/eamon-mcgee-on-brolly-27968cc5ed35

[muppet]

Good interview that.

[JoG2]

GAA people outside of Ireland (we're still Gaels) have been paying to watch the game for years, and in North America we're still doing so. What's so special about GAA fans in Ireland that they have to be given priority over those outside the country?

In any case you had to pay to watch the product for years by going to the match because only about six games a year were on TV. When did you become entitled to see everything free of charge without getting off the couch? Are you one of these people who climbed over the wall to avoid paying at the turnstile?

ah ha, the default assumption! If we're making assumptions, I'd be fairly confident that most on this GAA forum board are fairly involved in club and county.

You think that the GAA family in Ireland (who 100% produce the games you want to watch )should not have all televised games free to air, I think we should.  What difference does it make if only 2/3/4/5/6 championship matches were shown for years, people wanted more, and low and behold they got more.  I'll leave it at that, this is a well worn road at this stage, and well, in your mind, you're right and those with a differing opinion are 'spectacularly wrong'.

PS: For some context, I'm all for the promotion of our games, I lived abroad for many years, played, trained, coached and sold tickets blah blah blah  for several teams in different countries, formed a uni team and paid to watch countless matches on TV in pubs and clubs. Sell the TV rights to whoever, promote the games as far and wide as possible,  but leave the matches free to air in the country of production

[DennistheMenace]

Very good interview to be fair. Not the usual aul cliche rubbish we're used to reading about.

[ONeill]

Well done Eamon McGee.

[rrhf]

No backdoors with Mc Gee.  a Tough honesty about him..

[imtommygunn]

They go dogging in training 

Very good interview. You can kind of see with what he says there's a bit of an irony in what Joe Brolly says about the pressures in intercounty football when he's one of the ones putting the pressure on them by making ridiculous statements like about Sean Cavanagh and Rory Kavanagh.

[DennistheMenace]

They go dogging in training 

Very good interview. You can kind of see with what he says there's a bit of an irony in what Joe Brolly says about the pressures in intercounty football when he's one of the ones putting the pressure on them by making ridiculous statements like about Sean Cavanagh and Rory Kavanagh.

Ironic indeed. Whilst I agree with Brolly in certain points he makes, his ancedotes are usually a 'I heard, he said, she said' rubbish.

[johnneycool]

you gotta love Brian Cody and his perspective on winning and the bould Joe's indentured slave comments;

From ;
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/jod-brolly-blast-missed-the-point-says-brian-cody-308134.html





Cody gave an insight into the ruthless attitude he likes to see in his players.

"What I kind of love, the whole spirit of the thing, when you know that you're going out on that field and there's nobody, nobody going to outfight you. There's no other team around that can say 'I'm going to work harder than this crowd' because you developed that kind of spirit that can't be broken. It's a fabulous thing.

"People say going out in a match that 'we're prepared to die to win this game' but that's a dangerous thing to say. You should never say you're prepared to die to win. You should always be prepared to kill to win a game. That's the difference."

[rodney trotter]

https://t.co/ewWixNhnID

[rrhf]

I'd say just the effort wasn't the same.  Counties have their natural level or ceiling often inadvertently self imposed.

[Keyser soze]

So to sum up:

Playing, and training for, Gaelic football and hurling is great craic and really enjoyable.

Until I get too old, or have had too many injuries to continue to play at a high, or any, level, or it becomes less enjoyable and starts to seem like a chore.

Then I'll quit and do something else in my spare time.

Sin e.

[johnneycool]

I'd say just the effort wasn't the same.  Counties have their natural level or ceiling often inadvertently self imposed.

I wouldn't go as far as that.

Paddy himself may have been as committed as any footballer from Kerry or Dublin, but maybe there just wasn't the same number of committed or talented individuals within the squad to compete.