Cherish the things that are unique about the GAA (Sportacus)-

[AustinPowers]

Wholesome content.
The GAA was built on principles of volunteerism, humility, amateur status, desire to express our Irishness, community identity and so on. 

Obviously it will evolve with the times and great things are still happening everyday such as the All Stars teams which are springing up in clubs across the country and are amazing.

But:
Threatening SuperMacs?
Journeymen coaches scouring the country for their next small club and fifty quid a night?
Card only at the gate?
Banning charity advertising?
Casement Park debacle?
Games behind paywalls?

That's just off the top of my head. Basically there's a lot of corporate thinking has crept into the organisation that's undermining the core principles and that is wrong in my book. 

Card only at the gate is a positive step forward; unfortunately I know of clubs (and counties) where gate receipts were well short of what they should have been. While some people may not have cards , society in general requires their use more and more, so the GAA is merely reflecting that development.

Only if people allow  that to happen.

[marty34]

I love the seeing a pitch covered at half-time with young and old, fathers and mothers with their kids etc. pucking and kicking a ball about. No issues.

A great sight.

Conversely, I've seen kids being hunted off pitches i.e. Athletic Grounds at inter-county club championship games by 'jobworths' and it's only 2 or 3 kids looking to kick or puck about, not 500 children.

A joke.

[thewobbler]

I love the seeing a pitch covered at half-time with young and old, fathers and mothers with their kids etc. pucking and kicking a ball about. No issues.

A great sight.

Conversely, I've seen kids being hunted off pitches i.e. Athletic Grounds at inter-county club championship games by 'jobworths' and it's only 2 or 3 kids looking to kick or puck about, not 500 children.

A joke.

We've gotten soft.

There's a growing culture in Gaelic Games that pitches must be pristine.

There's too much praise and thanks put into the efforts of groundsmen to present them pristine.

[Derryman forever]

I love the seeing a pitch covered at half-time with young and old, fathers and mothers with their kids etc. pucking and kicking a ball about. No issues.

A great sight.

Conversely, I've seen kids being hunted off pitches i.e. Athletic Grounds at inter-county club championship games by 'jobworths' and it's only 2 or 3 kids looking to kick or puck about, not 500 children.

A joke.

We've gotten soft.

There's a growing culture in Gaelic Games that pitches must be pristine.

There's too much praise and thanks put into the efforts of groundsmen to present them pristine.

There was no greater pleasure than getting your opponent face down in a cow pat.
God be with the days when we turned the herd off the pitch to start the game.


Sometimes the herds were massive. As many as 4 on occasion.

[LCohen]

2 things that we should have cherished.

One on one battles. Need to go back one one man tackling.

"Volunteerism" as it has been called in an earlier post. Pay expenses to everyone, but only expenses.

A failure to pay expenses leads to elitism. Only an elite can afford to put a significant effort in to committees and volunteer roles if they are not getting expenses covered.

Paying more than expenses is professionalism or semi-professionalism. We either formally acknowledge that or root it out. The current situation, which is effectively a nod and a wink black market, is a cod and demeaning to the organisation and it's supposedly amateur ethos.

[JoG2]

What I cherish most is our ability to turn a thread about the things we cherish about the GAA into a moaning session.

Now, where's that soda bread...

[seafoid]

I love the seeing a pitch covered at half-time with young and old, fathers and mothers with their kids etc. pucking and kicking a ball about. No issues.

A great sight.

Conversely, I've seen kids being hunted off pitches i.e. Athletic Grounds at inter-county club championship games by 'jobworths' and it's only 2 or 3 kids looking to kick or puck about, not 500 children.

A joke.

I saw the halftime puckaround yesterday.  It's class

[Eire90]

ger collahan has had enough of the gaa shoving ads down peoples throats

[seafoid]

The high ball into the full forward line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udAXYoJf6Xo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAkY5m00rpY

[thebigfullforward]

One County (Dublin) get to play all their important Championship games at home. Does this happen in any other sport?

England 2020 Euro campaign 

[Sportacus]

One County (Dublin) get to play all their important Championship games at home. Does this happen in any other sport?

England 2020 Euro campaign 

For all the good it did them.

[LC]

I love the seeing a pitch covered at half-time with young and old, fathers and mothers with their kids etc. pucking and kicking a ball about. No issues.

A great sight.

Conversely, I've seen kids being hunted off pitches i.e. Athletic Grounds at inter-county club championship games by 'jobworths' and it's only 2 or 3 kids looking to kick or puck about, not 500 children.

A joke.

Full time pitch invasions, few and far between these days however one that stands out was when Limerick won the Munster Championship a few years ago. 

[Armagh18]

I love the seeing a pitch covered at half-time with young and old, fathers and mothers with their kids etc. pucking and kicking a ball about. No issues.

A great sight.

Conversely, I've seen kids being hunted off pitches i.e. Athletic Grounds at inter-county club championship games by 'jobworths' and it's only 2 or 3 kids looking to kick or puck about, not 500 children.

A joke.

Had a good laugh at the Cavan game in Armagh. It was announced to stay off the field at full time to save the pitch due to all the rain. Announcer barely had the words said and the stewards had the gates open for the kids to get on and meet players. Class.

[mrdeeds]

Proper interviews which are dying out but Off The Balls interview with the Waterford full back  Caoimhin Walsh is proper.