Hurling puts football in the shade

[INDIANA]

The problem with gaelic football is that it seems not everybody is in agreement that it has been poor. Most hurling people will admit that the hurling was poor this year before the Waterford Kilkenny games. I havnt heard one person suggesting it was good up to that point. What we have seen since has been top class. Until footballer followers are honest and united about the state of the game then the bitching and complaining about refs, blanket defences, hand passing etc etc will continue. However for every one that thinks all is not well in Gaelic football another thinks its fine as it is.

The hurling championship has been no poorer then any other in the last 25 years. If anything the hurling championship is becoming more interesting as the counties are reasonably well matched below the top 4 and Kilkenny are on the wane in a big way.

[GaillimhIarthair]

hurling is a totally different game to football way more physical ie lethal weapon in your possesion

Hurling is 10 times less physical than football.

Having played both at a reasonable level, I would fully agree.  People see bits of hurls flying and assume it's a savage game but you would be in absolute bits after a good level of football more so than  hurling. 

[ashman]

In hurling there are constant contests for the ball and real intensity .  In modern Gaelic football with all the emphasis on possession and the cursed hand pass we not have a game with no contests and less and less intensity .  The hand pass has to be restricted in football .  It is destroying the sport as a spectacle .

[Jinxy]

No Ulster county has a competitive senior hurling team.
Coincidence?

[trileacman]

No Ulster county has a competitive senior hurling team.
Coincidence?

Meath are shite at football and hurling.
Coincidence?

[ONeill]

There's a beauty in a low scoring tactical fcukfest in football that hurling can never have.

[ONeill]

The problem with gaelic football is that it seems not everybody is in agreement that it has been poor. Most hurling people will admit that the hurling was poor this year before the Waterford Kilkenny games. I havnt heard one person suggesting it was good up to that point. What we have seen since has been top class. Until footballer followers are honest and united about the state of the game then the bitching and complaining about refs, blanket defences, hand passing etc etc will continue. However for every one that thinks all is not well in Gaelic football another thinks its fine as it is.

Football was never beautiful. I remember the 80s. It was shite enough. But it was our shite. And we loved it. Now it's on the TV a lot and people demand entertainment.

[trileacman]

The problem with gaelic football is that it seems not everybody is in agreement that it has been poor. Most hurling people will admit that the hurling was poor this year before the Waterford Kilkenny games. I havnt heard one person suggesting it was good up to that point. What we have seen since has been top class. Until footballer followers are honest and united about the state of the game then the bitching and complaining about refs, blanket defences, hand passing etc etc will continue. However for every one that thinks all is not well in Gaelic football another thinks its fine as it is.

Football was never beautiful. I remember the 80s. It was shite enough. But it was our shite. And we loved it. Now it's on the TV a lot and people demand entertainment.

True that.

[Il Bomber Destro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsqJFIJ5lLs

[Zulu]

The problem with gaelic football is that it seems not everybody is in agreement that it has been poor. Most hurling people will admit that the hurling was poor this year before the Waterford Kilkenny games. I havnt heard one person suggesting it was good up to that point. What we have seen since has been top class. Until footballer followers are honest and united about the state of the game then the bitching and complaining about refs, blanket defences, hand passing etc etc will continue. However for every one that thinks all is not well in Gaelic football another thinks its fine as it is.

Football was never beautiful. I remember the 80s. It was shite enough. But it was our shite. And we loved it. Now it's on the TV a lot and people demand entertainment.

True that.

Couldn't disagree more. Football when played properly and with courage is a wonderful spectacle and always has been. Dublin are still brilliant to watch and there's few things more beautiful in sport than a great point in football. However, what's been happening over the past few years is both worrying and very disappointing. It's a genuinely wonderful sport but it's being dragged down into an unwatchable borefest at the moment. We've just seen two great hurling semi finals and they were great because all four teams went out to win by going for it. Only Dublin go for it all the time in football.

[Wildweasel74]

I have only a passing interest in hurling, wouldn't go to a game but find it very watchable on TV, i have a big interest in football but many a game on Tv am changing the channel back and forth the games be of that poor a spectacle.

Even tight games of recent weeks i find the style of play boring to watch and honestly think football seemed to be a better sport for spectators back in the 90`s

[Il Bomber Destro]

The problem with gaelic football is that it seems not everybody is in agreement that it has been poor. Most hurling people will admit that the hurling was poor this year before the Waterford Kilkenny games. I havnt heard one person suggesting it was good up to that point. What we have seen since has been top class. Until footballer followers are honest and united about the state of the game then the bitching and complaining about refs, blanket defences, hand passing etc etc will continue. However for every one that thinks all is not well in Gaelic football another thinks its fine as it is.

Football was never beautiful. I remember the 80s. It was shite enough. But it was our shite. And we loved it. Now it's on the TV a lot and people demand entertainment.

True that.

Couldn't disagree more. Football when played properly and with courage is a wonderful spectacle and always has been. Dublin are still brilliant to watch and there's few things more beautiful in sport than a great point in football. However, what's been happening over the past few years is both worrying and very disappointing. It's a genuinely wonderful sport but it's being dragged down into an unwatchable borefest at the moment. We've just seen two great hurling semi finals and they were great because all four teams went out to win by going for it. Only Dublin go for it all the time in football.

Only Dublin receive €1m funding from the GAA every year.

[ONeill]

Take off the glasses. Kerry in their pomp were great to watch in the early 80s but much of the rest was boot the thing as far as you can.

The game has changed and spectator expectations need to change with it. It happens with most sports. Hurling is almost exempt because you can score in two moves:  keeper to team mate and over the bar. 6 seconds. In football, that can never happen.

Are Dublin great because they are hammering sides?

[Il Bomber Destro]

I have only a passing interest in hurling, wouldn't go to a game but find it very watchable on TV, i have a big interest in football but many a game on Tv am changing the channel back and forth the games be of that poor a spectacle.

Even tight games of recent weeks i find the style of play boring to watch and honestly think football seemed to be a better sport for spectators back in the 90`s

The tripe of harking back to the old days is nonsense, there were plenty of god damn awful games back in the 90s. Big aimless punts in the forwards was anything but enjoyable, football has evolved, players have got bigger, stronger quicker, lads who couldn't solo with their weaker foot never mind kick points. The skills of the modern day player are much higher now but the way players have evolved physically and athletically in modern sport necessitates that packed defences are employed. I could not take a game seriously where teams play wide open and big, strong, quick guys just burst through the middle every time for goal chances.

Ciaran McDonald was very good on Second Captains a couple of years back and said he would enjoy playing the game today as it requires more thought and composure.

What saddens me from a spectator perspective is the huge gulf in class that has opened up, the 90s and 00s were great for unfashionable counties making the breakthrough - Derry, Donegal, Tyrone and Armagh winning their first AIs. Laois and Westmeath grabbing Leinster titles, Sligo and Leitrim winning Connachts, Fermanagh a ball hair from an All Ireland final etc etc.

Those days are gone now and they won't return. The game is not weaker aesthetically, it is weaker competitively and that is the crux of the problem.

[ONeill]

I have only a passing interest in hurling, wouldn't go to a game but find it very watchable on TV, i have a big interest in football but many a game on Tv am changing the channel back and forth the games be of that poor a spectacle.

Even tight games of recent weeks i find the style of play boring to watch and honestly think football seemed to be a better sport for spectators back in the 90`s

The tripe of harking back to the old days is nonsense, there were plenty of god damn awful games back in the 90s. Big aimless punts in the forwards was anything but enjoyable, football has evolved, players have got bigger, stronger quicker, lads who couldn't solo with their weaker foot never mind kick points. The skills of the modern day player are much higher now but the way players have evolved physically and athletically in modern sport necessitates that packed defences are employed. I could not take a game seriously where teams play wide open and big, strong, quick guys just burst through the middle every time for goal chances.

Ciaran McDonald was very good on Second Captains a couple of years back and said he would enjoy playing the game today as it requires more thought and composure.

What saddens me from a spectator perspective is the huge gulf in class that has opened up, the 90s and 00s were great for unfashionable counties making the breakthrough - Derry, Donegal, Tyrone and Armagh winning their first AIs. Laois and Westmeath grabbing Leinster titles, Sligo and Leitrim winning Connachts, Fermanagh a ball hair from an All Ireland final etc etc.

Those days are gone now and they won't return. The game is not weaker aesthetically, it is weaker competitively and that is the crux of the problem.

I disagree with your last point. Tipp in the semis is rather mad. Roscommon are knocking as were Monaghan. I can see Cavan featuring soon.