Messages

1

GAA Discussion / Re: LGFA

« on: March 21, 2023, 09:41:35 PM »

The more likely this becomes the more I’m thinking the GAA needs a bloody big “pre nup” as part of the merger.

Let’s call a spade a spade. This would not be a partnership of equals. One organisation brings all the grounds and premises, the long-standing  tradition of volunteerism, the sponsorship, the media, the political influence, and the majority of players. The other organisations bring a minority of players.

The current hierarchy whereby men’s football and hurling are pegged above their female counterparts in terms of importance is owed most significantly to the ownership of grounds. Currently one sport can call the tune ahead of the others. The other sports then set their schedules in and around what’s left.

For everyone’s sanity it has to stay that way. When the availability of facilities cannot keep up with demand, absolutely no good can come from an equal balance of power.

Equality yes. Egalitarianism, no. That’s not going to work.

Yes the "Men's GAA" bring the infrastructure and why wouldn't they, they've had a 130 or 40 year head start. The LGFA and Camogie will bring a lot of things. I know in my own local club where it is basically run as one, the Ladies bring a whole different dimension to fundraising, coaching, and lots more.
The ladies are afraid it will be a take over. I think we take our time and get it right for all parties. One thing is for sure we could learn a lot from them, even in how their All Ireland competitions are run, with Senior, Intermediate and Junior all Irelands.

FWIW I reckon the main problems aren’t going to appear at club level, but at county board level.

For a county board to be able to function after the merger, then all four sports will need representation. And that’ll be immediately followed by the requirement for a voice in most decisions. Such as in CCC and what nights are allocated for which sports in the county.

Here’s how this will go down in some county boards. LGFA or camogie reps will kick up a fuss about football and hurling having the plum slots; and batter the equality drum to death. Football and hurling will ignore them and hope they go away. In some counties there’ll be a perennial stand off. In other counties, members of  LGFA or camogie will hatch a plan to slowly take control of CCC. They’ll get there after a few years and will fulfll their plan. The following year, football or hurling people will retake CCC, and will be painted as some bad guys from a prehistoric age, just for re-registering the status quo. And then there’ll be holy war for a few years as both sides dig in.

All it takes for this scenario is a couple of rabble rousers to stoke the flames. All it takes to stop it is a pre nup that says something along the lines of “men’s sport built the facilities in this county, so when nobody can agree anything, they get first dibs…. But to try to ensure it doesn’t come to this”.

2

General discussion / Re: The IRISH RUGBY thread

« on: March 21, 2023, 01:04:15 PM »

Red as per the modern super woke health and safety rules, but shouldn't have been a red.

Health and safety is "woke" ffs. Have you ever heard such f**king nonsense or idiocy.

Wait till the claims pile up for the early onset of dementia and the payouts that follow, is that being super woke?

https://twitter.com/i/status/1635749284355211264

You look at your man Steve Thompson who was a world cup winner in 2003 and what has happened with him. Horrific so people need protected.

Addressing one of collisions as being the problem isn’t going to solve anything by itself though.

It’s the sheer volume of collisions with oversized humans, over a lengthy period of time, that really brings the house down.

Rugby needs to find ways to reduce the size of players (wider pitches, thorough to the point of zero tolerance drug testing), and to reduce the volume of games any player can be involved in.

Game will be gone for good within 2 generations if it doesn’t.

3

GAA Discussion / Re: LGFA

« on: March 21, 2023, 12:43:50 PM »

The more likely this becomes the more I’m thinking the GAA needs a bloody big “pre nup” as part of the merger.

Let’s call a spade a spade. This would not be a partnership of equals. One organisation brings all the grounds and premises, the long-standing  tradition of volunteerism, the sponsorship, the media, the political influence, and the majority of players. The other organisations bring a minority of players.

The current hierarchy whereby men’s football and hurling are pegged above their female counterparts in terms of importance is owed most significantly to the ownership of grounds. Currently one sport can call the tune ahead of the others. The other sports then set their schedules in and around what’s left.

For everyone’s sanity it has to stay that way. When the availability of facilities cannot keep up with demand, absolutely no good can come from an equal balance of power.

Equality yes. Egalitarianism, no. That’s not going to work.

4

General discussion / Re: Premier League 2022-2023

« on: March 20, 2023, 10:05:32 AM »

Some rant by Conte, now 1/5 to be next premiership manager to be sacked.
  Southampton 3-3 Tottenham: Antonio Conte's furious media conference after Spurs let lead slip - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/65004422

Listened to it and he's not wrong. Whether Levy and Co want to be reminded of their own shortcomings in public is another thing.

If they do sack him, expect it to get messy.

He’s not wrong.

But about 4 miles down the road a manager with no big reputation, has spent similar amounts of money to Conte  turning what was a weaker squad than Spurs into likely PL winners, and doing so while playing attractive football.

So what Levy want to do, can be done.

ENIC just have this awful habit of picking managers who aren’t suited to the job. like Conte, probably the biggest fraud in the history of management.

Refuses to change his team, until forced by injury. Refuses to change his formation to suit what’s available. Concedes midfield in every game, regardless of opposition. He’s getting paid over a million a month to manage Spurs and every single player has gone backwards apart from the bombproof Kane.

He’s an absolute con man.

5

GAA Discussion / Re: NFL Division 1 2023

« on: March 19, 2023, 06:54:47 PM »

Yep Horan deserves credit for bringing so many of them through.

But while there seemed to some disharmony in styles, trust and and belief between the old guard and new under Horan, they seem to be revelling in each other’s company under McStay, and enjoying their unpredictability together. Mayo of 2023 just don’t seem to have a pattern to their play; they’re happy to mix it up each and every way.

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GAA Discussion / Re: Ulster Colleges

« on: March 18, 2023, 03:05:44 PM »

Biggest difference between Down and Tyrone at the minute is nothing to do with population, demographics, county size.

In my opinion it’s partly to do with aspiration - young lads having both heroes and a genuine chance of playing in AI final is the difference between a talented and competitive player and a talented and absolutely focused player. The latter usually wins. It’s also partly to do with knowledge and understanding, in that they’ve now had two generations of players that have each shown the following year group just how much effort it takes to reach the top.

It’s this ability to focus that turn occasional triumphs into a conveyor belt. This is what St Colmans had for years.

7

General discussion / Re: Death Notices

« on: March 17, 2023, 09:00:39 PM »

This makes me sad.

Was probably the most integral part of the series after McNulty.

Being in the Wire does not seem to be a good thing if you’re interested in longevity.

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GAA Discussion / Re: Fixture Planning

« on: March 16, 2023, 09:55:58 AM »

I reckon if GAA put a full (or pretty full) national league programme on St Patrick’s Day, they’d be lambasted for hijacking a family day out.

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GAA Discussion / Re: Bronx Grant

« on: March 15, 2023, 10:53:06 PM »

I’ve no interest at all in the GAA growing globally. I would like its entire focus to be in Ireland.

Am I alone in thinking this?

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General discussion / Re: American Sports Thread

« on: March 15, 2023, 08:03:30 PM »

It looks like Aaron Rodgers is on his way to the jets. Compensation for the packers is yet to be decided.

Based on last season, this is win win for Green Bay, and another bout of madness from NYJ

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General discussion / Re: The IRISH RUGBY thread

« on: March 12, 2023, 11:33:53 PM »

This weekends matches make an even bigger joke of the world cup groups.  The winner of the group containing Eng, Jap and Arg more than likely playing Wales for a place in the semi final.  Meanwhile, two of Ireland, SA, NZ and France getting eliminated and Scot potentially not even reaching the quarters.  Joke

There’s flaws in the WC system no doubt. But here. Soccer has an almost egalitarian qualifying and seeding system for its WCs and it routinely throws up groups of death, and  produces both subjectively and clearly easier and tougher paths to the final.

Short of an entirely objective AI, fed with all the data on form, talent and injury reports intervening the week before a finals to split everyone fairly, no perfect system is possible. Such an AI doesn’t exist. And even if it was possible, coaches and teams would then game that AI to the point that we would end up not much different to what’s currently ordained.

——

It’s a bit like the early years of the All Ireland qualifiers. One year the media would leap on the back door as not providing stiff enough  competition for a team that follows that route to the last 4, to be suitably prepared for the level needed. The next year the same pundits would then tell you that teams coming out of the back door were better prepared for same challenge, by virtue of having played more games.

People see what they want to see. Championships though, they rarely produce an undeserved winner.

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General discussion / Re: What happened the DUP thread?

« on: March 11, 2023, 12:18:01 PM »

2/3 of kids from here who go to Uni in GB settle there.  I don’t care what background they are from, that’s a sad situation. Partly because of a lack of funding for our universities.  The grades for the likes of St Mary’s are through the roof.

Would it be worth considering that a hefty percentage of those who go to uni in England, have already formed a desire to leave NI for good, and studying in England provides a suitable window of opportunities?

13

General discussion / Re: Landlordism 2.0

« on: March 10, 2023, 10:46:24 PM »

No, I'm saying if you can't afford your rental mortgage without income from tenants, then you shouldn't have one in the first instance. Tough shit.

Renting property is a business, you have to cover your costs. If there was a general inability to cover costs then the house would not have been rented out in the first place and so the tenants would never have had a house.

This is nonsense.

House prices, and therefore mortgages, and therefore rent, are not determined by the usual rules of supply and demand. These figures are determined by speculation levels and investment levels.

The problem is that all that speculation, all that investment, has reached a point whereby housing of any shape or form is an unaffordable proposition for a hefty and growing percentage of the population. Mr “quick buck” who took on a property or two at maximum LtV, and needing rent to always cover his mortgage is, clean and simple, fucked. He can’t afford to do anything other than increase the rent, and nobody in his target market can afford to pay his new mortgage rate for him.

So we now in a situation where people are now both metaphorically and physically sleeping outside vacant properties.

f**k the landlords. f**k the greedy, skill less c***ts.

I dont understand this statement in bold. Speculation and investment levels are more complicated ways of saying demand.

Supply and demand is generally associated with needs and wants. No man needs more than 1 car, though he might want a few more. No harm done. No man needs a year’s supply of groceries on tap at all times, though he might want to overstock for things he enjoys. No harm done. No man needs more than 10 pairs of trousers. Though m a wardrobe full of them affects nobody.

No man needs more than 1 house. Even if he wanted 2, no real harm. But speculation and investment potential leads them to buying more than they need. It means that property operates in a different sphere.

Which would be okay if it was flowers. Or ornaments. Or paintings. 

But we’re dealing with a basic human need here.

f**k the greedy skill less c***ts who drive this stain on society.

I’m away to howl at the moon.

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General discussion / Re: Landlordism 2.0

« on: March 10, 2023, 09:14:59 PM »

No, I'm saying if you can't afford your rental mortgage without income from tenants, then you shouldn't have one in the first instance. Tough shit.

Renting property is a business, you have to cover your costs. If there was a general inability to cover costs then the house would not have been rented out in the first place and so the tenants would never have had a house.

This is nonsense.

House prices, and therefore mortgages, and therefore rent, are not determined by the usual rules of supply and demand. These figures are determined by speculation levels and investment levels.

The problem is that all that speculation, all that investment, has reached a point whereby housing of any shape or form is an unaffordable proposition for a hefty and growing percentage of the population. Mr “quick buck” who took on a property or two at maximum LtV, and needing rent to always cover his mortgage is, clean and simple, fucked. He can’t afford to do anything other than increase the rent, and nobody in his target market can afford to pay his new mortgage rate for him.

So we now in a situation where people are now both metaphorically and physically sleeping outside vacant properties.

f**k the landlords. f**k the greedy, skill less c***ts.

15

General discussion / Re: Landlordism 2.0

« on: March 09, 2023, 10:42:56 PM »

Was diving yesterday and tuned into Newstalk about this.

The number of messages sent in along the lines of “I’m a landlord and now I can’t pay the mortgage, won’t someone think of me?”, was laughable.

If your financial planning  involves shafting others from enjoying the basic human right of affordable shelter, well then f**k you. You deserve the hardest of times. And then some.

Do all landlords shaft people? Has to be a balance. f**k the scroungers looking to live for free.

Every property that’s purchased with the sole intention of financial gain, contributes to making housing less affordable. Every last one.

That governments across the world have facilitated greedy, callous c***ts, and revolting financial institutions in making money from an utterly skill-less and morally repugnant pursuit, is the greatest scandal in the history of capitalism and will ultimately be its downfall.

——

Imagine water distribution could be controlled in such a way that a small group of people got extraordinarily wealthy from it, a sizeable chunk of society profited from it, and price gouging meant half of society had to work 20-30 hours a week just to get enough to stay alive. But… quit work and the government gives you it for more or less free.

Does that sound like a scandal?

It does. Of course it does.

Shelter is also a basic human need.

But nowadays it’s also a f**king commodity.

——

I don’t want to live in America. f**k America and its American ways.