The Cost Of Dublin's Domination Is Becoming Clearer

[ned]

But when you have 1,250,000 to pick from and real GAA counties only have 30-100k

They have always had that number to pick from and it hasn't stopped Kerry being the most successful county by a long way. Dublin are simply going through a purple patch of players, when really class players like connolly go they will be very hard to replace. With the structures they have in place they will always be competitive but in my opinion this is just a generation of supremely talented players.

With the coaching levels at all age groups (professional standard by all accounts due to investment) Dublin will probably more or less always have at least 15 men of a high standard to field at senior level. Yesterday Laois looked decent at times but just couldn't match up in every position. Other counties will come close but if you have a high number of very well prepared players coming through from a young age with the skill levels of those Dublin players more often than not you are going to win the AI. A well managed Tyrone team might be the fly in the ointment this year or Dublin complacency. However, this needs to be addressed.

Bigger counties, in terms of players, have a clear advantage. Therefore, need to look at rules regarding eligibility. Since the inception of the GAA,  the rural population has diminished greatly in Ireland. I feel a player should be able to declare for the county of their birth, where they have spent their formative years or the county of their parent's birth. There must be a dozen players in Dublin who are good enough for inter county level who are never going to get anywhere near that Dublin football panel. Same probably in Kilkenny and hurling.

[ardtole]

I think the biggest problem is the attitude of the other counties in leinster. From the outside looking in they have just gave up. Colm ORourke in particular has regularly supported the "split dublin in two" campaign, which I think is the laziest possible soloution. I presume the hurlers are not included in this split?
The likes of Meath and Kildare in particular need to up their standards, after this season meath will likely be looking a new manager, maybe then they can offer some competition to Dublin in leinster.

[armaghniac]

Of course Meath and Kildare have to step up. But that doesn't reduce the logic of splitting Dublin, having one team with a pick exceeding the rest of its province or the total in other provinces makes no sense.

[Syferus]

Dublin itself is as divided between north and south sides as most counties are.

[Beffs]

But when you have 1,250,000 to pick from and real GAA counties only have 30-100k

The population of Armagh is approx 650,000. The population of Down is approx 550,000.

Does that mean the two counties also have a population of 1.2 million GAA playing, true Gaels to pick from?

Somehow,  I doubt it.

Same with Dublin.

[Syferus]

But when you have 1,250,000 to pick from and real GAA counties only have 30-100k

The population of Armagh is approx 650,000. The population of Down is approx 550,000.

Does that mean the two counties also have a population of 1.2 million GAA playing, true Gaels to pick from?

Somehow,  I doubt it.

Same with Dublin.

Nonsense to try to compare counties with deep sectarian divides and Dublin. You've also managed to confuse Armagh with Antrim.

[armaghniac]

But when you have 1,250,000 to pick from and real GAA counties only have 30-100k

The population of Armagh is approx 650,000. The population of Down is approx 550,000.

Does that mean the two counties also have a population of 1.2 million GAA playing, true Gaels to pick from?

Somehow,  I doubt it.

Same with Dublin.

Nonsense to try to compare counties with deep sectarian divides and Dublin. You've also managed to confuse Armagh with Antrim.

yes, we played shite against Cavan, but confusing us with Antrim is a bit harsh.

[Beffs]

Ha ha....sorry... geography was never my best suject in school.

Point still stands. Whether its for sectarian or other reasons, there are hundreds of thousands of Dublin residents who have never set food in Croke Park and never will, unless they are going to a concert. I know plenty of Dubs who wouldn't know who Stephen Cluxton was, if he passed them in the street.

[Il Bomber Destro]

Ha ha....sorry... geography was never my best suject in school.

Point still stands. Whether its for sectarian or other reasons, there are hundreds of thousands of Dublin residents who have never set food in Croke Park and never will, unless they are going to a concert. I know plenty of Dubs who wouldn't know who Stephen Cluxton was, if he passed them in the street.

There are plenty of nationalists from Belfast who wouldn't recognise any Antrim GAA player if they walked by them on the street.

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

You'd swear sometimes that Dublin is the only county that has competition from other sports. There are plenty of snobbish parents in Kildare who wouldn't want to see their children play culchie games so they send them to their local rugby club to get brain damaged instead. Soccer leagues are strong in these parts too due to a fixture calender that is not messed up with idiotic structures.

[Beffs]

Could have sworn I read somewhere that Kildare have more registered GAA club members - and therefore players to select from - than Dublin do. Any one know where I may have read that? Is there an online source that breaks the counties down by club members/size of actual playing population?

[Donnellys Hollow]

Could have sworn I read somewhere that Kildare have more registered GAA club members - and therefore players to select from - than Dublin do. Any one know where I may have read that? Is there an online source that breaks the counties down by club members/size of actual playing population?

We don't!

[Beffs]

Yeah, that's why I asked for the source to back it up. I remember reading it and being sceptical at the time.

Would still be very interested in seeing a breakdown of GAA club membership, per county.

[armaghniac]

Could have sworn I read somewhere that Kildare have more registered GAA club members - and therefore players to select from - than Dublin do. Any one know where I may have read that? Is there an online source that breaks the counties down by club members/size of actual playing population?

There is a tradition in Kildare of registering players to hurling clubs for one game, before they go on to play football. Perhaps this means more registrations.

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

Could have sworn I read somewhere that Kildare have more registered GAA club members - and therefore players to select from - than Dublin do. Any one know where I may have read that? Is there an online source that breaks the counties down by club members/size of actual playing population?

Senior division 1 clubs are struggling to get 15 players to tog out. This is mostly down to idiotic fixtures from the county board but there is a general lack of interest in GAA in the county at the moment and things are getting worse every year.

By number of clubs Kildare would be about average but where 10-15 years ago most intermediate clubs would have 3 teams it is now only the big town teams who would have these picks with a large amount of games involving second teams called off this year due to lack of numbers.