Ladies football

[sid waddell]

There's a reasonable discussion to be had about ladies football and female sports in general but the majority of contributions criticising ladies football here are utter nonsense and bit like the orange headed buffon across the Atlantic they are justifying their nonsense by claiming they are calling at it is and not bowing to a PC agenda.

As I've already said, I'm a supporter of political correctness in general and I would love to see women's GAA grow to the point where it can genuinely be taken seriously as elite sport.

But it should be subject to the same criticism and honest analysis as men's sport, which is clearly not the case at present.

[valeman]

Oh right, I thought that was a wind up. I coach our U12 girls the proper pick up primarily because it is a very good skill for developing athletic ability and balance. They are all well able to do it after practicing like the boys. The reason they don't implement it in the ladies game is because, like we've discussed in the men's game, it may not be a skill that adds to the game. I actually think there's plenty of merit in removing the pick up from the men's game to speed it up and remove a decision for referees that can be difficult to implement correctly all the time. Wasn't there doubts over a Bastick pick up in the All Ireland final?

So, basically the girls are well able to perform the pick up but those formulating the rules decided the pick up wasn't a skill they wanted to transfer. As odd a thing to focus on as using a size 5 ball I'd have thought.

Thanks for this explanation, as this has always been something that really bugs me about the ladies game. So basically what you are saying is that when formulating the rules for ladies football thet just decided they didn't want to implement the pick up? To me this is absured. The pick up is a key fundamental skill of Gaelic football, like the hop or catching a ball, to decide just not to have it for me means your not playing football. I totally understand the need for certain changes I.e. size 4 ball etc..:.but to remove a fundemental skill of the game 'just because' is rediculous, especially as you say the ladies can do it comfortably.  Now whether the pick up is a good or bad thing and should be implemented in the men's game is a different matter.

[sligoman2]

It's very disappointing to see the sexist undertones from Sid and brick.

We all know that women by biology or whatever can't run as fast as men or can't jump as high or hit as hard or kick as far Etc...  That does not mean that the women's game is not enjoyable, in fact I think there have been more exciting games in Lgfa than the men's championship.  Mayo v Dublin, Sligo v Kildare Etc...

I agree the final wasn't great and the weather didn't help.  In fairness, the quality of the men's final was shite also due to the weather.  Sid and Brick please take a good hard look at yourselves stop being so negative.  My kids boy and girls have played football since they were 5 and my daughter was the best player by far on the combined men and ladies team until she was u14 and could no longer play with the boys.  I'm a huge fan of ladies football and appreciate the effort ,dedication and skill they display.

[rosnarun]

id what people mean by proper criticism and honest analysis is the shite spoken by brolly and his ilk then no they should not have it
anyway as a sport it is still finding its way and growing at an incredible rate.
i donr see how at this point over rigorous analysis by people who watch one game a year is going to help them.
I think they have a long way to go yet in terms of Female backroom team coaches and referees but forcing mens rules on them for the sake of it helps no one.

[Zulu]

There's a reasonable discussion to be had about ladies football and female sports in general but the majority of contributions criticising ladies football here are utter nonsense and bit like the orange headed buffon across the Atlantic they are justifying their nonsense by claiming they are calling at it is and not bowing to a PC agenda.

As I've already said, I'm a supporter of political correctness in general and I would love to see women's GAA grow to the point where it can genuinely be taken seriously as elite sport.

But it should be subject to the same criticism and honest analysis as men's sport, which is clearly not the case at present.

But there's been plenty of criticism. Did all our Olympians get slated if they didn't win a medal, of any sort? Your comments on their fitness is wrong, your comparison to Olympian teams is an unfair one and comparing them to men's football is just daft.

There's an international soccer player on the Mayo team and the Cork minor team. A number of the Irish women's rugby team, who compete well with other countries, have loads of girls raised playing football. I know a lot of ladies footballers have played high level basketball too.

Nobody is saying there's no room for improvement or that elements of the senior final weren't poor but some of the comments here are so far off fair analysis that they've been rightly dismissed.

[rosnarun]

Cora staunton played a few rugby matches for castlebar and score 7 tries in her first rugby match ever. some of the ladies 7 player were recruited directly from football (and other sports) and made the team

[sid waddell]

It's very disappointing to see the sexist undertones from Sid and brick.

Complete nonsense and it's telling you have to play the sexism card - I've already said there are many sports in which women can rightly be called "elite".

Excusing poor standards because they are women is sexist, and that's exactly what you're doing.

[sid waddell]

But there's been plenty of criticism. Did all our Olympians get slated if they didn't win a medal, of any sort? Your comments on their fitness is wrong, your comparison to Olympian teams is an unfair one and comparing them to men's football is just daft.

But the fact is that women's football is regularly compared favourably to men's football by supporters of the game.

We regularly hear stuff like "the women train just as hard as the men" and that women's games
"were better than most games in the men's championship".

So people who make those comparisons can't have it both ways.

Why on earth would I slate our Olympians for not winning a medal? The Olympics is the pinnacle of sport worldwide. The only thing you can ask from our Olympians is that they go out and perform to the best of their ability. To get there is an achievement in itself.

If what was on offer on Sunday was the best of those players' ability, it's a sad reflection on the state of women's football. Of course it wasn't the best of those players' ability. It isn't unlocked because in comparison to the men's game, it's effectively a hobby, so of course the best of those players' ability will not be displayed.

[twohands!!!]

While I disagree fundamentally with the premise of the post that set this all off, I do agree that womens' sports are handled with a 'kid-gloves' approach by the media and public in general.
There was uproar about the absence of Hawkeye when people assumed that the GAA were to blame.
That largely dissipated when they were informed it was the LGFA's decision.
Certain vested interests were only dying for there to be some kind of discrimination angle involved.
The LGFA should be getting both barrels from the media, instead I've heard some people claiming that the GAA should have paid for Hawkeye for them.
There are some excellent female journalists however, such as Sinéad O'Carroll, who aren't afraid to point out the failings in womens' sports.
Plays camogie for Kildare herself and is adamant that the camogie and ladies football associations should be brought under the GAA banner.
She has said that resistance to that is only coming from one direction, and that is the people currently in charge of camogie and ladies football.

https://twitter.com/SecondCaptains/status/780439425834778624

I heard a story that when the GAA got a new email system a while back from Google, they offered it to the Ladies football and the Camogie association as well for free - The GAA were paying for it but offered to cover the cost for the ladies and camogie but the camogie association head honchos turned it down because they were concerned that GAA HQ would be able to read their email even though they were told by Google this would be impossible. 2 or 3 years down the track they changed there mind when then went looking at the cost of setting up their own email system and they realised that the GAA didn't possess the hacking ability to access Google's email servers.

Everything I've ever heard suggests that those in charge of the ladies football and camogie are more concerned with being the people in control than doing what's good for the game.

[DuffleKing]

why cant they pick up the ball the same way the men do?

Aways thought it had to do with ladies having breasts and their obscured vision of the ball at foot because of this?

Jesus Christ

[sligoman2]

It's very disappointing to see the sexist undertones from Sid and brick.

Complete nonsense and it's telling you have to play the sexism card - I've already said there are many sports in which women can rightly be called "elite".

Excusing poor standards because they are women is sexist, and that's exactly what you're doing.

I'm not the one playing the sexist card pal, and I'm not excusing poor standards I'm simply saying that I'm annoyed that you try to discredit the effort and dedication of ladies based on one game in the rain.  I have watched many great ladies games and have enjoyed them much more than some of the blanket bullshit on offer from the men. 

[Syferus]

People who try to dress up their prejudices in a nightgown of constructive criticism are easy to see a mile away.

[sid waddell]

People who try to dress up their prejudices in a nightgown of constructive criticism are easy to see a mile away.

A troll like you can be seen much more than a mile away.

[Jinxy]

People who try to dress up their prejudices in a nightgown of constructive criticism are easy to see a mile away.

You can be quite wise when you're talking about stuff other than mens' football, Syf.

[sid waddell]

I'm not the one playing the sexist card pal, and I'm not excusing poor standards I'm simply saying that I'm annoyed that you try to discredit the effort and dedication of ladies based on one game in the rain.  I have watched many great ladies games and have enjoyed them much more than some of the blanket bullshit on offer from the men.

But of course you are and you did it explicitly.

And what makes you think my view is based on one game?