Quote from: LeoMc on June 08, 2016, 09:03:00 AMQuote from: Il Bomber Destro on June 07, 2016, 09:01:44 PMThe Laws of unintended consequences.Quote from: Disillusioned on June 07, 2016, 09:57:16 AM
I think the Armagh County Board was correct in making its statement and standing up to Brolly. Too often people take it on the chin when treated by media in the way that Kieran McGeeney has been in several forums by Brolly. If he was in any position other than a football manager, the case could have reached the court given the level of inaccuracies in Brolly's statements. McGeeney deserved to be supported by his 'employer' and the county board has a duty to him.
Both O'Se and McGuigan bottled it when questioned on the SG, both should have taken the opportunity to put Brolly in his place but decided not to do so, the video report provided the platform and they could have used the situation to let it be known that personalised attacks such as those by Brolly are not acceptable. Both of them were prepared to say 'ach, it's just Joe and he's a character'. Says a lot about both of them but not surprised given that both are so involved in the media.
Brolly has a point but at the end of the day nobody holds a gun to these players. If they want to play county football they no the circumstances and are willing to sacrifice that, there's a lot of perks in it for county players in any case.
What I don't like is the mistruths and spin he puts on it and I have no problem with an Armagh County Board representative coming on and taking him to task over these. He was criticising his own county recently for holding players back from the clubs, this despite the fact that a number of players who played against Tyrone were in club action a week before the Championship game. His attacks on McGeeney (who I wouldn't be a big fan of) are personal and bordering on pathetic. McGeeney's problem is that he has a fairly limited tactical mind and approach to his game but generally the players who have played under him tend to have a great respect for him.
Money is the huge problem in today's game, Dublin are just so far ahead of everyone else and there is no a worrying emerging gap between the 2nd tier teams like Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone, Monaghan, Donegal and the rest.
I think football was at a great place back in the 00s. The big teams were well capable of being got at by smaller counties, you had sides like Fermanagh, Laois, Westmeath, Sligo etc all taking big Championship scalps and they were all sides who the big teams would not take lightly. Those days are gone now and the game is becoming sterile.
I felt very sorry for Kevin McKernan when watching Down on Sunday, a great player, a guy who has given a good 10 years service and who played for a great team in his day now being part of that rabble of a team. I think he deserves great credit for continuing to put the committment required by an intercounty footballer despite being certain in the knowledge he won't achieve anything in the remainder of his Down career.
The Qualifiers were designed to give smaller teams more games. Instead they have given bigger teams second chances and in doing so lessened the chances of the smaller teams.
Designed to give smaller team second chances?
Don't forget to also include the extra revenue from something like 30 extra championship games (excluding replays).