Joe Brolly

[Cunny Funt]

I'm not quite sure what the Brolly down brigade want from a sports columnist.

He's not a journalist and it's not his role to provide accurate records of events. His role is to offer insight and entertainment... which is a borderline impossible task to do with any consistent quality -especially in a sphere as narrow as Gaelic Games - unless it is peppered with unusual opinion, used to reinforce common themes, and enjoys the kind of minor embellishments which elevate an occurrence that happens in every day life, into something more topical or memorable.

The dourness of some of the commentators in this thread is staggering, and I can only imagine they're the same people who gain enjoyment from glaring at people who aren't solemn enough when being forced into mass or such like.

I would consider someone that writes articles in a newspaper to be a journalist. I would also suggest that whatever he writes should be accurate. Entertainment is secondary and fine, but not at the expense of accuracy.

Its a bit late to expect that from Joe Brolly now.

[Orchard park]

which other pundit or ex player or journalist has consistently called out u13 development squads for the bullshit that they are and the problems they cause within clubs ( smaller in particular)

[Captain Obvious]

I'm not quite sure what the Brolly down brigade want from a sports columnist.

Lets take Jim McGuinness for example on the Irish times not everyones favourite either I know however he offers excellent honest insight and doesn't say something controversial to grab the attention. I think most wants that from a sports columnist. 

[longballin]

which other pundit or ex player or journalist has consistently called out u13 development squads for the bullshit that they are and the problems they cause within clubs ( smaller in particular)

True - he calls out a lot of stuff. Unfortunately some of his other outbursts give people the excuse to distract from the real problems he addresses... SKY sell-off, GPA, elitism etc

[Orchard park]

I'm not quite sure what the Brolly down brigade want from a sports columnist.

Lets take Jim McGuinness for example on the Irish times not everyones favourite either I know however he offers excellent honest insight and doesn't say something controversial to grab the attention. I think most wants that from a sports columnist.

you mustn't have read the 200 articles of lathering and indulgent self praise he wrote and skipped to the one insightful one

[Esmarelda]

A columnist is to a journalist is what a commentator is to an analyst. The roles might mingle occasionally but the former describes the action, the latter interprets it.

But you said his job wasn't to provide accurate records of events. Does that mean that, as a columnist, he can provide inaccuracies?

[Orchard park]

which other pundit or ex player or journalist has consistently called out u13 development squads for the bullshit that they are and the problems they cause within clubs ( smaller in particular)

True - he calls out a lot of stuff. Unfortunately some of his other outbursts give people the excuse to distract from the real problems he addresses... SKY sell-off, GPA, elitism etc

i agree he has occasional brain farts and it diverts away from his core concerns but that sums up the intelligence of those easily diverted also

[longballin]

which other pundit or ex player or journalist has consistently called out u13 development squads for the bullshit that they are and the problems they cause within clubs ( smaller in particular)

True - he calls out a lot of stuff. Unfortunately some of his other outbursts give people the excuse to distract from the real problems he addresses... SKY sell-off, GPA, elitism etc

i agree he has occasional brain farts and it diverts away from his core concerns but that sums up the intelligence of those easily diverted also

It's an old trick, play the man not the ball and thereby avoid discussing the issue. GPA experts at it

[Hound]

Superb piece by Joe yesterday.

People are crying out for change but fear it wont happen and the corporate gravy train will roll on

in fairness to Brilly he has consistently called out the road we are heading down fast, 6.5 million shuts up the GPA basically and the decision seems to be ignore the CPA at all costs.....
there is nobody else in mainstream media as consistent as Brolly about the crisis we are in........like him or loathe him but he is right

But is there really a crisis?

His last line is "Fantasies are a luxury we can no longer afford."

I think he has a fantasy about club football. He wants a 4 month intercounty season, 7 months club season and 1 month completely off.

Would we really be happy about that? Most of us joined this board to talk about intercounty football.
How many of us attend club football matches that don't involve our own clubs, bar maybe semi finals and finals?
Not many I'd say.
We all love our own clubs and when things are going well there's a great buzz around the town, but what about the rest of the time? 
I attend almost every league match my team plays, even though we'll always be missing 1 or 2 because of county commitments. But support for league games in Dublin is quite poor, especially among the bigger clubs, and the standard and entertainment is generally very good. Attendances won't change significantly with all county players being available, in my opinion.

The problem for me isnt the amount of intercounty football played. It's incompetent county boards not coming up with a proper club fixture calendar at the start of the year, and sticking to it. So club players will know exactly when they are playing, and when they can be away.  In February each year, the Dublin county board issues the calendar for every division in football and hurling, and while there'll always be a small number of adjustments for cancellations like last week, in the main it is stuck quite rigidly and it means club players (and supporters!) know exactly where they stand.

[Captain Obvious]

I'm not quite sure what the Brolly down brigade want from a sports columnist.

Lets take Jim McGuinness for example on the Irish times not everyones favourite either I know however he offers excellent honest insight and doesn't say something controversial to grab the attention. I think most wants that from a sports columnist.

you mustn't have read the 200 articles of lathering and indulgent self praise he wrote and skipped to the one insightful one

What columnists doesn't think his own shite isn't chocolate? I have rarely read a McGuinness article that wasn't insightful. Brolly on the other hand is tiresome gimmick to grab the attention, yes he can be right sometimes but a broken clock can be right twice a day.

[Orchard park]

name one other pundit who is as self effusive in his own being as McGuinness. the lug thinks he invented gaelic football....... he really believes his own greatness.

Brolly is right on more issues than he is wrong but he is spectacularly wrong on some of his epistle3s

[Taylor]

Superb piece by Joe yesterday.

People are crying out for change but fear it wont happen and the corporate gravy train will roll on

in fairness to Brilly he has consistently called out the road we are heading down fast, 6.5 million shuts up the GPA basically and the decision seems to be ignore the CPA at all costs.....
there is nobody else in mainstream media as consistent as Brolly about the crisis we are in........like him or loathe him but he is right

But is there really a crisis?

His last line is "Fantasies are a luxury we can no longer afford."

I think he has a fantasy about club football. He wants a 4 month intercounty season, 7 months club season and 1 month completely off.

Would we really be happy about that? Most of us joined this board to talk about intercounty football.
How many of us attend club football matches that don't involve our own clubs, bar maybe semi finals and finals?
Not many I'd say.
We all love our own clubs and when things are going well there's a great buzz around the town, but what about the rest of the time? 
I attend almost every league match my team plays, even though we'll always be missing 1 or 2 because of county commitments. But support for league games in Dublin is quite poor, especially among the bigger clubs, and the standard and entertainment is generally very good. Attendances won't change significantly with all county players being available, in my opinion.

The problem for me isnt the amount of intercounty football played. It's incompetent county boards not coming up with a proper club fixture calendar at the start of the year, and sticking to it. So club players will know exactly when they are playing, and when they can be away.  In February each year, the Dublin county board issues the calendar for every division in football and hurling, and while there'll always be a small number of adjustments for cancellations like last week, in the main it is stuck quite rigidly and it means club players (and supporters!) know exactly where they stand.

But if we continue the road we are on how many club players will there actually be?

[thewobbler]

Whereas the biggest problem for me is not county boards, but those clubs who blanket refuse to play league fixtures without county players.

Only way out of this situation is for clubs to first accept their place in the food chain, and then do what they can to reduce the length of the county season. Not the other way around.

[Esmarelda]

Superb piece by Joe yesterday.

People are crying out for change but fear it wont happen and the corporate gravy train will roll on

in fairness to Brilly he has consistently called out the road we are heading down fast, 6.5 million shuts up the GPA basically and the decision seems to be ignore the CPA at all costs.....
there is nobody else in mainstream media as consistent as Brolly about the crisis we are in........like him or loathe him but he is right

But is there really a crisis?

His last line is "Fantasies are a luxury we can no longer afford."

I think he has a fantasy about club football. He wants a 4 month intercounty season, 7 months club season and 1 month completely off.

Would we really be happy about that? Most of us joined this board to talk about intercounty football.
How many of us attend club football matches that don't involve our own clubs, bar maybe semi finals and finals?
Not many I'd say.
We all love our own clubs and when things are going well there's a great buzz around the town, but what about the rest of the time? 
I attend almost every league match my team plays, even though we'll always be missing 1 or 2 because of county commitments. But support for league games in Dublin is quite poor, especially among the bigger clubs, and the standard and entertainment is generally very good. Attendances won't change significantly with all county players being available, in my opinion.

The problem for me isnt the amount of intercounty football played. It's incompetent county boards not coming up with a proper club fixture calendar at the start of the year, and sticking to it. So club players will know exactly when they are playing, and when they can be away.  In February each year, the Dublin county board issues the calendar for every division in football and hurling, and while there'll always be a small number of adjustments for cancellations like last week, in the main it is stuck quite rigidly and it means club players (and supporters!) know exactly where they stand.

Brilliant post.

Brolly says the club scene should be at the fore and the county scene secondary. It's so romantic Joe, but who wants it? And if Joe actually believes this then instead of crying about Sky showing intercounty games, why doesn't he cry about the lack of club football being televised? Come on RTE and TV3, give us the games that we all really want, club championship games up and down the country. Joe would surely do the analysis.

We should have a tiered championship, but for whose benefit? If the players and supporters of the lesser counties don't want it, then who is to appease?

The current system ain't perfect but the irony is that, from the examples I've been told about, it's the clubs and by extension the county boards, that make a complete hames of their own fixtures. But the criticism is so generic now and the easy targets are the boys at the top.

[Hound]

Whereas the biggest problem for me is not county boards, but those clubs who blanket refuse to play league fixtures without county players.

Only way out of this situation is for clubs to first accept their place in the food chain, and then do what they can to reduce the length of the county season. Not the other way around.

We all know league is league. Championship is championship.

In Dublin, there are 15 rounds of league. County players usually play 2 of the first four games, sometimes 1 or 2 in the middle, and always the last 2 (only the last 2 guaranteed). Then top 4 teams make the semi finals and all county players available. County players also available for relegation and promotion playoffs. Every other league game must go ahead regardless of availability of county players. County players available for all championship games, of course.

Don't know why a similar system wouldnt work in all counties. It might not be perfect, but it means there's loads of football for the club player and from February they can plan out their year, without being impacted by whether the blessed county footballer is available.