Messages

I think in the long run Obama will be remembered as a poor president, i.e. in the worst half if you were to rank them. Probably end up in the Carter/ Truman/ Hoover ranks. That's not to say he is a bad person, just a bad president. Carter was/is a wonderful person but he was a terribly ineffectual president.

You can't make people vote.

True. My point is someone who complains about how the country is run, without using their democratic right to influence how it's run, is a gobshite.

Most people in Ireland have the 'I'm alright Jack' attitude.

And the "alright" people vote while only a small percentage of those who aren't "alright"  do so.
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And who's fault is that?

Kelleher is not a good keeper, mid level championship man at best.

Find that ruling infuriating tbh. Rugby player picks up rugby ball is not something players can't anticipate, so completely disagree that Keenan's action mitigates things.

The cries from the English have been about how he was trying to get out of the tackle and out of Keenan's way. He turned his shoulder and jumped into him, hitting him square in the head with his elbow. How is there any evidence he was trying to get out of his way?!

Completely wrong reading of it. If the oval ball had bounced away from Keenan and to steward then Keenan would have been red carded. The bounce of the ball literally decided which of them was going to have a head collision.

Feel bad for Paddy Carr, have heard he's an absolute gentleman. Don't know why anyone would entertain having Aidan o rourke around the camp.

The amount of people getting off with murder by claiming insanity. Really pisses me off. A 28 year old in Donegal beaten to death and strangled in her own home and the accused got off with it.

Coldrick by a distance. Lane is fairly good. Gough and Deegan are awful, live for the limelight. Both absolutely adore Kerry too.

Hurson and Joe are actually as impartial and good a referee as any of them but on ocassion have complete brain farts. Like they'll do a great job this week and in a months time be absolutely shocking.

For me coldrick is the most impartial and consistent of them all.

Impartial? Do you think ref's cheat based on who's playing?

Cheat isn't the word I would use but certainly like any of us refs have bias for and against teams. If Clare are playing Longford id have no dog in either fight but if I was referring it I'd probably have an unconscious bias in favour of Longford, simply because I've a friend or two from there.

Similarly I would imagine refs have dislikes for certain players due to non football reasons like  their politics, character, occupation, media work, etc.

Coldrick by a distance. Lane is fairly good. Gough and Deegan are awful, live for the limelight. Both absolutely adore Kerry too.

Hurson and Joe are actually as impartial and good a referee as any of them but on ocassion have complete brain farts. Like they'll do a great job this week and in a months time be absolutely shocking.

For me coldrick is the most impartial and consistent of them all.

I couldn't stand Tubridy, hated his fakeness with a passion. But the Tommy Tiernan show grates me an awful lot too. The first few times it was grand but not every interview should descend into a tortured examination of the meaning of life.

Rashford getting off really lightly since the game. Hid immediately after the 2nd goal and never pressed tackled or fought for anything. Fernandez getting dogs abuse for actually pressing, fouling and diving. He at least made an attempt to influence the game. Losing 7-0 was in a great part due to United playing with only 10 players when defending.

The best way to curtail it is to say that all physio interventions not related to fouls should be limited to 20 seconds or some number like that. Mostly lads have no need for a physio they just want to catch their breath after a bad belt or walk off a slight dead leg. Give them a few seconds relief if needs be but none of this minutes of physios holding their heads and rolling it about like the bolts have come loose.

[First, if you need physio attention, and you don't need to be substituted, then you will spend one minute on the sideline from when the game is restarted. No exceptions. No hard luck stories. Same rule for goalkeepers. Attempt to return before one minute and you get an automatic black card. This could be written into the rules as a player welfare need, at the drop of a hat.]

A couple of simple fixes.

First, if you need physio attention, and you don't need to be substituted, then you will spend one minute on the sideline from when the game is restarted. No exceptions. No hard luck stories. Same rule for goalkeepers. Attempt to return before one minute and you get an automatic black card. This could be written into the rules as a player welfare need, at the drop of a hat.

Extend the black card rule to include "clear and obvious timewasting" and "attempting to gain an opponent an unwarranted card". Referees would almost never use this tool, but the threat of it should keep our game more honest .

Only issue i have with this is if a player has a genuine injury such as cramp or a knock i.e something that can resolve fairly quickly why should their team be punished by having to play with a person down for a minute?

Or a player is milled by a fair shoulder, why should a team have to play with 14 men just because one of their players came off worse in a collision.

Don't think its at all fair to compare GAA and soccer with physios tending to players. Soccer is now next to a non-contact sport, there's seldom really heavy collisions like in GAA or Rugby where guys a competing really hard for loose possession. I think it would be highly unfair if a midfielder contested a ball didn't win it but took a hard knock whilst trying to get the ball and then had to go off for 1 minute and have his team compete with 14 players.

If a young lad of 16/17 identifies as a woman does he get to line out for the local clubs girls minor team? what's the solution there?