Hard to compete with Donegal’s professionalism and money, bad for the game?

[INDIANA]

How Donegal train and how many times they train is nothing to do with anyone outside of their camp. What Karl Lacey does with his life/career is only his business...if he's getting bank rolled for a season to train like a professional then good luck to him that he's in the position to do so. As far as i'm concerned the only thing that I care about is how my County are progressing and not a hoot about Donegal do I give. The clearly feel this is their last year or two at the top and they want one last hurray at it, every other county would do the same.

as for their ability...Donegal have some exceptional players and should be there or there abouts come August/September but it will have to be thru the back door as you guys aren't getting out of Armagh without a defeat

If he's being bankrolled he's a professional athlete. So it's not just a case of nobody's business. Who's paying tax on it ? Ah I see it's just similar to all the other under the counter payments in the GAA that's been brushed under the carpet . With the attitudes here it's not hard to see why.
And that's why it's an association in denial and disarray . It's rugby union pre-professionalism with none of the revenue and none of the global appeal
a shambles

It goes on in every county in Ireland, there is only a few elite that get it. why worry about it...worry about your own county which I know aren't whiter than white either

At county level if every county ran their affairs like us it would be in good order

The club scene in Dublin is a disgrace and you're spot on there. It's destroyed the whole club scene in Dublin. Only the volume of numbers saves us at county level. Otherwise we'd be screwed

[twohands!!!]

Most inter county players outside teachers don't have a real career because you can't have one to sustain a professional lifestyle

Remember seeing a list of the Kerry players' jobs last year - Of those that weren't students there were a couple of teachers, couple of bank official, couple of accountants, a guard, a chemist, a physio, a quantity surveyor and a couple more in the private sector.
Maher in midfield has a PHD in some sort of science field apparently - can't remember what his job title was beyond "something science-y" Remember thinking that overall as a group they looked to be doing pretty decently on the career front.
Galvin wasnt on the list  - anyone want to make a guess at what his job title is these days ?
Something along the Web New Media 2.0 Analyst Hipster Person
Maybe Kerry are an exception in this ?

[INDIANA]

Most inter county players outside teachers don't have a real career because you can't have one to sustain a professional lifestyle

Remember seeing a list of the Kerry players' jobs last year - Of those that weren't students there were a couple of teachers, couple of bank official, couple of accountants, a guard, a chemist, a physio, a quantity surveyor and a couple more in the private sector.
Maher in midfield has a PHD in some sort of science field apparently - can't remember what his job title was beyond "something science-y" Remember thinking that overall as a group they looked to be doing pretty decently on the career front.
Galvin wasnt on the list  - anyone want to make a guess at what his job title is these days ?
Something along the Web New Media 2.0 Analyst Hipster Person
Maybe Kerry are an exception in this ?

Bank officials don't make me laugh. They do practically nothing. Could list several.
Guard - shift work . Well known inter county players lifestyle and has been for years.
I think you need to see what exactly they do during the day as oppose to what you think they might do
It's 60 hours a week to play inter county .

[rosnarun]

one of the biggest constraints on the larger counties like mayo cork kerry Donegal galway even is a geographical one even players within the county might have to travel up to anhour and a half to get to training  or more from dublin galway cork city etc
thats where the helicopter would be handy.

[Brick Tamlin]

I dunno about youse boys but would I f**k be getting into a wee helichopter to head up the country for training.
Scare the shIte out me having to travel in one of those things just to go train.

[Rois]

Remember seeing a list of the Kerry players' jobs last year - Of those that weren't students there were a couple of teachers, couple of bank official, couple of accountants, a guard, a chemist, a physio, a quantity surveyor and a couple more in the private sector.
Maher in midfield has a PHD in some sort of science field apparently - can't remember what his job title was beyond "something science-y" Remember thinking that overall as a group they looked to be doing pretty decently on the career front.

One of the Kerry players works for my firm (accountant) out of Cork office.  Managed to pass professional exams last summer as well as play football. 

[BluestackBoy]

Concerns about helicopters, fellas putting careers on hold, training camps & lying in bed are all very well, but how do you enforce change.

Do we have spies hiding behind bushes, drones flying over houses to see what times fellas get out of bed at?

Do we ban players leaving their counties in case they might congregate for a training camp or match players on the field according to their employment status?

There are times when you just have to mind your own business & let others mind theirs.

Please don't ever run for elected office within the GAA. It's frightening to think someone of your mindset might end up there.

Plenty can be done. The GAA owns the brand so it can decide what happens . And the first thing is to completely regulate the coaching and management of teams. All managers/ coaches should be made complete coaching courses before they are let near a team. Even in my club half of them haven't a clue. And a lot of that drives these stupid training regimes.

What has coaching courses or training regimes got to do with the issues being discussed here?

Fellas were on complaining about Lacey not pursuing a career this summer, about weekend camps & the unfairness of players in full time work competing against Unemployed fellas who lie in bed till all hours. This is the sort of stupid stuff I was talking about.

If you look back you'll see that I broadly agree with the thrust of your arguments about the demands made on players today. I'm just not sure what you can do about it in a free society.

[INDIANA]

Concerns about helicopters, fellas putting careers on hold, training camps & lying in bed are all very well, but how do you enforce change.

Do we have spies hiding behind bushes, drones flying over houses to see what times fellas get out of bed at?

Do we ban players leaving their counties in case they might congregate for a training camp or match players on the field according to their employment status?

There are times when you just have to mind your own business & let others mind theirs.

Please don't ever run for elected office within the GAA. It's frightening to think someone of your mindset might end up there.

Plenty can be done. The GAA owns the brand so it can decide what happens . And the first thing is to completely regulate the coaching and management of teams. All managers/ coaches should be made complete coaching courses before they are let near a team. Even in my club half of them haven't a clue. And a lot of that drives these stupid training regimes.

What has coaching courses or training regimes got to do with the issues being discussed here?

Fellas were on complaining about Lacey not pursuing a career this summer, about weekend camps & the unfairness of players in full time work competing against Unemployed fellas who lie in bed till all hours. This is the sort of stupid stuff I was talking about.

If you look back you'll see that I broadly agree with the thrust of your arguments about the demands made on players today. I'm just not sure what you can do about it in a free society.

Because it's a professional training regime in an amateur context . That has a shelf life.This is only heading one way and it's only a matter of time. The GAA has had ample time to address the issue but has consistently refused to do so.

[BluestackBoy]

Concerns about helicopters, fellas putting careers on hold, training camps & lying in bed are all very well, but how do you enforce change.

Do we have spies hiding behind bushes, drones flying over houses to see what times fellas get out of bed at?

Do we ban players leaving their counties in case they might congregate for a training camp or match players on the field according to their employment status?

There are times when you just have to mind your own business & let others mind theirs.

Please don't ever run for elected office within the GAA. It's frightening to think someone of your mindset might end up there.

Plenty can be done. The GAA owns the brand so it can decide what happens . And the first thing is to completely regulate the coaching and management of teams. All managers/ coaches should be made complete coaching courses before they are let near a team. Even in my club half of them haven't a clue. And a lot of that drives these stupid training regimes.

What has coaching courses or training regimes got to do with the issues being discussed here?

Fellas were on complaining about Lacey not pursuing a career this summer, about weekend camps & the unfairness of players in full time work competing against Unemployed fellas who lie in bed till all hours. This is the sort of stupid stuff I was talking about.

If you look back you'll see that I broadly agree with the thrust of your arguments about the demands made on players today. I'm just not sure what you can do about it in a free society.

Because it's a professional training regime in an amateur context . That has a shelf life.This is only heading one way and it's only a matter of time. The GAA has had ample time to address the issue but has consistently refused to do so.

I keep asking the same question, how do you stop fellas postponing careers, training hard or going to a training camp.

When I see some common sense answers to these questions then we might be going somewhere but in a free society I don't see how you can do it.

[INDIANA]

Concerns about helicopters, fellas putting careers on hold, training camps & lying in bed are all very well, but how do you enforce change.

Do we have spies hiding behind bushes, drones flying over houses to see what times fellas get out of bed at?

Do we ban players leaving their counties in case they might congregate for a training camp or match players on the field according to their employment status?

There are times when you just have to mind your own business & let others mind theirs.

Please don't ever run for elected office within the GAA. It's frightening to think someone of your mindset might end up there.

Plenty can be done. The GAA owns the brand so it can decide what happens . And the first thing is to completely regulate the coaching and management of teams. All managers/ coaches should be made complete coaching courses before they are let near a team. Even in my club half of them haven't a clue. And a lot of that drives these stupid training regimes.

What has coaching courses or training regimes got to do with the issues being discussed here?

Fellas were on complaining about Lacey not pursuing a career this summer, about weekend camps & the unfairness of players in full time work competing against Unemployed fellas who lie in bed till all hours. This is the sort of stupid stuff I was talking about.

If you look back you'll see that I broadly agree with the thrust of your arguments about the demands made on players today. I'm just not sure what you can do about it in a free society.

Because it's a professional training regime in an amateur context . That has a shelf life.This is only heading one way and it's only a matter of time. The GAA has had ample time to address the issue but has consistently refused to do so.

I keep asking the same question, how do you stop fellas postponing careers, training hard or going to a training camp.

When I see some common sense answers to these questions then we might be going somewhere but in a free society I don't see how you can do it.

Very simple you condense the season.

Instead of it being a 9 month season it becomes a 4-5 month season- then all of a sudden the landscape changes. You define when inter county teams can go into training and you define the club season. All of a sudden county players become functioning members of society again. Its a very simple solution and one that is 100% guaranteed to work.

[BluestackBoy]

Very simple you condense the season.

Instead of it being a 9 month season it becomes a 4-5 month season- then all of a sudden the landscape changes. You define when inter county teams can go into training and you define the club season. All of a sudden county players become functioning members of society again. Its a very simple solution and one that is 100% guaranteed to work.

Explain to me how a 4 - 5 month county season works.

Besides which many clubs are putting in the same amount of work now as county teams

[INDIANA]

Very simple you condense the season.

Instead of it being a 9 month season it becomes a 4-5 month season- then all of a sudden the landscape changes. You define when inter county teams can go into training and you define the club season. All of a sudden county players become functioning members of society again. Its a very simple solution and one that is 100% guaranteed to work.

Explain to me how a 4 - 5 month county season works.

Besides which many clubs are putting in the same amount of work now as county teams

Two seperate championship seasons kid.

Club players get a defined season, can plan holidays etc. Don't need county players for club league unless the county manager wants it- in the case of players returning from injury etc. 90% of clubs finished by end of Sept.

County players get un-interrupted access to county commitments , play the club championship with their club and still can have 2 months lying on a beach if they so wish.

Everyone's a winner.

[screenexile]

Very simple you condense the season.

Instead of it being a 9 month season it becomes a 4-5 month season- then all of a sudden the landscape changes. You define when inter county teams can go into training and you define the club season. All of a sudden county players become functioning members of society again. Its a very simple solution and one that is 100% guaranteed to work.

Explain to me how a 4 - 5 month county season works.

Besides which many clubs are putting in the same amount of work now as county teams

The Ulster Championship currently takes I think 10/11 weeks to play 8 matches. All first round games at the same time would save at least 3 weeks. Both Semis on the same day as well and bring the final forward a week saves another 2/3 weeks. The whole thing run off in 5 weeks saves a month and a half right off the bat.

Club players train like County teams 10 years ago Id say which is still mental but in terms of County teams they don't have as many games as clubs so train a lot more! Yes the Club game has increased its workload but I don't think the ordinary man appreciates what goes into a Tyrone/Armagh/Donegal/Dublin/Mayo/Kerry regime. Indiana is not exaggerating its 60 hours minimum a week and Football is way above family/work life!!

[The Aristocrat]

Donaghy taking time off too to concentrate on football!!!, took the Ulster bank severance they were offering to staff.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/kerry-captain-kieran-donaghy-packs-in-job-to-concentrate-on-football-31217940.html

[armaghniac]

Donaghy taking time off too to concentrate on football!!!, took the Ulster bank severance they were offering to staff.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/kerry-captain-kieran-donaghy-packs-in-job-to-concentrate-on-football-31217940.html

However, the examples above, this is more a case of someone taking the package now and not over exerting themselves to get a new job for a few months. Other people will take the package from Ulster bank and go travelling over the summer before getting their next job.