Money, Dublin and the GAA

[macker15]

What's with all the blather about 2003 and 2006?
Why not go back to 1906 while you're at it.

I see new Uachtarán Larry McCarthy is going to take the strategic document "Towards 2034" off the shelf where it was hidden in 2018.
Would I be right in suspecting it proposed addressing the Dublin situation but was buried by then Uachtarán Tofa Horan?

Because, my good friend, that was the time the race to the bottom began and is still steadily gathering speed.
In the decade leading up to 2005, a total of 6 counties won the Leinster championship - a total of six out of twelve ain't bad by any reasonable standard.
Then in 2005, Dublin were the winners and with the exception of 2010, when Meath robbed Louth, the Dubs have been winners ever since. Why this amazing improvement in Dublin's form and the total collapse of any worthwhile challenge from any other Leinster county?
Damned if I know because it can't be money, can it?
The fact that the Sports Council began subventing money to the Dublin County Board around 2005 must be purely coincidental as John Horan, Padraig Duffy, Paddy Teehan and Uncle Tom Cobley and all keep telling us and all of these gobshites hardworking, dedicated servants for the cause must know what they are talking about.
Either that or I am missing something...

Offaly won 97 as Meath had 4 lads suspended after the  3 a row against Kildare. Kildare won 98 & 2000 with 3/4 imports.  Laois and Westmeath had the underage success to be fair but wouldn't have won titles at senior level without Paidi and Micko. Laois could achieved more but more interested in the high stool.

[From the Bunker]

I was at the 2004 Leinster final replay between Laois and Westmeath. Game was on a Saturday evening and the place was half full. Or as the GAA seen it, the place was half empty. A Leinster final not involving Dublin was a disaster for the coffers. This replay made up for the shortcomings this time. But this could not happen every year. The GAA now had a huge stadium that needed filling. Vendors, Corporate Boxes, Premium seats, advertisements were not going to be sold with two tiny counties in a final! Little did I know as I watched Westmeath's David O'Shaughnessy lift the Delaney Cup that this was not the beginning, but we were about to see was an abrupt end.

That was 17 years ago.

[Lar Naparka]

What's with all the blather about 2003 and 2006?
Why not go back to 1906 while you're at it.

I see new Uachtarán Larry McCarthy is going to take the strategic document "Towards 2034" off the shelf where it was hidden in 2018.
Would I be right in suspecting it proposed addressing the Dublin situation but was buried by then Uachtarán Tofa Horan?

Because, my good friend, that was the time the race to the bottom began and is still steadily gathering speed.
In the decade leading up to 2005, a total of 6 counties won the Leinster championship - a total of six out of twelve ain't bad by any reasonable standard.
Then in 2005, Dublin were the winners and with the exception of 2010, when Meath robbed Louth, the Dubs have been winners ever since. Why this amazing improvement in Dublin's form and the total collapse of any worthwhile challenge from any other Leinster county?
Damned if I know because it can't be money, can it?
The fact that the Sports Council began subventing money to the Dublin County Board around 2005 must be purely coincidental as John Horan, Padraig Duffy, Paddy Teehan and Uncle Tom Cobley and all keep telling us and all of these gobshites hardworking, dedicated servants for the cause must know what they are talking about.
Either that or I am missing something...

Offaly won 97 as Meath had 4 lads suspended after the  3 a row against Kildare. Kildare won 98 & 2000 with 3/4 imports.  Laois and Westmeath had the underage success to be fair but wouldn't have won titles at senior level without Paidi and Micko. Laois 'could achieved more but more interested in the high stool.

Fair play to ya! You've a far better memory than I have and that's for sure.
I guess the points you make are fair enough but none of the 'lucky breaks' those counties enjoyed can explain Dublin's total domination of the Leinster championship since 2005.
I feel that the chances of any other Leinster county keeping Dublin's winning margin in a championship match to less than 10 points are minimal.

[From the Bunker]

The posters here have nailed it when people try to talk of how things were pre-2011. It's like talking about a different world.

2010 was an almost obscure year.

Wexford beat Galway

Meath beat Dublin in Leinster.

Mayo lost to Sligo and Longford.

Down beat Kerry in the AI quarter final.

And Cork won the AI beating Down in the final.

[dublin7]

Yet the Munster championship remains a 2 horse race at best. Still Tipperary won it this year so that makes it all ok. So what if it's first time in nearly 30 years Cork or Kerry didn't win it. Important to only worry about the Leinster Championship.

The sooner people realise the days of basing the football championship on a ludicrous and unfair provincial basis the better

[From the Bunker]

Yet the Munster championship remains a 2 horse race at best. Still Tipperary won it this year so that makes it all ok. So what if it's first time in nearly 30 years Cork or Kerry didn't win it. Important to only worry about the Leinster Championship.

The sooner people realise the days of basing the football championship on a ludicrous and unfair provincial basis the better

5 out of the 6 counties in Munster are primarily hurling counties. This will never change. Four of them don't care if Dublin win the next 20 All Irelands. They have to comfort of being the Elite teams in the AI hurling Championship. The Leinster counties bar Wexford don't have that back-up.

[dublin7]

Yet the Munster championship remains a 2 horse race at best. Still Tipperary won it this year so that makes it all ok. So what if it's first time in nearly 30 years Cork or Kerry didn't win it. Important to only worry about the Leinster Championship.

The sooner people realise the days of basing the football championship on a ludicrous and unfair provincial basis the better

5 out of the 6 counties in Munster are primarily hurling counties. This will never change. Four of them don't care if Dublin win the next 20 All Irelands. They have to comfort of being the Elite teams in the AI hurling Championship. The Leinster counties bar Wexford don't have that back-up.

I suppose that's one option, just don't bother trying.

What about Leitrim and Sligo who have to play in the connacht championship just to get hammered by Mayo/Galway. Should they just focus on hurling and forget about winning anything in football as well?

[sid waddell]

I was at the 2004 Leinster final replay between Laois and Westmeath. Game was on a Saturday evening and the place was half full. Or as the GAA seen it, the place was half empty. A Leinster final not involving Dublin was a disaster for the coffers. This replay made up for the shortcomings this time. But this could not happen every year. The GAA now had a huge stadium that needed filling. Vendors, Corporate Boxes, Premium seats, advertisements were not going to be sold with two tiny counties in a final! Little did I know as I watched Westmeath's David O'Shaughnessy lift the Delaney Cup that this was not the beginning, but we were about to see was an abrupt end.

That was 17 years ago.

I love the way you write like a 5G conspiracist

Maybe 5 stands for 5 in a row and G for Gavin

[Ed Ricketts]

Yet the Munster championship remains a 2 horse race at best. Still Tipperary won it this year so that makes it all ok. So what if it's first time in nearly 30 years Cork or Kerry didn't win it. Important to only worry about the Leinster Championship.

The sooner people realise the days of basing the football championship on a ludicrous and unfair provincial basis the better

5 out of the 6 counties in Munster are primarily hurling counties. This will never change. Four of them don't care if Dublin win the next 20 All Irelands. They have to comfort of being the Elite teams in the AI hurling Championship. The Leinster counties bar Wexford don't have that back-up.

I suppose that's one option, just don't bother trying.

What about Leitrim and Sligo who have to play in the connacht championship just to get hammered by Mayo/Galway. Should they just focus on hurling and forget about winning anything in football as well?

Sligo has the same population as Roscommon, who are competitive in Connacht. So it's not beyond their means to get to that level given the necessary support.

Leitrim are up against it with their available resources, but it's always been like that. I'm sure the GAA people in the county have long since accepted their lot and set their aspirations accordingly.

Until about ten years ago there weren't too many counties without the demographics to regularly compete at least at provincial level in one code or another - maybe just Leitrim, Longford, Carlow & Fermanagh (who combined represent about 3% of the population of the island). For the vast majority of the country the county system worked alright, and had worked alright for decades.

But this is where the properly organised, properly funded Dublin behemoth of the last decade has broken things. Now there are another seven counties (adding up to almost 1 million people) for whom even a provincial title is an unrealistic prospect. This is a seismic and sudden shock to a system that had worked satisfactorily for over a hundred years.

So, with no obviously agreeable solution to the problem, the GAA leadership do what they do best - ignore it entirely and hope it just goes away. But it won't, and we're going to keep on talking about it until someone in a position of authority has the courage to tackle the thing head on.

[Rossfan]

Hopefully new Uachtarán McCarthy.

Regarding Sligo - bigger population than the area under Ros CB (Ballagh situation) but Sligo Town is a soccer stronghold.
Ros has 6,500 registered players, Sligo 4,800.

[dublin7]

Yet the Munster championship remains a 2 horse race at best. Still Tipperary won it this year so that makes it all ok. So what if it's first time in nearly 30 years Cork or Kerry didn't win it. Important to only worry about the Leinster Championship.

The sooner people realise the days of basing the football championship on a ludicrous and unfair provincial basis the better

5 out of the 6 counties in Munster are primarily hurling counties. This will never change. Four of them don't care if Dublin win the next 20 All Irelands. They have to comfort of being the Elite teams in the AI hurling Championship. The Leinster counties bar Wexford don't have that back-up.

I suppose that's one option, just don't bother trying.

What about Leitrim and Sligo who have to play in the connacht championship just to get hammered by Mayo/Galway. Should they just focus on hurling and forget about winning anything in football as well?

Sligo has the same population as Roscommon, who are competitive in Connacht. So it's not beyond their means to get to that level given the necessary support.

Leitrim are up against it with their available resources, but it's always been like that. I'm sure the GAA people in the county have long since accepted their lot and set their aspirations accordingly.

Until about ten years ago there weren't too many counties without the demographics to regularly compete at least at provincial level in one code or another - maybe just Leitrim, Longford, Carlow & Fermanagh (who combined represent about 3% of the population of the island). For the vast majority of the country the county system worked alright, and had worked alright for decades.

But this is where the properly organised, properly funded Dublin behemoth of the last decade has broken things. Now there are another seven counties (adding up to almost 1 million people) for whom even a provincial title is an unrealistic prospect. This is a seismic and sudden shock to a system that had worked satisfactorily for over a hundred years.

So, with no obviously agreeable solution to the problem, the GAA leadership do what they do best - ignore it entirely and hope it just goes away. But it won't, and we're going to keep on talking about it until someone in a position of authority has the courage to tackle the thing head on.

So what you're saying is it's unfair that Dublin have an advantage on some counties, but it doesn't matter that the likes of cork, Galway have advantages over some counties and because Dublin have got their house in order and are doing things too well we have to stop them rather than focus on bringing up standards everywhere else

[macker15]

I was at the 2004 Leinster final replay between Laois and Westmeath. Game was on a Saturday evening and the place was half full. Or as the GAA seen it, the place was half empty. A Leinster final not involving Dublin was a disaster for the coffers. This replay made up for the shortcomings this time. But this could not happen every year. The GAA now had a huge stadium that needed filling. Vendors, Corporate Boxes, Premium seats, advertisements were not going to be sold with two tiny counties in a final! Little did I know as I watched Westmeath's David O'Shaughnessy lift the Delaney Cup that this was not the beginning, but we were about to see was an abrupt end.

That was 17 years ago.

🤣🤣🤣🤣  Had you drink taken when posted that? So your telling us Leinster council decided to give pump money after poor attendance at Leinster final replay?

[macker15]

Who buried it so?
And why?

Why don't you ask your club delegate to investigate rather than making assumptions online which you have form for.

OK John, where should she investigate?

Speak to county board Colm..

[TheGreatest]

There's hardly going to be a link to a quiet word in a corridor

Have you evidence of this? Thought not 🤣🤣🤣

Are you saying that all Dublin home games in the Leinster Championship and the extra home game in the super 8 are all a coincidence.

Is it that Dublin are picked first out of the hat when the draw is made and get home venue?

Or are County boards promised extra revenue for letting Dublin have home games?

The stats support the 'facts'.
From 1993 to 2016, Dublin played one game away v Longford and scrambled a 2 point win.
The Leinster draw is GAAmandered.

It was the other Leinster counties who voted to have Dublin play in Croke Park for two decades

So blame them

I think that's the point.  Why would they have voted for something that gives their own county a competitive disadvantage?

Because they wanted to maximise the money the Dublin team could bring in order to benefit their own counties at grass roots level

So there we have it. The Dublin money power buys all the advantages year in year out. Weaker counties who have no hope of success are better served to take the money for their county. Where they play Dublin makes no difference. They'll lose anyway.

The whole thing is really funny at this stage. Thank god I don't waste my time and money going to inter-county matches anymore. Can't think of a monopoly like this in any other sport? And more and more will vote the same as time goes on as there are virtually no challengers to Dublin in inter-county presently.

Really?

Lets start with wendyball

https://www.balls.ie/football/these-are-the-longest-title-winning-runs-in-european-football-460327

Cork Ladies, Crossmaglen, St Vincents, Kilkenny (11 in 15 years) loads of other examples.

[Lar Naparka]

Yet the Munster championship remains a 2 horse race at best. Still Tipperary won it this year so that makes it all ok. So what if it's first time in nearly 30 years Cork or Kerry didn't win it. Important to only worry about the Leinster Championship.

The sooner people realise the days of basing the football championship on a ludicrous and unfair provincial basis the better

5 out of the 6 counties in Munster are primarily hurling counties. This will never change. Four of them don't care if Dublin win the next 20 All Irelands. They have to comfort of being the Elite teams in the AI hurling Championship. The Leinster counties bar Wexford don't have that back-up.

I suppose that's one option, just don't bother trying.

What about Leitrim and Sligo who have to play in the connacht championship just to get hammered by Mayo/Galway. Should they just focus on hurling and forget about winning anything in football as well?

Ah, I'm a bit confused here...
Maybe it's the prolonged effects of lockdown and the closure of me local but it seems we do have a football emergency on our hands.
Fair enough, I thought that has come about because one county, Dubin, has dominated  all others for the best part of a decade and the odds are that with every passing year, the rest will fall further behind.
At least, that's what I thought..
But there seems to be a solution to the crisis - according to some Dublin heads anyway. As they see it, for the good of the game in Leitrim, Mayo should be carved up to give the poor unfortunate people of the county with the smallest population in the land, a fighting chance of winning a game whenever they meet.
Now here is where my grey cells founder a bit..
In my innocence, I thought Dublin was the problem. With a third of the country's population and with games development funding that's more than all the other 31 counties get, I'd have thought something should be done to redress the imbalance ASAP.
But, according to the said Dublin heads, Mayo, Dublin's only credible opponent for most of the past decade should be carved up instead!
This will give Leitrim a chance and this in turn will solve all problems for everyone.
At least, that's what I think is being suggested.
Yeah, but what will happen if Leitrim does beat Mayo and are then drawn against Dublin in the next round?
Am I missing something?