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And your point to the funding of Kerry, my point is proven here too, when did you last see the Kerry huring team, they have little or no funding because in Kerry it all goes into football, kids do not want to play anything else.

Rub
Saying that it boils down to money is too simplistic. It's the interested adults in any area of the country that fires the imaginations of youngsters LONG before finance starts to play a part in the potential of those future senior players to have success at senior intercounty level. In KK there are a huge number of "hurling men", meaning that almost every kid has someone in their family who drives their youngsters out to play the game. I'm sure there are plenty across the hurling heartlands. In the weaker counties "hurling men" are few and far between and as a result have limited success at being able to convince enough kids to play the game. Most counties have a very small group of individuals keeping the game alive. In KK the exact opposite would be the case.

Take it or leave it parents (in both codes) are the scurge of all good things the GAA try to do

Very true, very true..........

The GAA has a lot to do at grass roots level to promote the game, you can really now see the Rugby and soccer explosion from the 70s/80's now taking hold.

I suppose you have to get jibes in at Dublin people. I try to have a serious discussion and of course a Dub is not allowed to have an opinion about GAA, we are all coked up supporters who know nothing about the game eh!

It makes me sick to the back teeth the way Dubs are thought of in the GAA community.

We all love the Dubs - sure they keep the association afloat - without them, there would be no GAA ! 

Thank you oranageman, I was refering to the previous poster with the jibe about the insurance claims.....

Anyways, I am just trying to figure out, how can you make the playing field level with Kilkenny. I mean, it seems wrong to punish greatness, but something has to be done, otherwise kids in other counties will have no interest in playing the game we all love and my fear is that it will die a death in some of the smaller counties.

I take my hat off to Cork, I think every county should look at their sports programs in the schools and colleges.

You have some of the best Hurling, football, soccer and rugby teams come out of there, so they are an anomoly and we should all look to how thay have managed to achieve this.

I suppose you have to get jibes in at Dublin people. I try to have a serious discussion and of course a Dub is not allowed to have an opinion about GAA, we are all coked up supporters who know nothing about the game eh!

It makes me sick to the back teeth the way Dubs are thought of in the GAA community.

And your point to the funding of Kerry, my point is proven here too, when did you last see the Kerry huring team, they have little or no funding because in Kerry it all goes into football, kids do not want to play anything else.

SAME ANSWER AS BEFORE

What a load of balls !!!!!! Kilkenny don't win titles because they get grants or National Lottery funding ! They win titles because they've got the best hurlers around - Shefflin, Brennan, Larkin, Cha, Hickey,Walsh, JJ, Kvanagh etc etc etc !


Money has NOTHING to do with it !


I suppose Kerry get a pile of grants as well

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Obviously you are reading what you want to read into this. I have quite clearly stated that I believe that Kilkenny are an amazing team of amazing players, and my boy, you are very nieve if you think GAA grants have nothing to do with how well a team does in championships.

Of course money has to do with it. In the late 80's a number of northern teams decided to opt out of fielding hurling teams at inter-county level and put all of the money into football. what do you remember most about football in the 90's? Do you remember all of those same teams running amok in the championship? Wake up lad, of course money has to do with it, you are probably still a believer that we have an amatuer game, all but in name it is professional.

Great players come through in Kilkenny in a disporportionate way deu to the fact that if you have every kid play only one sport, wou will find the gems like all the lads you mentioned. However, in a system where you have Football, Soccer and Rugby competing for thos kids, some that would be great hurlers would be lost to other codes and we would never know. That is my main point. If you have no other sports competing for the youth, you will of course find a lot of great players.

That surely was an awsome display but the question is, are Kilkenny so far out in fornt or are the other teams just not that good? I think they are that good, however, it is not good for teh game. It reminds me of the 50's when Real Madrid spent all the money on buying players to sit ont he bench just so they would not have to play against them!

Although Kilkenny is not buying players, obviously, there is a financial discrepancy here that nobody at the GAA seems to want to talk about. The fact of the matter is that there are counties out there who filter all of their funding into one sport. In Kilkenny's case it is hurling, most of the northern counties it is football. It is the same for most of the stronger hurling counties in the past, Tipp, Waterford, Limerick, they all may have football teams but in fairness, they are token teams to make up the numbers.

Now, if say Wexford dropped the football and concentrated on the hurling only, maybe Kilkenny would have a challenger in Leinster. I think the GAA needs to look at this as a mtatter of urgency, I do not believe this crap of them being 'Born with hurleys in their hands'. There needs to be a level playing field. Search online and I dare you to prove me wrong, a disproportionate number of sports grants go to hurling in Kilkenny, from the GAA and National Lottery etc. If we want to be serious about promoting our game it does not serve it well to have one team consistently winning championships, maybe the GAA needs to impliment a ruling to have a proportionate amout of their funding spent on other GAA sprorts in each county. This may level the playing field.

This is not a rant nor a jibe at Kilkenny, greatness should be recognised in every sport, but I feel the future of the game needs the run away teams to be curtailed in some way

That surely was an awsome display but the question is, are Kilkenny so far out in fornt or are the other teams just not that good? I think they are that good, however, it is not good for teh game. It reminds me of the 50's when Real Madrid spent all the money on buying players to sit ont he bench just so they would not have to play against them!

Although Kilkenny is not buying players, obviously, there is a financial discrepancy here that nobody at the GAA seems to want to talk about. The fact of the matter is that there are counties out there who filter all of their funding into one sport. In Kilkenny's case it is hurling, most of the northern counties it is football. It is the same for most of the stronger hurling counties in the past, Tipp, Waterford, Limerick, they all may have football teams but in fairness, they are token teams to make up the numbers.

Now, if say Wexford dropped the football and concentrated on the hurling only, maybe Kilkenny would have a challenger in Leinster. I think the GAA needs to look at this as a mtatter of urgency, I do not believe this crap of them being 'Born with hurleys in their hands'. There needs to be a level playing field. Search online and I dare you to prove me wrong, a disproportionate number of sports grants go to hurling in Kilkenny, from the GAA and National Lottery etc. If we want to be serious about promoting our game it does not serve it well to have one team consistently winning championships, maybe the GAA needs to impliment a ruling to have a proportionate amout of their funding spent on other GAA sprorts in each county. This may level the playing field.

This is not a rant nor a jibe at Kilkenny, greatness should be recognised in every sport, but I feel the future of the game needs the run away teams to be curtailed in some way.

All  can say is - Cork V Kerry, the 2 counties with the largest number of club members in the country in an All Ireland semi final and only 28,000 people turn up! The jokes are funny but Its about time people realized that it is the Dublin Football supporters (who seem to pay more for their tickets for some reason) who keep the GAA afloat.

And don't give me the whole 'Croker on your doorstep' arguement, I travel from Galway for every game and meet my brother from Wexford and my friends living in Offaly and Westmeath.

Fact is that we are the real Dublin fans, not the media hyped junkies on the Hill. Sure why do I expect any county to not hate Dublin when the press ram this perception of the Dublin fan down your throat. Anyone on gaaboards.com know fans from Dublin do not hype up their team, it is the press and the GAA that do that.

I am just sick of the jibes, I am a real GAA fan and was at the Kerry V Galway game and a Kerry supporter asked me why I was there, sure wasn't I a Dub? it seems only 31 counties can have a real interest in GAA, anyone from Dublin is just on a band wagon!

End of rant!!