Duffy's Rant

[dublinfella]

http://www.herald.ie/sport/gaelic-fo...b-1684559.html


The director general decided to use the launch of the Annual Report to have a go at..... Tallaght Stadium!?! 

How very topical. The thing will be finished in a couple of months ffs.

Best bit is he says the GAA never got an explaination. Did they ignore the judgement and statements from the Minister, Council and FAI?

Has the DG honestly got nothing better to raise via the media than a local spat that was lost a year ago? Or is it the opening salvo in a campaign to get the exchequor to fund the hole in the accounts he published?

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

We should really look at the quality of the boards we elect in the GAA. So what did you make of the Mayo match DF?

[armaghniac]

Much public money was wasted in the "good times", it is time for this waste to explained.

[dublinfella]

We should really look at the quality of the boards we elect in the GAA. So what did you make of the Mayo match DF?

I never had Duffy down as a waffler, thats what surprised me about this irrelevent speech. Surely he has something more needing of his attention than a court case that was lost over a year ago?

As for the Mayo game, didn't make it myself, but didn't hear great things. Gilroy needs to ignore the politics and play his players.

[screenexile]

She's a crap singer anyway and that new Diet Coke ad is a disgrace... who cares what she's ranting about!

[Croí na hÉireann]

She's a crap singer anyway and that new Diet Coke ad is a disgrace... who cares what she's ranting about!

Worst ad on the telly, fuckin hate it... 

[mountainboii]

She's a crap singer anyway and that new Diet Coke ad is a disgrace... who cares what she's ranting about!

Worst ad on the telly, fuckin hate it... 

I'm convinced that Duffy is a big joke that a couple of music producer have played on everyone. Let's see if we can make a star out of someone that looks and sounds like a cartoon duck kind of thing 

[Maguire01]

Yep, she's brutal.

[magickingdom]

twats like you df will ensure that the loi remains the bankrupt joke it is. youd be better of directing your rant at the fai and their feeble attempts to sell 10,000 seats (around 1,000 sold btw). the fai have consistently focked up the franchise for the biggest sport in the world and you pick on duffy... as for rovers they dont deserve tallaght

[thebandit]

Roversfella, if you were a GAA man you wouldn't object to the GAA having some access to the new stadium.

How far is Parnell Park away from Tallaght?

How long does it take to get there (taking traffic into account)?

The GAA need a better presence in that area of the city, and this was a potentially good opportunity to achieve that.

[dublinfella]

t**ts like you df will ensure that the loi remains the bankrupt joke it is. youd be better of directing your rant at the fai and their feeble attempts to sell 10,000 seats (around 1,000 sold btw). the fai have consistently focked up the franchise for the biggest sport in the world and you pick on duffy... as for rovers they dont deserve tallaght

Perhaps if you feel so strongly about it, yourself and Duffy can dig deep and pay TD's legal costs. Or more accuratly the 10 members of TD who went guarantor on the case who were hauled up to the High Court by the Taxmaster General last month.

[dublinfella]

Roversfella, if you were a GAA man you wouldn't object to the GAA having some access to the new stadium.

How far is Parnell Park away from Tallaght?

How long does it take to get there (taking traffic into account)?

The GAA need a better presence in that area of the city, and this was a potentially good opportunity to achieve that.

I have been 100% behind the idea of a southside equivalent since day one on this saga. I, correctly, called this as a lazy, cheap and ultimatly doomed to failure way of getting a facility. The DCB have been pricking around on this issue for 20 years and the sum of their efforts was an expensive and politically damaging PR disaster of a High Court case that could well bankrupt Thomas Davis. Even of they had won, what use is 1,500 seats to anyone?

Duffy still hasn't joined the dots about why the GAA haven't gotten their fair share from the local authorities. Because instead of asking, we decided to sue and dictate terms. FF don't do getting bullied. And a year later he has the audacity to claim he doesn't understand why the GAA failed in Tallaght. Most of you here disagreed with my view on this debacle, but you understood it. Its beyond incridelous that he hasn't read the ruling or understood the previous ministers stance on the issue. Thats before we ask why he is dredging the issue up again.

I mean picking the same fight with the same government and same council a year later? What can that possibly achieve? I have no doubt they are breaking their holes laughing on the Rovers and FAI forums.

[dublinfella]

Much public money was wasted in the "good times", it is time for this waste to explained.

Whats wasteful? The thing has been built early and under budget.

The GAA were arguing for a more expensive facility and offered no contribution, so I'm not sure thats the angle you want to take tbh.

[dublinfella]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2009/0325/1224243368096.html

Duffy critical of Tallaght decision
GAA director general Páraic Duffy (left) with president Nickey Brennan at the launch yesterday of the GAA 2009 annual report.In this section »
Trapattoni confident Given will be fitKyle happy Grand Slam mantle has been passed on at lastSEÁN MORAN GAA CorrespondentGAA DIRECTOR general Páraic Duffy has criticised the government decision to exclude Gaelic games from the stadium in Tallaght, now home to Shamrock Rovers. In his annual report to next month's congress, Duffy says that the decision cannot be justified.

He also told yesterday's media briefing at Croke Park the GAA would be meeting with Fingal Council next Monday to discuss the proposed stadium project there, intended to be home to League of Ireland club Sporting Fingal.

Duffy said that with local authorities showing greater interest in developing sports facilities, the trend should be towards sharing those facilities between organisations.

"We understand fully the difficult economic context in which we are operating, yet I want to emphasise again that the GAA is willing to participate in public multi-sport facilities throughout the country. The GAA will also continue to seek Government support for its own activities and investment programmes.

"However, we must address the perception among our members that we are not benefiting in an equitable manner from growing local authority investment in sport facilities. Tallaght is the most serious example of a lost opportunity to develop multi-sport participation in a publicly-funded facility.

"The implications of that decision remain a huge bone of contention within the GAA, and not just for the Thomas Davis club and the other GAA clubs in the Tallaght area. We have never received an adequate explanation as to why the wishes of the elected members of South Dublin County Council to develop a genuine multi-sport venue, specifically accommodating Gaelic games and soccer, were denied by the then Minister for Sport.

"The inescapable truth of the matter is that a stadium is effectively being developed, exclusively from exchequer funding, for a professional soccer club when a badly needed multi-sports stadium could, and should, have been provided in the area. It is a decision that simply cannot be justified."

Asked about the similar plan under consideration in the north county area, Duffy said: "We're meeting Fingal County Council next Monday and won't be making any comment until after that."

Financial matters were also under the microscope with the news that the GAA, although its Central Council revenues rose by €1m to €64m, had last year suffered a decrease in gate receipts of €5m compared to 2007.

This was spread over the football championship, which lost €2m, the hurling championship (€1m) and the national leagues, down €2m.

These losses were, however, largely offset by a rise of €4m in commercial revenues. Nearly 80 per cent of all revenues were redistributed to other units within the association.

Duffy also expressed his support for the experimental disciplinary rules currently being trialled in the national leagues and which come up for congress approval next month.

"I fully support proposals that seek to eliminate negative play in our games – pulling down, tripping, illegal body-collides, tackling around the neck and aggressive remonstration with match officials. Regardless of the outcome of Congress's deliberations, I have no doubt that the experimental period was worthwhile and that, in the longer term, it will influence our perceptions of obstructive fouling in our games."

Among the other issues raised in his report is last January's Late Late Show dedicated to the GAA's 125th anniversary, which drew wide criticism from within the association.

"The Celebrating 125 Years of the GAA programme of events started with a Late, Late Show Special. Two hours of prime-time Friday-night television should have been a fitting inauguration of the celebrations. However, it's difficult to avoid the sense that this was an opportunity missed: the remit for the programme was narrower than we would have wished and thus proved a disappointment, failing to meet the expectations of its huge audience."

He also expressed his doubts about the future of the inter-provincial competitions, which the association has struggled to accommodate in its fixtures schedules and which he feels should be laid to rest.

"Given that television now showcases our best players on a regular basis in other competitions, I do not see that the inter-provincial championships offer a genuine promotional tool for the association. Whether played at home or abroad, the competitions are expensive to stage and, in a time of recession and cutbacks, competitions that are not, at the very least, self-financing must be questioned."

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Buried in there is the decline in attendences and the reliance on soccer on rugby for the GAA to stay in the black. Maybe there is method in his madness.

[ludermor]

Dublinfella,
How do you reckon the Kerry game will go? Will you be attending the match?