Ungrateful FAI Delaney

[Zulu]

but I reckon it is the same story elsewhere.

In fairness it isn't and many soccer clubs don't have any facilities at all so they are teams rather than clubs. But I agree, the FAI aren't as bad as some here have painted and the GAA have plenty to do too.

[Big Dave the Wave]

 you say it isn't , but I am far from convinced.
Some of these new estates happened to be near existing GAA clubs,places like Dunshaughlin and that, so that is fine - but plenty of them aren't.

But again - it doesnt come down to facilities.....It comes down to fellas getting out of bed in the morning to coach kids and drive them to matchs.

I used to live near Donore avenue in Dublin - the clubhouse of the local soccer team seems to be a disused shop or something....they change there and drive to matchs. Nothing special , by an stretch of the imagination. but it doesnt matter. I have walked by there many weekends to see plenty of young lads all togged out jumping into a minivan...

Morale of the story : Bricks and Mortar dont matter a jot at the end of the day - it is the dedication of the members that counts!

So what is your take on the debt problems

[Big Dave the Wave]

Going back to the original topic.
The FAI have finished using Croke Park.  They going to play away games or in Thomond park until August. Fine ! Good luck to them. What has it got to do with us?  It was the deal that was made after all - so why all this fuss.

I dont get why they have to be "grateful"? We let them use Croker,  They paid for it , everything went as it was supposed to. End of story. What does being "grateful" mean anyway ? Saying Thanks - They actually said Thanks plenty of times

This whole controversy is being stirred up by Martin Breheny of the Indo - almost single-handedly.  He is campaigning for the FAI and IRFU to stick with Croker for big games.

Dont get me wrong , I agree with him on quite a lot of issues, but I do wish he drop this whole thing and let us have some peace and quiet. In light of the draw there this morning - Russia , Slovakia etc - I dont reckon we will see any big hue and cry to get them played in Croker.

[T Fearon]

At the end of the day, the GAA can be proud of Croke Park, the IRFU/FAI can or will be proud of the new Aviva, all three sports have made enormous strides and all three will have bright futures with most Irish sports fans fully supportive of and taking pride in all three. Lets hope the new era of co operation continues between all three as they have much to learn from,and share with each other.

[Bensars]

In all seriousness Tony, what would the GAA or IRFU have to learn from the FAI, that would be of benefit to either organisation ?

[T Fearon]

Yawn!

[Bord na Mona man]

Surely people have read the Indo article on the number of GAA clubs [6] as compared to Soccer clubs[22]  in Mullingar and Athlone....
maybe that is only 2 towns, sure - but I reckon it is the same story elsewhere.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/westmeath-board-to-tackle-athlone-numbers-game-2047356.html

You can almost assume that in towns with a population of over 10k the GAA is playing second fiddle to soccer in terms of participation.
Exceptions aren't that common.

[Big Dave the Wave]

In all seriousness Tony, what would the GAA or IRFU have to learn from the FAI, that would be of benefit to either organisation ?

Well lets be honest - I think the GAA needs to get its house in order when it comes to on pitch discipline. SEROUSLY needs to...

Secondly - and this is a big one ...Fixture management!!... here is where i do agree with Breheny! 

The nonsense which applies nowadays, where some players get no club games throughout summer and then face a fixtures glut in the autumn, will be no more as there will be a general recognition that had things not changed, the GAA would have been irretrievably undermined.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/how-the-gaa-will-look-in-2029-1835630.html

[In that article he seems to be saying what I say - The Bricks and mortar obsession has to go]

[dublinfella]

In all seriousness Tony, what would the GAA or IRFU have to learn from the FAI, that would be of benefit to either organisation ?

How have they gone from third most played sport in Ireland to first in less than ten years?

[Hardy]

Yeh - that was wonderful work by the FAI. 90% of the people who are playing probably never heard of the FAI. It wouldn't have anything to do with saturation Sky coverage and Merchandise United?

[Lone Shark]

Surely people have read the Indo article on the number of GAA clubs [6] as compared to Soccer clubs[22]  in Mullingar and Athlone....
maybe that is only 2 towns, sure - but I reckon it is the same story elsewhere.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/westmeath-board-to-tackle-athlone-numbers-game-2047356.html

You can almost assume that in towns with a population of over 10k the GAA is playing second fiddle to soccer in terms of participation.
Exceptions aren't that common.

I wouldn't even go that far to be honest. Certainly Athlone is a soccer town, but Mullingar has four good GAA clubs in it's environs and would have no soccer club that would compare to any of them in terms of membership. On the other hand, if that were expanded out to the county of Westmeath as a whole, then the numbers would be very different.

Even Westmeath in itself is an exception. It's no coincidence that the county chosen was one which (1) has a terrible record of success in the GAA, and (2) has a (historically at least) successful LOI soccer club. Longford to the north of them might be the same, I don't know the sporting geography of Longford town nearly as well, but if you were to look at the main urban centres in Meath to the east, Roscommon to the west or Offaly to the South, Soccer is not nearly as prominent. That's not to say that the GAA hasn't a fair bit of work to do in towns like Tullamore and Boyle in particular, but in any of those counties the town GAA clubs would be much more prominent than the town soccer clubs.

Also, absolute club numbers is hardly a valid comparison. In Ferbane (my home town) we have a soccer club. They field one adult team - the GAA club fields three adult teams, not counting under 21. Add in the fifteen a side and that's 4:1. An extreme example maybe, but still it shows that club for club is not a fair comparison.

Taking that on further, by my count, in the CCFL there are 26 Offaly clubs. (I say that advisedly since there are a few names I'm not sure of where they're from so i'm taking a guess.) Of those, 18 field one team, 7 field two and one field three - that's 35 teams, at an average of eighteen players per squad giving 630 players. Add in three extra squads for Tullamore twice (Leinster Senior League and LOI A Championship) and Edenderry town and you're up to 684 in total.

Now let's look at the Gaelic football clubs - 32 in Offaly. So far only a narrow advantage. Now factor in the teams that played in last year's championship - 10 clubs fielded one team, 18 fielded two and 4 fielded three - making 58 in total. Giving 24 per squad, which is comparably the same as the soccer, that's 1392 players - over twice as many.

That's a long winded way of saying that there is a lot more to it than just comparing clubs. However the point about the GAA having to do better in urban areas is well made.

I'll grant you that the soccer has teams

[T Fearon]

Too many people, from the gaa side particularly, still see soccer as a threat, unnecessarily. Hopefully the last three years has broken down barriers though you'll always have rednecks on the gaa side, the sporting equivalents of dissident republicans or the TUV.

[dublinfella]

Yeh - that was wonderful work by the FAI. 90% of the people who are playing probably never heard of the FAI. It wouldn't have anything to do with saturation Sky coverage and Merchandise United?

But the coaching and league structures still have to be in place to facilitate these kids, regardless of where they get the inspiration to play soccer.

You could also say the same about the GAA - kids don't play football because they like the idea of the association. They see the Jay Shelocks of the world and want to emulate.

its clear that people have one set of rules for the GAA and even IRFU but beat the FAI regardless of whether its fair or not. Its quite peculiar and a strategically bad idea.

[T Fearon]

they are rednecks Dublinfella, and thankfully they are becoming an ever decreasing minority

[tyronefan]

In all seriousness Tony, what would the GAA or IRFU have to learn from the FAI, that would be of benefit to either organisation ?

How have they gone from third most played sport in Ireland to first in less than ten years?

just as a matter of interest dublinfella where are you getting your info from