O'Rourke advocates Burmese style suppression of freedom of speech in the GAA

[INDIANA]

completely ignoring the lack of inter-county competition that would be available to 20 and 21 year old

And what is wrong with 20 and 21 year olds playing more club football/hurling?

So when I saw him trying to get the provincial championships abolished last week I started getting worried...

Without a doubt the day we get rid of the provincial championships will be the greatest day in GAA history as it will finally signal the day we establish an IC structure that is modern and fair to all. It is a must.

Zulu some counties will never win anything else. I saw Westmeath absolutely gutted today after losing a leinster final.

[Zulu]

For most teams the provincials are the only thing they have any chance at all of winning

Zulu some counties will never win anything else.

This is where I disagree lads, if you look at the past 30 years how many provincial titles have been won in Munster outside of Cork/Kerry, Leinster outside of Dublin/Meath/Kildare, Connacht outside of Mayo/Galway, Ulster outside of Tyrone/Armagh/Down? And how many weaker counties look like breaking that duck in the near future? The possibility of a weaker county winning a provincial championship once every 30 years isn't enough to justify an unbalanced championship. And if you take Limerick, Monaghan and now (maybe) Tipp as case studies you could argue that when weak counties get good teams the provincial championships can ensure they never win anything.

I've said this before and I've seen others argue for a similar format but I'd link the league to the championship and seed teams based on their league performance and then play a straight knockout championship with seed 1 playing seed 32 and so on. By doing so (and starting the league in April) you'd get full strength teams playing the league, which would increase revenue, media exposure, county grounds usage, promotional opportunities, the time available for club games, give a realistic goal for all counties (their division) and bring back the do or die element of the championship.

[Cosmo Kramer]

I don't know - the last decade was a relatively great one for Westmeath and Laois, they'd have nothing to show for their efforts if they didn't win Leiinster. That Sligo team were kicking down the door in Connacht for 10 years before they made the breakthrough in 07, they were never going to win the AI, so Connacht was always their best hope. Clare in 92, Leitrim in 94, maybe Tipp, Monaghan or Antrim in the next couple of years...yes of course Mayo, Galway, Dublin, Cork, Kerry and so on will win most of them, but that makes it even sweeter for the Roscommons and the Sligos when they finally have their day in the sun.

And as a Mayoman, the fact that we've won 40 odd Connachts before didn't make last years win in Salthill any less sweeter, it was still my sporting highlight of the year.

[Zulu]

That's fine Cosmo but is it enough to justify a situation where most teams in the country have no chance to win anything most years and where the club championships are impossible to plan because the CB's don't know if you're going through the front or backdoor? In addition most of the best match ups of the year are played out in secret almost, Mayo V Galway, Dublin V Tyrone, Armagh V Down, Mayo V Kerry, Cork V Kerry, Dublin V Kerry, Monaghan V Tyrone, Kildare V Laois etc. have all been played this year already yet most GAA fans, not to mention general sports fans, haven't seen a minute of these games. It is madness and the biggest stumbling block to Ireland having a really good sporting competition is the provincial championships. People want (and need) things to do in this country and we want to get behind sports teams and relate to them, it's only a matter of time before soccer or rugby offer regular quality sport to a willing public while we fanny about offering glorified challenge matches to people for most of the year.

[illdecide]

This site has it's fair share of cowards who hide behind their username and call players all sorts of names and i can guarantee you they would never reveal their names not to mention say it to the player(s) face. The same guys have an opinion on everything and do nothing but complain...all i say is FFS grow a set of balls and if you're prepared to ruin a guys name at least have the guts to put you're name to it.

I would have no problem puttint my name to posts on the board as a good few on here know my name anyway and if there is something I've posted in the past that is OTT I'll still be man enough to repeat it with my name beside it...(i can just see certain p***ks now going thru my previous posts looking for ammunition...lol )

[pintsofguinness]

This site has it's fair share of cowards who hide behind their username and call players all sorts of names and i can guarantee you they would never reveal their names not to mention say it to the player(s) face. The same guys have an opinion on everything and do nothing but complain...all i say is FFS grow a set of balls and if you're prepared to ruin a guys name at least have the guts to put you're name to it.

I would have no problem puttint my name to posts on the board as a good few on here know my name anyway and if there is something I've posted in the past that is OTT I'll still be man enough to repeat it with my name beside it...(i can just see certain p***ks now going thru my previous posts looking for ammunition...lol )

Maybe you should grow a set and say who you're talking about in your posts, you could also follow it up with examples rather than mindless ranting.  and you really think someone's name is ruined here by something someone posts? you really think that? are you that fickle?

Btw, why don't you repeat your countless abusive attacks on Ronan Quigley (that's a referee from my own club for anyone that doesn't know) again and put your name beside it?

[illdecide]

This site has it's fair share of cowards who hide behind their username and call players all sorts of names and i can guarantee you they would never reveal their names not to mention say it to the player(s) face. The same guys have an opinion on everything and do nothing but complain...all i say is FFS grow a set of balls and if you're prepared to ruin a guys name at least have the guts to put you're name to it.

I would have no problem puttint my name to posts on the board as a good few on here know my name anyway and if there is something I've posted in the past that is OTT I'll still be man enough to repeat it with my name beside it...(i can just see certain p***ks now going thru my previous posts looking for ammunition...lol )

Maybe you should grow a set and say who you're talking about in your posts, you could also follow it up with examples rather than mindless ranting.  and you really think someone's name is ruined here by something someone posts? you really think that? are you that fickle?

Btw, why don't you repeat your countless abusive attacks on Ronan Quigley (that's a referee from my own club for anyone that doesn't know) again and put your name beside it?

Ill do even better than that, i'll meet him face to face and tell him that he's the worst and most baised ref there is but i bet you'll not put your name to that countless verbal attacks on McKeever is that a good enough example for ya.

R u that big of a coward that you'll continue to call him a tr**p but hide behind you're keyboard and as for you saying "my club" is that the same club where members have came on here before and told you to shut you're big mouth and that you do not represent Silverbridge in any way and that everyone associated with Silverbridge hates you...sounds like to me you don't have a club

[pintsofguinness]

I would have no problem puttint my name to posts on the board as a good few on here know my name anyway and if there is something I've posted in the past that is OTT I'll still be man enough to repeat it with my name beside it...

But you won't...


as for the rest of your post, I'm not going to go off topic to explain but all  I'll say is just because you keep repeating something and you really really want it to be true (like when you nearly creamed your pants when you thought JB was slagging me off in the Gaelic Life) it doesn't make it true.

[stephenite]

Some journalists and so called experts are a just a bit miffed that a lot of comments made on here are often a lot more insightful than they can come up with.

That's exactly what the problem is, for some time now there has been concerted attacks on discussion boards, blogs or any online opinion pieces, by members of the established traditional media. The current affairs TV program Questions & Answers is still running in Oz (exact same format as John Bowman ran on RTE), anyway they has a respected political blogger on the panel instead of any of the major political correspondents from the main daily newspapers - they went off their nut for a week complaining about this blogger and his lack of qualifications.

[BennyHarp]

I think that the growth of boards like this have robbed journalists of their pompous position to dictate what the agenda is amongst GAA fans and to "scoop" the big news stories. For example, stories are broken here long before the morning paper gets them, this is bound to p*ss them off. So we get a situation where journalists are dictated to by what's happening online. As for TV pundits, their privilaged position as the "expert" is questioned online on a regular basis and their sometimes ridiculous comments taken to task. This is more immediate and effective than the odd complaint letter into RTE, BBC or Irish news which they can ignore. Colm o Rourke etc  in my opinion are more concerned with criticism of themselves than any current players.   

[haranguerer]

. If I said what I think about Colm and what I've heard about him I can assure he wouldn't like it - but I don't want to get personal.

That would actually be hilarious - post it to f**k, that'll teach him.

And for all those who're saying 'I'd have no problem putting my name beside my posts...', why don't yous prove it?!! Sounds like complete (empty) bravado.

If I had to put my name beside my posts I dont think I'd post at all. I'd say I'm in the vast majority of the board too. Its a forum for GAA discussion, the anonymity is its key selling point. Rarely can anyone say what they actually think, here there is that opportunity, to a certain extent. Most people anyway would treat their user name as an extension of themselves, and will aspire to be well thought of - with the result that there generally arent too many inflammatory posts.

And 'take your points', being a good GAA man hasnt anything to do with Sean Quinns current position - where does O'Rourke say it does?

[Lar Naparka]

I understand your frustration, ML, but what you're suggesting would never work.
I am not getting at you personally in any way but what you are proposing isn't practical.
For one thing, the notion of exclusivity (exclusiveness?) in any way runs counter to the ethos that underpins the Internet. I know that seems OTT but, in plain English, for everyone who wants to restrict access to anything, there are dozens more working hard to break down all barriers of any sort. That's why newsgroups and bulletin boards became so popular right from the start and that's the reason why nicknames became standard practice from the beginning.
You could indeed get this board moderated to such a degree that all posters would need to be registered club members but I'd swear the public relations people at GAA HQ wouldn't touch it with the proverbial 40 foot pole. The Star, Sun and the rest of the tabs would have a field day or even month having a go at this draconian attempt to muzzle freedom of speech – you can guess the rest of what the usual snipers would come up with.
Besides, what's the point in restricting discussion on this board when there are scores of others doing more or less the same thing? Anyway, I think most of the drivel to be found on this board is coming from registered club members who are liable to drag every thread, including this one, off-topic at every possible opportunity.
Besides all of the above, I get withdrawal symptoms any time Evil Genius or Roger goes missing for a spell over in the general Discussion section. Chrisowc, nifan and most of the OWC lads add a new and welcome dimension to this board and so does the lads who take the on 'cavalry' head too head.
I wouldn't hang around if I had to put up with what passes for constructive discussion from some of the registered club members we already have on this board.
BTW: haranguerer's post has just gone up. I think it very sensible.

[illdecide]

Thats all well and good and if people want to remain anonymous then that's their decision but if you say something personal and dish out abuse about someone the MOD's should post you're name beside you're post and let everyone see that you're not hiding behind the keyboard.

I have said somethings on the board about a certain ref in Armagh but when i thought about this morning i've already told him what i thought of him to his face and i'd have no problem doing so again, infact i physically removed him from our changing rooms after a game that ended in a row!!!

[pintsofguinness]

To me he's implied that because Quinn is a good gaa man he's entitled to the "don't let the bastards grind you down".  I just don't think it was appropriate.

[Main Street]

Maybe I am reading to much into it but i found that GAA man comment to be slightly nauseating.
To me it read as if you are a good GAAman, that puts you above adverse comment.
That adverse comment is coming from bastards.
And being a good GAA man means that you should not be regulated like those non GAA folk.