McHale park worst ground I ever played on- Marty Clarke

[pintsofguinness]

Lets not be too hard on Marty based on potentially out-of-context comments.

Mchale park does appear to have been a very poor surface and a county ground should be better than that. Marty was tired and frustrated at the result.

As regards the tackle issue, there was one tackle in particular that ended in a Mayo point scoring free that was perfect. There was nothing wrong with it. Marty came in from the side and hooked the ball free with one hand. The ref was far behind play and awarded a free - FOR WHAT!!!. Marty was very upset about it. He is probably just expressing as we all do that we no longer really know what a "Tackle" is in Gaelic football. It seems as if refs make it up as they go along, in Aussie rules the tackle is very well defined, as for that matter it is in soccer, NFL and rugby. Aren't we all frustrated at refs blowing up defenders who seem to be doing nothing more than blocking a lad fairly, or at the other end seeing a guy hacking the ribs of our forwards only to be allowed to carry on?

The comment about the crowd size was inadvisable but Marty is a humble decent lad and would not have meant to offend anyone. He is not a big headed glory hunter. To be fair to the comment, the lads on the pitch gave 100% in this game and the All Ireland final - no difference. So why do 82,000 turn up for All-Ireland but only 6,000 for this game? So to be fair he is kinda right. No way would he denigrate the fans that travelled to support, but where are all those others that were greedily snapping for tickets last September? And to think only around 5,000 Mayo supporters turned up is an insult to their team.

Then it is advisable not to write a piece for the GAA fan base crying and yapping and saying how much better another sport is.

[Zulu]

As well as saying that being in Castlebar made him miss Australia.



Down star Marty Clarke admits last Saturday night's Allianz National Football League opener against Mayo made him yearn for the warmth of Australia.

Clarke returned from Melbourne 18 months ago having earned impressive reviews during his time with Collingwood.

He helped Down to a surprise run to the All-Ireland final last year, earning an All-Star in the process, but the winter months were dominated with speculation that he was keen to return Down Under.


And those rumours are sure to resurface after a dramatic media piece today, in which he blasted the warm-up and match fields at Castlebar's McHale Park, the Irish weather and the paltry crowd.

In an eye-opening Irish Daily Star column on Tuesday, he wrote, "As the rain pelted down and we entered a waterlogged back field to warm up in Castlebar, all thoughts began to zoom in on the job in hand.

"Be first to the ball. Simple football. Tackle with intensity. Don't let them settle. County football was back. Let's go. Up Down.

"Fast forward two hours and I heard the '[Do you miss] Australia' question. Suddenly I felt the cold pinch in the air. A bit of Melbourne sun would be nice.

"I gave away five free kicks in the tackle. Two resulted in Mayo points. They'd have been five commendable plays if I'd been out on the MCG. Castlebar was suddenly no MCG. In fact, I'd say it was one of the worst grounds I've ever played at - nothing but sand.

"Picking the ball up was a total nightmare. The ball simply didn't bounce. Once it hit the ground it stayed there. It was like playing on a beach. St Kilda beach!

"The PA system then announced a 'large' attendance, touching 6000, had just watched the game. Ten times that watched my first game of the 2009 season in Melbourne."

I know two other inter county players who reckoned it was the worst county ground they had played in and these boys would have played more of their football in the lower divisions. An awful pitch by all accounts.

[muppet]

Aiden O'Se agreed with him on twitter.

Long time since I played on that pitch but it was only really good in the summer after a period without much rain. In the winter it could be very heavy but as I said that was a long time ago. Pearse Stadium was a lot worse though, not sure about now.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Last summer the pitch in McHale Park was immaculate. But it rarely winters well. There appeared to be a lot of sand on it the last night, although to be fair, only two other games went ahead in Mayo last weekend because of the weather. We played one of them in Ballyheane which is a rare gem of a field for being playable - although we weren't saying that last Saturday going out in the rain.

[Dubh driocht]

Lets not be too hard on Marty based on potentially out-of-context comments.

Mchale park does appear to have been a very poor surface and a county ground should be better than that. Marty was tired and frustrated at the result.

As regards the tackle issue, there was one tackle in particular that ended in a Mayo point scoring free that was perfect. There was nothing wrong with it. Marty came in from the side and hooked the ball free with one hand. The ref was far behind play and awarded a free - FOR WHAT!!!. Marty was very upset about it. He is probably just expressing as we all do that we no longer really know what a "Tackle" is in Gaelic football. It seems as if refs make it up as they go along, in Aussie rules the tackle is very well defined, as for that matter it is in soccer, NFL and rugby. Aren't we all frustrated at refs blowing up defenders who seem to be doing nothing more than blocking a lad fairly, or at the other end seeing a guy hacking the ribs of our forwards only to be allowed to carry on?

The comment about the crowd size was inadvisable but Marty is a humble decent lad and would not have meant to offend anyone. He is not a big headed glory hunter. To be fair to the comment, the lads on the pitch gave 100% in this game and the All Ireland final - no difference. So why do 82,000 turn up for All-Ireland but only 6,000 for this game? So to be fair he is kinda right. No way would he denigrate the fans that travelled to support, but where are all those others that were greedily snapping for tickets last September? And to think only around 5,000 Mayo supporters turned up is an insult to their team.

Then it is advisable not to write a piece for the GAA fan base crying and yapping and saying how much better another sport is.

It's really hard to work out why Armagh men would want Marty back in Oz !

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Aiden O'Se agreed with him on twitter.

Long time since I played on that pitch but it was only really good in the summer after a period without much rain. In the winter it could be very heavy but as I said that was a long time ago. Pearse Stadium was a lot worse though, not sure about now.

Might have something to do with Galway being the second wettest county in Ireland and Mayo being the wettest. Parts of Mayo & Galway receive 4 times the rainfall of the East Coast. The wettest location (not countywide) is Valentia Island in Kerry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Ireland

"The average number of "wet days" (days with more than 1 mm (0.039 in) of rain) ranges from about 150 days a year along the east and south-east coasts, to about 225 days a year in parts of the west.

The weather station with the highest number of "wet days" is Belmullet, County Mayo with 193 days per year,[15] while the station with the lowest number of "wet days" is Dublin Airport, County Dublin with 128 days per year.[16]"

[Maguire01]

If Marty Clarke returned 2/3 years ago he would be playing Division 3 football in front of even smaller crowds & worse pitches.

so the lower down the division you are in, the worse the pitch?

there is no need in this day and age for county football to be played on a less than decent pitch

You may have noticed Mchale park have done alot of work on the ground/pitch so other pitches in the lower divisions are not up to that standard yet.

Though saying that i was in Longford on Sunday, fine pitch with a good stand might not be up to Clarke's standard?

It looks like a poor return for whatever money was invested. The stand looks like a shed - something that would have been built in the 80s.

[Maguire01]

Maybe, but the attendance was very disappointing. Feel free to differ but I think it shows that there is a small enough core number that goes to games in the county of Mayo. As regards the pitch. There is a lot of sand. That would have given the only biteen of bounce in it. Without the sand that pitch would not be playable from Oct. to March. Instead of no bounce there would have been a splash.  People on the east coast should know we have to deal with at least twice the amount of rainfall as they have to deal with.

13 euros to go to the match was too steep. The Dubs are charging 40 odd euros for 8 games and some entertainment. I know they have to pay for the stand and lights but a bit of imagination is needed mow to get people in, the GAA in Mayo has to wake up to this fact.

Prices are set nationally by the GAA

Dublin seem to have been able to amend the pices for their home games.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

If Marty Clarke returned 2/3 years ago he would be playing Division 3 football in front of even smaller crowds & worse pitches.

so the lower down the division you are in, the worse the pitch?

there is no need in this day and age for county football to be played on a less than decent pitch

You may have noticed Mchale park have done alot of work on the ground/pitch so other pitches in the lower divisions are not up to that standard yet.

Though saying that i was in Longford on Sunday, fine pitch with a good stand might not be up to Clarke's standard?

It looks like a poor return for whatever money was invested. The stand looks like a shed - something that would have been built in the 80s.

Have you been in in Maguire?

[ross4life]

If Marty Clarke returned 2/3 years ago he would be playing Division 3 football in front of even smaller crowds & worse pitches.

so the lower down the division you are in, the worse the pitch?

there is no need in this day and age for county football to be played on a less than decent pitch

You may have noticed Mchale park have done alot of work on the ground/pitch so other pitches in the lower divisions are not up to that standard yet.

Though saying that i was in Longford on Sunday, fine pitch with a good stand might not be up to Clarke's standard?

It looks like a poor return for whatever money was invested. The stand looks like a shed - something that would have been built in the 80s.

THB i felt the same when i saw the pictures but on closer inspection it's a fine stand with good dressing rooms the one flaw is the pillars & that must have been the cheaper option when building?

[pintsofguinness]

Lets not be too hard on Marty based on potentially out-of-context comments.

Mchale park does appear to have been a very poor surface and a county ground should be better than that. Marty was tired and frustrated at the result.

As regards the tackle issue, there was one tackle in particular that ended in a Mayo point scoring free that was perfect. There was nothing wrong with it. Marty came in from the side and hooked the ball free with one hand. The ref was far behind play and awarded a free - FOR WHAT!!!. Marty was very upset about it. He is probably just expressing as we all do that we no longer really know what a "Tackle" is in Gaelic football. It seems as if refs make it up as they go along, in Aussie rules the tackle is very well defined, as for that matter it is in soccer, NFL and rugby. Aren't we all frustrated at refs blowing up defenders who seem to be doing nothing more than blocking a lad fairly, or at the other end seeing a guy hacking the ribs of our forwards only to be allowed to carry on?

The comment about the crowd size was inadvisable but Marty is a humble decent lad and would not have meant to offend anyone. He is not a big headed glory hunter. To be fair to the comment, the lads on the pitch gave 100% in this game and the All Ireland final - no difference. So why do 82,000 turn up for All-Ireland but only 6,000 for this game? So to be fair he is kinda right. No way would he denigrate the fans that travelled to support, but where are all those others that were greedily snapping for tickets last September? And to think only around 5,000 Mayo supporters turned up is an insult to their team.

Then it is advisable not to write a piece for the GAA fan base crying and yapping and saying how much better another sport is.

It's really hard to work out why Armagh men would want Marty back in Oz !

What are you going on about? 
 

[Dubh driocht]

The sooner he goes back the better if he's going to start that crying.

Is your short term memory playing up ?

[rosnarun]

i take it that by the number of people wanting to wind up this thread they are embarrassed by the childish whining comments of the previously golden boy.
opinions about the state of the pitch are fair enough. but to criticize the size of the crowd which was possibly the largest of the weekend and seemingly wanting the tackle law to be changed cause he kept fouling! shows he has only a nodding acquaintance with the realities of the GAA and maybe needs to re-examine the contract that brought him back from the AFL

[pintsofguinness]

The sooner he goes back the better if he's going to start that crying.

Is your short term memory playing up ?

No, what has the fact that I'm an armagh man got to do with anything?

[Big Puff]

I would also take Martys comments in the irish daily star with a pinch of salt.