Kevin Cassidy is in bother with the boss.

[shezam]

I can't speak about what players have said or done but I find it astonishing that there seems to be a shrug of the shoulders attitude among some here about trash talking, play acting, sly digs etc. Are people actually viewing this as part of the game?

I'd be the first to admit that I've done and said a few things on the pitch that I wouldn't be particularly proud of but I never crossed the lines that are being suggested by some here. I despair when people say a man should get sent off for 'raising his hands', as it is this attitude that encourages teams to provoke opponents and if they do then hit the ground as if shot with teammates badgering the ref for a sending off.

Every time a poster here defends his county men of behaviour that is entirely unacceptable (and it happens regularly) it is another step in the normalisation of certain acts and we contribute to the dumbing down and scumming up of football.

+1

[screenmachine]

The rules are there for a reason, you can't strike an opponent be it a slap across the face or a full on haymaker.  As the late Eamon Coleman said, 'If you strick, strike, struck you must go...'

To be honest, most of the slaps that are threw on a pitch wouldn't put a man down if it happened on the street so where do you draw the line and say he's diving and he's not.  If you're silly enough to raise a hand to someone you have to accept the punishment, even after provocation.  If what he said is bad enough wait until after the game and confront/empty him then...

[OverThePostsAWide]

Spot on Zulu. It wasn't that long ago that another Donegal man - Paddy Campbell - was (rightly) pilloried in the press and everywhere else for a disgraceful provocation on Enda Muldoon (which Muldoon responded to, got sent off and his suspension subsequently rescinded). I am not sure, the same dispicable act would be as roundly condemned today.  How far we have come in 7 years. Even the cricket authorities have come to condemn (and attempt to ban) sledging.

[Zulu]

The rules are there for a reason, you can't strike an opponent be it a slap across the face or a full on haymaker.  As the late Eamon Coleman said, 'If you strick, strike, struck you must go...'

To be honest, most of the slaps that are threw on a pitch wouldn't put a man down if it happened on the street so where do you draw the line and say he's diving and he's not.  If you're silly enough to raise a hand to someone you have to accept the punishment, even after provocation.  If what he said is bad enough wait until after the game and confront/empty him then...

Yes the rules are there for a reason but those rules are now being manipulated. It isn't that long ago that some GAA folk called soccer a pansy sport with lads diving all over the place for no reason, are we now much different? Nobody wants to see lads lamping each other (well we do but...) however when I see Connolly get sent off for nothing and then read lads here quoting rule books as if it were the Bible I worry about the game. Christ, Tommy Walsh split Brian Gavin in the All Ireland hurling final and nobody said anything, if Joe McQuillan was split by a flailing fist the player could be looking at 12 months or more and the Sunday Game would have us sickened with pontificating. Lets get the manliness back in football and eradicate the sly cowardly acts that have become all too common.

[OverThePostsAWide]

The rules are there for a reason, you can't strike an opponent be it a slap across the face or a full on haymaker.  As the late Eamon Coleman said, 'If you strick, strike, struck you must go...'

To be honest, most of the slaps that are threw on a pitch wouldn't put a man down if it happened on the street so where do you draw the line and say he's diving and he's not.  If you're silly enough to raise a hand to someone you have to accept the punishment, even after provocation.  If what he said is bad enough wait until after the game and confront/empty him then...

Good man screenmachine, the voice of reason. What's the figure? 17 people killed last year from a single punch? And you don't have to go beyond this week or outside your own county if you want the proof of the stupidity of your statement.

[J70]

I can't speak about what players have said or done but I find it astonishing that there seems to be a shrug of the shoulders attitude among some here about trash talking, play acting, sly digs etc. Are people actually viewing this as part of the game?

I'd be the first to admit that I've done and said a few things on the pitch that I wouldn't be particularly proud of but I never crossed the lines that are being suggested by some here. I despair when people say a man should get sent off for 'raising his hands', as it is this attitude that encourages teams to provoke opponents and if they do then hit the ground as if shot with teammates badgering the ref for a sending off.

Every time a poster here defends his county men of behaviour that is entirely unacceptable (and it happens regularly) it is another step in the normalisation of certain acts and we contribute to the dumbing down and scumming up of football.

Well said. I honestly don't like that Donegal have introduced this shite into their game this year, but if other teams are and have been using to their advantage, its hard to blame them. I used to dislike players like Ryan McMenamin intensely, but what do you do when your own team adopts the tactics? Stop following the game altogether? If there was to be a ban on trash talking and sly, sneaky digs, how do you police it? Its easy when Paddy Campbell grabs Enda Muldoon's nuts in full view of the camera, but its rarely that clearcut and the talking part is a non-runner in terms of policing it. The likes of Brendan Devenney used to complain about the cynicism and nastiness and stuff that'd be said by the players marking him in the Ulster championship and how he much preferred playing southern teams, but the inevitable response was that he should stop whinging and get on with it. We can't have it both ways.

[J70]

The rules are there for a reason, you can't strike an opponent be it a slap across the face or a full on haymaker.  As the late Eamon Coleman said, 'If you strick, strike, struck you must go...'

To be honest, most of the slaps that are threw on a pitch wouldn't put a man down if it happened on the street so where do you draw the line and say he's diving and he's not.  If you're silly enough to raise a hand to someone you have to accept the punishment, even after provocation.  If what he said is bad enough wait until after the game and confront/empty him then...

Yes the rules are there for a reason but those rules are now being manipulated. It isn't that long ago that some GAA folk called soccer a pansy sport with lads diving all over the place for no reason, are we now much different? Nobody wants to see lads lamping each other (well we do but...) however when I see Connolly get sent off for nothing and then read lads here quoting rule books as if it were the Bible I worry about the game. Christ, Tommy Walsh split Brian Gavin in the All Ireland hurling final and nobody said anything, if Joe McQuillan was split by a flailing fist the player could be looking at 12 months or more and the Sunday Game would have us sickened with pontificating. Lets get the manliness back in football and eradicate the sly cowardly acts that have become all too common.

I remember the outrage on the board here in 2004 at Devenney when got a very lengthy ban for putting his hands on McQuillan's waist and pushing him! It was absolutely out of line on Devenney's part, but McQuillan had missed all kinds of fouling by the Fermanagh defender on Devenney, yet sent him off for two yellows (can't remember what for, but they weren't for much and Devenney was very upset at the percieved injustice).

[Zulu]

True, but a start would be not sending lads off if there hasn't been an actual punch, none of this raised hands shite and a year long ban from all GAA if a clear dive can be shown from TV footage. The mouthing can't be monitored generally but you have to be 13 yards away from a free taker so anyone mouthing to a free taker should be heard by the ref and if so he should be sent off immediately even if he is just saying best of luck!!

You see in sports like American football where they tolerate little or no nonsense from players and we must do the same, allow good hard football that might go overboard sometimes but cut out the underhand shit as much as possible.

[Stevie g 8]

All the begging that was done to get him back,then this.

[screenmachine]

The rules are there for a reason, you can't strike an opponent be it a slap across the face or a full on haymaker.  As the late Eamon Coleman said, 'If you strick, strike, struck you must go...'

To be honest, most of the slaps that are threw on a pitch wouldn't put a man down if it happened on the street so where do you draw the line and say he's diving and he's not.  If you're silly enough to raise a hand to someone you have to accept the punishment, even after provocation.  If what he said is bad enough wait until after the game and confront/empty him then...

Good man screenmachine, the voice of reason. What's the figure? 17 people killed last year from a single punch? And you don't have to go beyond this week or outside your own county if you want the proof of the stupidity of your statement.

Firstly you've got people comparing on field nasties with the child abuse scandal in the church and now this.  My point was justifying the rules that are put in place that if you strike an opponent on the field then you have to be sent off.  The end of my point was merely down to the fact that if a player had been goading an opponent about the death of a relative for example, which was suggested earlier, then I think that player has a case to answer and should be confronted at a suitable time.  If the player reacts immediately and is sent off then you're going to be called silly for reacting but if confronted afterwards and the details of the trash talking is revealed then I think it can be justified to an extent.

You can pull figures out of the air to try and validate your post but if you're going down that road then perhaps the players who have hit players off the ball in the past should be the target of your stats as surely they are more appropriate targets who need your advice rather than someone speaking about it online.   

[Jinxy]

I simply don't believe that the members of our community who are inter-county GAA players would forget, abandon or compromise the decency with which they were reared or the values that are innate to them or betray the sport we all love by abusing a bereaved family for a tawdry advantage in a game of football.

People occasionally post here about vile verbal abuse of opponents' families, even in club matches. I just don't believe it. In my paltry, brief and long-ago football career, I never experienced even the slightest inkling of it and didn't know anybody who did. It just didn't arise. (We were too busy trying to knock each other senseless.) My son played at club level until he emigrated quite recently. I never heard him mention such conduct. I've never heard it in all the time I've spent on the sideline in local matches. I think it's a nasty myth.

Hardy

I am sorry to hear that your son had to emigrate. 
At the highest level I am not so sure that it is always fair and decent . Gerry white boots McInerney was insulted about his brother who committed suicide in a big Galway Tipp match back in the day.

How do you know?
I've heard this type of thing attributed to different players from different counties in hurling and football.
I just can't believe anyone would stoop that low.
I know of one rumour about a Meath player saying something similar to a Mayo player and it was out and out bullshit.

[rrhf]

How can we tell if its 2 or 3 fingers used.  Typical  bullshit

[omagh_gael]

Easy. count the number of brown fingers when he goes to catch the next ball!

[Gold]

what's 'Any Craic' got to say about all this?

[imtommygunn]

I can't speak about what players have said or done but I find it astonishing that there seems to be a shrug of the shoulders attitude among some here about trash talking, play acting, sly digs etc. Are people actually viewing this as part of the game?

I'd be the first to admit that I've done and said a few things on the pitch that I wouldn't be particularly proud of but I never crossed the lines that are being suggested by some here. I despair when people say a man should get sent off for 'raising his hands', as it is this attitude that encourages teams to provoke opponents and if they do then hit the ground as if shot with teammates badgering the ref for a sending off.

Every time a poster here defends his county men of behaviour that is entirely unacceptable (and it happens regularly) it is another step in the normalisation of certain acts and we contribute to the dumbing down and scumming up of football.

Well said. I honestly don't like that Donegal have introduced this shite into their game this year, but if other teams are and have been using to their advantage, its hard to blame them. I used to dislike players like Ryan McMenamin intensely, but what do you do when your own team adopts the tactics? Stop following the game altogether? If there was to be a ban on trash talking and sly, sneaky digs, how do you police it? Its easy when Paddy Campbell grabs Enda Muldoon's nuts in full view of the camera, but its rarely that clearcut and the talking part is a non-runner in terms of policing it. The likes of Brendan Devenney used to complain about the cynicism and nastiness and stuff that'd be said by the players marking him in the Ulster championship and how he much preferred playing southern teams, but the inevitable response was that he should stop whinging and get on with it. We can't have it both ways.

Devenney went through a run of games where he was basically getting molested ever week. Enda McNulty, McMenamin and Ryan McCloskey who was as bad if not worse than the first two.

The life of a corner forward in ulster round those times wouldn't have been a good one.

There's a lot of stuff goes on off the ball which is more or less impossible to catch by refs etc. None of us will ever know what's said though so making speculation on it is wrong as it tars players with a brush which they may or ma not merit. Neither will we know if one player stuck his fingers up anothers arse. Girlfriends phone numbers etc I would like to think are ridiculous rumours too so I pay no heed to them.