Playing at home for the rest of the Season (year)!

[From the Bunker]

Deflection. When you know you have no argument this is one of the first ports of call! Bertie was famous for it.

Dublin South, Fingal and Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown. It's divided anyway for local government. It will allow more people a chance to play for their county and will get extra playing in each area. That's what the Dubs claim they want anyway.
Spread the money and it will also make the game fair for all counties competing for Provincial and All Ireland honours in all grades and codes. Teams like Carlow will be able to compete 15 v 15 instead of 15 v millions. It makes sense and everyone will be happy. What's stopping us?

What is stopping us is tradition. Just like tradition is retaining the Provincial championships. The GAA created Croke Park the Super Stadium and to keep this Super Stadium viable they had to fill it. This was grand initially. Culchies like Myself loved going to this super stadium in the early noughties. Ulster Finals, Last 12 qualifier games all almost sold out. This was great. But gradually, Armagh and Tyrone declined. Kerry and Cork waited for the final. Meath and Kildare fell behind Westmeath and Laois. Galway vanished. And Mayo, Well Mayo just did what Mayo did.  But there was always Dublin, They could be depended on to fill the coffers. Parnell Park is just a memory of a venue anymore used for the Celebrity Bainisteoir final. The GAA used the League to initially integrate the Dubs into playing league games in Croker. Year in year out the AI winners opened their League campaign playing the Dubs in Croker. Croker is the home of the Dubs, A standing terrace they claim to own and are offended when tickets go to the opposing finalist fans in a AI final. They have their own dressing room and expect to warm up under the Hill. Yes it's nicely set up. No travelling on Match day, No logistics, no cost and I'm just talking about the fans.

So where are we at? Well the Hurling part of this madness will kick in next when the players and crowds come through. We'll have all home games for the Dublin Hurlers as well. The Monopoly starts. The GAA chief who are clearly more interested in keeping the money flowing won't do anything! It's all about making money in this Amateur organisation. Garth Brooks, One Direction, American football,Corporate Boxes,Sky TV all will make allot of money for the GAA. It's a scary place. This reminds me of the Premier League when it came to English Soccer. Teams like Derby, Leeds, Forest, Villa, Everton no longer had a chance of winning a League title. Dublin are going to be the Man Utd. The only difference is at least Man U had/have to play some games away from home and finals in a neutral venue.

your first paragraph is very anti Dublin in its sentiments. Would you not be better at delivering a non biased argument ?

It may sound anti-Dublin, but it is just calling things the way they are. Do you disagree with anything in the first paragraph? Look it's not the Dublin fans or players fault they naturally want to win and win all that can be won. Jez they don't care about anybody else and why should they. I'd be the exact same if we were in the same boat. It's all about your county doing well, so you're not bothered when things are going your own way! All of the advantages are with Dublin from the League semi final to the AI Final if they manage to get that far. If you cannot agree on that you have blinkers on! I must say I have been delighted to see the emergence of Dublin as a serious Hurling outfit. It is such a closed shop with the other traditional counties that it refreshing to see a new team in the mix.

what is the alternative to the current arrangement?

Simple, League semi finals in Neutral venues, there are plenty of well equipped venues around the country. Killarney, Castlebar, Limerick, Ennis, Salthill . Leinster games to semi (at least) in Tullamore and Portlaoise.

[INDIANA]

Teams that can't beat us in CP won't beat us outside there either.

Next we will  be banned for being too good.

Has to be the first time in the GAA that a county has to apologise for being better then everyone else

[Dont Matter]

Spread the money lads, just spread the money. It's not difficult. It's too late to make it fair with Dublin in mind, they must be split but give everyone else equal oportunity to improve the standard of Gaelic Games in their counties.
The good news is that this year they've supplied a million for 4 counties to share amongst them to improve hurling standards, the bad news is that there's not only 4 counties who need improvement in their hurling.
The money is there, stop giving the massive majority of it to Dublin and spread it out.

[Dont Matter]

Teams that can't beat us in CP won't beat us outside there either.

Next we will  be banned for being too good.

Has to be the first time in the GAA that a county has to apologise for being better then everyone else

1,500,000 yearly.

[Syferus]

Teams that can't beat us in CP won't beat us outside there either.

Next we will  be banned for being too good.

Has to be the first time in the GAA that a county has to apologise for being better then everyone else

While I'm not as giddy-upped about this topic as others that line makes no sense. Home advantage regularly helps teams, and it has been proven to do so throughout every sport imaginable. In tight games the crowd can drive a team on and can influence officiating enough to effect the result.

[Johnnybegood]

Deflection. When you know you have no argument this is one of the first ports of call! Bertie was famous for it.

Dublin South, Fingal and Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown. It's divided anyway for local government. It will allow more people a chance to play for their county and will get extra playing in each area. That's what the Dubs claim they want anyway.
Spread the money and it will also make the game fair for all counties competing for Provincial and All Ireland honours in all grades and codes. Teams like Carlow will be able to compete 15 v 15 instead of 15 v millions. It makes sense and everyone will be happy. What's stopping us?

What is stopping us is tradition. Just like tradition is retaining the Provincial championships. The GAA created Croke Park the Super Stadium and to keep this Super Stadium viable they had to fill it. This was grand initially. Culchies like Myself loved going to this super stadium in the early noughties. Ulster Finals, Last 12 qualifier games all almost sold out. This was great. But gradually, Armagh and Tyrone declined. Kerry and Cork waited for the final. Meath and Kildare fell behind Westmeath and Laois. Galway vanished. And Mayo, Well Mayo just did what Mayo did.  But there was always Dublin, They could be depended on to fill the coffers. Parnell Park is just a memory of a venue anymore used for the Celebrity Bainisteoir final. The GAA used the League to initially integrate the Dubs into playing league games in Croker. Year in year out the AI winners opened their League campaign playing the Dubs in Croker. Croker is the home of the Dubs, A standing terrace they claim to own and are offended when tickets go to the opposing finalist fans in a AI final. They have their own dressing room and expect to warm up under the Hill. Yes it's nicely set up. No travelling on Match day, No logistics, no cost and I'm just talking about the fans.

So where are we at? Well the Hurling part of this madness will kick in next when the players and crowds come through. We'll have all home games for the Dublin Hurlers as well. The Monopoly starts. The GAA chief who are clearly more interested in keeping the money flowing won't do anything! It's all about making money in this Amateur organisation. Garth Brooks, One Direction, American football,Corporate Boxes,Sky TV all will make allot of money for the GAA. It's a scary place. This reminds me of the Premier League when it came to English Soccer. Teams like Derby, Leeds, Forest, Villa, Everton no longer had a chance of winning a League title. Dublin are going to be the Man Utd. The only difference is at least Man U had/have to play some games away from home and finals in a neutral venue.

your first paragraph is very anti Dublin in its sentiments. Would you not be better at delivering a non biased argument ?

It may sound anti-Dublin, but it is just calling things the way they are. Do you disagree with anything in the first paragraph? Look it's not the Dublin fans or players fault they naturally want to win and win all that can be won. Jez they don't care about anybody else and why should they. I'd be the exact same if we were in the same boat. It's all about your county doing well, so you're not bothered when things are going your own way! All of the advantages are with Dublin from the League semi final to the AI Final if they manage to get that far. If you cannot agree on that you have blinkers on! I must say I have been delighted to see the emergence of Dublin as a serious Hurling outfit. It is such a closed shop with the other traditional counties that it refreshing to see a new team in the mix.

what is the alternative to the current arrangement?

Simple, League semi finals in Neutral venues, there are plenty of well equipped venues around the country. Killarney, Castlebar, Limerick, Ennis, Salthill . Leinster games to semi (at least) in Tullamore and Portlaoise.

supposing the counties involved such as Cork Derry and Mayo's players and management actually preferred to play the league semi finals in Croker to gain experience would you still advocate the semis to be played in venues other than Croker ?

[Walter Cronc]

Lads surely when you taking population and playing numbers into it they don't get a whole lot more??

[From the Bunker]

Teams that can't beat us in CP won't beat us outside there either.

Next we will  be banned for being too good.

Has to be the first time in the GAA that a county has to apologise for being better then everyone else

Yeah, look ye have a great side at the moment, no doubt. But you have to admit it is further enhanced by your comfort zone of Croke Park. Where is the magic hammering teams at home especially in the Leinster Championship. As I said earlier this is not the fans or the players fault. And it won't change.

[From the Bunker]

supposing the counties involved such as Cork Derry and Mayo's players and management actually preferred to play the league semi finals in Croker to gain experience would you still advocate the semis to be played in venues other than Croker ?

Well if it was a neutral venue (ie not involving Dublin), that would be ok! Just like if Mayo were playing a league semi final I'd never expect the game to be in McHale Park! We have loads of great venues in great (recession stricken) towns all over the country that can hold most of these games. Why do we have to look to Dublin all the time? Why? I'm sure allot of the Dublin fans are sick of the same old same old routine going to matches in Croker and wouldn't mind a bit of difference, The Blue army invading Limerick or Ennis or Galway or Tullamore or Breffini?

[BennyHarp]

How come home advantage has only recently become a issue? I don't remember too many people giving out about Dublin having home advantage when Kerry, Armagh, Mayo and Tyrone were regularly beating them during the 2000's and they hadnt won an All Ireland in 15 odd years.

The money is going to the capital as it has the greatest concentration of people and good on those responsible for using it to develop the game and achieve success, they clearly have a plan in place which is working. Fair play to the Dubs, they are the team to beat at the minute and sadly, there's something inherent in the psyche of certain Irish people to try and discredit those that are successful. (e.g. Kerry have it too easy in Munster therefore get an easy ride to the AI qtrs/semis, Tyrone and Armagh play puke football, Dublin get too much money etc).

I know if I was playing county football I'd much prefer to be playing in Croker than Portlaois, Tullamore or Clones.

[INDIANA]

Teams that can't beat us in CP won't beat us outside there either.

Next we will  be banned for being too good.

Has to be the first time in the GAA that a county has to apologise for being better then everyone else

Yeah, look ye have a great side at the moment, no doubt. But you have to admit it is further enhanced by your comfort zone of Croke Park. Where is the magic hammering teams at home especially in the Leinster Championship. As I said earlier this is not the fans or the players fault. And it won't change.

The poor state of Leinster football has got nothing to do with playing in Croke Park.  Kildare and Meath took their eye off the ball at underage that's not our fault

[Dont Matter]

Lads surely when you taking population and playing numbers into it they don't get a whole lot more??

If it was on population and playing numbers then in comparison to Dublin,  Antrim would be getting about 750,000 yearly, Cork 650,000 yearly and so on but it's not like that.
I have to point out again that this is games development money, I'm not including money gained elsewhere. If you included that the Dublin's figure would be astronomical.
Most counties get around 50,000 to 70,000 yearly for games development, there was some years in 05 and 06 where some counties were getting 7,500 while Dublin were getting 1.3million. It's crazy.
The improvement in results for Dublin in hurling and football at all age levels is in direct correlation to the money received. Money buys sucess, Dublin have been bought success. This is all fact, there's no disputing this.

[Dont Matter]

The money is going to the capital as it has the greatest concentration of people and good on those responsible for using it to develop the game.

Why doesn't Antrim GAA receive 750,000? Cork 650,000?

It's time to knock this nonsense about it being based on population on the head. It doesn't add up. It's based on finances pure and simple. A successful Dublin can make HQ money so investment was made to make that happen.

[Dont Matter]

The poor state of Leinster football has got nothing to do with playing in Croke Park.  Kildare and Meath took their eye off the ball at underage that's not our fault

Last time Dublin played a championship game outside Croke Park Longford should have beaten them.

[From the Bunker]

How come home advantage has only recently become a issue? I don't remember too many people giving out about Dublin having home advantage when Kerry, Armagh, Mayo and Tyrone were regularly beating them during the 2000's and they hadnt won an All Ireland in 15 odd years.

The money is going to the capital as it has the greatest concentration of people and good on those responsible for using it to develop the game and achieve success, they clearly have a plan in place which is working. Fair play to the Dubs, they are the team to beat at the minute and sadly, there's something inherent in the psyche of certain Irish people to try and discredit those that are successful. (e.g. Kerry have it too easy in Munster therefore get an easy ride to the AI qtrs/semis, Tyrone and Armagh play puke football, Dublin get too much money etc).

I know if I was playing county football I'd much prefer to be playing in Croker than Portlaois, Tullamore or Clones.

One of the main reasons was Dublin did not play all their home League games in Croker. Also they played down the country in early rounds of the Championship. So the exposure was less. I'm not going to go into the money side of things. Look there is a greater threat to the game in Dublin from Rugby and Soccer. Here in Mayo we are lucky there is no such threat. The same can be said for Limerick and Cork to name a few. All joking aside though. It is a gas situation!