Comparing GAA players to pro players

[deiseach]

I think Eamonn Sweeney, who I like very much - his defence of the Waterford hurlers after Brian Corcoran's remarkably embittered comments about them in his autobiography will always have a special place in my heart - is defending what he thought Stephen Hunt said rather than what he actually said. Had Hunt said that top GAA players wouldn't be able to play soccer to the level he had achieved, there wouldn't have been much controversy. Does anyone in the GAA really think that our top players would be able to effortlessly switch codes? I really doubt this. What Mattie Forde said on Twitter doesn't rise up that level. What Stephen Hunt actually said was to question the level of mental strength of GAA players:

As somebody who grew up in the GAA, I can tell you that, as much as I love the games, if GAA players tried to live with the level of commitment shown by a professional footballer, they wouldn't know what hit them.

I think Stephen Hunt is the type who likes to make light of their own talent, preferring to emphasise their fortitude or resilience or some thing else that can't be measured on a pitch. In reality, and in this I think Eamonn Sweeney is right, Hunt is a supremely talented soccer player. Just because a couple of managers earlier on in his career couldn't see that doesn't make them right, as he proved in the end. Sure, he might have more self-discipline that means he has played several years more in the Premier League than, say, Daryl Murphy. But even Murphy's career in the Championship is proof of a very capable player. If willingness to make sacrifices were enough then everyone who has ever run a marathon would be making a living from professional sport, let alone the top GAA players.

[haranguerer]

I've never understood the whole w**king over the amateur ethos thing - the GAA is amateur, great. Live with it, for better for worse. For better is that we can meet our heros delivering our post, for worse is that the GAA will always be behind professional sports.

Theres this image that we bring people to croker, they're amazed, we tell them they're all just doing it for fun, they're further amazed and effusive in their praise...except that the second bit doesn't happen. You tell anyone something or somebody is amateur and they don't think 'great' they instantly take it less seriously.

We can't have it both ways, there are a lot of positives from the GAA for remaining amateur, there are also some negatives. Its very parochial to attack Stephen Hunt for expressing his very valid opinion; he is generalising but he is largely correct.

[AZOffaly]

Actually the 'second bit' does happen. People who view big days in the GAA cannot believe they are amateur, and do not think less of them for it. Just look at twitter this year in the UK for example.

[INDIANA]

I've never understood the whole w**king over the amateur ethos thing - the GAA is amateur, great. Live with it, for better for worse. For better is that we can meet our heros delivering our post, for worse is that the GAA will always be behind professional sports.

Theres this image that we bring people to croker, they're amazed, we tell them they're all just doing it for fun, they're further amazed and effusive in their praise...except that the second bit doesn't happen. You tell anyone something or somebody is amateur and they don't think 'great' they instantly take it less seriously.

We can't have it both ways, there are a lot of positives from the GAA for remaining amateur, there are also some negatives. Its very parochial to attack Stephen Hunt for expressing his very valid opinion; he is generalising but he is largely correct.

He's completely wrong. Boo hoo he had to play two games a week

[AZOffaly]

He's making my point earlier with the comment deiseach highlighted. How in the name of Jaysus could he tell if a GAA player could live with the commitment shown by a professional soccer player? If the GAA player was in England, living the life of a professional soccer player, I'm sure a lot of them would be well able to manage. I'm also sure a lot would drop out, just like a lot of talented soccer players drop out.

This sort of generalisation is my point. You can't generalise like that.

[haranguerer]

Actually the 'second bit' does happen. People who view big days in the GAA cannot believe they are amateur, and do not think less of them for it. Just look at twitter this year in the UK for example.

One of the low points of the summer was seeing the likes of that balls of a site, appropriately called balls.ie with its shi**y headlines 'SEE WHAT ABSOLUTELY AMAZINGLY INCREDIBLE THINGS TWITTER HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE GAA', and a loada eejits happily retweeting blissfully unaware that they, and it seems you, were being absolutely amazingly incredibly patronised.

We all generalise. Why can't he? How many people did you hear say stuff like - 'I'd like to see those nancy boys in the premier league ship a shoulder from the rock, see how long they'd last?!'. Fact is, GAA is amateur, and the leap to professionalism is more than just receiving a pay packet.

[AZOffaly]

Of course the leap is more than just receiving a pay packet. But it's bananas to say a GAA player 'couldn't' do it. Why not exactly? What is inherent in all professional soccer players, that is missing in all GAA players?

It's a ridiculous generalisation. The same way that saying all soccer players are soft shites is a ridiculous generalisation.

[deiseach]

The thing about Stephen Hunt's opinion is that he looked at all those lads he encountered throughout his career who had more talent than him but fell by the wayside ("I saw so many kids who were better than me and thought they were going to make it") and concludes that GAA players wouldn't know what hit them if they tried to break into the world of professional soccer. But Stephen - they were soccer players. They weren't good enough to make it as soccer players. I'd wager that if you had endeavoured to make it as a footballer or hurler, no amount of effort would have gotten you to the highest level. At the very least, you have no way of knowing. Yet that didn't stop you extrapolating based on no evidence whatsoever.

[deiseach]

The same way that saying all soccer players are soft shites is a ridiculous generalisation.

I think that's where Stephen Hunt was coming from, a feeling of irritation at Joe Brolly-types bigging up the manly virtues of football against the shin-clutching prima donnas of soccer. As you say, it's ridiculous -  not that that stopped me saying it when I watched Bruno Cheyrou

[AZOffaly]

You can say it about individual players. No issue with that. A lad who dives and moans and bitches and whines is fair game.

And Hunt is worse for responding to Brolly, and in the way he did it made it look silly, in my opinion.

[deiseach]

You can say it about individual players. No issue with that. A lad who dives and moans and bitches and whines is fair game.

Oh, at the moment I'm talking about regarding Bruno Cheyrou, I wanted every professional soccer player to get full-blown canceraids. In a car crash.

I was annoyed.

[From the Bunker]

Great article. I love Gaelic Games, but the reality is it is often up its own arse with praising itself and hyping where it lies in the the scheme of things from a sporting perspective. Good to see someone show a bit of perspective.

[Eamonnca1]

I think that's where Stephen Hunt was coming from, a feeling of irritation at Joe Brolly-types bigging up the manly virtues of football against the shin-clutching prima donnas of soccer.

The shin-clutching play-acting in soccer is a product of the rules of the game, not a product of the personalities of the players. They still deserve ridicule for it though.

[From the Bunker]

I think that's where Stephen Hunt was coming from, a feeling of irritation at Joe Brolly-types bigging up the manly virtues of football against the shin-clutching prima donnas of soccer.

The shin-clutching play-acting in soccer is a product of the rules of the game, not a product of the personalities of the players. They still deserve ridicule for it though.

Just as a thought, are there any Irish international soccer players that would fit into that category?

[AZOffaly]

Duffer would have in his day. I can't think of many at the moment though. They seem to be 'good honest pros' as they say.