Jamie Clarke,the GAA's answer to Stephen Ireland?

[T Fearon]

Bottom line in my opinion is,that if you have the ability,desire and commitment (as Jamie Clarke has proved he has) you should prioritise your relatively short playing career,except there is a very good reason for not doing so.

[smelmoth]

Bottom line in my opinion is,that if you have the ability,desire and commitment (as Jamie Clarke has proved he has) you should prioritise your relatively short playing career,except there is a very good reason for not doing so.

Maybe he has a good reaso he is just not telling you.

I wonder how many Cross lads will be invited to join the Armagh panel and how many will say yes.

[brokencrossbar1]

Bottom line in my opinion is,that if you have the ability,desire and commitment (as Jamie Clarke has proved he has) you should prioritise your relatively short playing career,except there is a very good reason for not doing so.

In your opinion. In nearly everyone else's opinion it's none of your business to expect anything off a young man playing an amateur sport other than for him to make his own decisions. Your sense of entitlement to know why is astounding.

[brokencrossbar1]

For what it's worth too Jamie has played in the last 5 championship campaigns for Armagh. No question of his commitment there. Here is a quote from an article about the overall away of things.

Clarke clearly feels there may be more to life than twice-weekly gym appointments and twice-weekly pitch sessions, with the promise of a game once in a while to express himself.

There is an oppression to this life. Last year, an Ulster footballer had a pre-booked holiday to Las Vegas. He went to his manager, who said he was not prepared to give him the time off with a game approaching. When that game came around, the player was not on the matchday panel of 26.

That is wrong and the GPA are letting their members down if stuff like this is happening. The county set up has gone too far and needs to roll back and realise it is an amateur sport and frankly fans need to understand it too.

[AZOffaly]

Tony actually has the nub of an interesting discussion and challenge facing the GAA, but his usual style of contrarian debate and look at me style are obfuscating what is a very real issue.

Firstly I, and many others on here and beyond, constantly espouse the viewpoint that the GAA is essentially a hobby. A time consuming hobby, no doubt, and a hobby which an inordinate amount of people care about and give their opinions about, but a hobby nonetheless. Not too many people care about Jamie's golf handicap, but if he kicks a wide in an Ulster championship game, thousands will tell him what he did wrong. Players play, and coaches coach, and managers manage, for myriad reasons. Enjoyment of the games, certainly, camaraderie, wanting to achieve something special, wanting to be seen as elite, representing the parish and/or county, local and national recognition and many, many other reasons. Whatever the players reasons for playing, at the end of the day, if those reasons no longer apply, or are not strong enough to make the player want to continue putting in the effort, then he is perfectly entitled to either take a break from it, or give it up entirely, and it is not for us or any one else to judge the validity of his reasons for not playing. If a player wants to stop playing, then just stop, and best of luck to you in the really important stuff in life.

As for Jamie himself, the only ones I would expect him to explain his decision to are his teammates and management teams at club and county level. They are the lads in the trenches with him, and they are the lads who will feel his departure most of all. It would be good from their perspective to make sure there are no underlying issues they have to worry about as a setup, and that it really is just a case of a young fella wanting to travel the world while he is free and single. And any management team worth their salt will be able to shake his hand, wish him well, and tell him he will have an opportunity to come back if he wants to try it, next year. He no more 'owes' Tony Fearon, Joe Soap or Johnny Shitehawk an 'explanation', as if he were beholden to them, than he would to explain why he no longer feels like getting up on a rainy Sunday to play the club golf medal.

From a GAA perspective, we need to do something in this area alright. And it's not down to the structures of the season either, at least not totally. The drive for success is getting stronger in a lot of counties, and whole other counties are either unwilling or unable to match it, and we are getting word of a host of players who either decide to call an end to their county hobby, or else decide it's not worth answering the call in the first place. We need to decide are we happy for this to progress to the point where it is basically a 3-4 year gig for students or do we want to make it more doable for people who have real life issues like Family, Job and Mortgage to worry about.

That's the interesting, philosophical direction this sort of discussion should be going, not picking on an individual player, deciding to be a young lad and see a bit of the world. The barefaced cheek of him!

[Lar Naparka]

Having this thread serves one useful purpose at least.s It means Tony doesn't have the time to start yet another wind up thread about his fellow-eejit, Sean Brady!

[naka]

Why is he prioritising club football over elite level county football?

Elite county football?  You're some laugh. Elite club football prioritised over half baked county set up more like it!!!

A lot of guys hammering the county set up here
There are a lot of guys trying their utmost to move the county forward
It costs s heck of a lot of money to get the structures in place
Perhaps a fair few of you instead of hammering the county will assist and maybe get some sponsorship in
We are light years financially behind Tyrone and Donegal in Ulster .
My view on Jamie is fair play to him
He is an amateur and life is short so enjoy it to the full

We were always told that we don't have to worry to much about the costs of the McGeeney regime as McGeeney brings the sponsorship with him? Is this not the case?

Some in Cross and throughout the county think that McGeeney is tactically weak. He favours a defensive set up based upon work load and positional discipline.

Tbf mcgeeney Raises a lot of money for the county , I wasn't talking about him
We have development squads and hurling teams as well as u21 and minors teams which all need financed
While for me the jury is out on mc gernet I have watched a fair few club games and we aren't graced with too many super stars so I can understand the rigid defensive structure

[bennydorano]

Surprised Professionalism hasn't entered the debate as most of the points raised probably mean we need to be on that trajectory to get rid of the committment issues / effort & returns (rewards) that face Amateur players - unless the whole momemtum of Senior AI goes into reverse, and supporters are prepared to accept less.

[smelmoth]

Some of the players have said they'd run through walls for McGeeney. 

Running through walls? Does that make you a better player?

Why play top level sport if you arent willing to exert yourself?

If that exertion was in the direction of skills and skill development some of the gym bunnies would drop out - or be found wanting.

Conor McGregor said a good one recently "I'm not talented, I'm just obsessed". I think that should be nailed to the door of every changing room in the country.

Or nail it to the coffin of gaelic football?

[smelmoth]

Surprised Professionalism hasn't entered the debate as most of the points raised probably mean we need to be on that trajectory to get rid of the committment issues / effort & returns (rewards) that face Amateur players - unless the whole momemtum of Senior AI goes into reverse, and supporters are prepared to accept less.

Professionalism is a word with double meaning though.

A player can get a decent living for playing footall in America. He can be more of "a professional" by being less professional.

As for fans accepting less. If the players notionally playing half forward for Donegal were a fraction less fit and tracked back a fraction more slowly and there was a bit more room for an opposing forward to use some attacking skill or a bit less defensive cover for the Donegal full back line and they had to use a bit more one-to-one defensive skill to snuff out the defensive threat would we getting "less" or more for out entrance fee?

[armaghniac]

A player can get a decent living for playing footall in America. He can be more of "a professional" by being less professional.

While I'm not sure if it has a role in this case, this is an issue. These so called GAA people in America are robbing small clubs and counties of their best players for make up competitions in the US. 

[rrhf]

Gaa could  launch a holiday insurance scheme

[general_lee]

Some of the players have said they'd run through walls for McGeeney. 

Running through walls? Does that make you a better player?

Yes. Scientifically proven.

Why play top level sport if you arent willing to exert yourself?

If that exertion was in the direction of skills and skill development some of the gym bunnies would drop out - or be found wanting.

Who said anything about exertion making you a gym bunny? You won't last too long on a GAA field if you aren't willing to at least put some time into S&C; especially if it is a perceived weakness.

Conor McGregor said a good one recently "I'm not talented, I'm just obsessed". I think that should be nailed to the door of every changing room in the country.

Or nail it to the coffin of gaelic football?

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. Maybe that's why Jamie has waned slightly on the IC front of late?

[Lar Naparka]

A player can get a decent living for playing footall in America. He can be more of "a professional" by being less professional.

While I'm not sure if it has a role in this case, this is an issue. These so called GAA people in America are robbing small clubs and counties of their best players for make up competitions in the US.

They may well be but they are also providing those players, third level students in the main, with a dose of life experience and providing them with work so they can meet their financial expenses for the coming season. Neither of which could be had if they stayed  behind to play for their clubs or counties. The problem is further exacerbated when in most counties the club leagues and championships are ran on a haphazard basis with club games being being  fitted in, sometimes at short notice, whenever the intercounty schedule allows it.

[joemamas]

A player can get a decent living for playing footall in America. He can be more of "a professional" by being less professional.

While I'm not sure if it has a role in this case, this is an issue. These so called GAA people in America are robbing small clubs and counties of their best players for make up competitions in the US.

What an asinine comment.
How many thousands of Irish immigrants were set up with jobs and accommodation over the past thirty years by countless Irish who had gone before them. The logistics of trying to manage/coach teams can be very trying to say the least.