Should the gaa allow the Liam Miller testimonial in Pairc hi Caoimh - poll

[dublin7]

It won't make any difference to the outcome but I think we could have done without Damien Duff's comments yesterday.

I think it needed to be said!

This is not 1916! Time for the GAA to grow up!


What are they protecting anymore?

I think he just came out and getsaid what a lot of people are thinking. Looking at what has happened with this and the newbridge fiasco there's a disconnect between those at the top and those volunteering/involved at local level.

Kildare co board chairman was apparently giving out it was cian o'Neill doing the interviews/rte news and not him

Tell me about this disconnect. You do realise those people are members of clubs and do a huge amount of work in their local clubs. Are their clubs disconnected from the rest of the country? Where is this disconnect? You're just rehashing something you heard in the media 'about a disconnect'.
The GAA got the Newbridge thing wrong. But they rectified it.

Damien Duff went down hugely in my estimation. He came across very bitter.

Have you been living under a rock for the last few months. If so, then (if you have access to the internet) go to youtube and look up off the ball newbridge. It has interviews with Ned Quinn, Sean Kelly and Alan Milton from the GAA among others. I was listening to them being interviewed yesterday evening and it was car crash stuff.

Ned Quinn head of the CCCC: Basically said we set the fixtures and we are in charge. Did you tell Kildare the game was being moved to Croke Park before telling the media...... awkward silence, meaning no. Kept saying rules of the competition that said Kildare were entitled to a home fixture was irrelevant, we (the CCCC) can change it if we want!

Sean Quinn (former president): When asked can we do to solve it. Without even thinking his answer was Kildare players/management have made there point. Play in croker and let kildare co. board/croke park sort out compensation and everybody's happy. Just assumed money would make Co. Board happy and didn't even consider the player/management point of view. 

Alan Milton: (GAA "communications officer") When interviewed after game was refixed for newbridge kept insisting it was gardai's fault for not giving more detailed H&S details to croke park and that's why game was moved. At one point was shouting down the phone at the presenter for not agreeing with him. Completely unprofessional and he was lucky the host actually showed some professionalism and didn't react or it could have got nasty.

Cork co board are obviously desperate to get games into PuC. For the CCCC to choose PuC as the venue for Wexford v Clare had to be a political decision influenced by Cork co. board and/or GAA top brass. Thurles was closer for both teams and the fact the attendance barely scraped past 10K shows what the general public thought of the decision. Minimum 4 hours drive for wexford fans/team there and back in that heat on a saturday afternoon when they could have played it in Thurles as part of a double header (which was closer for both Wexford & Clare) shows how little they care about the ordinary fan/players and were lucky to get 10K

Then there was what I believe was the key line in last week's official statement issued by the GAA about not opening PuC: The GAA has sought legal advice around funding received towards the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh and believes it is compliant with the terms and conditions laid down in September 2016"

So a community organisation sought legal advice to confirm they were right not to open the ground rather look for a way to get around the rules. Imagine Liam Miller's family reading/hearing that. I'm a bit surprised they didn't tel the GAA to f**k off and keep their stadium there and then for such a ignorant, heartless statement.

Now if you think all those decisions/comments/opinions are the same views as the majority of joe public,  then I'm sorry it's you with your head up your ass, not everybody else, especially Damien Duff

[Baile Brigín 2]

The bottom line is - the rules do not allow it. And if we're suggesting rules should be broken when it suits us I'd suggest that's a large part of the problem with this country....everyone believes they're "an exception" or "a one-off" and should get favourable treatment. That's basically the system we're used to under FF/FG and co but it's not right.

I'd suggest the people who are outraged use their energy to put motions through GAA clubs and get the rules changed at congress. It's a long time since the old rule 42 was amended to allow rugby and soccer into Croke Park while Lansdowne Road was being redeveloped. I've seen or heard of no motion to further relax the rules being defeated. We can't have rule changes by media outcry. There's a process. For all its faults it has stood the GAA in good stead. The agenda can't be set by the news reel.

The rule is an ass. It always has been. It was an ass 20 years ago when the GAA made fools of themselves over the Omagh match and it is an ass now. It's an ass like "The Ban" was an ass.

What this needs is for people in Cork GAA to stand up and have a bit of courage and to take on and flagrantly break the rule. Let the GAA discipline them if they so wish. They'll just be proving Damien Duff 100% correct.

Read the statement from the club chairman in Wexford detailing how his club are constantly breaking the rules. Let the GAA go and discipline him and his club if they want to prove they are dinosaurs once and for all.

You say the gaa made a fool of themselves 20 years ago over Omagh. Did the soccer match not go ahead and there was issues over money going missing and very little if anything went to charity? On the other hand the gaa donated the full gate receipts from an All Ireland semi final replay which amounted to a substantial amount?

Of course the GAA made fools of themselves over Omagh. The match couldn't be played in Healy Park because of a backward rule which is an absolute embarrassment to the GAA.

Tyrone brought a motion the next year and it got nowhere.

This isn't about taxpayers' money, or what happened to charity money, or idiotic supermarket analogies.

It's about not being d**kheads.

It's about the complete stupidity of a rule that refuses to allow local GAA units and local communities to decide what is best for them and their communities.

Until the GAA as a whole admits the futility and stupidity of the rule, they will continue to be d**kheads.

When you consider what happened with the money from the "charity" game in Omagh you'd wonder how much benefit it would have been opening it up.

Who is this gaa that you keep calling d**kheads? You do know that the gaa is made up of tens of thousands of members and clubs giving their time voluntarily to promote the sport. This includes thousands of hours keeping children active and providing them with multiple qualities including discipline.

So what if the gaa members don't want to promote rival sports. That is their prerogative. There is plenty of sports grounds around the country that gaa wouldn't be welcome in and it's not an issue. Other sports have put money into paying players (some potential gaa players) and boys like Delaney instead of having adequate facilities. Again that is up to them but you can't come crying to what is essentially a rival demanding the use of their facilities.

In terms of this game it probably should have gone ahead as I assume it is a genuine charity game. But you can't go round demanding the use of something that isn't yours.

1. What grounds are the GAA not welcome in?
2. You missed the bit where as a condition of funding the GAA agreed to allow these events.
3. Do you understand that the GAA for decades got every cent of public sports funding and still get most of it? Do you think thats a factor in the standards of facilities?

I'm not arguing with anyone who makes things up. Point 3 is so far from factual it's not even funny.

The GAA get about 85% of capital grants in the 26, although that level is falling. Thats billions over the years.  Is this in dispute?

That's a big difference to sports funding including for example tax breaks.

Unreal too that in the past soccer and rugby etc got no capital funding at all. Fair play them for building the Aviva and Shamrock Rovers grounds etc without it.

what bit of the ratio is falling was too complicated for you?

[Tyrone Dreamer]

The bottom line is - the rules do not allow it. And if we're suggesting rules should be broken when it suits us I'd suggest that's a large part of the problem with this country....everyone believes they're "an exception" or "a one-off" and should get favourable treatment. That's basically the system we're used to under FF/FG and co but it's not right.

I'd suggest the people who are outraged use their energy to put motions through GAA clubs and get the rules changed at congress. It's a long time since the old rule 42 was amended to allow rugby and soccer into Croke Park while Lansdowne Road was being redeveloped. I've seen or heard of no motion to further relax the rules being defeated. We can't have rule changes by media outcry. There's a process. For all its faults it has stood the GAA in good stead. The agenda can't be set by the news reel.

The rule is an ass. It always has been. It was an ass 20 years ago when the GAA made fools of themselves over the Omagh match and it is an ass now. It's an ass like "The Ban" was an ass.

What this needs is for people in Cork GAA to stand up and have a bit of courage and to take on and flagrantly break the rule. Let the GAA discipline them if they so wish. They'll just be proving Damien Duff 100% correct.

Read the statement from the club chairman in Wexford detailing how his club are constantly breaking the rules. Let the GAA go and discipline him and his club if they want to prove they are dinosaurs once and for all.

You say the gaa made a fool of themselves 20 years ago over Omagh. Did the soccer match not go ahead and there was issues over money going missing and very little if anything went to charity? On the other hand the gaa donated the full gate receipts from an All Ireland semi final replay which amounted to a substantial amount?

Of course the GAA made fools of themselves over Omagh. The match couldn't be played in Healy Park because of a backward rule which is an absolute embarrassment to the GAA.

Tyrone brought a motion the next year and it got nowhere.

This isn't about taxpayers' money, or what happened to charity money, or idiotic supermarket analogies.

It's about not being d**kheads.

It's about the complete stupidity of a rule that refuses to allow local GAA units and local communities to decide what is best for them and their communities.

Until the GAA as a whole admits the futility and stupidity of the rule, they will continue to be d**kheads.

When you consider what happened with the money from the "charity" game in Omagh you'd wonder how much benefit it would have been opening it up.

Who is this gaa that you keep calling d**kheads? You do know that the gaa is made up of tens of thousands of members and clubs giving their time voluntarily to promote the sport. This includes thousands of hours keeping children active and providing them with multiple qualities including discipline.

So what if the gaa members don't want to promote rival sports. That is their prerogative. There is plenty of sports grounds around the country that gaa wouldn't be welcome in and it's not an issue. Other sports have put money into paying players (some potential gaa players) and boys like Delaney instead of having adequate facilities. Again that is up to them but you can't come crying to what is essentially a rival demanding the use of their facilities.

In terms of this game it probably should have gone ahead as I assume it is a genuine charity game. But you can't go round demanding the use of something that isn't yours.

1. What grounds are the GAA not welcome in?
2. You missed the bit where as a condition of funding the GAA agreed to allow these events.
3. Do you understand that the GAA for decades got every cent of public sports funding and still get most of it? Do you think thats a factor in the standards of facilities?

I'm not arguing with anyone who makes things up. Point 3 is so far from factual it's not even funny.

The GAA get about 85% of capital grants in the 26, although that level is falling. Thats billions over the years.  Is this in dispute?

That's a big difference to sports funding including for example tax breaks.

Unreal too that in the past soccer and rugby etc got no capital funding at all. Fair play them for building the Aviva and Shamrock Rovers grounds etc without it.

what bit of the ratio is falling was too complicated for you?

You said that for decades the gaa got nearly every cent of public sports funding (you didn't mention capital). This was hugely inaccurate.

You've now changed it to capital funding and are still saying the gaa got nearly every cent of capital funding in the past. Again this can't be true as the likes of the Aviva was built in the past and I'm pretty sure they got a large portion of government money.

Interestingly Bertie wanted a new stadium built that could be used for soccer rugby and gaa. However it was shot down as they said the gaa pitch was too big.

[seafoid]

The 3 organisations - association soccer, rugby, GAA - operate independently of each other with next to no cooperation. In Galway the Connacht rugby team has outgrown the Sportsground but there would be no question of the team commandeering either the GAA stadium, the soccer stadium or the racecourse .

Part of this state of affairs is political. Everything is uber centralised . Regional cities have zero power. All the money goes to Dublin. Everything, everything

In more advanced polities the local political leadership might be responsible for sports development including stadium funding and the stadium might be designed for use by several sports  . But Ireland is not at that stage yet.

Each sport has to fund its own infrastructure and the FAI takes this less seriously than the GAA.
The Jackson and other concert money went into infrastructure. Where did the World Cup money go ?

The Irish political system is backward. The GAA operates in a backward system. It is not the problem.

[sid waddell]

The 3 organisations - association soccer, rugby, GAA - operate independently of each other with next to no cooperation. In Galway the Connacht rugby team has outgrown the Sportsground but there would be no question of the team commandeering either the GAA stadium, the soccer stadium or the racecourse .

Connacht actually have a stadium that is pretty much perfect for their needs. It holds around 8k and the average attendance is around 6k. It generally creates a smashing atmosphere. It's five minutes walk to Eyre Square.

Only once in the blue moon would they want something bigger than that. No reason why that shouldn't be Pearse Stadium though if they reached a Heineken Cup quarter-final or semi-final.

The new Thomond Park is a fine stadium but it's too big for most Munster games and the atmosphere gets lost.

[mup]

It won't make any difference to the outcome but I think we could have done without Damien Duff's comments yesterday.

I think it needed to be said!

This is not 1916! Time for the GAA to grow up!


What are they protecting anymore?

I think he just came out and getsaid what a lot of people are thinking. Looking at what has happened with this and the newbridge fiasco there's a disconnect between those at the top and those volunteering/involved at local level.

Kildare co board chairman was apparently giving out it was cian o'Neill doing the interviews/rte news and not him

Tell me about this disconnect. You do realise those people are members of clubs and do a huge amount of work in their local clubs. Are their clubs disconnected from the rest of the country? Where is this disconnect? You're just rehashing something you heard in the media 'about a disconnect'.
The GAA got the Newbridge thing wrong. But they rectified it.

Damien Duff went down hugely in my estimation. He came across very bitter.

Have you been living under a rock for the last few months. If so, then (if you have access to the internet) go to youtube and look up off the ball newbridge. It has interviews with Ned Quinn, Sean Kelly and Alan Milton from the GAA among others. I was listening to them being interviewed yesterday evening and it was car crash stuff.

Ned Quinn head of the CCCC: Basically said we set the fixtures and we are in charge. Did you tell Kildare the game was being moved to Croke Park before telling the media...... awkward silence, meaning no. Kept saying rules of the competition that said Kildare were entitled to a home fixture was irrelevant, we (the CCCC) can change it if we want!

Sean Quinn (former president): When asked can we do to solve it. Without even thinking his answer was Kildare players/management have made there point. Play in croker and let kildare co. board/croke park sort out compensation and everybody's happy. Just assumed money would make Co. Board happy and didn't even consider the player/management point of view. 

Alan Milton: (GAA "communications officer") When interviewed after game was refixed for newbridge kept insisting it was gardai's fault for not giving more detailed H&S details to croke park and that's why game was moved. At one point was shouting down the phone at the presenter for not agreeing with him. Completely unprofessional and he was lucky the host actually showed some professionalism and didn't react or it could have got nasty.

Cork co board are obviously desperate to get games into PuC. For the CCCC to choose PuC as the venue for Wexford v Clare had to be a political decision influenced by Cork co. board and/or GAA top brass. Thurles was closer for both teams and the fact the attendance barely scraped past 10K shows what the general public thought of the decision. Minimum 4 hours drive for wexford fans/team there and back in that heat on a saturday afternoon when they could have played it in Thurles as part of a double header (which was closer for both Wexford & Clare) shows how little they care about the ordinary fan/players and were lucky to get 10K

Then there was what I believe was the key line in last week's official statement issued by the GAA about not opening PuC: The GAA has sought legal advice around funding received towards the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh and believes it is compliant with the terms and conditions laid down in September 2016"

So a community organisation sought legal advice to confirm they were right not to open the ground rather look for a way to get around the rules. Imagine Liam Miller's family reading/hearing that. I'm a bit surprised they didn't tel the GAA to f**k off and keep their stadium there and then for such a ignorant, heartless statement.

Now if you think all those decisions/comments/opinions are the same views as the majority of joe public,  then I'm sorry it's you with your head up your ass, not everybody else, especially Damien Duff

You keep going on about the Wexford v Clare game being in PUC. With the greatest of respect someone from Dublin has no right to be pontificating about decisions on where games are played.

Having said that I fully agree with the rest of your post.

[Baile Brigín 2]

The bottom line is - the rules do not allow it. And if we're suggesting rules should be broken when it suits us I'd suggest that's a large part of the problem with this country....everyone believes they're "an exception" or "a one-off" and should get favourable treatment. That's basically the system we're used to under FF/FG and co but it's not right.

I'd suggest the people who are outraged use their energy to put motions through GAA clubs and get the rules changed at congress. It's a long time since the old rule 42 was amended to allow rugby and soccer into Croke Park while Lansdowne Road was being redeveloped. I've seen or heard of no motion to further relax the rules being defeated. We can't have rule changes by media outcry. There's a process. For all its faults it has stood the GAA in good stead. The agenda can't be set by the news reel.

The rule is an ass. It always has been. It was an ass 20 years ago when the GAA made fools of themselves over the Omagh match and it is an ass now. It's an ass like "The Ban" was an ass.

What this needs is for people in Cork GAA to stand up and have a bit of courage and to take on and flagrantly break the rule. Let the GAA discipline them if they so wish. They'll just be proving Damien Duff 100% correct.

Read the statement from the club chairman in Wexford detailing how his club are constantly breaking the rules. Let the GAA go and discipline him and his club if they want to prove they are dinosaurs once and for all.

You say the gaa made a fool of themselves 20 years ago over Omagh. Did the soccer match not go ahead and there was issues over money going missing and very little if anything went to charity? On the other hand the gaa donated the full gate receipts from an All Ireland semi final replay which amounted to a substantial amount?

Of course the GAA made fools of themselves over Omagh. The match couldn't be played in Healy Park because of a backward rule which is an absolute embarrassment to the GAA.

Tyrone brought a motion the next year and it got nowhere.

This isn't about taxpayers' money, or what happened to charity money, or idiotic supermarket analogies.

It's about not being d**kheads.

It's about the complete stupidity of a rule that refuses to allow local GAA units and local communities to decide what is best for them and their communities.

Until the GAA as a whole admits the futility and stupidity of the rule, they will continue to be d**kheads.

When you consider what happened with the money from the "charity" game in Omagh you'd wonder how much benefit it would have been opening it up.

Who is this gaa that you keep calling d**kheads? You do know that the gaa is made up of tens of thousands of members and clubs giving their time voluntarily to promote the sport. This includes thousands of hours keeping children active and providing them with multiple qualities including discipline.

So what if the gaa members don't want to promote rival sports. That is their prerogative. There is plenty of sports grounds around the country that gaa wouldn't be welcome in and it's not an issue. Other sports have put money into paying players (some potential gaa players) and boys like Delaney instead of having adequate facilities. Again that is up to them but you can't come crying to what is essentially a rival demanding the use of their facilities.

In terms of this game it probably should have gone ahead as I assume it is a genuine charity game. But you can't go round demanding the use of something that isn't yours.

1. What grounds are the GAA not welcome in?
2. You missed the bit where as a condition of funding the GAA agreed to allow these events.
3. Do you understand that the GAA for decades got every cent of public sports funding and still get most of it? Do you think thats a factor in the standards of facilities?

I'm not arguing with anyone who makes things up. Point 3 is so far from factual it's not even funny.

The GAA get about 85% of capital grants in the 26, although that level is falling. Thats billions over the years.  Is this in dispute?

That's a big difference to sports funding including for example tax breaks.

Unreal too that in the past soccer and rugby etc got no capital funding at all. Fair play them for building the Aviva and Shamrock Rovers grounds etc without it.

what bit of the ratio is falling was too complicated for you?

You said that for decades the gaa got nearly every cent of public sports funding (you didn't mention capital). This was hugely inaccurate.

You've now changed it to capital funding and are still saying the gaa got nearly every cent of capital funding in the past. Again this can't be true as the likes of the Aviva was built in the past and I'm pretty sure they got a large portion of government money.

Interestingly Bertie wanted a new stadium built that could be used for soccer rugby and gaa. However it was shot down as they said the gaa pitch was too big.

Enter strawman....

Thats not why the Bertiebowl was nixed.

[TheClubman]

So we're to beleive a soccer club that went bankrupt several times (no doubt leaving plenty stung for casth) put a million euro of their own money into Tallaght Stadium? There's been some fanciful BS written on this and related threads but that takes the biscuit.

Thats why they went bust. But i dont really care

Which time? Such nonsense.

[thebackbar1]

The bottom line is - the rules do not allow it. And if we're suggesting rules should be broken when it suits us I'd suggest that's a large part of the problem with this country....everyone believes they're "an exception" or "a one-off" and should get favourable treatment. That's basically the system we're used to under FF/FG and co but it's not right.

I'd suggest the people who are outraged use their energy to put motions through GAA clubs and get the rules changed at congress. It's a long time since the old rule 42 was amended to allow rugby and soccer into Croke Park while Lansdowne Road was being redeveloped. I've seen or heard of no motion to further relax the rules being defeated. We can't have rule changes by media outcry. There's a process. For all its faults it has stood the GAA in good stead. The agenda can't be set by the news reel.

The rule is an ass. It always has been. It was an ass 20 years ago when the GAA made fools of themselves over the Omagh match and it is an ass now. It's an ass like "The Ban" was an ass.

What this needs is for people in Cork GAA to stand up and have a bit of courage and to take on and flagrantly break the rule. Let the GAA discipline them if they so wish. They'll just be proving Damien Duff 100% correct.

Read the statement from the club chairman in Wexford detailing how his club are constantly breaking the rules. Let the GAA go and discipline him and his club if they want to prove they are dinosaurs once and for all.

You say the gaa made a fool of themselves 20 years ago over Omagh. Did the soccer match not go ahead and there was issues over money going missing and very little if anything went to charity? On the other hand the gaa donated the full gate receipts from an All Ireland semi final replay which amounted to a substantial amount?

Of course the GAA made fools of themselves over Omagh. The match couldn't be played in Healy Park because of a backward rule which is an absolute embarrassment to the GAA.

Tyrone brought a motion the next year and it got nowhere.

This isn't about taxpayers' money, or what happened to charity money, or idiotic supermarket analogies.

It's about not being d**kheads.

It's about the complete stupidity of a rule that refuses to allow local GAA units and local communities to decide what is best for them and their communities.

Until the GAA as a whole admits the futility and stupidity of the rule, they will continue to be d**kheads.

When you consider what happened with the money from the "charity" game in Omagh you'd wonder how much benefit it would have been opening it up.

Who is this gaa that you keep calling d**kheads? You do know that the gaa is made up of tens of thousands of members and clubs giving their time voluntarily to promote the sport. This includes thousands of hours keeping children active and providing them with multiple qualities including discipline.

So what if the gaa members don't want to promote rival sports. That is their prerogative. There is plenty of sports grounds around the country that gaa wouldn't be welcome in and it's not an issue. Other sports have put money into paying players (some potential gaa players) and boys like Delaney instead of having adequate facilities. Again that is up to them but you can't come crying to what is essentially a rival demanding the use of their facilities.

In terms of this game it probably should have gone ahead as I assume it is a genuine charity game. But you can't go round demanding the use of something that isn't yours.

1. What grounds are the GAA not welcome in?
2. You missed the bit where as a condition of funding the GAA agreed to allow these events.
3. Do you understand that the GAA for decades got every cent of public sports funding and still get most of it? Do you think thats a factor in the standards of facilities?

Where is that condition specified ? IMHO the government should never of given that amount of money without a cast iron agreement that other events could take place there. Our government imho have been very slack with taking care of our money here !

In regards to sports funding the GAA have received a lot on money but for a lot of these projects it might add up to only 25% of the funding.

[Rossfan]

Shamrock Rovers got a grant of c IR£1.5m.
When that ran out they stopped paying the Builder who saw what was coming and got out fast.
They then went bust owing Revenue and the Builder.
A group of fans established a new club and called it Shamrock Rovers.
Eventually the Council restarted Tallaght Stadium , paid the arrears to the builder, bought back the lease on their own land (€1 2m!!) from some smoke and mirror off shore Company who had owned Shamrock Rovers.
Whole shebang cost €14m of taxpayer money and they point blank refused to leave space to extend the playing area for Gaelic games.
Didn't the taxpayer also pay 2 thirds of the cost of rebuilding Lansdowne Road?

[Baile Brigín 2]

Shamrock Rovers got a grant of c IR£1.5m.
When that ran out they stopped paying the Builder who saw what was coming and got out fast.
They then went bust owing Revenue and the Builder.
A group of fans established a new club and called it Shamrock Rovers.
Eventually the Council restarted Tallaght Stadium , paid the arrears to the builder, bought back the lease on their own land (€1 2m!!) from some smoke and mirror off shore Company who had owned Shamrock Rovers.
Whole shebang cost €14m of taxpayer money and they point blank refused to leave space to extend the playing area for Gaelic games.
Didn't the taxpayer also pay 2 thirds of the cost of rebuilding Lansdowne Road?

And both those stadia are multi sport.

I cant help but feel you are going back 10 years to avoid the topic in hand.

Shamrock Rovers got a grant of c IR£1.5m.
When that ran out they stopped paying the Builder who saw what was coming and got out fast.
They then went bust owing Revenue and the Builder.
A group of fans established a new club and called it Shamrock Rovers.
Eventually the Council restarted Tallaght Stadium , paid the arrears to the builder, bought back the lease on their own land (€1 2m!!) from some smoke and mirror off shore Company who had owned Shamrock Rovers.
Whole shebang cost €14m of taxpayer money and they point blank refused to leave space to extend the playing area for Gaelic games.
Didn't the taxpayer also pay 2 thirds of the cost of rebuilding Lansdowne Road?

[Baile Brigín 2]

The bottom line is - the rules do not allow it. And if we're suggesting rules should be broken when it suits us I'd suggest that's a large part of the problem with this country....everyone believes they're "an exception" or "a one-off" and should get favourable treatment. That's basically the system we're used to under FF/FG and co but it's not right.

I'd suggest the people who are outraged use their energy to put motions through GAA clubs and get the rules changed at congress. It's a long time since the old rule 42 was amended to allow rugby and soccer into Croke Park while Lansdowne Road was being redeveloped. I've seen or heard of no motion to further relax the rules being defeated. We can't have rule changes by media outcry. There's a process. For all its faults it has stood the GAA in good stead. The agenda can't be set by the news reel.

The rule is an ass. It always has been. It was an ass 20 years ago when the GAA made fools of themselves over the Omagh match and it is an ass now. It's an ass like "The Ban" was an ass.

What this needs is for people in Cork GAA to stand up and have a bit of courage and to take on and flagrantly break the rule. Let the GAA discipline them if they so wish. They'll just be proving Damien Duff 100% correct.

Read the statement from the club chairman in Wexford detailing how his club are constantly breaking the rules. Let the GAA go and discipline him and his club if they want to prove they are dinosaurs once and for all.

You say the gaa made a fool of themselves 20 years ago over Omagh. Did the soccer match not go ahead and there was issues over money going missing and very little if anything went to charity? On the other hand the gaa donated the full gate receipts from an All Ireland semi final replay which amounted to a substantial amount?

Of course the GAA made fools of themselves over Omagh. The match couldn't be played in Healy Park because of a backward rule which is an absolute embarrassment to the GAA.

Tyrone brought a motion the next year and it got nowhere.

This isn't about taxpayers' money, or what happened to charity money, or idiotic supermarket analogies.

It's about not being d**kheads.

It's about the complete stupidity of a rule that refuses to allow local GAA units and local communities to decide what is best for them and their communities.

Until the GAA as a whole admits the futility and stupidity of the rule, they will continue to be d**kheads.

When you consider what happened with the money from the "charity" game in Omagh you'd wonder how much benefit it would have been opening it up.

Who is this gaa that you keep calling d**kheads? You do know that the gaa is made up of tens of thousands of members and clubs giving their time voluntarily to promote the sport. This includes thousands of hours keeping children active and providing them with multiple qualities including discipline.

So what if the gaa members don't want to promote rival sports. That is their prerogative. There is plenty of sports grounds around the country that gaa wouldn't be welcome in and it's not an issue. Other sports have put money into paying players (some potential gaa players) and boys like Delaney instead of having adequate facilities. Again that is up to them but you can't come crying to what is essentially a rival demanding the use of their facilities.

In terms of this game it probably should have gone ahead as I assume it is a genuine charity game. But you can't go round demanding the use of something that isn't yours.

1. What grounds are the GAA not welcome in?
2. You missed the bit where as a condition of funding the GAA agreed to allow these events.
3. Do you understand that the GAA for decades got every cent of public sports funding and still get most of it? Do you think thats a factor in the standards of facilities?

Where is that condition specified ? IMHO the government should never of given that amount of money without a cast iron agreement that other events could take place there. Our government imho have been very slack with taking care of our money here !

In regards to sports funding the GAA have received a lot on money but for a lot of these projects it might add up to only 25% of the funding.

Its linked on about the third page of this thread. Its in the media reporting.

[Rossfan]

How is Lansdowne Road multi sport when the playing area isn't big enough for Gaelic games? (Like the ' free" Tallaght Stadium).
It was built for soccer and rugby only.

[seafoid]

I don't think Melbourne or Sydney are relevant to the GAA. Sport in Ireland has been politicised for over 100 years and relations between the GAA and soccer/rugby have always had a bit of needle even after Croke Park was open to soccer and rugby. You can see it now on twitter.

Irish soccer has always had a parasitical side. Feeding off England. Never developing its infrastructure.  Also very short sighted. Selling Glenmalure park.
And extremely complacent.
It's always soccer asking.

The 3 organisations are like siblings.The GAA is the oldest and has always paid his way. The IRFU married a foreigner and has concussion . The FAI is the youngest, was always spoilt, and never paid for anything. She thinks the GAA should provide for her.

It's a lot easier to "pay your way" when you've never had to pay your players.

Association football in 26 county Ireland has never developed a strong domestic game because i) it had and has English football on its doorstep and ii) the whole official culture of the Irish Free State was against it, including the GAA's ban. Before 1922, the game was controlled from Belfast.

The League of Ireland is like a corner shop trying to survive with a Tesco superstore 50 yards down the road from it.

If anything, English football has acted as a parasite on Irish football, taking all its best players and the vast majority of Irish public interest in the game.

A lot of your points relate to structural issues within soccer. Most small countries say population less than 15m struggle with their domestic leagues because the best players are hoovered up to play with Bayern, Juve, Real or whoever. Soccer is a money game and money controls what happens. Even the Dutch League has problems. Reginal teams do not have the money to buy the players that might make make their games interesting. The top 10 European clubs spent an average of Euro 250m on transfers last season. the top Swiss team spent EUR 7m .  The 5th wealthiest Swiss team spent EUR 1m. And Swiss soccer is relatively well managed.

A lot of soccer players are overpaid as well.
Maybe it would be better to put the money into infrastructure.
The corner shop could be expanded and start offering organic products that Tesco don't sell.
Management in the FAI has been substandard for a number of decades.

There aren't many association football players in Ireland who are overpaid. Some aren't even paid at all. Look at Bray Wanderers.

As I said, when you don't have to pay players, and have a lot bigger attendances, as is the case in the GAA, it's a lot easier to invest in infrastructure.

Even the modest improvements which have taken place in Irish association football in recent times in that regard, such as the new Lansdowne Road, Turner's Cross, Tallaght and Terryland Park, have been fraught with difficulty.

Irish soccer is not like GAA. It's part of a bigger system where the players are all overpriced. So the cost of getting in the sort of players that might make the game more attractive is out of reach. This is a huge problem all over Europe. Punters prefer to watch the galacticos  on TV rather than go to their local stadium to watch slower, less talented players who can't hack it anywhere else.
The best players leave.
In GAA they don't.

The GAA gets bigger crowds.
Soccer doesn't care about Ireland either.

[Baile Brigín 2]

How is Lansdowne Road multi sport when the playing area isn't big enough for Gaelic games? (Like the ' free" Tallaght Stadium).
It was built for soccer and rugby only.

thats multi sport by definition.

Your definition of multi sport is including a specific sport. Thats not how the world works