GAA Pundits & Journalists

[APM]

Discuss:
Is the GAA overly influenced by a cohort of journalists who throw out opinions like confetti and spend more time talking about rules and competition structures than actual games?

Case 1; Martin Breheny on the so-called "handpass blight".

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/martin-breheny-ignoring-the-handpass-virus-is-a-real-sickener-for-football-frcs-proposals-dont-tackle-root-cause/a685802583.html

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/martin-breheny-almost-400-handpasses-in-one-game-shows-new-rules-fail-to-tackle-an-old-problem/a1894938577.html

He has been going on about this for years. Is it his agenda or does anyone else actually care about this? I don't hear too many talking about it but arising from his fuss we have had experimental handpass rules brought in in 2019 and thankfully dropped because they were unworkable. Still Martin bangs the drum on this after a huge raft of rule changes in 2025.

Case 2: Lack of Jeopardy
Pundits, analysts, journalists and the like were queuing up last year to tell us about the lack of jeopardy in the All-Ireland group stages. So much so that they persuaded everyone that it's a disaster and needs to change - wrongly in my view. Now that they are changing, a whole raft of them love the structure and have buyer's remorse.

Any chance these feckers would shut up about the quality of games, rules and structures and just analyse the football. If they don't enjoy it, for whatever reason, get another job. Any chance also that the GAA could have the courage of its convictions and stop listening to these fleeting opinions?

[Fogarty]

Your first fault is reading Martin Breheny. Apart from being a relic, he's just a bitter old man.

[trileacman]

All the columnists are gobshites. Eamon Sweeney wrote a piece today crying about the scandal that 5 Mayo players were living in a business park in Dublin. Jesus what a moron.

[LC]

I always found Vincent Hogan's article / match reports good reading, re the latter especially in the context of Munster Hurling games.