The Discussion Board Hits The Big Time

[Norf Tyrone]

A famous morning for the old DB, as it attains critical acclaim (I think?) in today's Gaelic Life.

Ronan McSherry describes the board as thus 'many of the posts are very insightful, witty, informative and thought provoking'. Is he sure?

However McSherry...lets himself down by naming 6 of the board's members and thus leaving 1457 of the rest of us to have a good old bitch about how we never get the limelight!

The famous 6, who will probably now get their own superior  board....

Uladh
Fionntamnach 
Lawnseed 2
Orangeman
5Times

and.......

'the irrepressible' Ziggysego.

Ronan...do you realise you have made Ziggy's week!

[Gnevin]

Any chance of a link or is it printed only?

Are the famous 6 all from up north?

[Norf Tyrone]

Are the famous 6 all from up north?

I think so...Lawnseed I'm not too sure.

It's a printed copy at the mo, but can be downloaded next week I think.

A wee request for someone to scan and print...or I can do this...

RONAN, RONAN....Can you hear me?
Ronan...you there?
There you are...
Hi, can you paste your piece onto this thread here for the boys outside the 9 counties?
Also...can you give a big shout out to some of the brigade from Dublin, Laois etc. Between me and you I think they're feeling a tad left out...good man.

[stephenite]

All Nordies listed, does Ronan not want re-unification?

And the Gaelic Life is big time ? Pull the other one

[his holiness nb]

Its a proud day for Gaelic life to be able to associate itself with GAABOARD.COM !! 

[Kerry Mike]

Some of us had our fleeting flickering moment of fame with Breaking Ball a few years ago. It is hard at first to cope with the autograph hunters and all the adulation but twas fun while it lasted. Enjoy your moment in the sun lads.....

[cavan4ever]

Does this mean that Gaaboard.com is going to be flooded with shit heads now 

[Gnevin]

Does this mean that Gaaboard.com is going to be flooded with shit heads now 

If it is the Admin will just put on require approval before sign up again

[his holiness nb]

Does this mean that Gaaboard.com is going to be flooded with shit heads now 

Too late 

(only joking of course, sure arent ye all great!)

[cavan4ever]

Good because there does be interesting discussion here and we wouldn't want them wasters from hoganstand coming in flooding the board with top 10's.

[Star Spangler]

Does this mean that Gaaboard.com is going to be flooded with shit heads now

It always has been. 

PS - Gaelic Life = Big Time?  I'm not sure about that!

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

That aforementioned article, in full:

The recruiting sergeants

Ronan Mc Sherry, Gaelic Life


History it seems has a sense of irony. Almost 100 years ago the recruiting sergeant came to the homesteads of reland to promise the brave young men a great future, fighting for the empire. Brian Warfield of The Wolfe Tones captured the mood in the lyrics of Connaught Rangers, "They fought and died, side by side their enemies they had defied and for a foreign king."

These days it is the Australian Football League scouts who are luring our finest to battle in a far-off foreign land and some GAA aficionados don't like it one bit. However this time Caitlin ni Houlihan's boys are not mere cannon fodder and are  returning to their families decorated with medals. The likes of Setanta and Aisake Ó hAilpin, Jim Stynes, Tagh Kennelly, Colm Begley and most recently Martin Clarke have been carving out marvelous careers for themselves in Aussie Rules football.

Now it seems Brisbane Lions manager Graeme Allan is eyeing rising stars Shane O'Rourke of Meath, Carlow's Brendan Murphy and Conor Meredith from Laois. Murphy is an outstanding footballer from the Rathvilly club. He has already met  with representatives from an AFL club to discuss a move. What would you do?.. What would you do? The parallels  between Sean Cavanagh and Martin Clarke are worth considering. Both have played in MacRory Cup finals with their  colleges and won All Ireland minor medals. Cavanagh is one of the most recognisable faces in Gaelic football adorning billboards and television advertisements. The Moy man has three All Star awards, two All Ireland senior medals, two Ulster championship medals and was Young player of the Year in 2003. Last year he could have walked away from the GAA and signed up for the Lions. However to the relief of the people of Tyrone he stayed put. Another Allstar this year is a distinct possibility and who knows, maybe another All-Ireland final appearance in front of 82,000 spectators and millions of television viewers.

Clarke remember is a Down protégée at a time they are going under a very low bridge. If they were challenging the top  teams his decision would have been much more difficult. Since moving south to Melbourne from Kilkeel he has received rave reviews with Collingwood, the best supported team in the AFL, and was recently nominated for the Rising Star Award. The 19-yearold made his debut for the Magpies against the Swans in front of 62,000 fans in the glorious Telstra stadium in Sydney four weeks ago. His performance was described by some commentators as, "One of the best in the history of the game." With respect to the Mourne county and GAA traditionalists, what in under God would take him back to this rain?

Therein lies a paradox. It is the players of the weaker counties are more likely to be enticed to the glory of the AFL. Remember Tagh Kennelly talks of his yearning to return and win an All Ireland with the Kingdom. Still he remains in the sunnier climes rather than returning to where a man with four All Irelands medals defers to a man with five. The Carlow or Laois players are unlikely to face that conflict. On an AFL website a supporter of the oval ball game enthused about Clarke, "Are there many more like this?" It seems there are. Those who have already taken flight have been great ambassadors for the GAA. This wonderful opportunity for our youth is cause for celebration not protestation. Fair play to them.

Discussion boards must be run responsibly

Speaking of websites I feared for Antrim chairman John Mc-Sparran as he laid into the purveyors of the 'vitriolic garbage' on various GAA boards. Oh dear, if ever a man was putting his body into dangerous waters as those posters, as they are called, have been known to tear into poor unfortunates like a shoal of piranha fish. The Saffron boss was nonplused at the criticism of individual officials, managers and players, logged by anonymous contributors.

I am most au fait with two GAA sites, The GAA Bards, and another that is not the Cusack Stand. Now the latter is like an underage version. Though there are many crass comments, most notably Northerners being called British, it is a harmless and fairly dull site.

The Board on the other hand can be highly entertaining and stimulating with discussions GAA and non-GAA. Many of the posts are very insightful, witty, informative and thought provoking. Listening to television pundits and reading newspaper
copy recently there is no doubt commentators look in for inspiration. The regular posters operate with handles akin to the CB users of the early eighties, including Uladh, Fionntamnach, Lawnseed 2, Orangeman, 5Times (Down of course) and the irrepressible Ziggysego.

At the risk of poking a rottweiler with a stick, Mc-Sparran has a point. Barbed messages about individuals can be very hurtful. I know a player who was on the receiving end of a spiteful and caustic post and it certainly caused hurt. It was not posted by oneof the aforementioned contributors I hasten to add. The overseers of these sites have a responsibility to draw a line over nasty personalized rhetoric.

[Balboa]

Good because there does be interesting discussion here and we wouldn't want them wasters from hoganstand coming in flooding the board with top 10's.

Or "Funniest/Grumpiest/Person with most posts/ on Gaaboard, shit too late......

[his holiness nb]

I think he has a bit of a point, some posts step over the line from banter to downright insults.
The problem is establishing where the line is.

There was a guy on earlier in a dubs v everyone type thread (you know the ones) in which there was some back and forth.
Most of it was harmless enough slagging but this lad came on, deadly serious and said Dublin were "hated" because at least 99% of people from Dublin were not nice people and the team were full of scumbags.

This was said in a non joking manner and was meant purely as an insult.
We need to have some sort of boundaries here.

[parttimeexile]

Ronan Mc Sherry is a Tyrone man originally from the sunny hills of gortin.