Sean Kelly - Good or Bad?

[his holiness nb]

I wonder at what stage might it be possible for the "no" campaigners to admit that made a huge song and a dance about nothing?

Is one year enough? What about two years? Five? Fifty Five? Or to go further - would it be wrong to suggest that some of these "GAA people" would rather see the GAA go through a period of turmoil, just to lend some credence to their crazy theories?

See my previous post, I was against, but accepted the decision.
Can you not just accept that rather than try to label us all crazy?

[Pangurban]

I have seen a lot of presidents come and go, some good, some better. None i would describe as bad,until now, Sean Kelly in my view demeaned the Office. This view has nothing whatsoever to do with the opening of Croker and any of the other controversial issues which arose during his Presidency. Two features marked his term in Office, a tendency to personalise issues and promote himself rather than the association and a love of the solo run, to advance views and positions which had not even been discussed much less agreed by the various tiers of authority within the organisation. His demeanour was always that of a Managing Director,, rather than an elected representative. Far from promoting a positive image, his ill-chosen comments frequently encouraged sections of the media in their negative view, and he was happy to play the role of their darling enlightened liberal

[orangeman]

Pangurban - well said - the more I think of Kelly, the worse my opinion gets !

[Frank Casey]

just because it was democratically voted, doesnt make it automatically the correct decision

nb - whats the alternative - dictatorship by those who know they're right?

[his holiness nb]

just because it was democratically voted, doesnt make it automatically the correct decision

nb - whats the alternative - dictatorship by those who know they're right?

You have me all wrong, I'm not saying reverse the decision, I'm just saying it may not be the correct decision just because its was democratically voted.
In a similar way to the election of George Bush, its democracy so you have to accept it, doesnt mean it wasnt a bad idea!

[Frank Casey]

A democratic mandate can be legitimacy in itself. Sometimes we just have to accept things as they now are and move on.

I still think Gearge Bush stole his first election

[his holiness nb]

A democratic mandate can be legitimacy in itself. Sometimes we just have to accept things as they now are and move on.

I still think Gearge Bush stole his first election

100% agree, and I accept it. But some people would have me both accept it, admit I was wrong and crazy, and now change my mind to declare I think its a great idea.
You cant win.

[Frank Casey]

Thats what a neighbour of mine calls a catch 22 and a half.

[his holiness nb]

Thats what a neighbour of mine calls a catch 22 and a half.

[deiseach]

I would suggest that already it would be virtually impossible to trace any current or future decline in GAA membership, skill levels, profitability or social standing to the opening up of Croke Park. And I think that deep down, all the "no" people know this as well. Our games are in a healthy state of affairs - and should the wheels come off our attendance figures in 10 years time, there will be so many more relevant factors then than what happened at the start of this year.

One could just as easily ask where the flowering of good will and charity that those in the yes camp told us would accrue to the GAA has gone. No sooner than Croke Park was opened than the gates of Lansdowne Road, which we were told would be open to the GAA, clanged shut. It was ever thus. Pat Fanning pointed out before the vote on Rule 42 that when the GAA was debating for the final time whether to remove the Ban way back in 1971 that the GAA was told that rugby playing schools would allow Gaelic games to be played on their hallowed fields. We're still waiting.

[Louth Exile]

I do not take any great joy in seeing other games in Croke Park, but was fully in support of the decision to open it up.

You mention other sports using it to market their wares, however, think of the massive PR disaster it would have been if we had said No!

In relation to lining our competitors pockets, was it €8M in additional revenue that we took in this year from letting out Croker!

[his holiness nb]

Lets not go into that argument again 

Truth is, it will be a while before we know if opening up is a bad or good idea, as it looks like soccer and rugby could be in for a lot longer than 2 years at this stage.

The media have stepped this up now to "presume" they can have whatever GAA stadium they want.
In a recent article about bidding for the world cup they mentioned 9 possible stadiums, 6 of which were GAA stadiums.

Reagarding PR disasters, the only way we can avoid this is to open the stadiums up full time, as its only a matter of time before they need a stadium again for something, and the media campaign will start all over again.
Best to ignore the "media" and PR and do whats right for the GAA, whatever your opinion of whats best is, but to be bullied by the media is not the way to go.

[Louth Exile]

Best to ignore the "media" and PR and do whats right for the GAA, whatever your opinion of whats best is, but to be bullied by the media is not the way to go.

Agreed, I do think it was the right thing to do in this instance though

[Gnevin]

I would suggest that already it would be virtually impossible to trace any current or future decline in GAA membership, skill levels, profitability or social standing to the opening up of Croke Park. And I think that deep down, all the "no" people know this as well. Our games are in a healthy state of affairs - and should the wheels come off our attendance figures in 10 years time, there will be so many more relevant factors then than what happened at the start of this year.

One could just as easily ask where the flowering of good will and charity that those in the yes camp told us would accrue to the GAA has gone. No sooner than Croke Park was opened than the gates of Lansdowne Road, which we were told would be open to the GAA, clanged shut. It was ever thus. Pat Fanning pointed out before the vote on Rule 42 that when the GAA was debating for the final time whether to remove the Ban way back in 1971 that the GAA was told that rugby playing schools would allow Gaelic games to be played on their hallowed fields. We're still waiting.

That's simply untrue, it may not be top of their agenda but GAA is played in the Rugby schools in south Dublin

[deiseach]

That's simple untrue, it may not be of their agenda but GAA is played in the Rugby school in south Dublin

School, singular? When my brother was teaching in the King's Hospital, a school with a Liam McCarthy Cup winning captain as a past pupil (Declan Carr), the board of management simply ignored repeated requests for Gaelic games to be played in the school.

I should emphasise that I don't expect schools to play Gaelic games. But the dividends from GAA 'concessions' are non-existent. Apart from the the money, of course, which is nice.