AFL Invasion

[stephenite]

You're right Uladh - lads want to be professional sportsmen. The only way we can stop this is by offering the same opportunities in our own games.

[INDIANA]

A High percentage of the elite class have made it but
Bernie Collins,Kevin Devine, Nicholas Walsh, Brendan Quigley were all star minors , none of them for various reasons lasted long-term over there. The media don't report that though. The reality is players are on buttons for the first 2 years and its only if you're awarded a pro contract playing regularly that you'll make a bit of cash as the cost of living over there is a lot lower than here. The scouts are coming over here and promoting this sport as if its the Premiership, the reality is i couldn't believe how minority it was in places like Sydney where rugby league is king.
A lot will depend on how hanley, tuohy and murphy get on . if all of them cut it then i think we can start to get worried. BUt at the moment i'm not as concerned as everybody else -yet.

[robertemmet]

The GAA are always going to struggle to hold on to its top underage talent until they start showing they care about the player's welfare.

There is no proper games structure for underage players.  In May/June in some counties there is a punishing scedule of games, despite it being the exam season.  Then in summer months some young lads have no games at all.

In soccer and rugby there is a proper structure for the season.  Games on a regular basis and rearly changed meaning that things like family holidays can be easily planned.

The AFL gives a player the opportunity to go an play in the proper training and games environment (providing they make it of course).  At home our top players can be playing 2-3 games a week for school/college and club, with very little time for quality coaching and development

The GAA should stop worrying about money from backdoor games and start promoting and organising our games better so that our top 16/17/18 year olds have a better chance of sticking at our games rather than being on the scrapheap (injury/loss of enthuiasm) by the time they are 23/24

Any views on this?

[orangeman]

You're right Uladh - lads want to be professional sportsmen. The only way we can stop this is by offering the same opportunities in our own games.

Agreed  - but how ?

[stephenite]

You're right Uladh - lads want to be professional sportsmen. The only way we can stop this is by offering the same opportunities in our own games.

Agreed  - but how ?

GAA goes professional - only way we can stop lads that want to be pro's going elsewhere

[Hardy]

Agreed robertemmet. I don't think it's going to make the difference in a young lad's decision about whether to go to Australia for a professional contract. But it definitely is something we have to fix, because it's right in itself and because, in my opinion, it's the main disadvantage we are inflicting on ourselves in our competition with rugby and soccer for young players.

[zoyler]

Always remember that there are some problems to which thereare no solutions and this may be one!  The best we can hope for is that the GAA & AFL set down some sort of code of conduct by which agents/recruiters act in an effort to stop exploition of young lads and to insure that the clubs they go to treat them properly. It appears that the like of the Lions, Swans and Collingwood do so and we should welcome contact with the likes of these rather then putting our heads in our hands and crying 'Woe woe were all doomed,I say. Doomed!'

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Dependng on how many players we're going to lose maybe the gaa has to consider some form of compensation to our best young players to keep them in our games. One option is decent grants for university students but other initiatives would have to be considered including more full time coaching posts with decent pay which would keep the players happy and help promote the games to children. With a lack of teachers willing to give up time to promote gaa in schools I think this would be an excellent idea and a win win on 2 counts. We cant keep losing the best players to soccer,rugby and AFL. No sport can survive without their best players. We have signifcant income coming in at the minute and some of this somehow has to be used to keep our best players.

[cavan4ever]

HOGANSTAND

Brennan fuming over 'cheeky' Aussie Rules trial
09 July 2008


GAA president Nickey Brennan has blasted an Australian Rules scout who held a trial at Kingspan Breffni Park in Cavan last Friday night.

Carlton Blues scout Gerard Sholly did not ask the Cavan county board for permission to use the ground, saying he "didn't realise it was theirs". The board, along with Brennan, are furious at the development, with red-faced Cavan chiefs claiming they were completely unaware that the trial was taking place.

Cavan chairman Philip Sheridan said that once they realised what was going on, Sholly and the players were ejected from the county grounds.

Brennan said: "It is very cheeky of Gerard Sholly to appear on a back pitch that was open for the last few days and use it without permission.

"The Cavan county board are rightly very annoyed and I share that annoyance with them that somebody would have the cheek and audacity to go into a property and conduct whatever he was conducting with a number of players without permission.

"Quite frankly, he would not have got that permission."

It comes after Aussie Rules agent Ricky Nixon met with the GAA last week to outline his plans to establish a recruiting network in Ireland, but Sholly moved to try and allay the fears of the wider GAA public about the nature of the exercise.

"On this trip, we've probably spoken to about 25 families and some of these players came together for a session at Breffni Park last Friday," he said.

[RadioGAAGAA]

Step 1:

Chase the AFL - tell them the international rules is scrapped indefinitely, and they are not welcome until this shite stops.



Step 2:

Give this weasel bastard Scholly a doing - or bar him and the rest of the AFL scouts from attending any games.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7496550.stm

Australian scout Gerard Scholly did not ask the Cavan County Board for permission to use their premises prior to holding the session last Friday.

"I didn't realise that it was their ground," Scholly told BBC Newsline.

Step 3:

Make our players aware of all the shite within Aussie rules that the scum/agents are not mentioning - the failure rate of Irish players going over, the real wages etc etc.

[INDIANA]

thats outrageous, a scandal really but Brennan helped revive the int series. he could have just said no.

[Maximus Marillius]

I really don't see what is up setting so many people. What I see is an opportunioty for someone that I know to have a full time career getting paid to play a game a game that is similar to gaelic football. Imagine getting paid on a professional bais to do that...what a dream. Its great IMO that the opportunity is becoming more accessable to more of our young players.

[Bensars]

I dont know why hes only getting getting upset now, its been common knowledge that these trials have been occuring all around the country over the last few weeks.

[Maximus Marillius]

Dependng on how many players we're going to lose maybe the gaa has to consider some form of compensation to our best young players to keep them in our games. One option is decent grants for university students but other initiatives would have to be considered including more full time coaching posts with decent pay which would keep the players happy and help promote the games to children. With a lack of teachers willing to give up time to promote gaa in schools I think this would be an excellent idea and a win win on 2 counts. We cant keep losing the best players to soccer,rugby and AFL. No sport can survive without their best players. We have signifcant income coming in at the minute and some of this somehow has to be used to keep our best players.

Can you please explain to me how that would compensate a young man from the lure of potentiual full time football. Do you mean that the player being offer the opportunity in Aussie land gets employed as a coach at home. It would need to be a considrable increase on salary to interest them.

[stephenite]

If anyone thinks that scrapping the International Rules series is the answer to this you're living in a dream land. The clubs that are sending these scouts over are as opposed to the International Rules series as anyone over here, the risk of them losing their own assets (the players) through injury is something they're not very happy about. Of course very few well say so publicly.

Lads - there is only one answer to put a stip to this and that is to allow GAA players go professional. I am not in favour of this, far too high a price to pay for the relative tiny minority we might lose, that will actually succeed.