AFL Invasion

[INDIANA]

Jinxy think of the difference conor meredith,colm begley and zac tuohy would make to laois They are already sniffing around Donie Kingston as well. thats the cream of their talent, we've a big population in Dublin but had the aussies come over and taken the 2 brogans and Ciaran Whelan we wouldn't be competitive. You won;t produce outstanding players all the time.
Martin Clarke would be worth 5 players to Down, paul mc comiskey would be another disastrous loss to Down football. Kerry can afford to lose Tadhg Kennelly but very few other counties have that luxury.

[Jinxy]

Jinxy think of the difference conor meredith,colm begley and zac tuohy would make to laois They are already sniffing around Donie Kingston as well. thats the cream of their talent, we've a big population in Dublin but had the aussies come over and taken the 2 brogans and Ciaran Whelan we wouldn't be competitive. You won;t produce outstanding players all the time.
Martin Clarke would be worth 5 players to Down, paul mc comiskey would be another disastrous loss to Down football. Kerry can afford to lose Tadhg Kennelly but very few other counties have that luxury.

At the end of the day what difference did a conveyor belt of elite minor players make to Laois over the last 10 years? They won a Leinster title. Beano McDonald was the most outstanding minor footballer I've had the pleasure of watching and he's not even playing anymore. It's very easy to look at a dominant minor player and think that will automatically transfer to senior level. It doesn't work that way.

[Hardy]

I dunno, Jinxy. I can't see the AFL, with their professional set-up, spending all that money and effort on recruiting our top minors if it's simply down to chance whether good minors make it or not. Maybe what we should learn from them is what we should be doing to turn our top minors into top seniors.

I hope you're right in your position, but I'm very fearful for the future of gaelic football because of this Aussie poaching. The latest story about an Irish-only team is bearing out my predictions here for a long time that the GAA is in danger of becoming simply a feeder sport for AFL, a la League Of Ireland for UK soccer, club rugby for the professional game, etc.

[Main Street]

The fact that the loss of these players will hurt the county squads is irrelevant. The GAA has nothing to offer these players. They are good enough to have the chance to pursue a dream professional career in a full time sport.
Good luck to them. If it doesn't work out they can come home again.

The GAA is constitutionally paranoid about other sports being out to get them.
Not so long ago you could not even attend never mind play soccer or rugby.
What an utter farce that was. Nowadays at least kids in school can choose what sports they want to play without the GAA interfeering with that choice under the guise of a blanket of negative patriotism.

Now we have the remnants of the backwoods mentality hanging onto rule 44.
What now for the President of the GAA? in talks to resume the International rules while agents of that association are poaching GAA players.
Soccer and Rugby are regarded as sports who are  "in conflict with the Aims and Objects of the Association"
Will he now propose that the AFL are in conflict.
Maybe he will clarify for us what is his understanding of the meaning of "conflict" in rule 44.

[INDIANA]

and you think soccer doesn't look the same way at GAA? We're talking about the effect it has on certain teams who can ill afford to lose some players. how long will it take carlow to produce another brendan murphy? Nobody:

-denys the players right to a professional career in another code
- that they don't owe the gaa anything
- that losing 20 players will bring the association down

But its equally lazy in my view to say that it has no effect on certain counties.we're simply talking about the effect its having on some counties that losing elite minor players every season has no effect on a county's prospects. Everything in life is a competition, and when in comeptition you have to do whats right for you. Nobody denys anyone's right to go to Australia but why make it easy for the agents to operate here? The Gaa doesn't have to apologise for trying to hold onto players to anyone.

[Jinxy]

I dunno, Jinxy. I can't see the AFL, with their professional set-up, spending all that money and effort on recruiting our top minors if it's simply down to chance whether good minors make it or not. Maybe what we should learn from them is what we should be doing to turn our top minors into top seniors.

I hope you're right in your position, but I'm very fearful for the future of gaelic football because of this Aussie poaching. The latest story about an Irish-only team is bearing out my predictions here for a long time that the GAA is in danger of becoming simply a feeder sport for AFL, a la League Of Ireland for UK soccer, club rugby for the professional game, etc.

#

Well there is the difference. We all know the distractions a young lad faces and these things can often interfere with his development as a senior footballer. Those distractions disappear for the most part when you receive full-time coaching and your livelihood depends on you making the grade. There will still be lads that don't fulfill their potential in either code though. Don't forget, going down the Irish route is cheap as chips for AFL teams. If a lad succeeds, great. If he doesn't, the club haven't lost much in the process. It's not like they are using their draft picks on Irish players.

[Main Street]

and you think soccer doesn't look the same way at GAA?

I don't know how or in what way Soccer or Rugby look upon the GAA as competition.
At least they have the grace not to pollute their constitution with nonsense about being in conflict with competing sports and co-operate with each other without having to have an AGM to be given the permission.

We're talking about the effect it has on certain teams who can ill afford to lose some players. how long will it take carlow to produce another brendan murphy? Nobody:

-denys the players right to a professional career in another code
- that they don't owe the gaa anything
- that losing 20 players will bring the association down

But its equally lazy in my view to say that it has no effect on certain counties.we're simply talking about the effect its having on some counties that losing elite minor players every season has no effect on a county's prospects.

That was just my poor expression.
I said it was a fact that counties would be affected but that it was irrelevant - as in part of the argument for trying to hold onto players NOT an irrelevant loss to the counties.

These days if a Minor player was already proficient in another code it would not be a surprise and if the player were offered a chance of a professional career in soccer or rugby there would not be any rumpus.

Everything in life is a competition, and when in comeptition you have to do whats right for you. Nobody denys anyone's right to go to Australia but why make it easy for the agents to operate here? The Gaa doesn't have to apologise for trying to hold onto players to anyone.

The GAA are just moaning.
I can't think of one thing and I have not read of one thing in this thread that could be construed as something practical to hold onto players.
There is nothing to stop the agent here as long as he observes the law.

The GAA shouting out 'down with that sort of thing' just ends up being good publicity for the agent.
It's a no brainer for a talented young lad.
The interests and ambition of the young lad are much more valid that the interests of the GAA.

The county board could offer to act as the finders and offer up the names of good young prospects to the interested AFL clubs and therefore be the beneficiary of a fat finders fee. That's about the only thing that could cut out the agent's enterprise without impinging on amateur status
An amateur GAA can't compete against the professionalism of the AFL. 

[Jinxy]

and you think soccer doesn't look the same way at GAA? We're talking about the effect it has on certain teams who can ill afford to lose some players. how long will it take carlow to produce another brendan murphy? Nobody:

-denys the players right to a professional career in another code
- that they don't owe the gaa anything
- that losing 20 players will bring the association down

But its equally lazy in my view to say that it has no effect on certain counties.we're simply talking about the effect its having on some counties that losing elite minor players every season has no effect on a county's prospects. Everything in life is a competition, and when in comeptition you have to do whats right for you. Nobody denys anyone's right to go to Australia but why make it easy for the agents to operate here? The Gaa doesn't have to apologise for trying to hold onto players to anyone.

But would you even know who he was if the aussies hadn't come after him?

[stephenite]

With regard to this Sydney Celtics thing - I don't think it's a runner to be honest. They are proposing that it be based out in Western Sydney which is Rugby League heartland for starters, secondly there wouldn't be a huge population of Irish diaspora based out that way, there would be a sizable amount but they'd certainly be in the minority when compared to those of Asian or Pacific Island/Kiwi extraction.
The AFL would be crazy to try and put all their eggs in one basket by assuming that a franchise with stong Irish connections would take off, it wouldn't, and there is no way they would be able to successfully market such a product, any notions that basing this franchise around one nationality/identity would fail in such a multi-cultural environment.

[offtheground]

Heard on the BBC news this Morning that Kyle Coney from Tyrone has signed a 2 year deal with some ozzie side, think its the sydney swans. If i remember rightly he was away trial for a trial with them.
Was he on the McKenna cup squad forTyrone?

[offtheground]

Full story on the beeb;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7530951.stm

Fair play to the lad, he'll get some action out there as a pro-footballer 
and sure if it doesn't work out in 2 years he's still only 20. What a great opportunity.

[nrico2006]

Is Coney straight away, if so he is a big loss as he is the main man for the minors!

[laceer]

Is Coney straight away, if so he is a big loss as he is the main man for the minors!

He doesn't go till November apparently. Hope he makes it, wins an AFL title with the Swans and comes back to play for Tyrone at 20!

[20leg-end08]

Hope he has a good run at it. Nobody can blame an 18 yr old lad for wanting to play professional sport in a great country. As others have said even if it doesn't work out he'll still be a young lad when he comes back. Hope he can help them to the all ireland before he goes.

[orangeman]

It has emerged that a host of GAA inter-county players are to appear at AFL recruitment camp in Mayo, orchestrated by renowned scout Ricky Nixon.

Nixon has confirmed that Kerry's Tommy Walsh and David Moran will be at Breaffy's International Sports Hotel for the two-day camp, running through August 26-27.

"Tommy and David will be there, and I've also invited Tommy's brother Barry John too," Nixon confirmed to RTE News.

Barry John Walsh was the star forward of this year's Kerry minor team which made it to the All-Ireland semi-final.

Some of the country's best young footballers are on the list, including Laois star Donie Kingston, highly rated Dublin defender Kevin Nolan and free-scoring Limerick forward Ian Ryan.

One of the biggest surprises inclusions is Monaghan defender Dessie Mone, as the Clontibret clubman age is older than most GAA players who have been recruited Down Under.

According to The Irish Daily Star newspaper, the following players are due to appear at the camp: Tommy Walsh and David Moran (Kerry), Michael Murphy (Donegal), Donal Kingston (Laois), Kevin Nolan (Dublin), Brendan Boggs, Colm Cavanagh and Peter Hughes (Tyrone), Colm Murney and Paul McComiskey (Down), James Kielt and Neil Forrester (Derry), Niall McKeever and Thomas McCann (Antrim), Dessie Mone (Monaghan), Brian Sheridan (Meath), Ian Ryan (Limerick), Ciaran Nolan.