Is Gaelic Football unwatchable?

[J70]

I watched two of Donegal's three games this year and the Monaghan and Derry matches, despite our defeats, were excellent, with lots of quality football played by all the teams.

It obviously depends on the teams involved and how the referee handles the game.

[The Voice Of Reason]

It was heart-breaking watching the other teams in Croke Park this weekend J70! I would've fancied Donegal against at least 5 of the teams out there ... well unless we had our staple collapse! haha

[INDIANA]

teams spend too much time lifting weights,aqua running, ice baths, running up mountains, doing pilates, in fact everything except kicking a ball. there is a reason why golfers spend hours on the range, thats why they generally hit the target. there is also a reason why gaelic is at a low ebb in terms of skill. because half the Gaa players should be in Beijing rather than croke park as they spend f*** all time using the ball in training.

[Pangurban]

Down Gael is correct, there is a serious decline in the standard of football accompanied by a fall off in people actually attending games, and the two issues are clearly related. Attendances to date this season will bear that out, and this weekends figures were particularly disappointing.With the ever widening gap between three or four top teams and the rest the decline will continue. People are simply not getting value for money. An odd exciting game is no substitute for quality. The four teams involved on saturday were very poor, and yes Down were woeful, in fact our ladies team would have performed better or at least demonstrated more skill. Time there was less of a concentration on athleticism and more on the basic skills. Having been a fanatic gaelic football fan from the late fifties, i am now becoming turned off and disinterested, following what in my opinion has been the worst season of championship football in terms of quality that i can recall. On another point, do we really need Croke Park, i dont think so

[Doire abú]

Is it just me or are is Gaelic Football becoming an unwatchable game?  Wether it be games  played in half full stadia, negative defensive football  that would make Pat Spillanes mother puke  or the poor standard of refereeing, but it looks like the people of Ireland are voting with their already empty wallets and staying away from games.
Does the GAA have a marketing department?  With Croke Park less than half full twice over  the weekend, it does not look like it. It seems Westlife and Celine Dion are bigger draws than the reigning All Ireland champions and 11 other counties combined.  How can we expect to fill Croke Park when most of the country are enjoying our holidays, with the so called credit crunch in full swing (in my day it was known as a recession) surely the GAA should be putting some serious effort into getting bums on seats, or are the TV deals worth more than you or I travelling to Croker??? Have we reached the point where we actually have too many games on TV?
For  me the biggest turn off, for want of a better phrase, is the standard of play. The win at all costs ideology started by Armagh and Tyrone at the start of this decade is now almost nationwide. Fermanagh are now the biggest  offenders, being the most unwatchable team in Ireland. 10 wides in the first half today and only 2 scores their first after almost 30 minutes of play. Their crowded defence and quick breaking game has been easily beaten by teams that can actually shoot. I never thought I would say this but I was glad Armagh beat them last week, in fact if anything they were worse last week. Armagh may be cynical and the aim of their game is to stop the opposition playing, but at least they have Clarke and McDonnell, probably the best forward partnership in the country.  Monaghan today tried to bully Kerry, but Kerry stood firm enough and were quite deserving winners even though they never really got going.
As a Down man I maybe am in no position to talk about standards after yesterday game, we still haven`t cottoned on to the fact that defences win games in modern football, but for the first time in my life I could honestly say I don`t care who wins this years All Ireland. I have lost interest. There will be two empty seats in Croke Park come September. I won`t be using them. If I want to watch a game of turnovers, defensive tactics and kicking the ball into touch I will watch rugby league. Being honest Leeds Rhinos or Bradford Bulls would probably win this years All Ireland, their kicking would be an improvement over most of the teams and their work rate and tackling would be almost up to scratch. In fact I don't think they have scrums in rugby league, but from the look of todays Gaelic football we seem to have adopted the ruck and maul. For me it is simply unwatchable. Maybe Kerry v Dublin would be tempting as a spectacle, but I doubt any of the others will hold any interest for the neutrals.
And then we have the referees, the Gaelic Football referee most be the most inconsistent type of person in the world, they make our politicians seem competent. Players are conning them, physical contact against a forward seems to have been banned. Yellow cards are being shown for minimal and sometimes non existent challenges. One of the Down defenders was shown a yellow card yesterday because a Wexford player fell and made contact with the Down man on the way to the ground, the result was  a Wexford point from 30 yards. Today Freeman beat the Kerry defender and when it would have been easy to punch the ball over the bar he went down and took his man down with him and yet again the result was a scoreable free. There are countless examples were players are buying frees, minimal contact and they are on the ground, writhing in agony until the resulting free has been scored or in Fermanaghs case knocked into row z. Maybe its the modern day players lack of scoring ability that makes them act like this or maybe its the win at all costs attitude thats causing such a blight on our games, but something needs to be done. 

I'll take them from you.

[J70]

And yet we had Martin McHugh lamenting Donegal's lack of concentration on the physical/athletic side of the game after the Monaghan match last week. Reckoned we were going nowhere until we added the physical training the likes of Monaghan do to what he considered the abundance of ability in the squad. He used the likes of Clerkin and Lennon as examples, saying they were far, far better at breaking through tackles and so on that the Donegal players.

[Zulu]

teams spend too much time lifting weights,aqua running, ice baths, running up mountains, doing pilates, in fact everything except kicking a ball. there is a reason why golfers spend hours on the range, thats why they generally hit the target. there is also a reason why gaelic is at a low ebb in terms of skill. because half the Gaa players should be in Beijing rather than croke park as they spend f*** all time using the ball in training.

In fairness Indiana that isn't correct most teams spend an awful lot of their training with the ball, the problem is that it is now very difficult to create decent scoring opportunities with packed defences the order of the day. In saying that some of the shooting this weekend was truely woeful but this goes back to a point I made after the International Rules games, we actually aren't particularily good at football. The Aussies came and kicked scores, foot passed and supported team mates far better than we did, why is that? Well obviously they are professionals but our IC teams are putting a lot of time into their game but it doesn't appear to be paying off in a meaningful way. Hopefully coaches will also now consider more positive tactics as a way to win matches, this idea that you are a tactical genius if you get 13 men behind the ball and a niave fool if you don't needs to change.

I genuinely hope Dublin win this years AI, they play an attacking, fast, open brand of football and hopefully a win for them would lead to a sea change in attitude to the game. If not Dublin then Galway who's footkicking game is a breath of fresh air, we badly need football teams to rise to the top once again.  

[J70]

It was heart-breaking watching the other teams in Croke Park this weekend J70! I would've fancied Donegal against at least 5 of the teams out there ... well unless we had our staple collapse! haha

Plenty of counties would have fancied themselves, but they didn't get there. However, I guarantee you that Fermanagh, bad as they were, would have made it very, very tough on us, although with (what I consider) our better forwards we would have a very good chance. I would fancy us against Down too, but I'm not sure about the rest. I think we are a better side than the likes of Kildare, but they are in the last eight and we aren't, so such opinions don't mean very much. Wexford is hard to know, as we have never played this current Wexford side. I would be confident against Mayo, but so would they against us. And, as you say, a spectacular collapse is always just around the corner, especially if we ended up against Tyrone!

[magickingdom]

the standard in gaelic football is quite low at the minute, their are only 3 or 4 teams with players capable of putting a ball over the bar from 45 yards out and that says it all. whats the point in training all year (nothing wrong with physical fittness levels) if a team cant take scores? the aussies gave us a lesson in how to kick a round ball over the bar in the last series and thats one very good reason to keep the ir series going. we might actually learn something from them...

[Yes I Would]

Monaghan - Kerry restored some pride.
Feel some sympathy to Monaghan as a kinder draw would have seen them in a quarter final.
The poor quality of passing, shooting, decision making was what struck me most from the weekends games. It seems that many intercounty footballers are now incapable of executing 30 or 40 yard kick passes with any degree of accuracy, which is worrying. Ironic as it may seem but intercounty football for many is not improving the standrad of football for many of these talented players.

[rosnarun]

What a whinging bastard.  surely your first concern shold be the future of the down tean and not trying to to piss onevery bodys party. remember all of these team have lost games in the championship this year already ready so are indeed not on their greatest form of their lives a few years back tjey would npt even have a chance to redeem themselves. in fact kerry monaghan oday was as good a game as you d want to see and mayo tyrone had a lot going for it. its obviously why the down wexford games was crap  and i think their was a style clash between kildare and fermanagh but clearly the better team won the first requise for a fair game

I think your problem is probably dont actualy like football in the 1st place and were only attracted by the buckfast. Im always highly suspicious when i see the phrase 'Gaelic' used before football. are you a soccer fan?

[Bogball XV]

I remember after the Derry v Fermanagh game, I highlighted just how bad Fermanagh were to watch, only to be lambasted by all quarters, glad to see some of you are coming around.
Basic skills were missing all over the weekend, although conditions were awkward too, I don't think however that the standard of play or the economy contributed to the poor attendances, I reckon it's because of all the teams out there this weekend, whose 'supporters' actually think they're going anywhere this year?  Mayo, Tyrone, Down, Wexford, Kildare, Fermanagh supporters all pretty much know that it aint happening this year, Monaghan turned out  and Kerry rightly decided against a 500 mile round trip when they'll be needed later on.  The matches should have been played at home or away venues, the gaa have tried playing these in croker in the past (certainly in 2005 anyway) and it was an utter failure too, nothing like learning from their mistakes.

[magickingdom]

What a whinging b**tard.  surely your first concern shold be the future of the down tean and not trying to to piss onevery bodys party. remember all of these team have lost games in the championship this year already ready so are indeed not on their greatest form of their lives a few years back tjey would npt even have a chance to redeem themselves. in fact kerry monaghan oday was as good a game as you d want to see and mayo tyrone had a lot going for it. its obviously why the down wexford games was crap  and i think their was a style clash between kildare and fermanagh but clearly the better team won the first requise for a fair game

I think your problem is probably dont actualy like football in the 1st place and were only attracted by the buckfast. Im always highly suspicious when i see the phrase 'Gaelic' used before football. are you a soccer fan?

cop on ffs, its an excellent thread..

[clarshack]

i watched the 4 football games over the weekend plus the brisbane lions v north melbourne. tyrone v mayo was watchable as i'm a tyrone man while kerry and monaghan was a good tight championship affair. the aussie rules game was far more enjoyable to watch than the other 2 games. in fact watching paint dry would be far more enjoyable than watching any game invloving fermanagh.

[20leg-end08]

There's too much focus on getting players unbelievably fit instead of focusing on improving the skills like foot-passing, shooting, blocking and fielding etc. I know fitness is a vital part of being a top team but I think it's starting to take too much of an emphasis of actually playing a bit of football.