Is Gaelic Football unwatchable?

[erne bhoy]

Although I completely accept that todays fare involving fermanagh and kildare was nothing short of unwatchable i just think every one is being a bit too hard on fermanagh. Those lads arnt purposely going out to hit the ball wide and also all of this talk about the win at all costs strategy destroying the game and how lads should just go out to 'kick a ball' and play the game is just total nonsense. fermanagh have the smallest gaa ie catholic population in ireland and the fact that they are even competeing without a noteworthy scoring forward is a testament to both coaching structures and the pride these lads have in the jersey. I have seen several comments talking of how fermanagh shud go out to play the game 'man for man' and shud start kicking the ball long into forwards and dispensing with sweepers but where the f**k wud that get us, gallant 6 point losses to derry and the rest of whatever the footballing aristocracy is. nothing beats the winning feeling.

[johnpower]

Although I completely accept that todays fare involving fermanagh and kildare was nothing short of unwatchable i just think every one is being a bit too hard on fermanagh. Those lads arnt purposely going out to hit the ball wide and also all of this talk about the win at all costs strategy destroying the game and how lads should just go out to 'kick a ball' and play the game is just total nonsense. fermanagh have the smallest gaa ie catholic population in ireland and the fact that they are even competeing without a noteworthy scoring forward is a testament to both coaching structures and the pride these lads have in the jersey. I have seen several comments talking of how fermanagh shud go out to play the game 'man for man' and shud start kicking the ball long into forwards and dispensing with sweepers but where the f**k wud that get us, gallant 6 point losses to derry and the rest of whatever the footballing aristocracy is. nothing beats the winning feeling.

Dont worry Erne bhoy . I recall a team scoring only 1 point in an All Ireland semi a few years back . They did a bit of practice and won a game or two .

[erne bhoy]

Although I completely accept that todays fare involving fermanagh and kildare was nothing short of unwatchable i just think every one is being a bit too hard on fermanagh. Those lads arnt purposely going out to hit the ball wide and also all of this talk about the win at all costs strategy destroying the game and how lads should just go out to 'kick a ball' and play the game is just total nonsense. fermanagh have the smallest gaa ie catholic population in ireland and the fact that they are even competeing without a noteworthy scoring forward is a testament to both coaching structures and the pride these lads have in the jersey. I have seen several comments talking of how fermanagh shud go out to play the game 'man for man' and shud start kicking the ball long into forwards and dispensing with sweepers but where the f**k wud that get us, gallant 6 point losses to derry and the rest of whatever the footballing aristocracy is. nothing beats the winning feeling.

Dont worry Erne bhoy . I recall a team scoring only 1 point in an All Ireland semi a few years back . They did a bit of practice and won a game or two .

well...i suppose we did score 4.....

[Zapatista]

What a load of yapping. I'm sick listening to ye all. Ye seem to be happy to see a poor spectacle when your own team is not involved (Down Gael is just bitter). Something to bitch about. Ye simply won't give credit to anyone. Every compliment is followed by a 'but'.

I will admit is wasn't high quality all the time in fact it was poor alot of the time. I did see 15 men battle 15 men.  This is what I expected to see and this is what I got. Anyone who expected to see men running around with the grace of ballydancers and the precision of a snooker player is a fool. If you think it was better years ago you are a romanticist. With the way the game is played with the ball in your hands in a contact sport it won't always be pretty but it will often be tough. If you want to see 30 men do all they physically can to win a game then go to croke park or any GAA venue around the country. If you want light entertainment go to the abbey theatre or the cinema. This game has been played for 100s of years and it hasn't been pretty for 100s of years. Sometimes it will amaze you with it's beauty but mostly it's savage and unruly.

There is no difference in what was seen in Croke park at the weekend than what is seen across the country every weekend. there never has been. Romanticists seem to think Croke Park deserves something different. It doesn't. How could it? Our memory's of games down through the years are unreliable. Accept the game for what it is and stop the revisionism and romanticising of it.

[smcafee]

gaelic football could be made watchable again by doing a few simple things.

any team who has players that hound the referee when he gives a decision against them should book every single player that complains and move the ball up 13m.also any player that holds on to a ball to stop the other team taking a free kick or sideline quickly should be booked and the ball also moved up 13m.make this zero tolerance and this shit will soon stop.

any player who dives or who grabs a defenders arm to fool the ref thinking that the defender has pulled him down should be given a red card and be suspended for 12 weeks for disrepute.if a dive or pull down is missed during the game it can be caught on video evidence and a 12 week ban given.again zero tolerance and this cancer will soon clear up.

award two points for any point scored from at least 35m out from goal except from a 45.

after a hand pass the player who received the ball cant hand pass the ball again unless he gets past an opponent first or he must kick it.

lets put the foot back in football.

[theskull1]

1 watchable game in 10. It really is brutal stuff in the other nine.

[feetofflames]

i can almost see a Give diving the boot campaign with a symbol containing a picture of Martin o Rourke doing a dive off a board.  I think its the silly season guys and the board is overrun with wannabees and neverbees.  Take a look at your championship last 8 and give them credit for their achievements instead of having a go.  Its a well known fact that Gooch dived in the 2005 AIfinal.  Does that annoy us Tyrone fans, no, we would rather give great credit to kerry for being fit to give us a game that year.  It had showed how much they had come on from 2003.  I would guess that the quality of the football only comes into it when your team is put out because at that stage you make the move from being a serious fighting competitor -  a matador supporting wholeheartedly  your teams brave crusade towards an inevitable Sam and months of celebration and parties and women, then suddenley you are out to a superior football team, yer hopes and dreams are down the pan, ye are back to being a mere average Joe, a semi interested TV spectator eating crisps off yer enlarging belly and drinking Coke on your very own DFS premium seat with yer arse growing fatter for the rest of the season, full of shoulder chips and begrudgery with Spillanes imaginative theories and nasty words yer only source of comfort.    

[full back]

Its a well known fact that Gooch dived in the 2005 AIfinal.  Does that annoy us Tyrone fans, no, we would rather give great credit to kerry for being fit to give us a game that year.

What a f**king w4nker

[smcafee]

i can almost see a Give diving the boot campaign with a symbol containing a picture of Martin o Rourke doing a dive off a board.  I think its the silly season guys and the board is overrun with wannabees and neverbees.  Take a look at your championship last 8 and give them credit for their achievements instead of having a go.  Its a well known fact that Gooch dived in the 2005 AIfinal.  Does that annoy us Tyrone fans, no, we would rather give great credit to kerry for being fit to give us a game that year.  It had showed how much they had come on from 2003.  I would guess that the quality of the football only comes into it when your team is put out because at that stage you make the move from being a serious fighting competitor -  a matador supporting wholeheartedly  your teams brave crusade towards an inevitable Sam and months of celebration and parties and women, then suddenley you are out to a superior football team, yer hopes and dreams are down the pan, ye are back to being a mere average Joe, a semi interested TV spectator eating crisps off yer enlarging belly and drinking Coke on your very own DFS premium seat with yer arse growing fatter for the rest of the season, full of shoulder chips and begrudgery with Spillanes imaginative theories and nasty words yer only source of comfort.    

give diving the boot

[smcafee]

Its a well known fact that Gooch dived in the 2005 AIfinal.  Does that annoy us Tyrone fans, no, we would rather give great credit to kerry for being fit to give us a game that year.

What a f**king w4nker

i missed that.quit clutching at straws.

[Down Gael]

How many of todays forwards can score from 40 or 50 yards. Damn it how many of them can score from 30? How many of our defenders can kick a decent pass 40 or 50 yards? What is the point in having Darragh O`Se or Dan Gordon plucking the ball from the sky only to be mauled when he gets back on terra firma? The day of the big full back is gone, his opposite number seems to be 5`8" or less and goes to ground if anyone enters the same postcode as him. Players are being coached in the art of winning frees, not how to bamboozle defences and score from distance. Its a competition between 2 place kickers, its like Rugby under Clive Woodward. Its not Gaelic Football. Its horrible and its not because Down are out, its happening all over the country. McGeeney has stamped his style of play all over Kildare, its like watching the local bulked up idiots from the gym bullying people in the local disco on a Saturday night. Its horrible, but its effective. The Vitamin tablets hadnt done their work for the first round in Leinster, but they seem to be adapting to them now. Is it water they drink out of those bottles or protein shakes?
We are due to play the Aussies again soon, lets forget that they are professionals. The reason they beat us time and again is because they have the basics correct. They play catch and kick, because they actually can kick a ball accurately over 50 or 60 yards. Their attackers can score, on the run, from 50 and 60 yards time and again. They can tackle and take a tackle. they dont lie down expecting protection from the likes of Pat McEnaney. Sign up for Setanta and see how our games should be played. FFS they dont even use a round ball and they still beat us, imagine if we had to use their ball. Our game is becoming more and more like soccer every day. Prima Donnas, who get injured if they trip over themselves and go down faster than their sisters on a Saturday night. But people are voting with their hard earned cash and staying away and it wont get better until the GAA realise we have a problem. The big crowds of 3,4 and 5 years ago are gone. 6 teams over 2 days couldnt fill Croke Park, the Dubs are massaging the attendance figures. If Dublin were to lose in the 1st round next year the figures would plummet. The GAA need Dublin to win the All Ireland. Kerry, Tyrone, Down and Monaghan wouldnt fill Parnell Park.

Edited because of the use of the word steroids. I honestly meant vitamin tablets/supplements.

[smcafee]

well said down gael.but i would take back what you said about steriods and armagh.i talked about it last week and got a warning.

[Dinny Breen]

Down were absolute rubbish on Saturday, so please take bitterness elsewhere.


[Edited by Mod 3]

[erne bhoy]

I would admit that the standard is poor but what zap said is spot on, people seem to look back with tinted spectacles. Our game is getting more exposure from more venues and more angles than ever before and that is why some matches seem so ridiculously bad. At the fermanagh derry match I could have sworn to you afterwards that it was the best match I had ever seen because with the adrenaline pumping all the blemishes were papered over however watching again that night i couldnt believe the amount of stoppages and errors and it did seem to be thouroughly average stuff.

Even ten years ago matches like these would never have been televised live and so could potentially be remembered as classics.

[Arthur]

. Is it water they drink out of those bottles or protein shakes?

That is some comment; are you saying the Kildare manager introduced steroids into the Kidare county squad; i'd say if you said that in print anywhere else you would find yourself in court.  There is sour grapes but that is just outrageous.