What have they done to Gaelic football ?

[Maiden1]

The thing about kicking the ball off the ground is that only a small percentage of any team can kick the ball more than 25 yards off the ground as the ball is so hard compared to a soccer ball, so having someone like Colin Corkery in your side was a huge advantage (still is).  Now most teams have 4 or 5 players who could score a free farirly regurally from 40 yards from there hands.  The same with the advent of the tee for goalkeepers, a lot of teams had keepers who where good shot stoppers but had trouble clearing the full back line at kickouts, putting the backs under huge pressure and sometimes having the corner back taking the kickouts, leaving an extra man for the other team free to compete around the middle from the kickout, it was nearly more important to have someone who could kick the ball out 60 yards than have someone who was good at saving goals.  I think it is a good thing that teams are now allowed to kick from the hands and use a tee for kickouts as it was too much of disadvantage for a team who otherwise played better football.  That's just a personal opinion, others can argue that the skill should be rewarded.

[Gaffer]

Mike Sheehy is scared stiff of Tyrone after what she saw last Saturday, 
( but Mike thought the match was on Sunday, silly girl! )

  christ, you're hilarious...how do you come up with such classics

It was you who started it !!!!    Match on Sunday , eh?

[Tyrone Dreamer]

As for the main issue, we do need a debate on where football is going and if we are going to do so on this board I'd ask the Ulster posters ( the Tyrone one's in particular) to leave your paranoia at the door.

Fair enough Zulu, but when this particular genius comes out with: "I was disgusted to see Tyrone back in Croke Park with all their negative football. I blame them for much of what has happened to football over the past decade and am no fan of Micky Harte and his legacy to Gaelic football."

It's hardly paranoia, is it? And this amadán doesn't even have the integrity to put his/her name to it, such is the courage of his/her convictions. That article's a cheap shot, of the lowest, gutter-dwelling, order, no mistake. Like Mickey Harte has personally been touring the counties and teaching footballers how not to score. Total confusion reigns here, in that amadán can't separate discipline, passion, will-to-win, determination, and no little skill from purely bad football. Not to mention the jealously and bitterness.

I'd agree FOSB that the article is rubbish and the above quote about Tyrone is pure tripe but there is a discussion needed about the direction football is going. And what, if anything, we need to do to make sure football remains a compelling sporting attraction. Personally I'll always love football but too many games like Kildare/Fermanagh and not enough of Mayo/Dublin will make the promotion of football very difficult in an increasingly competitive market place. Less people playing and watching football makes for a poorer game in the longterm.

People seem to expect that every gaelic football match should a classic. If there's a poor game the reaction is completely over the top with journalists going out of their way to see who can criticise the games the most. People have to realise that a fair % of games in every sport can be poor and if anything gaelic football produces a higher % of decent matches than other sports. There's talk of people choosing to follow soccer and rugby because of poor gaelic matches. Well if anyone wants to pick 10 random premiership games or 10 celtic league/heinken cup matches and honstly say they got 10 good matches I'd be shocked. They would be extremely lucky to get 5 half decent matchs. The diffference though with the gaa is that we have journalists who are obsessed with focusing on the negatives and ignoring the positives, other sports dont have to put up with this crap.

[rrhf]

Well said my moy friend.  Well said

[Zapatista]

IRISH ZAP DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
FIRST ZAP CONGRESS
Enacted by the Congree of the ZAP   21st AUG 2008

Whereas the Irish People is by right a free flowing football people
And whereas for one hundred and thity four years the Irish People has never ceased to repudiate and has repeatedly protested in message boards against foreign usurpation by Mickey Harte and Joe Kernan.


And whereas Compromise rules in this country is, and always has been, based upon force and fraud and maintained by Sean Boylan and Sean Kelly against the declared will of the people.


And whereas the ZAP was proclaimed in RTE Studios on August 24th, 2003, by Pat Spillane, acting on behalf of the Kerry People.


And whereas the Irish People through ZAP is resolved to secure and maintain its complete independence in order to promote the foot pass, to re-establish free from the ground, to provide for future drive her out of defence, to ensure pace at the front and good will with all TV stations, and to constitute a national policy based upon the people's will with opportunity to change the rules when they lose.


And whereas at the threshold of a new era in history Irish sports has through the big full forward, seized the first occasion to declare by an overwhelming majority its firm allegiance to the high ball in.


Now, therefore, we, the unelected Representatives of the ancient Irish People in Thurles assembled, do, in the name of the Irish National Sport, ratify the establishment of the Rule Book and pledge ourselves and our people to make this declaration effective by every means at our command.


We ordain that the unelected Representatives of the Irish Sports People alone have power to make laws binding on the people of Ireland, and that the ZAP is the only organisation to which that people will give its Euro.


We solemnly declare Ulster representation in the All Ireland to be an invasion of our national right which we will never tolerate, and we demand the evacuation of our Sport by the Tyrone and Armagh Garrison.


We claim for our national independence the recognition and support of every free flowing sport in the world, and we proclaim that independence to be a condition precedent to players grants hereafter.


In the name of the Irish People we humbly commit our destiny to Almighty Kerry and Dublin teams of the 70s Who gave our fathers the courage and determination to persevere through long centuries of a ruthless blanket defence, and strong in the justice of the cause which they have handed down to us, we ask Their Divine blessing on this the last stage of the struggle we have pledged ourselves to carry through to free flowing football.


(ZAP: Minutes of the Proceedings of the First ZAP Congress of the National Sport of Ireland, 21st August 2008.)

[Aaron Boone]

Small bit of pullback on this week's article Zap:

http://www.southernstar.ie/article.php?id=912

[Zapatista]

Small bit of pullback on this week's article Zap:

http://www.southernstar.ie/article.php?id=912

I love this bit -

I know genuine supporters who wouldn't cross the road to see the footballers in action now and it's a pity.

She is also editor of the DAILY ZAP INDEPENDANT and th ZAPDUAL STAR on Sundays.

[haranguerer]

That sort of shite is the worst type of journalism from idiots who have no understanding of the game. It used to be trotted out once a year, mid season, but with all of the column inches to fill now the scrapingsof the journalistic barrell reproduce it with alarming regularity recently.

The real issue here is what hs happened to the standard of sports journalism in this country?

Exactly my reaction. What a joke of an article. p***k.

[his holiness nb]

From the 45 metre line, from the hands, I'd hit around 3 from 5 over.
From the ground I'd be lucky to score 1.

The other way round for some people. I certainly wouldnt say one ways is harder than the other, it really depends on the player.