Messages

Whatever about the Senior game does anyone think the underage/development squad doesn't have a defined season and seems to run and run against clubs and schools fixtures.

Seen it all year where they've had games on weekends after club games during the week, on school holidays they have training sessions during the week, same players been pulled from pillor to post. Now word that they starting back next month for 2023 season just as their own competitions are finishing and their school season starts.

Also heard that our neighbouring county Monaghan is considering staying at odd ages groups as they can't make fixtures work against county competitions I.E. u17 county will stop u16 and u18 club competitions starting. They must assume they going to go well every year.

People should have the economic choice to drink in a pub.

What?

It is a huge success if you are a FAI or Rugger administrator or supporter.
I will challenge anyone to some up with GAA coverage on RTE, Independent or Irish Times from August 3rd to January 31st.
The Saturday edition of Times on August 5th (week after the all-Ireland) had 3 pages of Soccer, 2 pages of Rugby, one horse racing, 1/3 gaelic games.
It will be like that until next January, barring the odd manager change or retirement.
Wonderful PR move by GAA. You really could not make it up.

What is this PR that you talk of and what is the goal of it? Barring the odd manager talk we get very little during the season. God forbid a player would actually speak or a county would hold a media day or the like.
We got months of PR and had lots of coverage and for what gain? Is more little Johnies or Mary's playing now cause they read an interview with Dessie Farrell in the Indo in May? Or are more little Johnies and Mary's playing now cause their clubs and counties have been slogging  away all year getting into schools, running training sessions, organising blitz's, holding camps, etc

The PR of the GAA is on your doorsteps. In a few weeks times there will be countless parishes alive with talk of county finals at various levels, underage teams are celebrating wins already, their own social media channels are alive with content from friends and rivals, local papers be covering the games and at some stage the national media will row in as well. Clubs and counties like never before are streaming matches to reach out to the local community.

If you waiting on the national media, you'll be waiting. The PR is there, it's just some who don't care or want to see it.

There is lots of reasons pubs are not as business as there were. It's not just one but many.

The Irish culture has changed from 80/90s where everything was based round your own locality and a holiday was a trip to Galway/Donegal/Wexford/Kerry depending where you lived. Well off people got to Spain or France. Filthy rich got to America.

Disposal income didn't have many homes. It was spent on entertainment and this was limited to the pub.

Young people lived at home longer. Buying a home when marrying. They got own car later in life. Was no WiFi, phones, streaming etc.

This started to move in the 00s. People travelled more, bought more, rented, etc

Now look at where we are.

There is so much more of everything. A good reflection is always round your GAA club and see the situation there.

Young players, even at college or in school, many have their own cars.
At college or working, they'll have a couple of trips abroad, take in a trip or two to Uk, trips to concerts, weekends with GF away. They travel a lot.
They spend money on phones, streaming, Apps, etc
They eat out more, buy take away coffee, milkshakes, etc
They have lots of good gear, 2/3 pairs of boots, lose a pair of gloves a week and replacement them etc
Hair cuts most weeks, bare I say some even get waxed, tan shop visits etc.

There is lots of places for their money to go now. Publicans and ourselves harp back to the old days when all we had was drink, the pub etc to entertain ourselves.

Now there is so much more, some events like drinking ban, cost and driving laws,  have pushed us to look at alternatives but we welcomed these changes and have more rounded lifestyles now. There's no denying when people do go to the pub they make the most of it. They can drink more in one night that they did in past where they sat over a few pints a few nights a week.

Pubs are going to be for weekends and events now, places to eat and leave. It's been changing for 30 years and no intervention going to reverse that.

The right decision 👍👍

Says all the other counties.

Serial loser.

Lots of speculation and rumour around the passport/overseas investment money. Talk it not nearly all received and that question marks if it will be. No every story seems to have a different take on it.

Not ideal and the costs are continuing to spiral even before it's started.

Only way I can see it happening is piecemeal with pitch, lights and 1or 2 spectator areas in place first phase but that mightn't even be possible with the costs been thrown about.

Have a pair of adult Tickets for lower Davin. Well covered from the rain. Going spare, €80 would take the pair.

Also a pair for Lower Hogan. Same.

Dublin seem to have mixed the good and the bad these days. For the tanking we got in the Leinster final they started poorly and give ball away constantly. When they pressed on our kickout and we'd no plan B (or even A) with a rookie (experienced outfield player) keeper, they finished the game in a 10 minute spell. We got joy off their kick outs the same day but game was gone before it ever got to the melting pot.

Monaghan will need to stay in the game as long as possible and make Dublin feel some pressure. The worry is I've not been impressed with Monaghans own kickout this year and they rely on easy ball. They don't have natural midfielders to take advantage of Beggans booming kickouts.

Wet day might help Monaghan make it a dirty battle and they've a punchers chance.

Is Thomas contractually obliged he mention he went to the Munster hurling final every podcast? With Sambo of course!

Often wondered how those ambassador deals from car dealers work for GAA stars and the like work from a Revenue/BIK work. Is it a barter agreement? Not an employer/employee relationship or is it with benefit passing?

I did enjoy the outrage from some that was building but then turned when it was revealed to be Marty. Joe Brolly been a prime example. Paul Galvin another but his missus on the radio too.

I didn't see much wrong with what Marty done as per statement but would suspect there more to it

[Let the ref, referee the game and play your own game/manage the team/support your team.]

There needs to be clear parameters set out by the Gaa on how we communicate with referees. There needs to be a channel for parents, supporters to give feedback.Then a synchronised stand down across all clubs to set the boundaries with all members mandatory attendance. Cancel all matches that weekend.
Make sure all clubs, fans are clear on repercussions, with hefty bans for any incidents.
Then stick to the plan.

Channel what now?  Feedback by who? Possibly the single worse idea I've ever seen committed to writing.

Communicate with ref? Isn't that the cause of most of the problems.

Let the ref, referee the game and play your own game/manage the team/support your team.

Absolute batshit crazy.

Nothing to see here, can we all just move on....? Just 36 pages worth in little over a year

Absolutely not. That wasn't a response to what has happened. Far from it. It's to that crazy idea of giving a platform to give feedback to refs.

No one needs that "channel". When you go to game do what you're there for - play, manage or support. Not abuse or give feedback to a ref. How nuts would that be FFS.

Zero tolerance for those abusing the ref.

Jaysus, must have touched a nerve there. The whole reason there is abuse is because it is seen as the only way to get your point across.  This GAA closed shop mentality is at the root of a lot of the problems. Need to be forward thinking, make the public feel like they have an option other than abuse. 
There needs to be a correct channel available to air grievances back through your club in a dignified manner. A club rep then has that to feed back to the refs. Improvement and acknowledgement of errors needs to be at the heart of refereeing.
On the flip side, breaches of using the correct channels/abuse, should be severely punished.

It gets better 

Fair play. You've a great imagination.

Has to be a Wind up. Is this one of Ollys burner accounts?

[Let the ref, referee the game and play your own game/manage the team/support your team.]

There needs to be clear parameters set out by the Gaa on how we communicate with referees. There needs to be a channel for parents, supporters to give feedback.Then a synchronised stand down across all clubs to set the boundaries with all members mandatory attendance. Cancel all matches that weekend.
Make sure all clubs, fans are clear on repercussions, with hefty bans for any incidents.
Then stick to the plan.

Channel what now?  Feedback by who? Possibly the single worse idea I've ever seen committed to writing.

Communicate with ref? Isn't that the cause of most of the problems.

Let the ref, referee the game and play your own game/manage the team/support your team.

Absolute batshit crazy.

Nothing to see here, can we all just move on....? Just 36 pages worth in little over a year

Absolutely not. That wasn't a response to what has happened. Far from it. It's to that crazy idea of giving a platform to give feedback to refs.

No one needs that "channel". When you go to game do what you're there for - play, manage or support. Not abuse or give feedback to a ref. How nuts would that be FFS.

Zero tolerance for those abusing the ref.

There needs to be clear parameters set out by the Gaa on how we communicate with referees. There needs to be a channel for parents, supporters to give feedback.Then a synchronised stand down across all clubs to set the boundaries with all members mandatory attendance. Cancel all matches that weekend.
Make sure all clubs, fans are clear on repercussions, with hefty bans for any incidents.
Then stick to the plan.

Channel what now?  Feedback by who? Possibly the single worse idea I've ever seen committed to writing.

Communicate with ref? Isn't that the cause of most of the problems.

Let the ref, referee the game and play your own game/manage the team/support your team.

Absolute batshit crazy.

Listen to commentary round games now - Sunday game, live games, podcasts, newspapers etc and large part of it can be focused on decisions the ref made. And this is at senior inter county level.

Then listen to managers after games and they go after refs. Glen Ryan recently, McGeeney last weekend.

Go on social media and you've ex players slating refs and decisions they have made in games. This is picked up on by the click bait sites and they make stories out of it. It's lazy and easy narrative. They have no fear of slating a ref, as it's easy and doesn't take much analysis to criticise a decision that others agree with. Will they go after players or managers and call out their mistakes or preformance to the same degree or with the same language? Never, cause they want to be buddies or be able to meet them wherever and be their friend or have some connection to them.

All this filters back to the ref, often on his own running a game at any level in club football. People - supporters, mgt and players - see all of the above, added to the emotion of their own involvement and connection to the game and they think it gives them fair game to give their opinion.

This isn't an excuse but there needs to a collective approach to change this and not just lip service. The whole culture and commentary towards refs need to change. This is a shocking incident and I hope those affected recover soon.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/07/03/finishing-top-of-round-robin-group-pays-off-in-championship-quarter-finals/

There are informative stats from American Football whereby the teams who sit waiting to face the winners of the Wild Card weekend emerge victorious from that subsequent game approximately 74 per cent of the time.

Or to put it another way, the teams that have preformed better and win more games over the season also win the knockout game 3 out of 4 times.