Gambling left Oisin Mc Conville with debts of £100,000

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Are you a compulsive gambler?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5010172.stm

[Bensars]

Available for pre order now £ 10.79

www.rbooks.co.uk/author.aspx?id=57370

And it wasnt a staged PR stunt.

[stiffler]

Slighty off topic, but I was told the other day that Crossmaglen have never lost an Armagh championship game when Oisin was playing for them. Does anyone know if this is true? some record if it is.

I think the last time Cross lost a championship game in Armagh was 1995, im not sure if Oisin had broken into the team by then.

[Balboa]

Will he be doing a book signing session in Eastwoods instead of Easons?

[Over the Bar]

Slighty off topic, but I was told the other day that Crossmaglen have never lost an Armagh championship game when Oisin was playing for them. Does anyone know if this is true? some record if it is.

You could say that about any player playing since Oisin started with the county and since Cross didnt lose any when he wasnt playing either, it makes it a bit of a non-story in terms of McConville alone.

[stiffler]

any player who has a career longer than ten years and never looses a club championship game within their county needs a bit of credit!

[pintsofguinness]

Good luck Oisin hope ye make a few quid from it.  Boys theres a massive ignorance to gambling problems on here.  I know people whose lives, marriages, work were ruined by this illness, men who couldnt buy a loaf of bread on a Friday evening after a hard weeks work.  Drinks bad but you can only drink so much,  but you can gamble everything away very quickly.  I hope he stays on top of his illness, and I just cant believe  people from within Oisins own county would use his admission to attack him.  The GAA is Irish life, it has all types of individuals most with flaws of some sort  in it because it is so comprehensive and all encompassing.  What I suspect is an undercover investigation based on betting by players to be attempted by the BBC, I suspect they will find nothing. 

Hold on a second here. It was Mc Conville ( or publishers ) that contacted the BBC for the interview. Im not the biggest fan of the BBC regarding their coverage and all things GAA but this is a different ball game altogether. Yes its good that hes over it and by it may make people more aware of the various organisations out there that may be of assistance for them.

He said in the the interview that the GAA should do something. It has nothing to do with the GAA.  Does the GAA get involved in all other areas of social and private life , absolutley not.

If oisin feels that strongly about about it , why doesnt he donate the proceeds of athe book to the GAA to appoint a gambling advice officer/counsellor.

Mr Mc Conville has enjoyed a lot of the trappings that only the best in GAA will experience, and i personally feel he has a cheek to ask or insinuate that the GAA should get involved. Whats next ? Marriage Guidence ? Spousal abuse ? Speeding ? the list is endless !!

great post, agree with every word.

[Over the Bar]

any player who has a career longer than ten years and never looses a club championship game within their county needs a bit of credit!

Without doubt, but is McConville the only player with 10 years on the clock on the cross team?  Credit to them all equally I say.

[stiffler]

Im not sure Id say the McEntees are probably on the same boat, but the question im asking is did he(or the others for that matter) play the last time they got beat in Armagh?!!

[armaghniac]

Oisin has never missed a championship game with Cross', some other well established players have through injury. And to his credit he put the work in while being treated for his problem.

[rosnarun]

any player who has a career longer than ten years and never looses a club championship game within their county needs a bit of credit!

Without doubt, but is McConville the only player with 10 years on the clock on the cross team?  Credit to them all equally I say.

I know i shouldn't
but is it this not the cause of the problem  in the first place

[Our Nail Loney]

I did that test and got 7/20 which states that I am a compulsive gambler!!

[brokencrossbar1]

Outside of my spate with uladh, I agree with Bensars to an extent that this is not a percievd problem associated with the GAA and I think perhaps Oisin has gone one the wrong road.  However, it could be a bigger problem than we realise and I know that other players are into laying big money and there have been accusations of game fixing etc. so maybe there is more to that than it would first appear.

In regards to the side issue, Oisin made his championship debut for Cross in 1993 and I think the Harps beat Cross in the battle of Killeavey that year, in 1994 we were beaten by the Ogs in Keady, when about 4 more of us made our full debuts.  A dire game where Harney scored 3 goals in the first half and the Ogs slowed the game down the whole second half.  I remember it vividlly as a certain Houlie gave me a roasting in midfield on my debut.  In 1995 Mullaghbawn beat us and Oisin was playing that day as well and that was the last defeat in Armagh.

[Over the Bar]

Oisin has never missed a championship game with Cross', some other well established players have through injury. And to his credit he put the work in while being treated for his problem.

That's pretty impressive record then, given his back problems and off-field issues.   Should we presume he'd wagered big on Cross winning the championship at the start of each year then?? 

[stiffler]

Outside of my spate with uladh, I agree with Bensars to an extent that this is not a percievd problem associated with the GAA and I think perhaps Oisin has gone one the wrong road.  However, it could be a bigger problem than we realise and I know that other players are into laying big money and there have been accusations of game fixing etc. so maybe there is more to that than it would first appear.

In regards to the side issue, Oisin made his championship debut for Cross in 1993 and I think the Harps beat Cross in the battle of Killeavey that year, in 1994 we were beaten by the Ogs in Keady, when about 4 more of us made our full debuts.  A dire game where Harney scored 3 goals in the first half and the Ogs slowed the game down the whole second half.  I remember it vividlly as a certain Houlie gave me a roasting in midfield on my debut.  In 1995 Mullaghbawn beat us and Oisin was playing that day as well and that was the last defeat in Armagh.

thanks for clearing that up BCB