60s football was better

[comethekingdom]

Martin McHugh on Radio 1 with Des Cahill this evening - Some of his points : Calling for the scrapping of the back door. 13 a side teams because fitness levels are at a standard that the likes of Tyrone who all go behind the ball when the opposition are in possesion, are crowding the pitches. Too much hand passing is ruining the game too. Scrap the provincial championship too. 
It was a bit of a rant but in fairness, standards have dropped and lots of people are getting sick of the negative tactics like crowding defences etc.

[tyssam5]

Martin McHugh on Radio 1 with Des Cahill this evening - Some of his points : Calling for the scrapping of the back door. 13 a side teams because fitness levels are at a standard that the likes of Tyrone who all go behind the ball when the opposition are in possesion, are crowding the pitches. Too much hand passing is ruining the game too. Scrap the provincial championship too. 
It was a bit of a rant but in fairness, standards have dropped and lots of people are getting sick of the negative tactics like crowding defences etc.

Where?

[tyssam5]

old football was crap. how many training sessions did county sides put in in those days anyway? tyrone have taken the gaa forward and everyone should realize that. TOTAL FOOTBALL. down are worried that if tyrone win another sam this year they will undoubtedly be the best team ulster has EVER produced!!

Maybe the best team the 6 counties has produced but it will be along time before Tyrone by pass Cavans teams of the 30's, 40's and 50's.

Is that true? If you take the present Tyrone team, more than half of them have 3 All-Irelands. Not sure about any of the Cavan teams, but I know there wasn't many players from 60,61 on the Down 68 team, maybe 3 or 4 max? How many Cavan men have 3 or more AI medals?

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

It was a bit of a rant but in fairness, standards have dropped and lots of people are getting sick of the negative tactics like crowding defences etc.

Oh dear, we're getting beaten a bit too often these days (even with the lowered standards), let's change the rules.

[comethekingdom]

Youse Ulster boys all stick together then?

[ziggysego]

Tyrone are having their day in the sun in recent times but maybe in 30 years time it will be the turn of say Monaghan (god forbid), maybe new levels of skill and fitness will be reached. Maybe the Monaghan fans of 2039 might then look back at Tyrone of 2008 and say how mediocre football was then. Would the Tyrone fans of 2039 accept that devaluing of their all irelands? I doubt it, no more than Down fans or Cavan fans will accept that their all irelands were won when football was of a crap standard. It always pays to look at things from the other side.

Cop yourself on. Down are held in high regards here. I've often heard my Dad speak about the great Doherty. However then he and Down players from that era decide to take a pop of the current style of Tyrone football , it is only fair and right that we hold up a mirror to them and ask was the standard genuinely that good back then.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Youse Ulster boys all stick together then?

Mc Hugh's up his own arse, but you were doing your best to crawl up it too.

[longrunsthefox]

Martin-(Tyrone will never win an All Ireland without Peter Canavan)-McHugh? 

[DUBSFORSAM1]

old football was crap. how many training sessions did county sides put in in those days anyway? tyrone have taken the gaa forward and everyone should realize that. TOTAL FOOTBALL. down are worried that if tyrone win another sam this year they will undoubtedly be the best team ulster has EVER produced!!

Well having the advantage of the backdoor has really helped them out - Cavan/Down still ahead of them...

Any team with aspirations of winning an All Ireland in the modern era tailor their training with the plan of peaking in August and September. That leaves any team liable to getting caught in the Provincial stages of the Championship. It's happened to Galway, Kerry and Tyrone since the introduction of the back door and it's hard to argue that those teams weren't the best in the country in those respective years. Like the teams in the bygone days, you have to play the hand you're dealt.

Well i would argue that if you want to be regarded as the best you should be winning your provincial title and going all the way....maybe I am a traditionalist but I dislike the idea of losing games and winning the All-Ireland It takes an awful lot away from the championship in my eyes and as Cavanagh says you know players aren't going to go full out etc..

[longrunsthefox]

old football was crap. how many training sessions did county sides put in in those days anyway? tyrone have taken the gaa forward and everyone should realize that. TOTAL FOOTBALL. down are worried that if tyrone win another sam this year they will undoubtedly be the best team ulster has EVER produced!!

Well having the advantage of the backdoor has really helped them out - Cavan/Down still ahead of them...

Any team with aspirations of winning an All Ireland in the modern era tailor their training with the plan of peaking in August and September. That leaves any team liable to getting caught in the Provincial stages of the Championship. It's happened to Galway, Kerry and Tyrone since the introduction of the back door and it's hard to argue that those teams weren't the best in the country in those respective years. Like the teams in the bygone days, you have to play the hand you're dealt.

Well i would argue that if you want to be regarded as the best you should be winning your provincial title and going all the way....maybe I am a traditionalist but I dislike the idea of losing games and winning the All-Ireland It takes an awful lot away from the championship in my eyes and as Cavanagh says you know players aren't going to go full out etc..

Did Cavanagh say that too 

[ziggysego]

old football was crap. how many training sessions did county sides put in in those days anyway? tyrone have taken the gaa forward and everyone should realize that. TOTAL FOOTBALL. down are worried that if tyrone win another sam this year they will undoubtedly be the best team ulster has EVER produced!!

Well having the advantage of the backdoor has really helped them out - Cavan/Down still ahead of them...

Any team with aspirations of winning an All Ireland in the modern era tailor their training with the plan of peaking in August and September. That leaves any team liable to getting caught in the Provincial stages of the Championship. It's happened to Galway, Kerry and Tyrone since the introduction of the back door and it's hard to argue that those teams weren't the best in the country in those respective years. Like the teams in the bygone days, you have to play the hand you're dealt.

Well i would argue that if you want to be regarded as the best you should be winning your provincial title and going all the way....maybe I am a traditionalist but I dislike the idea of losing games and winning the All-Ireland It takes an awful lot away from the championship in my eyes and as Cavanagh says you know players aren't going to go full out etc..

God forbid we keep stopping at the Provincial title

[ONeill]

A couple of things I'd agree with McHugh:

I was less enthusiastic of the back door after Sunday's game. Derry would never have been as listless had that been their last chance. There is something amiss in May and June - it's almost like a jockeying for position period. I know we cannot revert to the one game summer for county teams but perhaps points being awarded on a league basis might address that.

I've been calling for the scrapping of the provincials for years. They're simply silly, with 6 in one province and 12 in another. If Carlow were in Munster or Connaught, there'd have every chance of a provincial final and an automatic last 12 place in the AI series  if Cork and Kerry or Mayo and Galway were to meet in their provincial semis. In Leinster their chances are seriously diminished. An Ulster side in the prelim round needs to win 4 matches to reach the All-Ireland quarters throught the front door. In Munster, you can do it in two games. It's laughable in any other sport.

Just because it's tradition doesn't make it right.

[longrunsthefox]

In a league situation like the world Cup finals with 32 teams (as in 32 counties) and top two go through here are a lot of very one sided predictable games at the start... same in Champions league. No matter wat system will be same few teams ta the business end and will be one sided dead games 

[DUBSFORSAM1]

old football was crap. how many training sessions did county sides put in in those days anyway? tyrone have taken the gaa forward and everyone should realize that. TOTAL FOOTBALL. down are worried that if tyrone win another sam this year they will undoubtedly be the best team ulster has EVER produced!!

Well having the advantage of the backdoor has really helped them out - Cavan/Down still ahead of them...

Any team with aspirations of winning an All Ireland in the modern era tailor their training with the plan of peaking in August and September. That leaves any team liable to getting caught in the Provincial stages of the Championship. It's happened to Galway, Kerry and Tyrone since the introduction of the back door and it's hard to argue that those teams weren't the best in the country in those respective years. Like the teams in the bygone days, you have to play the hand you're dealt.

Well i would argue that if you want to be regarded as the best you should be winning your provincial title and going all the way....maybe I am a traditionalist but I dislike the idea of losing games and winning the All-Ireland It takes an awful lot away from the championship in my eyes and as Cavanagh says you know players aren't going to go full out etc..

Did Cavanagh say that too 

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/death-of-the-provinces-1786771.html

[Lovely Hurling]

http://ulster.gaa.ie/landofthegiants/2009/06/18/sean-oneill/ - if you listen to Sean O'Neill, who was named by the way on the team of the century and was still playing in 1975 (in the ulster final) he says the back-up they had was the key because they were 'streets ahead' of what everyone else was doing. But I don't really get this, like what were the rest doing? Were they really so backward and slow as to be caught out by boys who decided to train together and wear black shorts? rose-tinted glasses maybe, Sean. On the same point, why did he never captain Down in that era? we never hear much from the only living ulsterman named on the team of the century but i gather he is articulate, pity he couldn't give a more balanced view on the progress of gaelic football through the ages.