Doomsday+1

[Canalman]

BT 7 ....Well said.

The GAA in Dublin (that is what I am familiar with) has lost their major incentive for kids imo....playing in a packed CP for Dublin. This dream is now irretrievably diluted and I see that the Indo (not surprisingly) stating that the GAA is now "obliged for Irish Sport's sake" to open up CP long term.
I feel very bitter about the way all constructive opposition to opening up CP was slandered and poo pooed by an anti GAA element in the media.Any opponent was labelled a backwoodsman or a knuckle dragging throwback to the 1950s.

We have gone to the expense of building CP(with Government Grants the GAA was entitled to after 100plus years service to the nation) only to see our two sporting rivals cuckoonesting their way into our jewel without any capital expenditure, leaving them in a better position to financially outmuscle us now at ground level.

The repercussions will be serious I'm afraid.

Official Ireland is a powerful force. 

[Farrandeelin]

Is rugby 'the beat of the nation' as Tom McGurk called it? I was against the opening up of Croke Park because I knew well from some quarters that if we let them in at all we'd have a major problem in getting them to build a stadium of their own, which would cost them a lot of money. Well low and behold, the back page of the Indo states that rugby must be played in Croke Park and Croke Park should become the National Stadium. As well as that, i also noticed that RTE interviewed some youngsters on the News and they were in opinion that the GAA atmosphere is nothing to that the rugby atmospherre. So how on Earth is this of any benefit to the media-pandering GAA? And at halftime yesterday at the Mayo v Limerick game there were youngsters playing their own mini-rugby games in McHale park! Maybe I'm jumping to awful conclusions altogether, but if we read the papers, how much coverage has been given to GAA and how much nhas been given to rugby? I hope I'm wrong on all of this and that Lansdowne is redeveloped but I cannot see it happening.

[dublinfella]

I can understand (although not agree with) somebody who says, as a point of principal, 'it's our ground, our money, it should only be used by the GAA' but I don't understand how you can then turn round and use rugby and soccer grounds and training facilities, when the 'boots on the other foot'.

he wont give you a straight answer because there is huge hypocricy within some elements of the GAA towords this issue. most on this site believe thomas davis gaa club are right to go to the high court to force shamrock rovers and the government to rebuild tallaght soccer stadium to suit gaelic games. but no such reciprical gesture can be made under rule 42.

its perfectly acceptable to use other sports facilities and even take legal action to force the GAA in, but no other sports can even train on a gaa pitch. as you say, its having our cake and eating it too.

[Syd The Sailor]

I honestly dont see rugby as a threat, these things go in cycles. Everyone is jumping on the rugby bandwagon, before this year they probably thought a worldclass hooker was something you got in Amsterdam. The rugby bandwagon will depend on how good the national team is, when they turn into a bag of shite again nobody will be interested. Look at the football teams national team, they are a laughing stock. Let them have their day in the sun in Croke Park then get them fcuked out back to Lansdowne.......

[muppet]

 Soccer had days like saturday but seems a long way off now. Irish Rugby was chronic for 15 years but is having it's heyday now. Good luck to them.

Remember the Gaa has All-Ireland finals every year. It is always our heyday.

[Canalman]

Dublinfella. the reason they are not allowed to train or play in GAA grounds is BECAUSE THEY DID NOT PAY TO HAVE THEM BUILT AND THEY DO NOT HAVE AN ENTITLEMENT TO USE THEM.

Soccer in particular,despite squandering their vast revenue in the last 50plus years on player's wages and to be blunt about it ,downright skullduggery in some instances, seem to feel they have the "right" to use GAA grounds.
My father often tells me that the league of Ireland games in the 1950s and 1960s would often attract gates of 20,000 plus.Where did the money go to

Why Dublinfella should the GAA clubs allow a competing sport into their grounds?

[muppet]

Why Dublinfella should the GAA clubs allow a competing sport into their grounds

Because all over the country they let us into their grounds. Many Gaa clubs have used Rugby facilities including my own club.

[Pangurban]

While Hardy and others have made a reasonable commercial case for the renting out of Croker, in doing so they have missed the point of the argument. Surely in modern Ireland there can be room for one organisation not governed completely by the values of the marketplace. The G.A.A. has never been just a sporting organisation, it has always exercised a wider remit, politically, socially and culturally. In doing so it has sought to transmit a unique sense of values and sense of identity. Many people will not espouse those values and that is their right. But should the G.A.A. jettison its values and mission purely for monetary gain. Many people appear to have no problem doing this and in some perverted way believe they are advancing the association by doing so. Those of us who disagree believe we have something of more value than economic success to hand on to our children and the Nation. This is the crux of the argument.
Incidentally i note that the predictions i made on an earlier post on this thread,which Dublinfella and a few others described as Paranoia, are now actually fact, but far be it from me to say i told you so.

[muppet]

But should the G.A.A. jettison its values and mission purely for monetary gain. Many people appear to have no problem doing this and in some perverted way believe they are advancing the association by doing so. Those of us who disagree believe we have something of more value than economic success to hand on to our children and the Nation. This is the crux of the argument.

The monetary argument is for those who need a logical reason, calling them perverts doesn't alter the fact that more money can be of benefit to the association.

[dublinfella]

Dublinfella. the reason they are not allowed to train or play in GAA grounds is BECAUSE THEY DID NOT PAY TO HAVE THEM BUILT AND THEY DO NOT HAVE AN ENTITLEMENT TO USE THEM.

Soccer in particular,despite squandering their vast revenue in the last 50plus years on player's wages and to be blunt about it ,downright skullduggery in some instances, seem to feel they have the "right" to use GAA grounds.
My father often tells me that the league of Ireland games in the 1950s and 1960s would often attract gates of 20,000 plus.Where did the money go to

Why Dublinfella should the GAA clubs allow a competing sport into their grounds?

and the award for deliberatly missing the point goes to....

a non-gaa member askes why its acceptible to use otehr sports grounds while banning them using our facilities.

you bang on about them 'not having an entitlement to use' GAA facilities. we know that ffs, hence the question.

I dont think non gaa clubs should be let in. but i think its hypocritical and arrogant to use other sports facitlites with rule 42 in place. we cant (correctly) say 'our pitches our rules' and carry on like we are over tallaght. are other sports not entitled to protect whats there's too?

[Pangurban]

In the interest of accuracy i called no one a pervert, i said i personally found there there reasoning perverted. I acknowledge that many good G.A.A. people are to be found in the ranks of those who disagree with me.though i have difficulty in understanding their reasoning

[ClosetotheHarte]

Do you have the same problem with the GAA clubs who use rugby and soccer pitches and training facilities, or is it purely a one-way street?

[/quote]
I can understand (although not agree with) somebody who says, as a point of principal, 'it's our ground, our money, it should only be used by the GAA' but I don't understand how you can then turn round and use rugby and soccer grounds and training facilities, when the 'boots on the other foot'.
[/quote]

Does this actually happen much/at all where GAA clubs use rugby and soccer facilities? Sammy keeps bringing this point up in his arguments but I've never heard of a GAA club using pitches or facilities belonging to other sports. Maybe Council facilities, but not rugby or soccer grounds.
Unless its something that happens in the city areas! And if so, how much?

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Well as someone who has been involved in playing GAA abroad in a number of locations I have to say that if it wasn't for the generosity of rugby/cricket organisations then GAA would be played far less abroad....

Was great to hear Eamon Dunphy giving unreserved praise to the GAA for having the guts to open up Croke Park and admitting that he worried about the effect of the Premiership in particular on hurling primarily and on Gaelic....

I think the fact that the GAA is competing with these sports means that we need to take more care to ensure that Hurling/Gaelic football are seen in all their glory more during the year....the same way people say that seeing BOD/Duff in Croke Park will bring youngsters into wanting to play rugby/football there is also the issue that seeing our top players playing in Croke Park more often will help the GAA....to my mind the removal of weaker counties from the All-Ireland etc is a disaster....

[dublinfella]

Do you have the same problem with the GAA clubs who use rugby and soccer pitches and training facilities, or is it purely a one-way street?

I can understand (although not agree with) somebody who says, as a point of principal, 'it's our ground, our money, it should only be used by the GAA' but I don't understand how you can then turn round and use rugby and soccer grounds and training facilities, when the 'boots on the other foot'.
[/quote]

Does this actually happen much/at all where GAA clubs use rugby and soccer facilities? Sammy keeps bringing this point up in his arguments but I've never heard of a GAA club using pitches or facilities belonging to other sports. Maybe Council facilities, but not rugby or soccer grounds.
Unless its something that happens in the city areas! And if so, how much?

[/quote]

its quite common in Dublin, specifically astro turf pitches

[ONeill]

Feck me, some of you doomsday merchants would make great tabloid writers. In an age when Premiership football and other sporting codes receive back-to-back coverage on TV, GAA continues to grow from strength to strength. Bigger attendances, more profits and fanatical interest (esp the rising female viewing figures)  have been the norm in recent seasons when it comes to GAA. Playing Rugby, Cricket, Soccer, eel-catching etc on Croker will not make one iota of a difference. When Charlton and his men were in their prime from 88-94, the doom merchants were out again. Ireland is a small nation. If their rugby team is going well, the nation will follow it....then numbers drop. Same for soccer. GAA is growing in terms of spectatorship year in year out. GAA jerseys are everywhere to be seen in estates and streets all over the country. Compare that to 20 years ago.

If you're talking about playing the games (and the possibility of a decline) then look no further than other lifestyle aspects of Ireland's youth in 2007. However, and I can only speak for Ulster counties, the amount of youngsters at GAA summer camps, development squads, playing school competitions is phenomenal and rising.

This Irish rugby squad, with the World Cup year that's in it and the high profile wins in last year's 6 nations and autumn tests, was always going to be hyped up by the media whether they played in Croke Park, Lansdowne Rd or on my land. They're our best rugby side in decades. They'll capture the imagination of our youth in the same way as 'put 'em under pressure' did.