The GAA Rat Race

[Rossfan]

Introduce a rule whereby you cannot play Sigerson if you are training with a senior intercounty squad.
This would give sub-elite players a chance to play football with their college.
It would also reduce the scholarship merry-go-round as there's no point recruiting someone who won't be able to play for you.
It's unhealthy to have lads going to a college, or staying in college, just to play football.
Who would object to this?
And don't give me this "But the players will want to play Sigerson, think of the great memories they'll have etc."
It's high time we started protecting the players from themselves.
I full agree with Brolly by the way in terms of the GPA being the primary cause of the current mess.

A lot of county teams would train seniors and under 21s together.

I like Indiana's idea, but maybe at a slightly higher level. If you play Senior inter County championship, you cease to be eligible for an underage grade. Obviously the calendar will mitigate the impact of this rule when you are talking about pure U21s, but a lot of 20 year olds and younger are playing senior. I think once you've moved up you should be out of the underage equation.

It would make managers think twice about using younger lads as well.

re. the Sigerson, I think it's a good tournament, but it is starting to be blown way out of proportion. At the end of the day it's a knock out competition for colleges. A small bit of realism might be beneficial here. It should be a pleasant diversion for lads attending college, rather than a massive pressure situation for them. Colleges need to stop 'building' Sigerson teams, and instead go back to fielding teams to play Sigerson. (rather than 'creating a team *for* Sigerson).

Finally, I think they should not enter the O'Byrne/McKenna/FBD/McGrath Cups. No need for it. Is there still a third level league? If so, let them use that.


I think bringing in a rule that once you play adult county championship, you are ineligible for underage grades, reducing the perceived importance of the Sigerson, and reducing the amount of games the college teams play would be a good start.

Why not have a Rule in the T.O.( as otherwise every manager will want to have all his players no matter what guidelines are out there) that you can only be on one County panel at any given time. This would rule out the Hastinbgs/FBD double up  and the NFL/U21 Championship double up.
Once a County U21 team knocked out of course you can go up to the Senior panel then. It would help greatly if U21 came down a year to U20.
Colleges teams need to be taken out of the January warm up competitions and is there any reason the Sigerson can't be played at the last weekend Jan/first weekend Feb.?
At present we have a big start to the NFL, then goes to sleep while the College boys have their tourney thing and then we get 4 NFL games in a row in March.

And of course Jinxy/Bolly have to blame the GPA ( They need help badly ... J and B that is)

[Rossfan]

Some recommendations on the Minor front -

http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=229791

[Jinxy]

They've been discussing this again just now on Newstalk.
James Horan and Philip Jordan were on.

[INDIANA]

From talking to plenty of people I haven't heard anyone not agree with the fact that ther needs to be a radical overhaul of the fixtures from the top down and yet those that matter at the top continue to bury their head in the sand and do nothing.

Brollys interview on Newstalk sums up everything brilliantly and highlights the pressures on players now. They are pawns in the top brass' continued quest for revenue generation before player welfare. When will they say enough is enough?

It's all in aid of the professional approach! However it's trying to shoe horn that into an amateur structure. But we're not even remotely professional. All of our lads would be blown out of it by professional contact sportsmen from other codes.

That's why it's a complete folly the amount of strength and conditioning training senior  GAA players do. It's trying to attain a "professional" standard - a standard which they will never ever hit. Yet their skills go to pot because of it- they don't enjoy it. And the reasons they don't enjoy it is because every bloody down day is spent in the fecking gym.

I'm from S&C and I'd nearly bar some lads from the gym some evenings. Gaelic Football is played with a football not a dumb-bell. It's a pity some inter county managers wouldn't realise that and a greater pity the GAA don't. Because if they did they'd organise a better fixture list with a greater ratio of games to training and a proper player welfare programme outlining what teams and how many teams an individual player can line out for and impose serious sanctions on counties who break the rules.

[Jinxy]

From talking to plenty of people I haven't heard anyone not agree with the fact that ther needs to be a radical overhaul of the fixtures from the top down and yet those that matter at the top continue to bury their head in the sand and do nothing.

Brollys interview on Newstalk sums up everything brilliantly and highlights the pressures on players now. They are pawns in the top brass' continued quest for revenue generation before player welfare. When will they say enough is enough?

It's all in aid of the professional approach! However it's trying to shoe horn that into an amateur structure. But we're not even remotely professional. All of our lads would be blown out of it by professional contact sportsmen from other codes.

That's why it's a complete folly the amount of strength and conditioning training senior  GAA players do. It's trying to attain a "professional" standard - a standard which they will never ever hit. Yet their skills go to pot because of it- they don't enjoy it. And the reasons they don't enjoy it is because every bloody down day is spent in the fecking gym.

I'm from S&C and I'd nearly bar some lads from the gym some evenings. Gaelic Football is played with a football not a dumb-bell. It's a pity some inter county managers wouldn't realise that and a greater pity the GAA don't. Because if they did they'd organise a better fixture list with a greater ratio of games to training and a proper player welfare programme outlining what teams and how many teams an individual player can line out for and impose serious sanctions on counties who break the rules.

So would professional soccer players.
Pointless statement.

[INDIANA]

From talking to plenty of people I haven't heard anyone not agree with the fact that ther needs to be a radical overhaul of the fixtures from the top down and yet those that matter at the top continue to bury their head in the sand and do nothing.

Brollys interview on Newstalk sums up everything brilliantly and highlights the pressures on players now. They are pawns in the top brass' continued quest for revenue generation before player welfare. When will they say enough is enough?

It's all in aid of the professional approach! However it's trying to shoe horn that into an amateur structure. But we're not even remotely professional. All of our lads would be blown out of it by professional contact sportsmen from other codes.

That's why it's a complete folly the amount of strength and conditioning training senior  GAA players do. It's trying to attain a "professional" standard - a standard which they will never ever hit. Yet their skills go to pot because of it- they don't enjoy it. And the reasons they don't enjoy it is because every bloody down day is spent in the fecking gym.

I'm from S&C and I'd nearly bar some lads from the gym some evenings. Gaelic Football is played with a football not a dumb-bell. It's a pity some inter county managers wouldn't realise that and a greater pity the GAA don't. Because if they did they'd organise a better fixture list with a greater ratio of games to training and a proper player welfare programme outlining what teams and how many teams an individual player can line out for and impose serious sanctions on counties who break the rules.

So would professional soccer players.
Completely pointless statement.

Its not pointless Jinxy. it's exactly the point. Most GAA players are spending all their time in the gym trying to attain a strength and conditioning standard that is not required to play Gaelic Football. It doesn't improve their game, makes them constantly tired and helps only increase the injury rate. The only net benefit is the improvement in physique might help them score the odd Saturday night they are out.

And most  professional soccer players are still fitter then GAA players.

[Jinxy]

They're not physically stronger though.
Which, by your logic, is a failure on their behalf.
For a fella 'from S&C' you seem to have some peculiar notions about it.
Tennis players do weights.
So do formula 1 drivers and golfers.

[INDIANA]

They're not physically stronger though.
Which, by your logic, is a failure on their behalf.
For a fella 'from S&C' you seem to have some peculiar notions about it.
Tennis players do weights.
So do formula 1 drivers and golfers.

Who's not physically stronger? A professional rugby player would blow a GAA inter county player out of the water.

I don't consider soccer to be a contact sport. Didn't know Formula 1 one was either. You seem to have some peculiar ideas on things.

My mother  does weights too by the way.

[Jinxy]

Stronger than a soccer player obviously.
Comparing a gaelic footballer with a rugby player is absurd.
The two games are completely different.
SO on the one hand you say the players are doing too many weights and on the other hand you're deriding their efforts for not being as strong as athletes from other codes.
What point, if there is a point, are you trying to make?

[INDIANA]

Stronger than a soccer player obviously.
Comparing a gaelic footballer with a rugby player is absurd.
The two games are completely different.
SO on the one hand you say the players are doing too many weights and on the other hand you're deriding their efforts for not being as strong as athletes from other codes.
What point, if there is a point, are you trying to make?

It's not absurd they do exactly the same weight exercises. I see several GAA players mapping themselves against rugby players strength and power levels. And being given weight programmes to achieve the same.

The point is very clear - why do GAA bother trying to attain a power level that a) they have no hope of achieving and b) has no improvement on their game. If you cut inter county players gym times by 50% you go a long way to solving the problems of burn out

[From the Bunker]

They're not physically stronger though.
Which, by your logic, is a failure on their behalf.
For a fella 'from S&C' you seem to have some peculiar notions about it.
Tennis players do weights.
So do formula 1 drivers and golfers.

Who's not physically stronger? A professional rugby player would blow a GAA inter county player out of the water.

I don't consider soccer to be a contact sport. Didn't know Formula 1 one was either. You seem to have some peculiar ideas on things.

My mother  does weights too by the way.

You don't consider Soccer a contact sport? Why do the players wear shin guards? Have you ever seen two players rattle their heads off one another? Have you ever had a player go in hard with a sliding tackle? Is it because you cannot use your hands that you consider it non contact?

[Jinxy]

Stronger than a soccer player obviously.
Comparing a gaelic footballer with a rugby player is absurd.
The two games are completely different.
SO on the one hand you say the players are doing too many weights and on the other hand you're deriding their efforts for not being as strong as athletes from other codes.
What point, if there is a point, are you trying to make?

It's not absurd they do exactly the same weight exercises. I see several GAA players mapping themselves against rugby players strength and power levels. And being given weight programmes to achieve the same.

The point is very clear - why do GAA bother trying to attain a power level that a) they have no hope of achieving and b) has no improvement on their game. If you cut inter county players gym times by 50% you go a long way to solving the problems of burn out

I don't really know what you mean here.
Mapping themselves how?
Are these intercounty players?
Do you think Dublin overdo their S&C preparation?

[Ohtoohtobe]

I think Paul Flynn is the best, or at least the most consistent, footballer in the country. He looks like a rugby league player. I'm guessing he's spent a fair amount of time in the gym.
Indiana, do you think he'd be as effective and good as he is if he wasn't as strong as he is?

[Jinxy]

Paul Flynn is about 2 stone away from being a rugby league player.
He is a serious athlete though.

[Ohtoohtobe]

Paul Flynn is about 2 stone away from being a rugby league player.
He is a serious athlete though.

Fair enough Jinxy slight exaggeration perhaps but still a machine. I find it hard to believe he hasn't spent serious time doing weights.