McCarthy admits he does not have backing of Cork hurlers

[theskull1]

The ballot is secret. They vote and that's the end of it.
The CB isn't. It's not in private, it's in front of everyone. So what do they do, those afraid of ramifications, they go..ba,ba,baa..isn't that right Skull.

From the inside back pages of last weeks Examiner. Doesn't say if it was taken in Mallow or from the recent CCB AGM?  

[stevetharlear]

That's the holy combover in the middle, with his loyal lapdog Bobbo seated on his left!

They look like they've got plans for the sheep...



...maybe they're the new development squad.

[Reillers]

McCarthy sends letter to players
17 December 2008

Cork hurling boss Gerald McCarthy has sent a letter to every member of the outgoing squad to ascertain their availability for the coming season.
McCarthy said that he had sent the letter in a spirit of goodwill and in the best interests of Cork hurling, and is hoping for a quick response so he can finalise plans for next month's Waterford Crystal Tournament.

"I have written to the 30 players that were there during the 2008 NHL and during the championship," he said.

"I have outlined my plans for 2009 and I was also in a position
to inform them that Dr Con Murphy and physio Declan O'Sullivan would be on board
next season, joining Aodhán MacGearailt and Martin McSweeney in the backroom team.

"It's important that things start moving quickly as we will
be back into the thick of things from the first day of January
getting ready for the Waterford Crystal and the league."

McCarthy acknowledged recent events have affected everybody
in Cork hurling, but stated that his only objective
is putting out the best team to represent the county.

"Everybody has been affected, but we can move on and if the
will is there, that can happen. It is, after all, a sport not a war.

"I would sincerely hope that everybody I have written to
makes themselves available but if they don't I would hope they
won't stand in the way of others who want to play."

McCarthy also said that the players who participated in the
recent St Colman's challenge game were very much part of his plans.

"Those players were told then that it was not a one-off game
and that they were part of a development squad in the county.

"That was a process I had hoped to introduce last year, but
it didn't happen because of the strike but it is ongoing now and
those players are currently working away in gyms and we
will be meeting up with them again shortly."


I'd say infairness to him he's trying if I didn't think it was such a PR stunt. He knows full well that it pointless sending the letter. Honest to God he is naive though..or a massive pr stunt, I think it's a bit of both.

A few things wrong with his statement there..

Is it just me or is someone missing from the backroom team??
He's still the manager, which is part and parcel of Cork's problem..he's a bad manager, good player, but it doesn't change the fact that he's a bad manager, and still the manager.
It's sport not a war..so naive, has he missed the past few months, it's like he woke up, and said ah never mind that, that was nothing. And he's so naive, it's a war, not with him and the players, but with the CB and the players, he doesn't seem to realise it, or the fact that the CB are using him as a pawn and will wash their hands of him in seconds if things go pair shapped with the new team if they are the ones playing. It's a war that the players and the CB are and have been fighting for years.
when he says he hopes everyone will make themselves available, I think he knows they wont and it's a bit of a PR stunt.
And those kids, which are part of his "plan" that he's apparently had last year..even though he was prepared to walk away a few weeks ago, will get shafted like he will when things go pair shapped or will get rid off if the players come back.

[orangeman]

It amuses me that you keep referring to Mc Carthy as a bad manager - what is a bad manager ? Is it one who is incompetent ? Can't make the right switches on match day ? Is it one who has poor interpersonal skills

Exactly why do you feel that Mc Carthy is a bad manager ?


With regard to the letters sent to each and every panel memeber, I think he's only covering himself here. It's not so much a PR stunt as a way of covering his arse in case somebody accuses him of not making contact with the outgping players. He is extending an olive branch by saying, if there is a will there's a way and sure it's only a game not a war.


As I have said before, it's a pity the players couldn't show the same willingness to form a meeting of minds, to make some form of compromise or to at least attempt to reconcile things even for one season.

Perhaps too many harsh words have been exchanged by both sides. Perhaps the players do feel so aggrieved that they feel that they can't play for Cork. But I do honestly believe that the players have adopted a position that is so inflexible and so concrete, that they think they can't come back.


Harsh words are exchanged quite often and in the heat of the moment in many walks of life.

Cork hurling is too big to let personalities get in the way.


I would urge both sides to try and work it out - for the good of Cork hurling and not their own selfish pride. I include all sides in this.


It's the season of goodwill - yes you can !

[Reillers]

It amuses me that you keep referring to Mc Carthy as a bad manager - what is a bad manager ? Is it one who is incompetent ? Can't make the right switches on match day ? Is it one who has poor interpersonal skills

Exactly why do you feel that Mc Carthy is a bad manager ?


With regard to the letters sent to each and every panel memeber, I think he's only covering himself here. It's not so much a PR stunt as a way of covering his arse in case somebody accuses him of not making contact with the outgping players. He is extending an olive branch by saying, if there is a will there's a way and sure it's only a game not a war.


As I have said before, it's a pity the players couldn't show the same willingness to form a meeting of minds, to make some form of compromise or to at least attempt to reconcile things even for one season.

Perhaps too many harsh words have been exchanged by both sides. Perhaps the players do feel so aggrieved that they feel that they can't play for Cork. But I do honestly believe that the players have adopted a position that is so inflexible and so concrete, that they think they can't come back.


Harsh words are exchanged quite often and in the heat of the moment in many walks of life.

Cork hurling is too big to let personalities get in the way.


I would urge both sides to try and work it out - for the good of Cork hurling and not their own selfish pride. I include all sides in this.


It's the season of goodwill - yes you can !

Em..ok..almost agree with your post OM..Tis the bloody season all right.

Every man and his dog can see that he is a poor manager.
Incompetent..yes,
Can't make the right switches..yes,
Poor interpersonal skills..yes,

Along with that poor training sessions, poor decision making, naive tactics, poor chainging of tactics, not knowing things that you should know about the players, like oh I don't know, who they are, what club they play for, going back on his word, going on a power drive..there are a lot of reasons why he's not a good manager. Being a good player doesn't automatically make you a good manager, in this case it's true.

It's just comprimise for what,
Gerald will still be there and so will the CB..what comprimise will they or can they get from that..nothing. He's saying oh come back, offering an "olive branch" like you said, but he'll still be the manager. He's telling the players to roll over, maybe they should, maybe they shouldn't, but at the end of the day, they're going back to the same thing they left..except worse, because the CB will have won and here we come pre 2002 yet again. Why should they have to go back to crap like that, they know full well that they wont win with a system and manager like that. If they go back they'll be the ones making the comprimise, no one else will be..what's the comprimise going to be..come back and what exactly?? What they want is McCarthy gone (and a different CB). Neither of which they will agree, they wont get that.

Perhaps too many harsh words have been exchanged by both sides. Perhaps the players do feel so aggrieved that they feel that they can't play for Cork. But I do honestly believe that the players have adopted a position that is so inflexible and so concrete, that they think they can't come back.

Too many harsh words..ya. But they'll be the only ones making comprimises.
They feel and have been feeling aggrieved for 6 plus years.
Ya they're in a position all right, they've cemented themselves into it all right, but how many times have the players come out on top after having their backs up against the wall..when no one said they could do it. More times then you'd be able to count.
They think if they go back, they'll have lost. They certainly wont have gained anything. McCarthy will still be manager, the CB will still be there. They will have lost and the things that were going badly will just go worse, and like I said it'll be back to what it was like pre strike in 2002.

I get what you're saying, there should be something that they could do..but there's no comprimise to be made because we're talking about peoples jobs here. McCarthy can't exactly turned around and give them his word saying training will be better, he did that before and he didn't follow through. The trust is gone, and there's very little to comprimise on.
I get what you're saying but what comprimise do you think would work?? I don't see one, I don't think there is one.

Oh and you could also see the letter as
either a smoke screen
or
An act of desperation more than anything.

How can Gerald send a letter of 'Good will' after what he said to the players when he met them and the 'leaking' of the confidential document?
He has to know that he'll get zero respect or trust from the playrers, which you can't work with. Which makes me think that he's either naive beyond dount ot it's a pure PR stunt??

[theskull1]

Reillers is it not about time you replaced all your they's with we's when referring to the players? 

[Reillers]

THIS ARTICLE HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD.  WELL DONE MICHAEL MOYNIHAN!


The road to nowhere

By Michael Moynihan
ROY KEANE'S recent departure from Sunderland led to the usual ham-fisted comparisons with Cork people in general, and the current Cork hurling stand-off in particular.


The constituent parts of the rant can be assembled like a Lego castle: what is it in the water down there, always arguing, Rebels by name, look at the carry-on of Stephen Ireland, and so on.

In some ways the lazy arguments have a grain of truth: there's often trouble in Cork. In GAA terms that trouble goes back a long way.

Anyone who picks up the Christy Ring/Peil DVD reissued by Gael Linn for Christmas will enjoy the plentiful extras on the disc, such as newsreel action from games in the '50s and '60s, as well as a brief documentary on Ring himself, which begins with crowds swarming down the Marina to a Cork-Tipp NHL clash circa 1960. Beyond the choice details such as overloaded rowing boats bringing spectators across the river Lee, not to mention the players' healthy approach to physical confrontation on the field of play, one aspect of the approach road to the then-Athletic Grounds ground caught our eye.

It is no exaggeration to say that the little dip in the road down from the Marina itself to the Athletic Grounds was in far better nick almost half a century ago, smoothly paved and devoid of potholes, than the cracked and pockmarked road that now leads down to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Plenty of people have seized on the condition of Cork's riverside stadium as an apt symbol for the GAA on Leeside at present: outwardly imposing yet riven with cracks, cutting-edge in its long-ago heyday, but now trailing behind; lumbering and forbidding, remote and uncomfortable.

That kind of personification may appear first to be more relevant to the offbeat psychogeography of Iain Sinclair and Will Self, writers who chronicle the emotional effect of different environments on the people who live in them, but you can tease out the parallels by visiting some significant places on the Cork sporting map.

A journey from the grey hulk of Páirc Uí Chaoimh into the city centre takes you along the Marina and up to Maylor Street, where Munster Rugby maintains an impressive commercial presence in the heart of the city. There's plenty of branded merchandise for sale in the official Munster shop, as well as posters announcing, far in advance, the team's next game.

Another snappy stroll takes one along the South Mall and over Parliament Bridge to the official Cork City FC shop.

Cork City has suffered plenty of financial troubles this year, including the ignominy of examinership, but it still maintains a highly visible outlet in the city centre to keep its brand and identity alive. There are plenty of City-branded goods on offer and nobody passing within 50 yards of the shop would be in any doubt about the details of the club's next outing. The venture is supported by the top administrators in the domestic game: FAI chief executive John Delaney carried out the formal opening.

There is no corresponding GAA commercial outlet in Cork city, the second-biggest urban area in the Republic and a long-standing Gaelic games stronghold. There are plenty of sports shops selling jerseys and tracksuits, but nothing dedicated to the sale of Cork county or club clothing, tickets or other merchandise in the city centre.

Some weeks ago Páirc Uí Chaoimh hosted the county senior hurling and football finals, but you would not have been aware of it upon landing into the city that day. Nothing extra was done to draw people out of their homes and down the Marina for the game. Perhaps a simple billboard or poster on one of the city's main thoroughfares to alert thousands of passers-by to the line-up, time and venue? As if.

That outlook bespeaks laziness when it comes to consumers, a dangerous attitude to have as recession gnaws at people's disposable income, and taking your clients for granted can turn them off. Then again, consider the Cork County Board's history with its own players.

IF YOU head back from the Cork City FC shop on the quay and back into the city centre, a turn or two will bring you to Cook Street, for many years the location for administrative meetings of the Cork County Board.

There is a long and inglorious litany of tense exchanges between players and administrators in Cork, and contrary to what propagandists would have us believe, the two sides have clashed for at least a century. Most people casting their minds back for examples cite the great dash for the train when the Cork footballers headed for Heuston Station rather than play extra time against Dublin in Croke Park in a national league back in the '80s, or the tangled 'three stripes affair' of the '70s, when Cork footballers faced suspension for wearing Adidas gear.

But the acrimony goes back much further. In the early years of the last century Jamesie Kelleher of Dungourney and Cork, one of the greatest hurlers of his time, sent a letter to local media filled with stinging criticism of GAA administrators within the county. The issues raised are wearyingly familiar even in the 21st century, with the poor treatment of players preparing for games top of his hit-list.

In 1931 the great Cork star Eudie Coughlan retired at the relatively early age of 31. His reason should ring a bell with anyone who followed last season's stand-off closely; Coughlan took issue with the county board's decision to remove from his club, Blackrock, the right to pick the Cork team in favour of a selection committee and stepped behind the line as a consequence.

Just over ten years after Coughlan's retirement, another All-Ireland captain landed into Cook Street to question the conditions under which the Cork hurlers were preparing for an All-Ireland final. Jack Lynch would say later that he got "short shrift" from the board when he suggested that it was unsatisfactory for the Cork players to have their clothing soaked by a leaky dressing-room ceiling as they trained in the Athletic Grounds.

The dual star's clear-eyed view of what was right and wrong showed up elsewhere. Readers of the new biography of Lynch, written by UCC Professor Dermot Keogh, will find the story of the player travelling to games to play for Cork in a taxi paid for by the county board. Their rules dictated, however, that only players could travel in said taxi, and Lynch recognised the ridiculousness of the situation, travelling alone in the cab as it passed his friends and acquaintances cycling or walking to the very same match. Cork succeeded in spite of those obstacles. Coughlan captained Cork to an epic win over Kilkenny in 1931, and Lynch collected the Liam McCarthy Cup 11 years later as well.

Even the greatest of them all had a withering view of Rebel administrators. Val Dorgan's biography of Christy Ring includes the story of the maestro being stopped by a jobsworth on the turnstiles in Pairc Uí Chaoimh.

"Leave that man in," said a county board official who happened upon the scene, "That's Christy Ring, he won eight All-Irelands with Cork."

Ring's riposte was immortal: "And if I wasn't carrying fellas like you I'd have won another eight."

The obvious point to make is that the current officers of the Cork County Board are not the same men who tangled with Jamesie Kelleher and Eudie Coughlan. It is exactly 100 years since Kelleher wrote to 'The Cork Sportsman' and referred to the board with the words: "It's time to wake up, take the bags from these gentlemen and show them the outside of the gates."

While it sometimes appears that the rate of change is glacial at county board level, it's not that glacial.

However, a particular culture can be perpetuated from generation to generation within any organisation. The reluctance of the Cork County Board to market its own greatest asset — the games it oversees — is an effect of that culture, a symptom that's easily remedied: it just requires action.

However, the county board's long history of conflict with its own players is different, and lies at the root of the divisions within the GAA in Cork. It proves that a toxic legacy of disrespect has become the prevailing culture within the organisation, that lessons have not been learned from the past, and that confrontation with prominent hurlers goes back to the beginning of the last century.

Those who blame the Cork senior hurlers for the current stand-off might bear that in mind.

[Reillers]

And what's that they say about histort repeating itself if we don't learn from our past mistakes..mmhh..

[RedandGreenSniper]

Ah for crying out loud, using incidents that happened over 100 years ago to support today's argument. I've heard it all.

Every county board was miserly in those days. Mayo players who won back to back All-Irelands in 50/51 had major problems with the county board in 48 and sent a petition asking for better treatment. They got minor improvements afaik

The country was fecked then, of course county boards were miserly, you can't use that as a comparison.

The Cork County Board don't have a shop, eh? Well name me a county that does. Its one of the drawbacks (some might not consider it a drawback) of being an amateur organisation. That's not a Cork problem, its a GAA problem. My hole is sickened listening to these attempts at sob stories. And if you hear them from Cork once, you'll hear them 100 times. How many times have we heard about Gerald McCarthy getting Timmy McCarthy's club wrong? And how many times have we heard of Donal Og having to piss in the corner of a hall in Pairc Ui Chaoimh? They're getting a soft enough ride imho

[Reillers]

But that's the point. If it was 100 years ago it would be fine. But it's not, it's now. It's happening now, all the time. Not 100 years ago ALL THE TIME. The board REFUSE to learn from their mistakes. You've heard those stories 100 times..it doesn't make them any less true, and please, you don't know the half of it..clearly.

Oh and so according to you it's ok that a coach doesn't know a players name, or the club they play for and it's ok with you that when the players went to a match theie dressing room was being used so they'd to go and get changed in the hall..that's ok with you.

TYPICAL GAA attitude. Shut up or put up. It's a joke, it's about time we moved on from it before it kills the game, because.."The more political players get, the more they will challenge this set up."

People like this, like you, are what's wrong with the GAA, and will eventually lead to the death of it if things don't change. We expect out players to act like pros, play like pros, they punish players as strictly as they do in the professional games, they are after bringing in even more strict rules now, profesional in all but name..but when it comes to our great set up in the GAA, it's pathetic, and the sad thing is some people want to keep it like that, and the most ironic thing about it is that the worst run, worst set up feature in the GAA, the most "amateur like" are the lads who are actually getting paid for it.

It's people like you who think the players should act like sheep, that they stay quiet and get treated like crap. This attitude, this old as times attitude is what will kill the GAA because the people who are supposedly in charge, who get decent wages for this want to have their cake and eat it too and there are idiots out their with the same attitude..the players are getting so blatantly treated like crap but according to ye it's..how dare they stand up against that. This attitude of yourself and others is one of the biggest flaws of this game. One of the major problems that could well kill it.

[RedandGreenSniper]

Maybe I don't know the half of it. Those of us outside the Cork loop are being spun tale and counter tale. My view is McCarthy seems to be a far from excellent manager but I can't agree with players refusing to play for a man. Dangerous territory regardless of the consultancy process being abused by the board. Its not the right road to go down. Do they think they're gonna get what they want because they're showing no sign of backing down and ya can be sure the board won't.

[theskull1]

TYPICAL GAA attitude. Shut up or put up. It's a joke, it's about time we moved on from it before it kills the game

A TYPICAL GAA attitude? What a load of balls Reillers. I'll give you one GAA mantra which is lost on you boys. What about respecting other volunteers and if you have a concerns, be part of the solution rather than the problem? 99.99% would be embarrassed whinging/lambasting in the way this group of players are doing to the point they would have walked away a long time ago with their dignity intact. I still think the reasons why this group of players just don't go away quietly has to be seriously questioned. Just how much has them maintaining "their" profile in the game got to do with it?

And you can be sure that the GAA would be killed a hell of a lot quicker if administrations started to jump to the tune of egotistical publicity aware players who have one eye on the benefits from that profile which the game gives them. The lessor of two evils. Look at homes where the children tell the parents what to do and you'll maybe get the picture. The CCB are simply doling out some tough love after years of putting up with bad attitude from the main men in this dispute. Now get off the naughty step   and either be part of the solution or just walk away quietly

[cicfada]

Seems to me that both parties have to compromise to get this sorted. Could the players advocates here outline to me what the players could compromise on please?? Also state what the players  have compromised on  before, when it came to conflict resolution?  I would love to know what the co board could compromise on as well. As much as the dice were loaded in the co board's favour after the arbitration agreement at least 2 players reps were allowed onto  the apointment committee, seen at the time as a compromise by the board! In your own time lads....................

[cornafean]

Every man and his dog can see that he is a poor manager.
Incompetent..yes,
Can't make the right switches..yes,
Poor interpersonal skills..yes,

Along with that poor training sessions, poor decision making, naive tactics, poor chainging of tactics, not knowing things that you should know about the players, like oh I don't know, who they are, what club they play for, going back on his word, going on a power drive..there are a lot of reasons why he's not a good manager. Being a good player doesn't automatically make you a good manager, in this case it's true.

If Gerard is such a bad manager, I can't understand why didn't the Cork hurlers call for his replacement 12 months ago instead of campaigning against Teddy Holland.

[orangeman]

There is a long and inglorious litany of tense exchanges between players and administrators in Cork, and contrary to what propagandists would have us believe, the two sides have clashed for at least a century,



If the problems are as deep as this, then it's just par for the course - there should be a strike every year.