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"Level The Playing Field." - 5 Like(s)
The gaps in standards associated with intercounty gaelic football teams is widening. I would argue that the same has been happening in hurling for the last 20 years. As has been debated extensively in relation to Dublin but maybe not other top counties that are backed by multinational companies and various other sponsors, this is largely been driven by money. Not entirely but money is the main reason. Money allows the bigger counties to operation at an almost professional level where as you go down the list, the counties with little tradition and no means of generating money and a lack of expertise in how to deploy such monies to improve diminishes. At the moment, Dublin are well ahead of all other counties. Dublin are followed by a small number of counties - Kerry and Mayo plus maybe one or two Ulster counties on a given day. After that, there is Tyrone, Donegal, Monaghan, Galway depending on the day. Then the vast bulk of the counties come next - Kildare, Meath etc and then at the bottom you have counties like Carlow, Wicklow etc. People speak repeatedly about the Leinster championship but Dublin are winning the All Ireland championship yearly now without being in first gear. I personally don't think the current Dublin team is as good as the team previously with Brogan, Connolly, Flynn etc but they are by far the best team in Ireland presently which is worrying for any county or supporter hoping that the balance of power can be spread more evenly. Until there is a mechanism put in place to fund less wealth counties in future, I can see the gaps between the various levels widening until like hurling you have 5-8 teams that can realistic compete for the All Ireland and the rest are treated like amateurs playing in lesser competitions with only minimal reference made to them by the media who only want to talk about the elites of gaelic games.
wicklowsupport (National) - 22/02/2021 11:32:27
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Dropping Counties Out Of The NHL With Less Than 5 Hurling Clubs - 4 Like(s)
I've written on a number of posts over the last few years about the GAA's gradual crept towards 'elitism' and 'professionalism'. It has been in progress at intercounty level for the last 20 years; huge sums of money being paid to managers/coaches which has resulted in gaelic football becoming largely unwatchable. I was criticised on a forum a few years ago when I suggested that hurling didn't have an All Ireland competition as there are only about five teams that can actually win the All Ireland. Football is now the same. Tiered competitions were introduced; not to improve hurling but to eliminate three quarters of the county in Ireland from the premier competition while allowing the big counties to play meaningless games against each other. I gave up watching intercounty hurling and football about four years ago and focused on the local club scene where i live in Kildare and in my native Wicklow. Sadly, there are signs at club level particularly in the championship of super clubs with huge resources and population squeezing out smaller clubs. The leinster club championship is not competitive anymore; it is dominated by big Dublin clubs with some minor competition from other counties. I find it hard to see what will stop our march towards elitism and professionalism. I think the GAA is driven by commericalism as oppose to volunteerism which is what the foundations of the organisation was based upon and what made it what it is. Dropping teams like Fermanagh, Louth etc from the national hurling league is only the start of the cull. People should ask what is the underlying reason before it is too late, if it isn't already. Weaker football counties take notice.
wicklowsupport (National) - 11/11/2023 18:27:31
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Ticket Fiasco - 4 Like(s)
Could the GAA not divide up the tickets and sell some online, some via clubs and some via various outlets. This would allow all people to access tickets regardless of whether they are online or not. To exclude people who are interested in attending matches and in a number of cases have attended all their lives on the basis of not having the capabilities to purchase a ticket online is simply wrong. Not everyone can purchase tickets online and may have no one that can do it for them. I have advised a number of older people for the last number of years on how to view games online, purchase tickets etc. It was necessary during covid but the GAA seem to have used covid to accelerate the move to online with no consideration for this category of supporter.
wicklowsupport (National) - 19/04/2022 15:06:49
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Football Championship 2021 - 4 Like(s)
I noticed that there was minimum air time given to discussing the gulf between Cork and Kerry on the Sunday Game . If this was Limerick or Waterford beaten by 22 points in a Munster final by Kerry, they would be an outcry to have a second tier competition introduced almost straight away. I accept that Kerry are a footballing stronghold playing in a hurling province but the Munster championship is more uncompetitive than the Leinster championship which is regularly derided and discussed at length. I realise that part of the reason for no discussion is that the media (RTE) commentators and pundits favour a Cork-Kerry Munster final every year but how can there be no discussion about the gulf in class when between a team in Division 1 and a team in Division 2.
wicklowsupport (National) - 26/07/2021 16:27:28
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Sunday Game - 4 Like(s)
Replying To CTGAA10: "I like a clown watched it last night in the hope they wouldn't concentrate on the shambles in croke park but how wrong was I..would it not make more since to show more highlights of games that havnt been shown live,or am I being stupid for expecting this..I also see RTÉ showing football Saturday but not showing Waterford/cork..would it not be common since to show more hurling in early shows due to number of football qualifiers that are on the way..another thing thought Gaa go were doing matches that would be on the Saturday..am I missing something??also thought Cavanagh was trying to hard to dominate things last night,the idea of showing stuff on screen is that we can see,not have him standing in front of it when Flynn is showing stuff..very amateurish." A game that is shown in full and analysed for 30 minutes prior to the match, 15 minutes at half time and 15-30 afterwards shouldn't be top billing on the night show and certainly shouldn't include more analysis - it is idiotic. I have no agenda against any county and I know the top counties will get more coverage then the weaker counterparts but at the beginning of the championship, some exposure should be dedicated to shown the lesser lights who struggle to promote GAA to the wider public. The top counties in each code will have ample opportunity later in the championship to hog and dominate the limelight. With regard to pundits, in yester years, Enda Colleran did a great job on his own analysing gaelic football. A number of pundits nowadays interrupt and compete against each other to dominate the narrative and for speaking time. I'm disappointing with Jacqui since she took over the presenter of the Sunday Game, she just seems to sit there.
wicklowsupport (National) - 15/04/2024 20:12:20
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Davy Fitzgerald Returning To Waterford - 4 Like(s)
Replying To Cockney_Cat: ""Plus with no apparent new talent coming through, he [Cody} decide to step down"
Utter nonsense. No apparent talent coming through? Did you watch Kilkenny play this year? They had the youngest team/panel of all the top counties. 6 of the 15 players that started against Limerick were 23 or younger.
Plus, I dare say there'll be a few from the AI winning under 20 team joining the senior panel sooner rather than latter.
As for the reason(s) Cody stepped down. How do you know? Did he tell you?" You are entitled to your opinion but please don't berate my opinion by calling it nonsense. Kilkenny are a step below Limerick at the moment. They never looked like beating Limerick in the all ireland final. If Brian Cody felt they were ready to make the step up and win the all ireland he would stay. Kilkenny are in a group of teams on a similar level; any of these teams can beat the other on any day. Maybe players from their u20 team can make a step up.
wicklowsupport (National) - 14/08/2022 12:42:29
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RTE And Older GAA Fans - 3 Like(s)
Replying To GreenandRed: "They're suits, not GAA people. It's easier for them to put the hand out looking for government subsidies or handover the keys to a promoter for a Snoop Madra gig that will fill a stadium rather than get more people to go to go games. More people at games means a few more quid for businesses around that venue too, more VAT for government coffers.
Different deal for clubs, admin and money. The WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter will be hopping with alerts every week, looking for lifts to games, raising money for a new astro pitch, training times, who's available before we schedule a game for next Friday, etc. If they've a big game they'll let as many people know about for whatever means. Local paper, radio station, podcast, will mention itOn match day it's a charge in for the match or for parking and volunteers selling raffle tickets, an (edible) food stall, stuff that supporters like.
The suits sitting on the Golden Goose in Croke Park have very little idea how clubs raise funds to survive, nor do they seem to care. They'll be happy to turn the Division One and Division Two All Ireland into the Premier League and in five years see kids from so called weaker counties wearing jersies for the 'top' counties, they're native counties barely getting mentioned in the media. It's hard to get sponsors if you're not getting much publicity.
On the big games, when they know they'll have empty seats, why don't they get grassroots club members from participating counties to look to get more into the games and split that extra revenue generated between clubs involved?" I think the points you've raised are valid points. As I see it there are two versions of the GAA these days. In a lot of counties like my own; bye and large, there is a disconnect between the county team and club teams. A lot of people focus on their clubs because they feel a connection with the community and the people involved. Sadly for the players at county level, people don't go see the county team on a regular basis anymore because they perceive that as a weak county we have been left behind and we don't really have any means of catching up as the gap is getting bigger and bigger all the time. For me, the real essence of the GAA is at underage and club level where people are not expecting to be paid and do it for the love of the club and their community; this is long gone at county level where it is all about money and as you put it - the people paid large salaries in croke park and in corporations that use county teams to advertise their brands. As it is, there are about five counties in football and probably 7 in hurling who can win the big prize, the rest are just making up the numbers in lesser competitions. No one really believes that there are 16 teams in football capable of competing seriously for the All Ireland; it is a figment of the GAA's imagination and the numbers able to compete will continue to dwindle unless there are changes in each team having the same resources. I think there are a huge amount of football people who love the game but don't go to watch intercounty games any more because it is too expensive, there are too many games and the product in its current form is boring beyond belief. Maybe winning or the chance of winning for the big counties hides the quality of the product on the field.
wicklowsupport (National) - 29/06/2023 14:33:45
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Can Anyone Name A More Forgone Conclusion Of A Competition Than The Leinster Football Championship? - 3 Like(s)
The Leinster hurling championship before Galway entered it in recent years. Kilkenny have won 71 titles to date followed by Dublin and Wexford respectively with 24 and 21. I suppose the main difference is that Galway, Dublin and Wexford have won titles recently since Kilkenny dominance has waned.
wicklowsupport (National) - 29/04/2021 16:54:58
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(So Called) Weaker Counties - 3 Like(s)
Over 90% of team sports in the world are dominated by a small percentage of teams. American sports are the exception as the governing bodies in these sports use salary caps, draft picks to ensure all teams have a chance of winning a championship. In the GAA world the counties who haven't managed to win a provincial or all ireland to date; my own included, will find it next to imposdible to do so in future due the top teams becoming more professional and sponsorship money becomibf an increasingly bigger factor every year. In terms of my own county, a lot of issues are self inflicted due to vest interests at club and county board level. We need a top to bottom clear out in terms of the key decision makers in the county plus we probably need a level of expertise from outside. In my view, the gaelic football landscape will mirror hurling in ten years time whereby there will be a handful of teams competing against each other for major honours and the rest will be confined largely to minor competition which the top table and media will pay little or no attention to.
wicklowsupport (National) - 25/02/2022 15:39:18
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GAA on TV - 3 Like(s)
Replying To achara: "For years people yapped and cried about brolly and called for him to be got rid of, now every1 giving out about not being able to speak your mind..i imagine it'd be the same if RTE folded, people would miss it then! A lot of people just like to complain:)" I, for one, think it is a mistake to get rid of Joe Brolly. I certainly wouldn't have made such a decision. I don't agree with him on a number of topics he has voiced an opinion on but he was different which is much better than everyone agreeing and coming out with the same soundbites and the same analysis programme after programme. It was RTE's decision to make the change which to me is a signal that they want all this game management, turnover speak to unfold as it has been unfolding and becoming more prevalent over the last few years. After a while, we will either be asleep or will need a guide book to understand what they are talking about. Some of the podcasts available at the moment are much better quality than what RTE has been serving up.
wicklowsupport (National) - 20/08/2020 19:11:33
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Armagh Vs Galway - 3 Like(s)
I was a neutral watching the game yesterday; I have nothing against either Galway nor Armagh. It is hard to say who started it or why but the problem Armagh have, is this; they have been involved in three melees (brawls) in the last 12 months. Players and counties will continue to play close to the edge if they know that they will get away with it through appeals. I am not surprised that this type of incident continues to happen and a large part of this is that the GAA's disciplinary process is a shambles. Yesterday's incident should be the catalyst for change. Bans should be used to punish offenders and the GAA should ensure that these bans are warranted when appropriate and that the bans should be served in full. The best way to do this is to have a robust process with limited appeal options except in scenarios like mistaken identity. The ball is in the GAA's court. If yesterday's scenes go unpunished and the culprits get away then it will be open season for this type of behaviour and some one will get seriously injured.
wicklowsupport (National) - 27/06/2022 13:52:30
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The Hyping Of Kerry Starts - Mcstay Has His Say - 3 Like(s)
I don't see where McStay's logic is coming from. Don't get me wrong, Kerry will always be a contender especially now as there are so few top class teams who can perform to a certain level on a consistent basis (outside Dublin I mean). I think Dublin have levelled off in terms of their performances and I don't believe that they have players with the talent of Connolly, Brogan, McCaffrey etc. Kerry couldn't beat Dublin in 2019 playing for 35 minutes with an extra man, the same Kerry team that lost to an average Cork side in 2020 so I don't see where there is evidence that Kerry are the team like to beat Dublin and put them above Mayo, Tyrone, Donegal and maybe Galway. Talent is one thing but there is much more and it is the 'much more' that Kerry need to prove themselves to be adapt at especially if they are going to beat Dublin and win an All Ireland.
wicklowsupport (National) - 16/04/2021 14:07:20
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Houses In Order? - 3 Like(s)
To be balanced about it, there is more than Dublin who are being backed by lots of money. Ok, Dublin probably have the biggest financial pot but there are other counties that have been mentioned on this thread who have massive backing from big companies or from wealth individuals abroad. The top hurling counties are the same. So if Dublin are being scrutinised, it should be extended to other top counties as it goes beyond Dublin. I had to laugh last Saturday when I heard that there was a motion to stop two captains receiving the cup at a presentation; the GAA Congress would discuss anything it seems aside from the obvious issues around semi professional counties competing against amateur counties due to the imbalance in resources. The answer from the GAA is that these weaker, less well resourced counties need to get their house in order, try harder, playing in a second competition but we won't investigate the imbalance in resources between the top and the bottom. Outside Dublin, I would think the imbalance at the top of hurling is more profound than in football. Imagine the difference in resource between Cork-Tipperary-Kilkenny and a hurling county like Roscommon. There are players in weaker counties that have as much talent as a hurler in a top county but they haven't a chance of making it due to the imbalance in terms of coaching and resources from underage up but they need to work harder to caught up!!!
wicklowsupport (National) - 05/03/2021 10:25:23
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All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2023 - 3 Like(s)
Replying To Viking66: "They have beaten the next best team to Limerick in Munster in both the last 2 years. That's not just down to structure." True but if the Clare manager hadn't become obsessed with last year and focused on what served Clare best this year; I believe Clare would have been in the final. Lohan should have never have started with a sweeper in the All Ireland semi final. He afforded Kilkenny too much respect. Clare are the team that put it up to Limerick best this year. Based upon performances, I think Clare were the best of the rest over the course of this year. I think it is time to scrap the provincials and go with groups of teams but the Munster counties and the council will never agree to scrapping the Munster championship.
wicklowsupport (National) - 23/07/2023 20:16:13
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Disgraceful Scenes At Half Time - 3 Like(s)
It was the best part of the whole spectacle; it is a pity there wasn't a bit more of it on the pitch. Football has been reduced to glorified basketball - hand passing, fisted goals, frees for next to nothing and next to no physical contact. At least the fight in the tunnel showed some passion wasn't totally absent.
wicklowsupport (National) - 22/12/2020 15:05:18
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Mayo V Tyrone All-Ireland Football Final - 3 Like(s)
Replying To Loughduff Lad: "Do you mind me asking how you figure Tyrone are favourites based on their semi performance, but Mayo are not based on theirs? Would have thought beating the 6 time reigning champions was the more eye catching semi... Most odds I've seen have Mayo as slight favourites" In answer to your question, I base what I said on the fact that I think Kerry was the best team in ireland in 2021 and they were beaten by Tyrone. On the other hand I think Dublin are currently a pale shadow of themselves and certainly not the team they were in previous years. The semi final between Kerry and Tyrone was a better standard than the other semi final. Of course mayo could play out of their skin or Tyrone might not be a patch on what they were in the semi final. Anyway we will find out tomorrow. Best of luck to both teams.
wicklowsupport (National) - 10/09/2021 18:27:26
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Galway V Kerry All Ireland Final 2022 - 3 Like(s)
Kerry marginally the better team. Galway seem to lose their intensity around 50/55 minutes but the key difference was the fact that Kerry had a couple of key impact subs which Galway didn't. Galway will need to find some impact subs as it is a 20 man game if they want to push on and win the all ireland. David Clifford is a magnificent player but is he much better than Shane Walsh? I thought Shane Walsh was magnificent for Galway but overall the other forwards didn't contribute enough. Also if Kerry had lost there would've been serious questions posed as to why Tom O'Sullivan was left on Walsh for the entire match; sullivan got roasted, will be interesting to see if o'sullivan gets an all star considering the weighing given to all ireland performances.
wicklowsupport (National) - 24/07/2022 18:15:59
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Withdrawals Sound Death Knell For O'Byrne Cup? - 3 Like(s)
Replying To Shearer: "Louth withdrew form a dead rubber fixture in the middle of the week.
Offaly withdrew from a knock out meaningful fixture.
Simple as.
Kearns crying about Louth was just a smoke screen." No team who agrees to play a set number of games in a competition should be allowed to pick and choose what matches they want to play or don't play mid way through the competition. I am sure there are players good enough in Louth who would have jumped at the chance to play the game against Wexford if the manager choose not to play his first 15. What next, teams withdrawing from dead rubber matches in the league?
wicklowsupport (National) - 18/01/2023 09:13:10
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The Corona Virus And Possible Effects To GAA Matches - 3 Like(s)
Replying To Mayonman: "Chunk of the country are scaremongering, another portion are deniers. Anyone left in the centre?????
NPHET have given advice and signed off on protocols for games. I don't think anyone can accuse NPHET of being risky in their advice so if they say it is ok to go a head it is good enough for me.
The virus is 19 times less likely to transmit outdoors
https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2020/0714/1153294-explained-impact-of-gaas-covid-19-policy-for-teams/
Some posters calling for the GAA to guarantee this and guarantee that. All the GAA can do is follow the advice from the experts. There are no guarantees in life.
Exaggerating or belittling the issue are as bad as each other. Time for all these newly discovered virologists to row in behind the experts." So, let me get this straight. The health experts are ordering the general public even in counties with very low levels of virus cases like Carlow not to visit their parents or family if they live in a separate house, in order to help stop the spread of the virus in the community but the same experts are allowing 25 players travel from Cavan to Kildare and Fermanagh to Clare to play a football league match - do the players live in a part of Cavan and Fermanagh where there is no virus?
I don't care if you are left, right or center - it makes absolutely no sense that the country is effectively locked down and the GAA is exempt and allowed to play matches that sees players travel the length and breath of Ireland to play. In fact, Fermanagh are being ordered by the GAA to travel and play!!!!! Madness, absolute madness.
wicklowsupport (National) - 15/10/2020 14:59:02
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Dubs V Mayo - 3 Like(s)
I think it is clear that with the benefit of hindsight, the Dublin player deserved a red card. Did he intend to hurt the Mayo player, you would like to think not but only one person can answer this question definitively. Mayo and Dublin are rivalries and this rivalry has built up in the last 20 years and it has spilled over a few occasions in recent years as the games have been close. In many ways, we should thank both Dublin and Mayo because without them, the last six or seven championship would've been completely forgettable. What I find strange is that there is so much time dedicated to this incident and this game, yet a player from Limerick who deliberately headbutted another player and was rightly sent off has been freed to play in the All Ireland, yet, numerous people are saying that it is right that he should be allowed play in the All Ireland final. I'm not condoning what the Dublin player did and I hope that the Mayo player makes a full and speedy recovery but surely there is double standards at play when there is no such about this incident and nothing about the other incident. Or maybe football followers are more willing to use these type incidents to vent their anger and vilify Dublin. After all, I assume there will be no more talk about split up counties from this point forward.
wicklowsupport (National) - 16/08/2021 15:37:20
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