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You Couldn't Pay Me To Go And Watch A Game Of Football

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Neil Moyna's of DCU comment on current senior and intercounty football not to mention 3rd level inter college being a turn off. What do folks think. For me I have to agree with him that defensive systems and 14/15 men behind the ball in your own half is a turn off. Hurling or rugby now have far more appeal. No enjoyment to watch and I can imagine no enjoyment to play as well. Maybe the 5 new rules being tested might breath some life into the game. For a game I enjoyed to play, coach and watch now becoming something i do not feel worth watching anymore. Convert1 (Westmeath) - Posts: 7 - 19/12/2018 13:00:56 2154715 Link
Many people have come to the same conclusion over the past 2/3 years. There has been a notable decrease in viewership figures for Gaelic football on TV and paying attendance's also. Hurling has saved the GAA this year . Working with an American colleague who landed in recent times , he only watch's Hurling & Rugby of the 4 big sports in this country. Gaelic & Soccer both for different reasons have lost their excitement, people still identify with a county allegiance but watching neutral games is becoming a thing of the past as its hard enough to even watch your own county with the chess like tactics. OpenStand (Limerick) - Posts: 669 - 19/12/2018 13:50:38 2154719 Link
Replying To Convert1: "Neil Moyna's of DCU comment on current senior and intercounty football not to mention 3rd level inter college being a turn off. What do folks think. For me I have to agree with him that defensive systems and 14/15 men behind the ball in your own half is a turn off. Hurling or rugby now have far more appeal. No enjoyment to watch and I can imagine no enjoyment to play as well. Maybe the 5 new rules being tested might breath some life into the game. For a game I enjoyed to play, coach and watch now becoming something i do not feel worth watching anymore." Yawn. I think football has evolved into a more attacking game in the last season or two, and we'll hopefully see more of it in 2019. This idea that football is suddenly going to nosedive in popularity is simply just not true. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9116 - 19/12/2018 13:58:08 2154721 Link
Jesus this stuff is painful. We could name 10 a heap of brilliant games from this year and last. We are a nation of whingers that focus on the negative. Football will be grand, even when the rule changes fail. TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 7885 - 19/12/2018 14:10:56 2154724 Link
Replying To OpenStand: "Many people have come to the same conclusion over the past 2/3 years. There has been a notable decrease in viewership figures for Gaelic football on TV and paying attendance's also. Hurling has saved the GAA this year . Working with an American colleague who landed in recent times , he only watch's Hurling & Rugby of the 4 big sports in this country. Gaelic & Soccer both for different reasons have lost their excitement, people still identify with a county allegiance but watching neutral games is becoming a thing of the past as its hard enough to even watch your own county with the chess like tactics." I'd like to actual figures for the massive decline in attendances/viewing figures for football versus hurling or rugby or whatever other stick is being used to beat football with. Say over a sustained period of time rather than just accepting as fact the idea that Gaelic Football is dying. Despite what the doomsayers like to say Gaelic Football is still by far a bigger draw in terms of TV/attendances/player numbers when compared with both hurling and rugby. The only sport that you can compare it to is soccer, which also attracts complete widespread criticism. I think people really fail to realise how far ahead of the other two sports Gaelic Football and soccer are. You talk about the 'big 4' sports, it's really the big 2 if you're honest. Hurling, for all it's brilliance is still only played properly in about 12 or so counties. Rugby, for all its recent success, is still miles behind the 2 football codes, and hurling even, in participation. Football has always been the worst sport in the world according to a vocal minority. It will continue to attract criticism but it will also continue to be the biggest show in town. MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13705 - 19/12/2018 14:50:33 2154731 Link
Replying To MesAmis: "I'd like to actual figures for the massive decline in attendances/viewing figures for football versus hurling or rugby or whatever other stick is being used to beat football with. Say over a sustained period of time rather than just accepting as fact the idea that Gaelic Football is dying. Despite what the doomsayers like to say Gaelic Football is still by far a bigger draw in terms of TV/attendances/player numbers when compared with both hurling and rugby. The only sport that you can compare it to is soccer, which also attracts complete widespread criticism. I think people really fail to realise how far ahead of the other two sports Gaelic Football and soccer are. You talk about the 'big 4' sports, it's really the big 2 if you're honest. Hurling, for all it's brilliance is still only played properly in about 12 or so counties. Rugby, for all its recent success, is still miles behind the 2 football codes, and hurling even, in participation. Football has always been the worst sport in the world according to a vocal minority. It will continue to attract criticism but it will also continue to be the biggest show in town." I had this out with a couple of lads who said attendances are dropping in football, its simply wrong, its never been as popular to be honest according to the numbers. There are more people attending the championship and leagues in football then ever before. It actually beats hurling by a margin and is growing faster. See the link and scroll down to see attendances between the competitions and codes. http://www.gaa.ie/news/gaa-distributes-record-million-counties-and-clubs-155643/ Obviously the 2018 figures are going to be skewed and improved significantly due to the new format. TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 19/12/2018 15:17:29 2154735 Link
I really think that football as a game to play is vastly superior now than it was 15 years ago or so when I was moving into adult football. You are way more involved in the play on a consistent basis. I think this year was a bit of a dull year to watch senior intercounty as Dublin were just so far ahead of the nearest challenger. Some of the games over the 5 years before that were absolutely great to watch. Most matches between 2 of Kerry, Mayo and Dublin have been fantastic. There's plenty of good club action to watch though. I think football is a great game still. I don't know if the problem is the rules by the way. I think there's just a certain amount of over exposure and too many one sided games. During Kilkenny's hey day I struggled to have any cares in hurling, the last 2 years I've definitely enjoyed it more. The competitive landscapes change in each country de from year to year. The excitement generated will change also Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4208 - 19/12/2018 15:19:05 2154736 Link
borrrrinnnggg waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 19/12/2018 15:35:28 2154738 Link
Replying To TheFlaker: "Jesus this stuff is painful. We could name 10 a heap of brilliant games from this year and last. We are a nation of whingers that focus on the negative. Football will be grand, even when the rule changes fail." Couldn't agree more. We are a bunch of moaners who seem to be afraid of change and evolution of a game but ironically want to make radical rule changes to try and bring back a game from years gone by even though that is impossible.....you couldn't make it up..haha!! We've got to a stage now that when there is a decent game of football played that have characteristics of both modern day and football of the past most pundits will spend most of their time talking about the 10 to 20% of the game that wasn't the most eye catching stuff and give very little time to positive aspects of the game. Dublin v Donegal in this super 8's being case and point. It was by no means a great game but I found the post match analysis and description of the game baffling. Everyone seemed to take issue with the last 5 minutes rather that look at the overall picture. This was a young up and coming Donegal team taking on arguably the best team ever to play the game, a Donegal team that was never going to win an all ireland in 2018 (but will challenge in the years to come) and were also without one of the marquee forwards in the game through injury in Paddy McBrearty. As a Donegal fan I was happy enough with how they performed and to accumulate a score of 16 points without McBrearty for me was a positive going forward. Donegal had a lot of players playing in Croke Park for the first time and Dublin with their experienced team never really looked like losing the game and decided to play keep ball towards the end when they decided they had enough points on the board. Is it good to watch? No, but it happens in soccer all the time and it's even worse when they head to the corner flag to kill time. Both Donegal and Dublin received criticism for this passage of play but no one gave Dublin any credit for their ability to kill the game off and have the skill set to retain the ball for that length of time. It's a risky tactic if not carried out correctly, we only have to look at what happened to Kilmacud Crokes when they tried it a few weeks ago - they lost possession and conceded a penalty. As for Donegal, they were out on their feet and as much as they tried to close the ball down they just couldn't and this lack of conditioning showed v Tyrone later in the year when they let a 4 point let slip and lost. To be honest I think a lot of the criticism was a form of frustration from pundits in that they realised that the chances of anyone giving Dublin a decent challenge was looking unlikely and this proved to be the case but the negativity this game got was so OTT. When you consider there was very little action in the last 5 minutes a total score of 2-31 combined wasn't bad going at all but there was very little focus on this. There are issues in the game that rules changes will not fix. Dublin through no fault of their own are playing at a different level to anyone else which doesn't make for an exciting championship. Take Dublin out of the equation for a moment, you have Kerry, Mayo, Kildare, Donegal, Monaghan, Galway and Tyrone all at a similar level. Imagine how exciting that championship would be? So it's up to those counties to get closer to Dublin so games become less predictable. These counties realise that they need to score more than 20 points to beat Dublin and are working towards that so there is a lot of work going into attacking game plans under the current rules and any drastic rule changes would reset any progression made. Another issue is the championship structure, this needs to be changed as there is no doubting the decrease in the interest of the provincial championship. The best competition we have is the league and there never seems to be complaints or calls for rule changes during this as the majority of the games are competitive and exciting with teams of a similar level playing each other week in week out and are of a similar level. Surely the focus of our whining should be focusing on the championship structure rather than rule changes which is a deflection of the real issues in the game. Mobot (Donegal) - Posts: 459 - 19/12/2018 15:50:52 2154739 Link
Replying To Convert1: "Neil Moyna's of DCU comment on current senior and intercounty football not to mention 3rd level inter college being a turn off. What do folks think. For me I have to agree with him that defensive systems and 14/15 men behind the ball in your own half is a turn off. Hurling or rugby now have far more appeal. No enjoyment to watch and I can imagine no enjoyment to play as well. Maybe the 5 new rules being tested might breath some life into the game. For a game I enjoyed to play, coach and watch now becoming something i do not feel worth watching anymore." Doesn't he coach football in DCU, the only problem I see with football is that coaches are going out not to lose games instead of going out to win them. hurlorhurley (Wexford) - Posts: 1660 - 19/12/2018 15:53:48 2154742 Link
Isn't Rugby the bees Knees at the moment and that's played with 15 men behind the ball. It has become very popular to have a go off Gaelic Football. Very few comments on the unreal forwards who continue to find ways score despite being heavily out numbered. They must be much more skilled than some or the forwards from years gone by who only faced man to man battles. The game has evolved and will continue to do so - in recent years corner backs scoring has become common place, this year even goal keepers have got in on the act. The Tyrone Monaghan All Ireland Semi Final was enthralling, Kerry vs Monaghan in the super 8's was fantastic entertainment. As gaels we need to think this out before we echo media negativity about our games and at a minimum call out the good with the bad. tomhealycork (Cork) - Posts: 80 - 19/12/2018 17:22:56 2154751 Link
i would say you could pay him to manage a team though! some of these lads just want to be in the paper. perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 19/12/2018 17:24:06 2154752 Link
Replying To Mobot: "Couldn't agree more. We are a bunch of moaners who seem to be afraid of change and evolution of a game but ironically want to make radical rule changes to try and bring back a game from years gone by even though that is impossible.....you couldn't make it up..haha!! We've got to a stage now that when there is a decent game of football played that have characteristics of both modern day and football of the past most pundits will spend most of their time talking about the 10 to 20% of the game that wasn't the most eye catching stuff and give very little time to positive aspects of the game. Dublin v Donegal in this super 8's being case and point. It was by no means a great game but I found the post match analysis and description of the game baffling. Everyone seemed to take issue with the last 5 minutes rather that look at the overall picture. This was a young up and coming Donegal team taking on arguably the best team ever to play the game, a Donegal team that was never going to win an all ireland in 2018 (but will challenge in the years to come) and were also without one of the marquee forwards in the game through injury in Paddy McBrearty. As a Donegal fan I was happy enough with how they performed and to accumulate a score of 16 points without McBrearty for me was a positive going forward. Donegal had a lot of players playing in Croke Park for the first time and Dublin with their experienced team never really looked like losing the game and decided to play keep ball towards the end when they decided they had enough points on the board. Is it good to watch? No, but it happens in soccer all the time and it's even worse when they head to the corner flag to kill time. Both Donegal and Dublin received criticism for this passage of play but no one gave Dublin any credit for their ability to kill the game off and have the skill set to retain the ball for that length of time. It's a risky tactic if not carried out correctly, we only have to look at what happened to Kilmacud Crokes when they tried it a few weeks ago - they lost possession and conceded a penalty. As for Donegal, they were out on their feet and as much as they tried to close the ball down they just couldn't and this lack of conditioning showed v Tyrone later in the year when they let a 4 point let slip and lost. To be honest I think a lot of the criticism was a form of frustration from pundits in that they realised that the chances of anyone giving Dublin a decent challenge was looking unlikely and this proved to be the case but the negativity this game got was so OTT. When you consider there was very little action in the last 5 minutes a total score of 2-31 combined wasn't bad going at all but there was very little focus on this. There are issues in the game that rules changes will not fix. Dublin through no fault of their own are playing at a different level to anyone else which doesn't make for an exciting championship. Take Dublin out of the equation for a moment, you have Kerry, Mayo, Kildare, Donegal, Monaghan, Galway and Tyrone all at a similar level. Imagine how exciting that championship would be? So it's up to those counties to get closer to Dublin so games become less predictable. These counties realise that they need to score more than 20 points to beat Dublin and are working towards that so there is a lot of work going into attacking game plans under the current rules and any drastic rule changes would reset any progression made. Another issue is the championship structure, this needs to be changed as there is no doubting the decrease in the interest of the provincial championship. The best competition we have is the league and there never seems to be complaints or calls for rule changes during this as the majority of the games are competitive and exciting with teams of a similar level playing each other week in week out and are of a similar level. Surely the focus of our whining should be focusing on the championship structure rather than rule changes which is a deflection of the real issues in the game." Your dead right about the analysis afterwards of Dublin and Donegal's Super 8s game. Lazy analysis. For 60 mins it was a decent enough game if not sensational but to hear it spoken of afterwards you'd swear it was one of the worst games ever. With the new rules coming in expect to see a lot of boring end to games as teams use the blanket defence to close out games. If you're 3 or 4 up with 10 to go just drop everyone behind the ball. With only 3 handpasses allowed it'll be easy to see the game out. MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13705 - 19/12/2018 18:32:29 2154762 Link
When Mr. Moyna was involved with DCU he expected players to travel the length of the country for training during the Christmas holidays and Christmas week. He has done very little with the teams he has been involved with at county level. His club Scotstown also seem so be doing ok without his services. ryan (Donegal) - Posts: 724 - 19/12/2018 19:04:10 2154765 Link
Moyna loves a bit of media attention - delights in saying something controversial, just for the sake of it. All this anti-Football stuff is getting tiresome at this stage. Inaccurate and ill-informed. Gaelic football has a higher scoring rate now compared to any other era. It amazes me that those people who bemoan the lack of kicking in Gaelic football today, have no problem with the almost complete absence of kicking in rugby football (except when they hoof the ball out over the sideline!) football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 19/12/2018 19:15:01 2154766 Link
Mr Moyna seems like a man who likes to hear his own voice a lot, must have been the only Monaghan man not in Croker for semi-final with Tyrone. neutral (None) - Posts: 358 - 19/12/2018 19:24:51 2154768 Link
Replying To hurlorhurley: "Doesn't he coach football in DCU, the only problem I see with football is that coaches are going out not to lose games instead of going out to win them." He's not coaching DCU anymore, Paddy Christie is as of this year.. not sure if this was through lack of recent Sigerson success or not but he's not coaching anymore. On the original post, I'd find it hard to believe he made them comments about third level football after 10 years coaching DCU though, especially as there aren't too many defensive systems in Sigerson ball. Sweetspot (Kildare) - Posts: 323 - 19/12/2018 19:25:48 2154769 Link
I never watch rugby- i find it boring and a i cannot understand the rules. The constant stop/start nature also is not attactive. You will find that most of the critics of Gaelic football are Rugby fans and also come from counties like Westmeath/Derry/Meath and Cork who are not good at the game. galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 19/12/2018 19:49:25 2154770 Link
Replying To MesAmis: "Your dead right about the analysis afterwards of Dublin and Donegal's Super 8s game. Lazy analysis. For 60 mins it was a decent enough game if not sensational but to hear it spoken of afterwards you'd swear it was one of the worst games ever. With the new rules coming in expect to see a lot of boring end to games as teams use the blanket defence to close out games. If you're 3 or 4 up with 10 to go just drop everyone behind the ball. With only 3 handpasses allowed it'll be easy to see the game out." It was cat and that's coming from a lad that watched his team get hammered off the field by Tyrone in the game b4 it. OhtobeARossie (Roscommon) - Posts: 1764 - 19/12/2018 22:08:59 2154780 Link
Replying To galwayford: "I never watch rugby- i find it boring and a i cannot understand the rules. The constant stop/start nature also is not attactive. You will find that most of the critics of Gaelic football are Rugby fans and also come from counties like Westmeath/Derry/Meath and Cork who are not good at the game." I think you are trying to stir it up Galway. Don't you it's the season of goodwill. neverright (Roscommon) - Posts: 1648 - 19/12/2018 22:58:06 2154781 Link