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The GAA And "Northern Ireland" - 20 Like(s)

Replying To Onion Breath:  "Why are the GAA seemingly unable to issue a statement that includes the words "Northern Ireland" and thereby reflecting the democratic view of people across the entire island to recognise the existence of the state of Northern Ireland? It was democratically recognised when the Treaty was democratically approved in 1921 and again when the Good Friday Agreement was voted on in 1998. Still the GAA, like the IRA, continue to act as if they refuse to recognise the state of Northern Ireland. They're happy enough to recognise the state when it comes accepting government grants. Their linguistic gymnastics designed to avoid saying Northern Ireland are tiresome and irritating at this stage. Enough of "the North"."
I think it's very hard to call Northern Ireland a state. It's not independent of the UK. I use "The North" myself. Practically all my friends would use "The North" when referring to the 6 partitioned counties. Jog on with your policing of our speech.

Whammo86 (National) - 17/04/2021 13:16:59

What Makes A Great Footballer - 19 Like(s)

Replying To gatha:  "I am 62 yrs old and a fan of both codes. After watching the football replay I was wondering what makes a great footballer today. The catching, kick passing, long range scoring and basically taking your man on is gone from the game for the most part you see them occasionally. I wonder would the Gooch even be considered for a senior panel today as an 18 or 19 year old. Now i will say the players today are superior athletes as far as strength and fitness but the skills required today are far different from say the 80's or 90's. To me he skill set from earlier years are more complete then today's footballers. If a player today scores from any kind of distance it is considered a fantastic score. Frank McGuigan and Matt Connor did this regularly with both feet. If you catch a clean ball today you get a free kick JackO, Mullins etc lived catching balls in traffic. Never saw John Egan or Jimmy Keaveney work their way into big square to turn around and go back out the field. I know i am getting a bit old but besides strength and fitness what is required to be an inter-county footballer today?"
Honestly this is just such complete rubbish. Did you see Jack McCaffrey, Sean O'Shea, David Moran or Brian Howard in the first game? Then there was Murchan, Fenton and Mannion in the replay. Players take on their man all the time. These players are pure class. Murchan is a corner back who roasted a midfielder and slotted the ball into bottom corner with the outside of his foot after a 50 yard run. Paddy Durcan, Con O'Callaghan, Peter Harte, Cathal McShane, Michael Murphy, Paddy McBrearty, Conor McManus, Eoin McHugh. I actually pity people who can't appreciate these guys. I don't know what game you're watching if you can't see the skills on show. They're proper ballers these lads and they're testing each other more than players ever did back in the day. The decision making is at a level that wasn't even a consideration 20 years ago.

Whammo86 (National) - 27/09/2019 22:05:04

Posters Crossing The Line - 18 Like(s)

Replying To greysoil:  "Have noticed an emerging unsavoury tone by some posters of late. Indeed, what is surprising is the posts that are being generated by users that would have appeared level headed before. There is no place for personal slights on players or indirectly on their families. Important to remember that these are amateurs giving a big chunk of their time to their counties & for our entertainment. Keep the slagging general. We never know the impact of flippant commentary. #Give respect. Get respect."
The post you refer to was not a personal slight on a player. The post was so obviously satirical. The David Clifford of the post bears next to no resemblance to the real David Clifford. The David Clifford of the post is a caricature and not even one of the real David Clifford. There was nothing specifically targeted at Clifford in that post at all. The character could have been named after any Kerry player and still have worked exactly the same. The target of the satire was categorically not David Clifford, the target of the satire was the Kerry posters who claim to be unable to compete with Dublin financially. The post was highlighting that Kerry players are hardly badly off themselves. I mean my god. I'm far from being an anti pc zealot and believe in respect for all, but we have to be able to allow for good natured humour also. There was just nothing unsavory about that post whatsoever.

Whammo86 (National) - 05/06/2019 05:41:02

Casement Park - 16 Like(s)
It is sad. It's a stadium that means a lot to me. Watching the club in championship action there. The 2000 Championship with the 3 games in Casement was fantastic entertainment. I was 14 before we beat Down that day with the players delayed coming out about 20 minutes late after half time to let the hail subside. We'd the drawn game against Derry where Shinny McQuillan barely missed a free/45 until the last kick of the game when Tohill caught what would've been the winner from above the crossbar. It was all good that summer. We found out about Joey Dunlop's passing over the tannoy ahead of the replay. The shock and sadness that passed through the stands then was a bit chilling. It was a great pitch to play on also.

Whammo86 (National) - 17/10/2019 18:23:33

Championship Restructure?? - 16 Like(s)

Replying To GerryD:  "I think your problem stems from the structure of your league and it's replicated in other Counties where it's treated as a pre season friendly competition. In Monaghan - 10 teams contest senior league and championship. League being home and away (so 18 games plus champ) where top 4 qualify for the semis and bottom 2 are relegated. No room for complacency - if you're relegated from the league your down to intermediate! It means the league is highly competitive and sets the tone for our championship. If you go down to watch games in Monaghan this weekend you'll find teams like Conor McManus Clontibrit fighting for their life to survive despite being in a champ semi a few weeks ago - Magheracloone who lost the other semi are also in trouble. League football in Monaghan is highly competitive at all levels, which has transferred to our County team. It's brilliant - every league game this weekend will have a couple of hundred people at it - tell me that's not a good thing????"
It's not possible to do that in Meath, where there's also hurling to take into account. League is definitely a very secondary competition in Meath but it works for their needs. As an outsider who came to play in Meath these proposals make a lot of sense. The championship needed to be split so that reserve teams played separately from 1st teams. They can actually have much better championships now with more games. Moving the best teams into the A league makes sense also. The Intermediate championship having 20 teams is fine. The weakest 1st teams will probably get a bit of a roasting in Championship. They will get better quality league games though with second teams joining the league. It should be 2 up 2 down for relegation. There's not enough movement between the grades was something badly wrong with the previous system that hasn't been mentioned here.

Whammo86 (Meath) - 06/10/2018 16:25:32

Championship Restructure?? - 16 Like(s)
2 up 2 down would improve things a lot. 9 is a stupid number for those going into the knockout rounds. You have to have 4 rounds instead of 3 for the sake of 1 game. You could keep 18 teams and play a Longford style championship, every team plays 3 matches. 1 ladder, 8 best records into quarterfinals. Bottom 4 into relegation playoff. With 2 losers down.

Whammo86 (Meath) - 04/08/2017 13:56:46

Joe Brolly Finished With RTE - 15 Like(s)
I will not miss him. I never understood the Joe Brolly being "box office" (i'm cringing typing that phrase) description. He's an average GAA pundit, with a bit of a colourful turn of phrase and with a sense that he's got free license to say whatever comes into his head. He's hijacked so many conversations at times to discuss whatever it is that's of interest to him. He goes off at all sorts of tangents. I think he views himself as some sort of saviour of the Association, he's more interested in the workings of the upper offices of the sport than he is in the games himself. I actually just think he's not that good of a pundit either. I never feel he's said something new or enlightened. I think it's funny how after the Mayo Dublin semi final we was praising himself for calling their kick outs, the weak link. At halftime of that game he was specifically questioning the short kickout strategy. Mayo in the second half got cleared out in midfield as they went long which was actually what Brolly was advocating they do. His relationship with Joanne is toxic, and although the hurling coverage is far from perfect at least there is some flow to what they're doing. That has me thinking it's less Joanne's fault than Brolly's. I'm glad to see the back of him.

Whammo86 (National) - 11/09/2019 18:23:44

Analyst Claims Dubs 'Actually Being Underfunded' - 15 Like(s)

Replying To Hawkeye9212:  "You can't wait for the rural counties to die."
That's just not true. I just believe that people aren't being sensible at all on this topic. There's an idea out there that the GAA only care about Dublin GAA. It's simply not true. https://www.gaa.ie/api/pdfs/image/upload/tstblikbtwvqfubdiwpe.pdf This a the development report for 2015 explaining all the work the GAA is doing all over the country. All I'm saying is that I don't feel Dublin should be defunded with money redistributed to weaker counties. Dublin needs coaches to deal with the sheer number of kids living in the country. It's also not true that Dublin kids aren't playing the games. The Blue Wave 2010-2017 proposal describes the numbers playing Go Games in 2010. Out of of a total population of 38k for the 2 year Go Games age group in 2010 there were over 7k playing football and almost 5k playing hurling. It's hard to know how many played both but those figures show that in 2010, before the start of Blue Wave, there was between 20-30% take up of our games by the children of Dublin. That's boys and girls, includes all the kids with no interest in sport. 20-30% take up. It will only have grown since then. To say that Dublin isn't getting kids participating is a myth.

Whammo86 (National) - 28/07/2019 21:48:09

Dublin's Success Not Down To Money - GAA President - 15 Like(s)
I just don't agree with that last part. The GDF just isn't that inequitable. Dublin also came up with the model and it's now being rolled out to Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Louth and Belfast. I just don't see how the current 1.23m of a total budget of 11m being spent on Dublin as all that out of step. So outside of that Dublin money there's 3.5m spent development personnel, 1.5m spent on county projects. There's then 2.3m being spent on hurling development. 18m overall spend on Dublin isn't actually that much also. It's always referenced v say 1.2m as being distributed to the next county. That's not a fair comparison as I've tried to point out a number of times. It's 18m of somewhere in the region of 120m total spend on development in the same time period. It's 1/5 of the price of Páirc Ui Chaoimh. It's the going rate of about 4 centres of development. It's money efficiently spent and benefiting 10 of thousands of kids each year. It's clearly getting more people playing Gaelic games in Dublin. Imagine if say the FA implemented a games development initiative in London that was so successful and got the numbers playing soccer greatly increased. There would not be calls of it being a disgrace. There'd be no calls to defund it. It's just because of the nature of the GAA's county system that the top teams are decided by geographic borders that this becomes an issue. The GAA's remit is to promote the games. I think providing a proper coaching infrastructure in the clearly most populous area is part of that remit. If you decide to do that, there's a cost associated with it and it just has to be paid. If you ever budget a project in a business capacity there's ways to save around the edges at times, but to do a project there's a critical amount of money that is required to make it a success. It just has to be paid if the project is worth being done.

Whammo86 (National) - 26/07/2019 18:09:16

Championship Restructure?? - 15 Like(s)
The worst thing about the championship is you can play 7 matches, lose 6 of them and retain your status. That's all some of the weaker teams in each grade care about. It's not such a big deal a team losing a few games. Realistically they still need to win a minimum of 6 games to win the Championship. The last 3 games against some of the best teams in the county. In straight knockout in some counties a team can win championship with 3 wins. They can get an easy draw in the first couple of rounds too.

Whammo86 (Meath) - 04/08/2017 18:07:04

"Level The Playing Field." - 14 Like(s)

Replying To wicklowsupport:  "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."
I've mentioned before that sponsorship income should be partially redistributed. Every county submits their figures, the average is calculated. For every € over the average a county is they will contribute 50 cents back in to the pool to go to those below the average. Some of the GAA distribution is awarded due to inter county performance, with strong counties receiving more from central funds. This practice should also end.

Whammo86 (National) - 22/02/2021 14:12:04

The GAA And "Northern Ireland" - 14 Like(s)

Replying To Onion Breath:  "100% agree. Which is why the GAA need to start showing some leadership and start calling Northern Ireland and stop the nonsense they continue to go with. If that offends the sensitivities of the back woods men .... we'll that wouldn't be any harm. Leave them there fighting the battles of the past in their small minds."
I've no small mind. You just don't know what you're talking about. Really winds my neck when a Southern person thinks they understand and know what help everyone up North if only they weren't petty fools. Well we're not all petty fools.

Whammo86 (National) - 17/04/2021 19:49:53

The GAA And "Northern Ireland" - 14 Like(s)
I was going to write a lengthy post on why the OP is so far off base and his opinions are built on an a wholly ignorant interpretation of the GFA but honestly lads he isn't worth any of our time. This thread has gone on way longer that it earned the right to. Obviously I'm adding to it here but it's based on a hell of a weak minded premise.

Whammo86 (National) - 18/04/2021 13:48:16

CASEMENT, BELFAST AND ANTRIM - 14 Like(s)

Replying To Donegalman:  "The reason I flag fake posters is because there is no other all ireland gaa forum to debate on and this one is ruined by them. I say I believe are not from Antrim. Reason? 1 You have thousands of posts and not a single one on your home county forum in hoganstand. 2 You are not involved in nor have startes any thread about Antrim gaa matches or players. 3 All your threads relate to funding, restructuring of championship formats. Politics rather than sport. 4 For a simple reply to a thread, even on page 6 or 7 of it, you get many green thumbs. Very mysterious indeed. Which leads me to believe that you are a proxy for other user names to join in by developing subjects to 'debate' about to further your own agenda. I am sorry if other posters are distracted or annoyed by this sideline topic, but it is a big one. I've watched this site deteriorate as a result of faker posting. If noone calls bullsh1t on this you will be answering threads that are made up of one user with many user names. Or you can pretend everything is ok and continue contributing to slanted inauthentic threads."
I'm one person. I don't red or green thumb myself and I preferred it when these weren't a feature to be honest. I talk about the Dublin funding a lot because there are a lot of threads on it and a lot of it irritates me into discussing. I discuss the competition structures a lot because I'm a bit of a geek. As someone from a weaker county, ways of improving the games as intercounty level is meaningful for me. I don't have a lot to talk about with Antrim, unfortunately, If you don't know they're not that high profile, but during the NFL I will occasionally post. I'm a bit removed from Antrim club football having moved to an East Meath club, I follow that club scene, although I don't post really on their own forum. No real reason why I don't, just never have. You got a lot more of a response out of me than you deserved there but I've nothing to hide.

Whammo86 (National) - 01/10/2019 17:30:51

In Lieu Of The Advanced Mark - 13 Like(s)

Replying To omahant:  "I, like many others, am not a fan of the Advanced Mark. It rewards a team for simply catching the ball, possibly with a close range point to follow, and distorts the game. In lieu of the "reward" and to put more kick back in the game - why not "require" certain inter-zone kicks ? I would require a team's defence to kick the ball - optionally, from Behind Own 45 to the Midfield Zone (between two 65s) or beyond, and mandatorily, from Behind Own 65 to Beyond Their 65. Leaving the game otherwise the same (incl unlimited handpass sequences), I think this new rule would freshen up the spectacle."
I don't like it. I'll be honest I don't really like rules that are trying to force how teams play into some style. When there's 2 top teams playing and they're evenly enough matched then there's nothing wrong with the rules of the game. There were plenty of good football matches this year. At club level in Meath, I find the games exciting still. Can teams play really dull, boring, conservative football. Yes absolutely. I think the main issue is with those team's management rather than the rules.

Whammo86 (National) - 16/12/2019 17:49:23

Dublin's Success Not Down To Money - GAA President - 13 Like(s)
Seriously though I am a real person and have been on the site a long time. I'm originally from Antrim but have worked in Dublin for over 10 years and currently live in Dublin. I have also been playing for a Meath club for over 10 years. Up until I read the Irish Times article from 2017 I believed the likes of Ewan McKenna. There will definitely be posts of mine on here from pre 2017 where I'm critical of the money spent on Dublin. I read the article and heard for the first time about how Provincial councils pay GDOs except in Dublin where they are paid by the county board. That prompted me to look into things properly on my own. I really do feel there's a lot of misinformation out there sensationalising the money spent on Dublin. It also annoys me as an Antrim man to here say a Kerry person give out about unfairness now that they're not winning. The money that has been invested by the GAA no doubt has helped Dublin GAA. No doubt. I mean it has gotten more people playing GAA. Surely that is the key principle that is part of the GAA's mission statement to promote Gaelic Games. The GAA still are doing great work all over the country promoting our games. Anyone wanting to learn more, the most recent development report I can find from 2015, has information on what projects the association is doing all over the country to promote the games. https://www.gaa.ie/api/pdfs/image/upload/tstblikbtwvqfubdiwpe.pdf

Whammo86 (National) - 27/07/2019 13:46:40

Analyst Claims Dubs 'Actually Being Underfunded' - 13 Like(s)

Replying To Hawkeye9212:  "I didn't suggest that. We can give children a chance to play the games without providing based on birth rates. No other sporting organisation does it."
I'm not saying we provide based on birth rates. There's no formula. Money is distributed for projects not based on an exact formula. All I'm saying is Dublin's piece of the pie is certainly not as out of step as Ewan McKenna would tell you. There isn't financial doping going on. I give birth rates because it indicates how much of a need for coaches there is in Dublin.

Whammo86 (National) - 28/07/2019 21:34:34

Dublin's Success Not Down To Money - GAA President - 13 Like(s)
I hate these threads. I hate responding to them because it gives them fuel to continue but I do have to try to get some perspective here. Anyone who is against the GAA's €1.5m a year games development funding going to Dublin GAA is against trying to get as many Dublin born children playing Gaelic games. That's it. That's what you are fighting. There's a project in place to coach as many of the roughly 15k children a year born in Dublin as possible. The cost of that project is currently about 3-3.5m per annum of which the GAA puts up half. Why does the GAA not put that money into other counties? It doesn't cost that amount to coach kids in other counties because there are 15k children being born in those counties each year. Also any stat that compares the money going to Dublin versus say Cork isn't a fair comparison. Anyone using those stats are basing their arguments on a bad faith use of the funding breakdown. Much of that information has been vociferously spread by the completely unbiased reporting from ... Ewan McKenna? Most of the money being spent by the games development funds is being spent on GDO's. Dublin based GDO's are employed by the Dublin county board funded in part by GAA central council. Cork GDO's are employed by Munster Council part funded by GAA central council. Cork children are still having coaching provided to them from funding provided by the GAA central council, it just never flows through the hands of the Cork county board. Dublin GAA gets around €1.5m a year of a total games development budget of around €11m. It's a whole lot less sensational number there isn't it. That's because the story is a lot less sensational than some would have you believe.

Whammo86 (National) - 25/07/2019 05:44:38

Meath clubs in Leinster - 13 Like(s)

Replying To ziggy32001:  "I agree I think our structures are wrong and every player nevermind fan knows that. But you seem to think that about 6 teams from Westmeath would have no problem winning the Meath champ.I honestly doubt that."
The structures aren't that bad. The group stage is a little bit long but still from the quarter-finals on it is do or die. The same as any other championship. The group stage does mean that the best teams are more likely to make the quarterfinals, so there's less chance of getting handy quarterfinals or semifinals. The system of 1 up 1 down isn't great though. Too many teams just hanging on to their senior status. Meath teams just aren't quite good enough at Leinster level. It's not the formats fault. There's an arrogance in Meath regarding your standing as a strong football county. It's becoming less justified as the year's go on. You have to stop blaming things like club championship formats and get back to the real problem. You aren't producing the players that you once were and as a result your teams aren't good enough. I'm not really familiar with the juvenile structures but I believe there have been changes to it in recent years. Hopefully that'll see you on the path to improvement. These things don't get reversed overnight though and they don't get fixed by ignoring the real problems.

Whammo86 (Meath) - 26/11/2016 13:47:40

Keeping The Gaa Amateur And Sensible Commitment Levels - 13 Like(s)

Replying To Young_gael:  "Very fascistic, opinionated post. You raise a few good points alright, but your opinion of preservation of amateurism from yesteryear is tainted. I might personally believe in preserving amateurism but its not my place to use the forums to put my opinion across as a statement of fact. The game is evolving. Its not up to any one person to decide what should be and what should not be. Why do yo or I get the right to decide when 16 year olds can kick a ball around a pitch? Why do you or I get to decide how and when people train? Who are you to talk about "sensible commitment level?" To try and force your own ideas of regulation on an ever-changing game in the hopes of meeting some personal standard is very, very selfish. I too dont like the direction the game took over a 20 year period, but I wont create solutions out of thin air and use my own prejudices to try create a narrative that suits my own point of view. All in all a very fascistic post."
No it's not. He's just giving his opinion on what the GAA should do. This is after all a GAA forum. I don't agree with everything he says here but he's definitely highlighting areas that the GAA need to think about.

Whammo86 (National) - 21/12/2019 17:03:03