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Irish Rugby Must Look To GAA's Top Talent For A Brighter Future

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "In fairness, apart from the last few weeks, Schmidt's time over the rugby team has been almost wholly positive and successful. Won three Six Nations championships, a Grand Slam, and beat the All Blacks twice. Why would there be consistent negative analysis during that time?

And in the past week or two, with things not going so well, I've seen and read plenty of pieces about how he maybe got it wrong this time, how tactics should have evolved, questioning certain personnel decisions, etc.

On the other hand, the soccer team under O'Neill generally just bumbled their way along, with the occasional exceptional performance (e.g. beating Germany and Italy) putting a huge gloss on the many bad ones in between. Lacked leadership, lacked pattern, and lacked the ability to control a game - all things that Schmidt had with the rugby team during the same time.

I really don't think your comparison stands up here."
you are right, he has obviously not been paying much attention to media coverage since Irelands defeat last weekend. Overall it has been very critical of manager and team throughout world cup campaign, pundits and ex players queing up to tell us they saw decline coming and others, like Sweeney in Sunday Indo using the teams poor 2019 as an opportunity to settle old scores with Irish rugby in general. Plenty of room for all sports in Ireland, let young lads decide what is best for themselves. Dublins dominance, and tier two will make their choice all the easier.

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2136 - 25/10/2019 18:41:46    2245795

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Replying To galwayford:  "International Soccer is fiercely competitive. International rugby is not. There are 20 or 30 teams in World football who could win a major competition. There are 5 or 6 in World rugby. Martin O Neill had a big job to do."
Nonsense - a quick look at the winners will tell you the soccer World Cup is between Brazil, Germany, Italy, Frznce and Spain every time. About the same as the rugby

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4624 - 25/10/2019 21:01:03    2245821

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Replying To KillingFields:  "So media promote the sport. Something GAA and soccer people feel jealous about because media reps in soccer and gaa primarily just look for the negative all the time
That cant be a criticism of rugby. Look at gaa journalists and the GAAs own pr staff than look outwards and try deflect from their poor abilities.
Irish teams havent done enough at world cups. There has been slight progression through winning pools but they havent stepped up. No issue with that. It's just the people who only criticise rugby and then gloat about that are sad as f*** especially when they do it to gloat and get up the noses of rugby supporters
You cant have it both ways. It's so hypocritical."
Media disproportionately promote rugby and like at the moment there is no criticism of individuals, all you have is the usual 'great servant', 'represented his country with distinction' about players that are finished or washed up. Why don't the media call it as it is that players X, Y and Z were poor and had bad WC and a bad year overall and should have been dropped-the soccer boys get this the whole time. I'm sorry your comments about the GAA promoting it's own negativity just lost me,it sounds like gibberish.

updwell (Limerick) - Posts: 817 - 26/10/2019 08:03:54    2245875

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Replying To updwell:  "Media disproportionately promote rugby and like at the moment there is no criticism of individuals, all you have is the usual 'great servant', 'represented his country with distinction' about players that are finished or washed up. Why don't the media call it as it is that players X, Y and Z were poor and had bad WC and a bad year overall and should have been dropped-the soccer boys get this the whole time. I'm sorry your comments about the GAA promoting it's own negativity just lost me,it sounds like gibberish."
There very much is criticism of players. Take a look at any media outlet and you would see that be it paper, online TV. The papers have been all about poor play from players since last weekend
I dont k ie how you could thi k they havent
GAA does look more negative at itself more than rugby. The media or at least elements of it always look for the negative angle and that reflects on coverage or perceptions of the sports.

KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3499 - 26/10/2019 11:31:45    2245909

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Replying To bad.monkey:  "Nonsense - a quick look at the winners will tell you the soccer World Cup is between Brazil, Germany, Italy, Frznce and Spain every time. About the same as the rugby"
Ya but look at the list of different qualifiers year on year and teams involved from QF on and you will find a much greater range. Your list above leaves out 3 of the 4 semi finalists from the last world cup (England, Belgium & Croatia) so no way is it the same as a tournament where its almost impossible for Ireland not to qualify

Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1236 - 26/10/2019 12:04:16    2245918

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Replying To KillingFields:  "There very much is criticism of players. Take a look at any media outlet and you would see that be it paper, online TV. The papers have been all about poor play from players since last weekend
I dont k ie how you could thi k they havent
GAA does look more negative at itself more than rugby. The media or at least elements of it always look for the negative angle and that reflects on coverage or perceptions of the sports."
I agree that both GAA and Football have a lot of negativity. This has something to do with the old self hating Gael mentality. That is "British rugby is better than Gaelic football" thing. But the IRFU have a lot of power in Irish society. Guinness, Bank of Ireland, Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil, Aldi and Vodaphone are all major sponsors. As are the private fee paying schools. The World wide HQ of World rugby is based in Dublin.
I would urge all Gaels to get behind our GAA, and take pride in it. Slán agus beannacht.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 26/10/2019 12:04:47    2245919

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Replying To galwayford:  "I agree that both GAA and Football have a lot of negativity. This has something to do with the old self hating Gael mentality. That is "British rugby is better than Gaelic football" thing. But the IRFU have a lot of power in Irish society. Guinness, Bank of Ireland, Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil, Aldi and Vodaphone are all major sponsors. As are the private fee paying schools. The World wide HQ of World rugby is based in Dublin.
I would urge all Gaels to get behind our GAA, and take pride in it. Slán agus beannacht."
I guess the negativity is because Gaelic football has just gotten so boring, it's only semi final onwards is worth watching, hurling although it didn't have it's best year this year is far more easier on the eye

DuhallowRed (Cork) - Posts: 267 - 26/10/2019 13:10:46    2245927

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Replying To Breezy:  "Ya but look at the list of different qualifiers year on year and teams involved from QF on and you will find a much greater range. Your list above leaves out 3 of the 4 semi finalists from the last world cup (England, Belgium & Croatia) so no way is it the same as a tournament where its almost impossible for Ireland not to qualify"
Spot on there, in Rugby the draw is made 2 years in advance for the World Cup Finals and barring a catastrophe (2007) a top team such as Ireland can plan for a quarter final against one of two teams from another group. Whereas in FIFA World Cup it is a tough task for teams to get to the Finals themselves, even for countries like Holland in recent times.

conordee (Galway) - Posts: 440 - 26/10/2019 15:00:13    2245938

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Replying To DuhallowRed:  "I guess the negativity is because Gaelic football has just gotten so boring, it's only semi final onwards is worth watching, hurling although it didn't have it's best year this year is far more easier on the eye"
Plenty of good Gaelic football games. The game is a better spectacle than the "good old days"....and is also a better watch than Rugby.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11227 - 26/10/2019 19:17:31    2245986

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Replying To yew_tree:  "Plenty of good Gaelic football games. The game is a better spectacle than the "good old days"....and is also a better watch than Rugby."
I guess it's a matter of opinion, I find it hard to watch at times, the all Ireland final Dublin once held the ball for 3 minutes doing nothing, as for it being better then rugby, I think both sports can be equally as good and equally as bad to watch

DuhallowRed (Cork) - Posts: 267 - 26/10/2019 21:10:36    2246012

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Replying To galwayford:  "I agree that both GAA and Football have a lot of negativity. This has something to do with the old self hating Gael mentality. That is "British rugby is better than Gaelic football" thing. But the IRFU have a lot of power in Irish society. Guinness, Bank of Ireland, Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil, Aldi and Vodaphone are all major sponsors. As are the private fee paying schools. The World wide HQ of World rugby is based in Dublin.
I would urge all Gaels to get behind our GAA, and take pride in it. Slán agus beannacht."
Fine Gael & Fianna Fáil are major sponsors of the IRFU ? Throw up a few facts on that.
"Self hating Gael mentality," " British rugby is better than Gaelic football", what planet are you on.

moc.dna (Galway) - Posts: 1212 - 26/10/2019 22:43:55    2246023

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Replying To DuhallowRed:  "I guess it's a matter of opinion, I find it hard to watch at times, the all Ireland final Dublin once held the ball for 3 minutes doing nothing, as for it being better then rugby, I think both sports can be equally as good and equally as bad to watch"
The drawn All Ireland final was a fantastic match. As was the Kerry V Mayo League final. Finally the greatest sporting moment in the last 50 years was Offaly's Séamus Darby goal against Kerry in '82.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 26/10/2019 23:14:51    2246032

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Replying To KillingFields:  "This is rubbish and you realise that more people play the sport who never attended a fee paying school than who did
How was squad for world cup average exactly?
You clearly dont have a clue about rugby as all second rows picked were at least 6'6
And do you have proof of us being weak in line outs?
Farrell telling his son everything. Paranoid much?"
More people who did not attend a fee paying school may Indeed play rugby than those who did not attend a fee paying school. However the player pathway to the elite level of rugby in Ireland hugely favors those who attended the rugby playing fee paying schools . There is a strong whiff of privilege off elite rugby in Ireland and that includes Munster .

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 27/10/2019 07:47:58    2246044

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Replying To bad.monkey:  "Nonsense - a quick look at the winners will tell you the soccer World Cup is between Brazil, Germany, Italy, Frznce and Spain every time. About the same as the rugby"
Only 5 different countries have ever reached a rugby World Cup final.

6 different teams have reached the last 3 FIFA World Cup finals, and that's not including 2 of your perennial contenders in Brazil and Italy.

The strenght in depth in terms of competitive teams at the highest level in both sports is incomparable.

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3685 - 27/10/2019 11:16:28    2246072

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A simple question:

Why do priest-run fee-paying schools - as opposed to other schools - play rugby?

And, I don't think "because it's their tradition" is an adequate answer.

Aibrean (Kerry) - Posts: 263 - 27/10/2019 11:31:13    2246076

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Replying To if_in_doubt:  "Only 5 different countries have ever reached a rugby World Cup final.

6 different teams have reached the last 3 FIFA World Cup finals, and that's not including 2 of your perennial contenders in Brazil and Italy.

The strenght in depth in terms of competitive teams at the highest level in both sports is incomparable."
There's only ten Tier 1 teams in rugby. The sport is very competitive considering the small pool of countries playing at a high level.

Hawkeye9212 (Donegal) - Posts: 266 - 27/10/2019 12:03:21    2246081

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Replying To Aibrean:  "A simple question:

Why do priest-run fee-paying schools - as opposed to other schools - play rugby?

And, I don't think "because it's their tradition" is an adequate answer."
There are Protestant rugby playing schools too.

thelongridge (Offaly) - Posts: 1735 - 27/10/2019 17:28:28    2246140

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Silly thread, Rugby is not even a Summer game
So should the Camogie team in Galway abandon their culture to promote hockey? Rhetorical question.

suckvalleypaddy (Galway) - Posts: 1667 - 27/10/2019 18:33:41    2246155

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England wiped the floor with the All Blacks, they do not need to interfere with Gaelic on their island

maroondiesel (Mayo) - Posts: 1196 - 27/10/2019 19:10:08    2246163

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Replying To galwayford:  "I agree that both GAA and Football have a lot of negativity. This has something to do with the old self hating Gael mentality. That is "British rugby is better than Gaelic football" thing. But the IRFU have a lot of power in Irish society. Guinness, Bank of Ireland, Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil, Aldi and Vodaphone are all major sponsors. As are the private fee paying schools. The World wide HQ of World rugby is based in Dublin.
I would urge all Gaels to get behind our GAA, and take pride in it. Slán agus beannacht."
It is nothing to do with British anything is better. The gaa journalists always look too negatively while all too often rugby commentators are too positive. It is nothing more than that. Irfu dont have a lot of power or certainly GAA has as much. And fine Gael and fianna fail are not in anyway sponsors of rugby.

KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3499 - 27/10/2019 20:44:03    2246173

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