Black&White, do not forget Wembley Stadium is in private hands! So is a business. Places like Stade de France the same.

witnof (Dublin) - Posts: 1604 - 20/06/2011 11:25:11    960725

CheFinny
County: UK
Posts: 1167

960654
Where does it say anywhere that you have to be nice to and/or back slap people for playing other sports? Dont anyone tell me that is an inferior attitude, our sports are the best and unique and should be cherished and reverred by members of our society, if they choose other sports ABOVE ours, why should we embrace them when they do decide to spare some time for our games?

In east tyrone where i'm from and places like south derry and the nationalist population round patriques way the GAA is king and we dont pander to people who choose other sports above ours. Nor should we. Dont like the association leave it.

I don't like this "If your not with us you're against us" attitude. most young fellahs growing up love to play both GAa and soccer. they should have to choose one over the other until later on. if the GAA are a confident organisation they should have to resort to this type of attitude. I know it's different in the north (but isn't it always). common sence seems to go out the window there. bigotry and sectarianism always seems to rear it's ugly head from both sides of the divide yet they can't see it. instead they continue to preach their idea of fair-play to all and sundry.

s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5522 - 20/06/2011 11:28:24    960728

a prominent rugby official in irelan once told me 'if the gaa had brains they would be unstopable as a sporting organisation'.

hold on now liathrodboy, what did Morgan Kelly describe the guys who ran our banks???.....oh yes, now I remember "faintly dim former rugby players"

jos33 (Dublin) - Posts: 243 - 20/06/2011 11:29:39    960730

Poor Johnny Giles; cry me a river John for gawds sake, it happens all over the place not just the GAA. I know boys from my own club who cant play gaelic football for us because their soccer outfit have told them if they do they wont be going to the Foyle Cup, the boys want to go so we just have to get on with it. The GAA isnt perfect but compared to soccer they are light years ahead.

bigtomsbreeks (Down) - Posts: 130 - 20/06/2011 12:01:27    960771

I think this is a joke of a thread. I played both soccer and football. If their was a game clash I'd have to choose. If I chose soccer the GAA crowd were annoyed.
If I chose GAA the soccer crowd were annoyed. You are blown up over nothing.
Anybody who has played dual sports will have been in this position.
To me FIFA would have less regard for the GAA boys than the GAA boys would for the soccer crowd.

Nick (Wexford) - Posts: 1100 - 20/06/2011 12:19:12    960790

dont they play american football in wembley aswell?

Possom (Kildare) - Posts: 322 - 20/06/2011 12:38:20    960808

Every sporting organisation puts its own game first and rightly so. Using a few isolated examples to smear the GAA gives a completely false picture of the GAA versus other sports in the 21st Century. The GAA has come a long days since the ban when it definitely had an inferiority complex.

lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 3038 - 20/06/2011 12:45:49    960825

In some schools in Dublin, Gaelic football and Hurling are banned so everyone plays Rugby. Is this any different? This pretence of the GAA having an inferiority complex is laughable. Also if anyone on here feels so strongly about the GAA in a negative way then no one is forcing you to follow either Hurling or Football.

PK57 (Louth) - Posts: 1664 - 20/06/2011 13:12:53    960869

IRFU are more to blame for banning soccer and GAA from their schools. Now I know you will say they do not run the schools but neither do the GAA. Three private schools in my area will only allow rugby and cricket. Were approached by local soccer and GAA clubs to allow their sports into the schools but a straight NO.
If the roles were reversed it would be front page headlines in the Irish Independent and main news on RTE.

Real Kerry Fan (None) - Posts: 2957 - 20/06/2011 13:33:13    960902

My issue is not with sports asking players to concentrate on them , it is if a sports person picks another sport except GAA he or she is teated with complete disdain , as with Catriona McKeirnan she was still representing her school. Other sports in generaL acccept that players might choose other sports but will wish them the best of luck this can be said of the GAA.

tinrylandman (Carlow) - Posts: 387 - 20/06/2011 17:58:00    961303

witnof

Black&White, do not forget Wembley Stadium is in private hands! So is a business. Places like Stade de France the same.

Wembley was specifically mentioned as an example by the original poster.

Also, it's owned by Wembley National Stadium Ltd, which is owned by the FA......... being legally structured as a private limited company is different to being in private ownership.

http://www.wembleystadium.com/Organisation/Stakeholders.aspx

black&white (Sligo) - Posts: 1628 - 20/06/2011 18:02:00    961309

Back to the actual point of the thread, the GAA is no better or worse than other organisations when it comes to other sports. Some people realise that it's better to have our young people playing any sport, rather than bully them into a situation where they don't enjoy playing any. Others feel that the need to run other sports down.

When I went to secondary school I (and one other) was kicked off the soccer team one year for missing a friendly game in favour of a football quarter-final.
The following year myself and two of my school-mates were told not to bother coming to Connacht u-17 International Rules trials unless we were willing to give up playing for our soccer club (we had won the SFAI Cup the previous year, and were in the quarter-finals that year).

I (and I'm sure everyone else here) have encountered numerous GAA people who will run down soccer or rugby at any opportunity, and seem to think it makes them more of a "GAA man." Equally well I've come across numerous soccer/rugby people who talk sneeringly about "bogball" and "stickball."

Football and hurling can stand on their own merits, and will attract enough players on merit, without the need to attack other sports. Equally well soccer and rugby will continue to win their share of players too.

black&white (Sligo) - Posts: 1628 - 20/06/2011 18:16:06    961324

Nick
County: Wexford
Posts: 637

960790
I think this is a joke of a thread. I played both soccer and football. If their was a game clash I'd have to choose. If I chose soccer the GAA crowd were annoyed.
If I chose GAA the soccer crowd were annoyed. You are blown up over nothing.
Anybody who has played dual sports will have been in this position.

Exactly. I've played hurling and soccer since I was a child. When there have been clashes I've usually chosen hurling (though not always) and the soccer club has been angry. As have the GAA club on the couple of occasions I've chosen soccer.

GAA clubs and the larger organisation get more grief over this than their soccer and rugby counterparts. This is mainly due to their being an element of hatred still there towards the GAA as a hangover from the ban.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13833 - 20/06/2011 18:26:31    961333

Typically Irish! the only unique thing about these incidents is that because we missed the story the first time around as in years ago. When we hear about it years later we get all outraged again and again and again and again. This is all old hat Liam Brady was expelled from St Aidan's because he played for an Irish Underage soccer team and not the school. The problem was the principal period.

People "forget" you couldn't even read about GAA games in ANY newspapers until the modern era. People "forget" if you applied to certain schools in Dublin no matter how much wealth you had if you had a GAA background your application would be binned. And even now people conveniently forget that if your son plays Rugby and doesn't go to a fee paying rugby school its the Z stream for you.

The GAA self-imposed sporting aparteid of yester year was there because they where the oppressed, but I guess the revisionists have "forgotten" all that too. Fair play to the GAA for standing up for its own community. Its called looking after your own.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4955 - 20/06/2011 18:35:11    961340

arock
County: Dublin
Posts: 57



People "forget" you couldn't even read about GAA games in ANY newspapers until the modern era.

Delusional, did you ever hear of the Irish Press?

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 20/06/2011 18:59:31    961354

Arock what a load of crap ,the GAA has always had the most coverage in both the national and local media and I have no recollection of Sean O Brien going to a fee paying school . I am glad that you brought up the subject of Apparteid , as the only other country that has had bans such as the GAA had is South Africa now that is something to be proud of . Since the foundation of the state the GAA has been the oppressor and not the oppressed.

tinrylandman (Carlow) - Posts: 387 - 22/06/2011 13:03:56    962802

Off the top of my head I can remember the GAA inviting onto the pitch members of other sports who had success to be congratulated by the crowd:
Stephen Roche
Sonia O'Sullivan
Ken Egan
John Treacy

I am sure there are loads others. The GAA is always willing to congratulate other sports.

As for playing at schools. You will find there are more rugby schools where the GAA is banned than GAA schools where rugby / soccer is banned. I went to a school where soccer and GAA stood side by side.

Puddersthecat (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1692 - 22/06/2011 13:19:45    962817

I think Rugby was high on the list of banning other sports. Not too long ago Jonathan Davies was banned from covering a match within the ground for BBC. He had to report from the carpark. Still banning all other sports from some of their colleges.(Rugby Colleges)

Real Kerry Fan (None) - Posts: 2957 - 22/06/2011 13:31:12    962831

Most of the anecdotes here have their basis in the actions of individuals in local areas. No point in me adding to the list of anecdotes.
However its true to say that the GAA has more "Us or nothing" types than any other sport in Ireland. Even within the GAA there is territorial grumblings between club/county/school/college. The "He's ours" mentality is one of a number fo attitudes that needs to be addressed in the organisation. Everyone knows the ruined local prodigy who was horsed playing for everyone, training for no one, burned out and injured by 21.

bouncingball (Carlow) - Posts: 124 - 22/06/2011 13:39:53    962850

"If the roles were reversed it would be front page headlines in the Irish Independent and main news on RTE. "
How very true, Real Kerry Fan. As for the biased soccer fans who call hurling and gaelic football bogball and stickball it just show their loutish ignorance. These are the types that will follow English teams and wouldn't cross the road to support a local soccer team.

lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 3038 - 22/06/2011 13:51:01    962868