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Brawls/Melee's, They Dont Make Them The Way They Used To

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amidst all the talk of brawls and melee's in gaa matches,one thing that strikes me now is that there is never a closed punch thrown in any of them.all pushing,shoving,wrestling,etc.
i am now going wax lyrical to meath v mayo in 1996,or the louth laois brawl where a sub came on like a crazed lunatic and started swinging punches to beat the band.
sundays "brawl" would have been described as "handbags" by men like mick lyons,niall cahalane,paidi o se,etc.
give me the old school brawl,when men were men,any day.

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 14/02/2018 12:24:41    2076753

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Replying To perfect10:  "amidst all the talk of brawls and melee's in gaa matches,one thing that strikes me now is that there is never a closed punch thrown in any of them.all pushing,shoving,wrestling,etc.
i am now going wax lyrical to meath v mayo in 1996,or the louth laois brawl where a sub came on like a crazed lunatic and started swinging punches to beat the band.
sundays "brawl" would have been described as "handbags" by men like mick lyons,niall cahalane,paidi o se,etc.
give me the old school brawl,when men were men,any day."
Star Donaghy gave AOS a good closed fist dunt in last years allireland semifinal replay after AOS stood on his foot.

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 14/02/2018 12:35:06    2076759

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Replying To KingdomBoy1:  "Star Donaghy gave AOS a good closed fist dunt in last years allireland semifinal replay after AOS stood on his foot."
And hardly a word spoken about it on the Sunday Game or since.

But Colm Cavanagh lifting his foot and innocently connected with Brian Fentons stomach in the other semi-final and the Sunday Game panel described it as gratuitous violence which has no place on the football field!!

We really need an overhaul of these dinosaurs.

Sorry to change the subject.

Wally (Tyrone) - Posts: 913 - 14/02/2018 12:42:19    2076761

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Replying To perfect10:  "amidst all the talk of brawls and melee's in gaa matches,one thing that strikes me now is that there is never a closed punch thrown in any of them.all pushing,shoving,wrestling,etc.
i am now going wax lyrical to meath v mayo in 1996,or the louth laois brawl where a sub came on like a crazed lunatic and started swinging punches to beat the band.
sundays "brawl" would have been described as "handbags" by men like mick lyons,niall cahalane,paidi o se,etc.
give me the old school brawl,when men were men,any day."
You obviously weren't at the Offaly V Dublin u21 Leinster football final in 1997. A right melee that day. We hammered them at the fighting anyway.
The Dubs were thugs. At least we boxed them face to face, they were more focused on drawing kicks at lads, and ganging up on individuals, like our goalie, Declan Kelly.

LooseCannon (Offaly) - Posts: 86 - 14/02/2018 12:45:17    2076763

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Replying To perfect10:  "amidst all the talk of brawls and melee's in gaa matches,one thing that strikes me now is that there is never a closed punch thrown in any of them.all pushing,shoving,wrestling,etc.
i am now going wax lyrical to meath v mayo in 1996,or the louth laois brawl where a sub came on like a crazed lunatic and started swinging punches to beat the band.
sundays "brawl" would have been described as "handbags" by men like mick lyons,niall cahalane,paidi o se,etc.
give me the old school brawl,when men were men,any day."
Yep Meath v mayo was a decent scrap they started it we finished it they still moan about it fed up listening to McHale still whingeing ...but Louth and laois was the best scrap I saw in croker was on the hill that it stared in the small square hill end and finished in the tunnel in the centre of old hogan great scap altogether

runnerin (Meath) - Posts: 202 - 14/02/2018 13:15:11    2076778

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Replying To Wally:  "And hardly a word spoken about it on the Sunday Game or since.

But Colm Cavanagh lifting his foot and innocently connected with Brian Fentons stomach in the other semi-final and the Sunday Game panel described it as gratuitous violence which has no place on the football field!!

We really need an overhaul of these dinosaurs.

Sorry to change the subject."
Can't argue with that Wally as ye do seem to get a raw deal from the media although off the ball dedicated about 15 mins to the Star incident the week after the semifinal but it was nothing compared to what cavanagh got in fairness.

In one way I'd have respect for what Star did as it wasn't sneaky he just said fook it I've had enough of your crap for today and then POP.

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 14/02/2018 13:34:01    2076787

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A brawl may be fine with some, but it shows in-discipline. A brawl is one thing but I would not be boasting about one where a guy is cowardly hit from behind. A match not mentioned was the final between Galway and Dublin- a good few ended on the line and a couple of more should have walked -a bit of thumping went on in the tunnel as well. It appears that the Ref got the blame for that one as he did not Ref any other important matches.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 14/02/2018 13:55:53    2076799

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As far as the club football Melee scene goes Dromard V Moorefield in the Leinster CLub championship was as ding dong as they come too. Good footage on youtube of it at some point some lad came running in and nearly got his head taken clean off with a thump!

Any Gaels from either club have any views on it? I was watching as a Longford man at it rather than a Dromard but sure it was great entertainment plus the fact it took 3 games to separate them in the end. Im pretty sure there was an article and it was listed in the top 5 GAA fights of all time!!!

LongfordSham (Longford) - Posts: 106 - 14/02/2018 13:58:21    2076803

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Replying To perfect10:  "amidst all the talk of brawls and melee's in gaa matches,one thing that strikes me now is that there is never a closed punch thrown in any of them.all pushing,shoving,wrestling,etc.
i am now going wax lyrical to meath v mayo in 1996,or the louth laois brawl where a sub came on like a crazed lunatic and started swinging punches to beat the band.
sundays "brawl" would have been described as "handbags" by men like mick lyons,niall cahalane,paidi o se,etc.
give me the old school brawl,when men were men,any day."
Either way ,fist or no fist, it is not good example to kids.

Bernardo (Monaghan) - Posts: 597 - 14/02/2018 15:58:14    2076842

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The old school punch ups were very entertaining, for the observer :D

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8597 - 14/02/2018 16:12:11    2076850

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Replying To LooseCannon:  "You obviously weren't at the Offaly V Dublin u21 Leinster football final in 1997. A right melee that day. We hammered them at the fighting anyway.
The Dubs were thugs. At least we boxed them face to face, they were more focused on drawing kicks at lads, and ganging up on individuals, like our goalie, Declan Kelly."
just reading Dub Sub Confidential and that fight was mentioned in it.

Rosineri1 (UK) - Posts: 2099 - 14/02/2018 16:21:01    2076853

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Yes any team should stand their ground but throwing punches around and brawling is just thuggary, remember it only takes 1 major incident for this behaviour to carry on in the stands where young and old are,. We need strong well disciplined refs and officials that aren't afraid to make the big calls, we remember how bad rugby was in the past where some games were like heavyweight boxing matches, when the professional era cane about and respect was demanded for referees this all changed, the fighting stopped, the donkey on the pitch was removed from the panels and we got a decent sport to watch. Soccer will never learn, players throwing themselves onto the ground rolling around holding their face or leg like they were shot, all they got was a clip and everybody arguing and putting pressure on the refs.
The problem I have with average refs is indecision, for example a player is clearly fouled but ref waves play on, this drives the supporters mad with them shouting and booing the ref, then he gives a soft free to the opposing team when nobody is near the alleged fouled player, now the supporters are raging, fit to jump onto the pitch. It only takes 1 supporter to say 'sure he is being dragged around all day, about time we won a free, the ref is favouring ye all day long' and 1 thick eejet to respond by f ing and blinding or even climbing down to that rival supporter and give him a thump then you have fighting in the stands where kids are their with their parents. We need proper discipline on the pitch, decent refs and officials and just a calmer way in the stands. Sadly we are close to boiling point with anger that is being expressed in the stands, we need to step back from the brink and the best way is for all GAA players to do a refreshers course on the rules of the game during the off season in winter, we need a better standard of referees, linesmen and umpires, this in turn will ease the reactions in the stands, when was the last time you heard somebody say 'yes that was a foul by our player'. Usually it's complaining and saying that wasn't a free even though the opposing player had his head taken off

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 14/02/2018 20:20:16    2076905

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Replying To Rosineri1:  "just reading Dub Sub Confidential and that fight was mentioned in it."
Much about the fight mentioned??

LooseCannon (Offaly) - Posts: 86 - 14/02/2018 20:29:52    2076907

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I'd rather the way things were years ago myself, instead of the constant pulling/dragging/faceguard pulling in every match, about 1 in 10 matches contained a proper punch up.
Nowdays, every match has a pulling and dragging incident, or 5.

Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 15/02/2018 13:22:06    2077079

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The problem with so-called "melees" is that match officials give them too much attention. Take Football, its a game of movement. Defend as a team, attack as a team. Its up and down up and down all day along. Large groups of players don't have the time to be rowing the issue is officials stop the game and go back to the incident basically waste time. Let the players wrestle and do whatever they are doing to do and they'll get on with the action then. Obviously a strike is a red card but 90% of the time its handbags. Same for hurling the game is so fast players don't have the time to be fighting for more then 5 - 10 seconds its the officials who make a big song and dance about it.

TheFullBack (Galway) - Posts: 110 - 15/02/2018 13:50:15    2077088

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Replying To LooseCannon:  "Much about the fight mentioned??"
just about when he was on the U21 team, mentioned the brawl, said it went on longer than a normal melee lad on the ground getting kicked, then how they had a team meeting and Dave Billings told them about the suspensions and being kicked out

Rosineri1 (UK) - Posts: 2099 - 15/02/2018 14:09:04    2077100

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Replying To TheFullBack:  "The problem with so-called "melees" is that match officials give them too much attention. Take Football, its a game of movement. Defend as a team, attack as a team. Its up and down up and down all day along. Large groups of players don't have the time to be rowing the issue is officials stop the game and go back to the incident basically waste time. Let the players wrestle and do whatever they are doing to do and they'll get on with the action then. Obviously a strike is a red card but 90% of the time its handbags. Same for hurling the game is so fast players don't have the time to be fighting for more then 5 - 10 seconds its the officials who make a big song and dance about it."
Yes but in that 5-10 seconds somebody could get broke up.

Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 16/02/2018 16:59:26    2077451

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At club level a coming to can tell you a lot about a team , if lads stand back and allow a teammate to be isolated and take some slaps you know they have a soft underbelly, the better harder teams tend to stick together no matter what , just talking observations of club football over 40 years

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 16/02/2018 18:10:02    2077467

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Replying To TheFullBack:  "The problem with so-called "melees" is that match officials give them too much attention. Take Football, its a game of movement. Defend as a team, attack as a team. Its up and down up and down all day along. Large groups of players don't have the time to be rowing the issue is officials stop the game and go back to the incident basically waste time. Let the players wrestle and do whatever they are doing to do and they'll get on with the action then. Obviously a strike is a red card but 90% of the time its handbags. Same for hurling the game is so fast players don't have the time to be fighting for more then 5 - 10 seconds its the officials who make a big song and dance about it."
If someone is pulling and dragging out of you the only way to stop it is with a good tump. Dragging and pulling has destroyed the game and most of the Refs are not up to the job of stopping it even with linesmen and umpires who appear asleep most of the time. Sometimes though the odd linesman ends up getting a player send off to show his authority (the guy doing the line in Dublin v Carlow was an example and him supposed to be a top class Ref). The guy that starts pulling and dragging should get one warning and the next offence should leave him watching the match.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 16/02/2018 18:55:11    2077480

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Tommsith here

The best/worst was in a Hurling Club game in Galway some years ago, where a big full forward named Johnny something or other cut loose .
he took stayed on the field I think after what looked like several swings on the way into Goal and on the way out.
the poor ref is seen trying to calm him down.
Wasent at the game but saw it on utube

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 3861 - 17/02/2018 10:13:19    2077577

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