National Forum

Will The Gaa Game Ever Recover To What It Was Like

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Replying To mickcunningham:  "absolutely wrong the players of today are robots . not in the same class as the players of the past"
Between hurling and football and including replays I've been to 108 All-Ireland Senior finals since 1972. I've seen all the great hurlers and footballers on their biggest days over the last 50+ years. The footballers of today are far from robots and they are every bit as skilful as the great footballers of the past if not more so.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6117 - 21/06/2024 10:50:27    2553342

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Replying To doublechamps:  "Disagree big time here. You have lads on county panels now based on what km they clock up on the daily. Those fellas wouldn't have got a sniff in bygone years."
Nah. I'm not having that. That's just an unsubstantiated generalisation. It's nonsense. As I said in another post I've been to 108 All-Ireland senior finals between hurling and football since 1972. I've seen all the great teams and all the great players on their biggest days. The footballers of today are every bit as skilled if not more so than the footballers of the past.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6117 - 21/06/2024 10:54:37    2553343

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Replying To skillet:  "Yes.."
Why are you so bitter against football? Are we not all GAA people?

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6117 - 21/06/2024 10:56:41    2553344

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Replying To SaffronDon:  "Some lads must still listen to matches on the wireless. Can't move with the times or accept change. Sad."
Ya'd have to laugh alright.

Even the heading "The GAA game"......

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 1808 - 21/06/2024 10:57:36    2553345

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Replying To Viking66:  "And all the football crowds have been massive this year?"
In general the average football crowd will be bigger over the course of the season than the average hurling crowd. There were 14,500 in the Athletic Grounds this year for a league game between Armagh and Tyrone. There was a crowd of just 12,000 at the National Hurling League final this year between tow of the top three teams in the land in a ground that was accessible to both competing teams. That quite frankly was a pathetic attendance. There were 33,000 at the National Football League Finals between Donegal and Armagh and Dublin and Derry. There was one crowd over 15,000 during the entire course of a 19 match Leinster hurling championship this year. There were three crowds of over 15,000 during an eleven game Leinster football championship this year. I don't have the figures for 2023 but the combined attendance at the two hurling semi finals in 2022 was 92,000. The combined attendance at the two football semi finals that year was 142,000. With Cork involved in the later stages of this year's hurling championship hopefully those attendance figures will be substantially bigger.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6117 - 21/06/2024 11:08:30    2553347

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Replying To Greengrass:  "Between hurling and football and including replays I've been to 108 All-Ireland Senior finals since 1972. I've seen all the great hurlers and footballers on their biggest days over the last 50+ years. The footballers of today are far from robots and they are every bit as skilful as the great footballers of the past if not more so."
Fair play to you. That's your opinion and I have mine..that's what it's all about.

doublechamps (Fermanagh) - Posts: 150 - 21/06/2024 11:22:28    2553354

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Replying To Greengrass:  "Why are you so bitter against football? Are we not all GAA people?"
How in the world do you read " bitterness against Football" from my fairly harmless posts!!?

My first one was tounge in cheek, because from a Limerick point of view these are great days..

My second one was confirming the first.. Never mentioned Football.

skillet (Limerick) - Posts: 1103 - 21/06/2024 11:54:20    2553365

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Replying To doublechamps:  "Fair play to you. That's your opinion and I have mine..that's what it's all about."
Absolutely doublechamps.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6117 - 21/06/2024 12:08:05    2553370

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Replying To skillet:  "How in the world do you read " bitterness against Football" from my fairly harmless posts!!?

My first one was tounge in cheek, because from a Limerick point of view these are great days..

My second one was confirming the first.. Never mentioned Football."
I interpreted"hopefully not" as you hoping that football never rediscovered its so called glory days as originally posted by Tomsmith. Serves me right for paying any attention to Tomsmith. I agree with you about Limerick.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6117 - 21/06/2024 12:36:26    2553379

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Replying To Greengrass:  "Between hurling and football and including replays I've been to 108 All-Ireland Senior finals since 1972. I've seen all the great hurlers and footballers on their biggest days over the last 50+ years. The footballers of today are far from robots and they are every bit as skilful as the great footballers of the past if not more so."
Fair play Greengrass, that's a serious amount of finals. Definitely every bit as skilful as players of the past. But some coaches, using technology with tactics,S&C, gym culture, building power and endurance, more bothered about not losing to let players highlight their skills and express themselves on the pitch. In my own head I think players of 30 years ago enjoyed it more, could relax between games. But I don't know that. Should get a discussion going between current and past players to compare their football lives, games, training, lifestyle, social life. Because players of today might like it just as much and there's no harm at all if they're not big in the having a few pints culture and no harm either in a bit of socialising.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7571 - 21/06/2024 13:14:58    2553389

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Replying To Greengrass:  "In general the average football crowd will be bigger over the course of the season than the average hurling crowd. There were 14,500 in the Athletic Grounds this year for a league game between Armagh and Tyrone. There was a crowd of just 12,000 at the National Hurling League final this year between tow of the top three teams in the land in a ground that was accessible to both competing teams. That quite frankly was a pathetic attendance. There were 33,000 at the National Football League Finals between Donegal and Armagh and Dublin and Derry. There was one crowd over 15,000 during the entire course of a 19 match Leinster hurling championship this year. There were three crowds of over 15,000 during an eleven game Leinster football championship this year. I don't have the figures for 2023 but the combined attendance at the two hurling semi finals in 2022 was 92,000. The combined attendance at the two football semi finals that year was 142,000. With Cork involved in the later stages of this year's hurling championship hopefully those attendance figures will be substantially bigger."
It does depend who gets to the finals in any given year. There were over 60000 at the Leinster hurling final in 2017 for example. There were around 62000 at the AISF between Tipp and Wexford in 2019. Kilkenny as a county doesn't have a big population. And their fans usually only turn up if they make an AIF. Some of the lads there are more inclined to go to a club hurling final, even a relegation final, than intercounty games.
The fact that there are so many football games has affected football attendances this year too, some of which were really poorly attended. There were only a handful of spectators for Wexford v Carlow in the Leinster Championship, probably not even a thousand, yet the same 2 counties had over 8000 for their Leinster Championship meeting in hurling. There were less than 22000 at the Leinster Football Championship SF double header. Are you including that as one of your 3 games with more than 15000?

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13322 - 21/06/2024 13:29:43    2553393

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Will Ireland ever recover to be what it was once was? That's the bigger question, I have my doubts they way we are being led by the EU.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2937 - 21/06/2024 14:13:30    2553418

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Replying To Tirchonaill1:  "Will Ireland ever recover to be what it was once was? That's the bigger question, I have my doubts they way we are being led by the EU."
I wondered how long it would take to get a post like this in. Do you really want us to be like we were before the EU ?? You must have a short memory. De Valera's " comely maidens dancing at the crossroads " type of stuff. No thanks, that was t a particularly nice place to be, believe me.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1166 - 21/06/2024 14:46:18    2553430

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Replying To Freethinker:  "I wondered how long it would take to get a post like this in. Do you really want us to be like we were before the EU ?? You must have a short memory. De Valera's " comely maidens dancing at the crossroads " type of stuff. No thanks, that was t a particularly nice place to be, believe me."
Girls dancing at the crossroads would be very nice.

gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1106 - 21/06/2024 15:09:07    2553437

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Replying To gunman:  "Girls dancing at the crossroads would be very nice."
Depends. Was hard to tell were they girls or chaps sometimes back in the day:-)

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13322 - 21/06/2024 15:20:34    2553439

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Replying To gunman:  "Girls dancing at the crossroads would be very nice."
I'll vote for that too Gunman, save a man having to travel into town.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2937 - 21/06/2024 15:32:19    2553450

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Replying To Viking66:  "Depends. Was hard to tell were they girls or chaps sometimes back in the day:-)"
Indeed it was, but not a problem in the days Dev had in mind - 30s and 40s. I was born in the 40s, grew up through the 50d and 60s. Pre Common Market as it first was. Most of my primary school and some of the secondary school ones ended up on the mail boat. Having lived through that, you wouldn't wish those days on your worst enemy. The vast majority of the great unwashed didn't have a pot to piss in as the saying goes.

Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 1166 - 21/06/2024 15:34:00    2553451

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Replying To Freethinker:  "Indeed it was, but not a problem in the days Dev had in mind - 30s and 40s. I was born in the 40s, grew up through the 50d and 60s. Pre Common Market as it first was. Most of my primary school and some of the secondary school ones ended up on the mail boat. Having lived through that, you wouldn't wish those days on your worst enemy. The vast majority of the great unwashed didn't have a pot to piss in as the saying goes."
The " good old days" when our main exports were cheap food and cheap labour for England.

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 1808 - 21/06/2024 16:54:10    2553468

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Replying To Viking66:  "Depends. Was hard to tell were they girls or chaps sometimes back in the day:-)"
Half of them don't know what they are themselves nowadays the creaters.

Tirchonaill1 (Donegal) - Posts: 2937 - 21/06/2024 17:14:26    2553476

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "Fair play Greengrass, that's a serious amount of finals. Definitely every bit as skilful as players of the past. But some coaches, using technology with tactics,S&C, gym culture, building power and endurance, more bothered about not losing to let players highlight their skills and express themselves on the pitch. In my own head I think players of 30 years ago enjoyed it more, could relax between games. But I don't know that. Should get a discussion going between current and past players to compare their football lives, games, training, lifestyle, social life. Because players of today might like it just as much and there's no harm at all if they're not big in the having a few pints culture and no harm either in a bit of socialising."
Great post. I agree with pretty much all you have said especially about some and I emphasise some of the coaches. I'd like for players of the past and present players at both club and county level to discuss the way they played the game then and the way they play the game now. What was their philosophy? What were their priorities on the field? . What skills did they emphasise and what was their mentality?

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6117 - 21/06/2024 17:24:51    2553478

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