Green and Red

Its a good article from Eugene. A well made and fair point.

Re the compromise rules(CR): I know it wont be a popular opinion but one of the features of the game I liked was the tackle. Many GAA people complain that the ball is over-carried in football and that foot passing is a dieing skill. Could a proper tackle along the lines of the CR game not help to encourage players to kick the ball more?

Correct as usual Willie Joe. In Mayo we lost Gavin Duffy to rugby, John O Hara to soccer, by his own admission McGarrity is a basketballer first as was McHale. Throw in Webb and Malee and a host of others to soccer, then it shows the daftness of blaming the Aussies. The whole Cork thing is a joke. The carry on is more Arthur Scargill or Red Robbo than anything we have seen in years. Its my opinion that its a marker being laid down by guys who are coming to the end of their playing careers and who now want to reposition in other ares i.e players welfare, player reresentatives, careers as potential county board men themselves, or facilitators in a game slowly moving professional. One way to end this cant is ; On the completion of each teams championship run that the entire panel and selectors stand down. Then if the manager gets the go ahead from the county board he changes both his selectors and squad as necessary. What arrogance and presumption from those players and I include some of our own who firmly believe that they are fixtures on county squads.

I’m with you to some degree on the tackle, Mike, as it would certainly deal with a lot of the messing that currently blights the game. I wouldn’t be at all adverse to seeing the playing rules of Gaelic football and Aussie Rules coming much closer together – they’re both great football codes and both can gain by adopting bits of the other. The problem with the international version is that it’s a game that only gets played a few times a year, nobody is really clear what the rules are and something that’s a sending-off offence in one code is a valid piece of play in the other (the tackle is a good example of this – remember the flap Ger Canning got into in the first test when Stevie McDonnell got hauled down in front of the goal? Both he and Canning thought it was a penalty, while the Aussie co-commentator was going OTT proclaiming what a brilliant tackle it was!).

I’d go a step further, ontheroad – I think the County Boards should step down as well at the end of every year!

I don’t agree on using a school commemoration game to ‘fuck’ any team. I am a past pupil of St Colman’s College and I know for a fact that the staff there have worked their asses off to make this event go ahead this Sunday.

Get at Cork GAA another way, but don’t taint a special occasion for a school that has done so much for local hurling to do it.

I was being ever so slightly tongue-in-cheek there, Joe, and I’ve no doubt that the day will deservedly be a big one for the school. The point remains, however, that Cork are breaking the two-month ban on fielding an inter-county team during the closed season and they should face the heaviest possible sanction if they go ahead and do this. You can be damned sure that this would be the case if it were any other county

Have to agree on the CR. While not a big fan of it, there are certain parts I think could be beneficial to our own game. In particular, having to play a foot pass after a certain number of hand passes. It bores me rigid when I see teams hand passing the ball all over the pitch (and I know we have been guilty of this ourselves – not so much last year, when we could barely string 2 passes together…).

As for Cork, what a shambles. A good friend of mine is a Cork lad and he’s personally had enough this time. This seems to be a prevailing attitude in the rebel county, I’d be surprised if the players have much public support even within their own county.
Although the Cork board also have a lot to answer for.

Anyone have a link to pictures of the new jersey out on 27th? That’s xmas presents sorted for the family anyway

Sorry Joe but thats whats wrong with our games, a constant tweaking and bending the rules, its simple, if Cork play during the break, put them out and give us a all a a break. Special occasion is no reason for a dispensation. Had the top brass last year the balls to throw out both Cork outfits then we would not have this empasse today. Time to stop talking and empowering the rebel and time for action.

sorry to go off topic here Willie Joe and no problem if you feel this board is not the place for a comment such as this…..The nephew of well know Mayo intercounty referee Vincent Neary died tragically in a car crash on Saturday night/Sunday morning in Bonniconlon……

My sympathies to all the family.

No problem, M@yoman – it’s a terrible tragedy but sadly one that’s repeated up and down the country, week in, week out. May he rest in peace, the poor lad.

Any thoughts on the current Cork antics and the GPA Willie? I’d have the whole dang lot in the gulag myself, but I seem to remember you being a bit more pro-GPA in the past.

I think it’s a case of a ship of fools this time round. The arrogance of the players is breathtaking (and I agree with virtually all you had to say on the matter, including getting Super Nanny on the case) but neither Gerald McCarthy nor the County Board look all that hot either. It’s difficult to know how they’re going to resolve this one as so many hard words have been uttered at this stage: how, for example, can Sean O hAilpin possibly play under Gerald McCarthy again? HQ has to get involved but it could take a new manager, a new cohort of players and a new county board to get to the fresh start that they need.

This is simply hilarious: Gerald McCarthy has openly confirmed that he has undertaken a collective training session with the Cork hurlers during the so-called closed season and there’s not even any pretence that the team playing next Sunday’s challenge is a Cork one. Will Cork face any sanction for this blatant disregard of rules that they’ve signed up to? I won’t be holding my breath on this one.