Might as well give up. Fintan says it's over

SectionF

O'Toole calls time on domestic football
Fintan O’Toole, waxing lyrical about Irish sporting tribes and indulging in the by-now familiar GAA myth-making, joins the dismalists who say it’s over for club football in Ireland.

mike65

Yeah, but what do you think?

Mike.

PHB

I thought if we don't have a national league we don't get a national team?

SectionF

mike65 wrote:

Yeah, but what do you think?

Mike.

Fair question, though I thought the answer was implied.
I think that it's nonsense, but dangerous nonsense. O'Toole pronouncing league football dead is a good way to help kill it.
Irish football is in a bad way, chiefly because of the lack of goodwill towards it. But that may change with the dawning realisation of a link between football in Ireland and our performances internationally.
Nil desperandum.

KdjaCL

PHB wrote:

I thought if we don't have a national league we don't get a national team?

Correct but its the Times all you need is some words then a small dinosaur called Thessie to make it into clever gibberish. It doesnt need to have a point or even be correct but must have lots of big words.

This system evolved spontaneously, but it is remarkably robust and relatively fixed. At its own level, the position of the dominant sport is formidable. Local rugby teams and League of Ireland soccer clubs are in decline because the local is now the GAA’s patch.

kdjac

SectionF

KdjaCL wrote:

Correct but its the Times all you need is some words then a small dinosaur called Thessie to make it into clever gibberish. It doesnt need to have a point or even be correct but must have lots of big words.



kdjac

It's not the size of the words that worries me. It's the consensus of opinion, even from unexpected quarters like O'Toole, that football in Ireland doesn't matter -- even as the whole country rages at our incompetence internationally.

Guy:Incognito

PHB wrote:

I thought if we don't have a national league we don't get a national team?

We might be better off not having one at the minute so.

redspider

I think even Fintan O’Toole himself would admit that he is no expert on sports or football.

Like many opinion columns in the newspapers these days the aim is to take a an angle that is semi-contoversial in the hope of generating interest. O'Toole as an observer on Irish Society, is more skilled as a historian, and probably just picked up on the very recent facts of the 82,000 crowd of the Dublin v Tyrone match, the problems at Shelbourne which the media are reporting nearly everyday and so even he spotted that (it was even on Prime Time, which he no doubts watches) and the near draw at San Marino. He probably got some of the vibe when talking to the sports columnists at the coffee station.

Take it with a pinch of salt ......

Redspider

ps: I didnt read the article!

Dr. Nick

The thing, of course, is (the elephant in the room as PatPlank might say) that he is absolutly correct in his assesment:
''They were young, working-class Dublin males. They sang and chanted and threw shapes, pointing in mocking unison at the culchies in the Hogan Stand. There was not a paper hat or a rosette between them, just scarves draped over their angular shoulders or held aloft in swaying exultation.''

Dunphy and his mates tried to bring Wimbledon to Dublin, 'De Dubs' are the nearest thing the people described above have. They have no real understanding of the GAA and they don't want any.

Chardee MacDennis

Dr. Nick wrote:

The thing, of course, is (the elephant in the room as PatPlank might say) that he is absolutly correct in his assesment:
''They were young, working-class Dublin males. They sang and chanted and threw shapes, pointing in mocking unison at the culchies in the Hogan Stand. There was not a paper hat or a rosette between them, just scarves draped over their angular shoulders or held aloft in swaying exultation.''

Dunphy and his mates tried to bring Wimbledon to Dublin, 'De Dubs' are the nearest thing the people described above have. They have no real understanding of the GAA and they don't want any.

having not read the article could you explain what you're talkng bout here? thanks!

SectionF

Dr. Nick wrote:

The thing, of course, is (the elephant in the room as PatPlank might say) that he is absolutly correct in his assesment:
''They were young, working-class Dublin males. They sang and chanted and threw shapes, pointing in mocking unison at the culchies in the Hogan Stand. There was not a paper hat or a rosette between them, just scarves draped over their angular shoulders or held aloft in swaying exultation.''

Dunphy and his mates tried to bring Wimbledon to Dublin, 'De Dubs' are the nearest thing the people described above have. They have no real understanding of the GAA and they don't want any.

It's one thing Dunphy pronouncing Irish football dead. He has a personal and professional interest in that happening, and this chameleon's latest wheeze is to pump up the GAA at every opportunity.
But the very fact that O'Toole is not a sports pundit, and is, even unconsciously, pushing the same message, is what makes it significant.

redspider

SectionF wrote:

It's one thing Dunphy pronouncing Irish football dead. He has a personal and professional interest in that happening, and this chameleon's latest wheeze is to pump up the GAA at every opportunity.
But the very fact that O'Toole is not a sports pundit, and is, even unconsciously, pushing the same message, is what makes it significant.

or insignificant .... take your pick! ;-)

The Muppet

PHB wrote:

I thought if we don't have a national league we don't get a national team?

Every cloud has a silver lining.