Does the GAA poach soccer stars?

Mushy

Des wrote: »

gah heads afraid to confront the issue, once again.

When the gah is shown up for what it really is, they run away from the discussion.

Again.

The discussion is does GAA poach soccer stars, it was then brought off-topic to TD's/SRFC. I'm a so-called "Gah head" and kept on topic to what the OP wanted to speak about. So tarring everyone in the GAA camp with the same brush ya are...we're confronting the isue of what the OP wants to discuss. Premierstone used an example there...Denis Irwin, he was good enough for Cork...any bitching from GAA fans? I dont hear a thing here anyway.

So with respect to what the OP wanted to discuss, it works both ways. And btw, some clubs(think Dub13 had first example) have idiots who are like that, but dont think of us all the same way.

_blank_

estebancambias wrote: »

sweet jesus stop calling it 'gah'

why

OhNoYouDidn't

estebancambias wrote: »

sweet jesus stop calling it 'gah'

when they stop calling it 'soccer'.....

jaykay74

Des wrote: »

gah heads

:rolleyes:

jaykay74

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

when they stop calling it 'soccer'.....

Those Gah heads are everywhere
boards.ie > Sports > Soccer > Soccer

OhNoYouDidn't

Des wrote: »

gah heads afraid to confront the issue, once again.

When the gah is shown up for what it really is, they run away from the discussion.

Again.

and then alledge that its bigoted against the Gah to ask about bigotry within the Gah.

thank God the Gah have no political clout anymore.

~Rebel~

Des wrote: »

why

Same reason as we all wanted ShoudlerChip to stop saying Meeeelan. Because its childish and silly.

Des wrote: »

gah heads afraid to confront the issue, once again.

When the gah is shown up for what it really is, they run away from the discussion.

Again.

ahem. "Does gah poach soccer stars?"

the issue eh?

By the way who's running. As i said, it was appalling beheaviour by the GAA, my point which i made clearly was its the local level im standing up for, the people who have nought to do with the GAA on a national scale, the lads who love the games of hurling and football, watch soccer and rugby every week and lead their normal lives while also volunteering some time to help out the local community. Its these people im saying shouldn't be tarred with the same brush, called mudwrestlers and stickswingers and ridiculed for something that had nothing to do with them whatsoever.

Any chance the relevent posts could be moved to one of the old Thomas Davis threads or some other 'merits of GAA' thread rather then causing the end of a decent topic?

semibluff

old man des strikes again.

Ive never seen someone with so many chips on his shoulder. Even worst is the obvious inability to form a debate and allow other opinions to atleast be recognized, if not, god forbid be discussed.

We should start a debate on the catholic church next, surely a few people have been holding grudges on that too.

BTW ive played both sports to a decent standard, and still do - and think there is no reason why they cant co-exist, and DO co-exist. Strong examples formed on either side dont mean your argument is right. It supports it, but over such a small sample size - it doesnt make it right!

set up a poll, a cross forum poll if possible and see what it brings.

I also am finished from writing in this thread, and feuling egotistic grumpy men who will listen to no reason which doesnt agree with their own.

shame, there were vaild points that could have been argued

dfx-

The objection to a multi-sport stadium in their area?

'The youth of Tallaght will be restricted to a diet of Association football.......applicant would be at a severe disadvantage in attracting the youth of Tallaght to the club, the sport and the GAA culture'.

No, TD/SRFC gives no insight at all on the original topic..

_blank_

And the name calling starts :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Typical really.

Typical.

rovingrover

Des wrote: »

An organisation which recently went to court to destroy one of the most successful LoI Clubs in history.

The vitriol IS deserved.

Bunch of bigots.

Why did NOT ONE grassroots gah-head speak out at central council about the TD/SRFC affair?

I've seen people on here say "I was against it".

Did you speak out on a club, county or national level?

If not, why not?

They did at club level. 6 clubs were involved and 5 dropped it. At least one was told in no uncertain terms by their members they'd have no part to play in the attempt to kill Rovers.

Remember also they couldn't find a bigot in the local GAA club to front the case and had to move to a club in the other part of Tallaght.

The gah still have their bigots but it has changed a lot.

OhNoYouDidn't

dfx- wrote: »

'The youth of Tallaght will be restricted to a diet of Association football.......applicant would be at a severe disadvantage in attracting the youth of Tallaght to the club, the sport and the GAA culture'.

No, TD/SRFC gives no insight at all on the original topic..

Shhhh, stop making sense. The barstool herd has spoken. Any resentment to the Gah's stated policies by those involved in football is petty bigotry.

_blank_

rovingrover wrote: »

They did at club level.

Er.

It was at National Level.

Central Council backed the motion, and paid for it.

~Rebel~

i get the impression nobody is taking on board the points I'm making about local level.

i just cant understand the way people talk about this topic, it really comes across as if some people actually think that everyone involved in the GAA is a bigot.

dfx, good post, its a shame that didn't come in earlier before the vitriol.

_blank_

~Rebel~ wrote: »

i get the impression nobody is taking on board the points I'm making about local level.

But the local level people did nothing about the way the gah tried to destroy Shamrock Rovers.

They don't care.

So, I don't care about them.

~Rebel~ wrote: »

i just cant understand the way people talk about this topic, it really comes across as if some people actually think that everyone involved in the GAA is a bigot.

Of course I don't think that.

I think the organisation is bigoted from the top down, and the non-bigots are either too afraid, or just don't care enough, to speak out.

rovingrover

Des wrote: »

Er.

It was at National Level.

Central Council backed the motion, and paid for it.

Still bigots at central council level. Most clubs are fine now. It was the clubs at local level who opened Croke Park up to football. It was the bigots on central council who tried to stop the motion going forward.

_blank_

rovingrover wrote: »

Still bigots at central council level. Most clubs are fine now. It was the clubs at local level who opened Croke Park up to football. It was the bigots on central council who tried to stop the motion going forward.

I couldn't give a shiney one about Croke Park, tbh.

Why did the clubs not oppose the treatment of TD?

Not a single one.

dfx-

Rebel, it's the reason for the vitriol and the vitriol is justified, to say nothing of 'a match between Rovers and the GAA, we know who'll be the last man standing.'

There was a continued provocation of division and competition between the two sports at a local level caused unilaterally by TD and was backed and paid for by hundreds of thousands of Euro by Central Council.

The bigots in 'just one club' couldn't have continued this for years without moral and financial support from above. The GAA and the Dublin County Board are as culpable as much as just the one club, TD. If there was actual significant local dissent, why did the bigots win out at local, county and national level? The common local level opinion i heard at the time was "we should let the court case run its course", essentially condoning it.

OhNoYouDidn't

~Rebel~ wrote: »

i get the impression nobody is taking on board the points I'm making about local level.

i just cant understand the way people talk about this topic, it really comes across as if some people actually think that everyone involved in the GAA is a bigot.

dfx, good post, its a shame that didn't come in earlier before the vitriol.

but we have.

no-one disputes the grass roots Gah does good things. but for a self proclamed democratic organisation thats rigidly centralised, its a bit difficult to accept that 'no-one knew' about a well publicised case that Croke Park were funding as the reason for no-one objecting. the fact is the grass roots tolerate (at least) bigotry done in their name.

~Rebel~

Des wrote: »

But the local level people did nothing about the way the gah tried to destroy Shamrock Rovers.

They don't care.

So, I don't care about them.

but you have to see that in a lot of cases these local guys are simply volunteering their time to help out the community. In a lot of cases these are the types of people who if GAA didn't exist in the community would be doing something similer anyway. They're not there to serve the GAA on a grand scale, more to serve their community through the medium of GAA. What im asking is where does it become their place to do something, and do you really think Pat down the road has any power to do anything? And even if he does how does it become his responsibility? Where does it stop? We can all do more then we do to aid world hunger, but we dont. Should we all be punished similarly for getting on with our lives and doing whatever little bits and pieces we do?

I just dont think its fair to adopt the attitude you have where you can say 'they dont care about this issue that doesn't effect them so im going to hold them in low regard'. Your effectively thinking less of them because they actually do do something. If they weren't involved in the community they'd have done nought wrong it seems, but because they train the kids twice a week they're culpable?

Its just not as clear cut as you are making out and tbh I think the people that work in the local GAA's should be applauded for what they DO do, and not roundly chastised for 1 of a million things they could have done to make the world a better place. Yes some higher ups absolutely deserve punishment for what they did, but I just dont think you can tar the whole massive organisation with the same brush.

<edit> just read the posts above, yeah as i said a lot of people were in the wrong, but a few on here have been making out that everyone deserves the abuse which just isn't the case. imo its just not cricket to be able to comment on and abuse over the bad, without awknowledging and applauding the good (which has at least in some part been rectified above for the first time in 5 pages.)

premierstone

Des wrote: »

They don't care.

So, I don't care about them.

I think the organisation is bigoted from the top down, and the non-bigots are either too afraid, or just don't care enough, to speak out.

Des wrote: »

I couldn't give a shiney one about Croke Park, tbh.

Why did the clubs not oppose the treatment of TD?

Not a single one.

I was wrong earlier when i suggested you might have a chip on your shoulder Des my sincerest apologies as it is quiet clear you are the most balanced man on here ( you have a chip on both shoulders )

estebancambias

ah but it was hilarious in fairness. Some light hearted relief.

this had me in stitches

''And he an absolute clown, only made worse by the thread they have on each game. He talks some amount of crap, backed up by his whole Bordeaux crew.''

dfx-

~Rebel~ wrote: »

but you have to see that in a lot of cases these local guys are simply volunteering their time to help out the community. In a lot of cases these are the types of people who if GAA didn't exist in the community would be doing something similer anyway. They're not there to serve the GAA on a grand scale, more to serve their community through the medium of GAA. What im asking is where does it become their place to do something, and do you really think Pat down the road has any power to do anything? And even if he does how does it become his responsibility? Where does it stop? We can all do more then we do to aid world hunger, but we dont. Should we all be punished similarly for getting on with our lives and doing whatever little bits and pieces we do?

Do you not see why this is exactly why Pat down the road should be up in arms over what Central Council does? He trains the All-Ireland players of tomorrow. The GAA makes their money on sponsorship and attendance of that tournament with the best players. He goes to fundraisers for the little club, no doubt.

Then the GAA spends the fruits of his work on reprehensible, bigoted campaigns and then he says he has no part or no say in it? That he just shuts up and trains the next batch of players that the bigots take political advantage of? And it's not his responsibility? Nonsense. If the little clubs full of the community workers spoke up and made it at the very least politically unfavourable for the GAA to do what they did, there's a defence. They didn't. That is tolerating bigotry in their name.

As Des said, they just didn't care.

And how do the bigots get to sit and get to stay on the Central Council if everyone thinks they're bigots and they're solely at fault?

Xavi6

Draupnir wrote: »

What has that got to do with anything mentioned in this thread? Having played for Des with Boardeaux, I can tell you for a fact that nobody on that team has set out to intimidate opponents or had a laugh at bad challenges. Quite the opposite, I've seen Des go bonkers at some of the teams top players over bad tackles.

I think you are completely out of order having a pop at Des over something something which he does very well and in great spirit and which is completely unrelated to the topic at hand.

Maybe his team are a bunch of Mr. Softs :pac:

premierstone

Draupnir wrote: »

I think you are completely out of order having a pop at Des over something something which he does very well and in great spirit and which is completely unrelated to the topic at hand.

And how exactly did this thread get off topic in the first place??

premierstone

dfx- wrote: »

Do you not see why this is exactly why Pat down the road should be up in arms over what Central Council does? He trains the All-Ireland players of tomorrow. The GAA makes their money on sponsorship and attendance of that tournament with the best players. He goes to fundraisers for the little club, no doubt.

Then the GAA spends the fruits of his work on reprehensible, bigoted campaigns and then he says he has no part or no say in it? That he just shuts up and trains the next batch of players that the bigots take political advantage of? And it's not his responsibility? Nonsense. If the little clubs full of the community workers spoke up and made it at the very least politically unfavourable for the GAA to do what they did, there's a defence. They didn't. That is tolerating bigotry in their name.

As Des said, they just didn't care to rock the boat.

And how do the bigots get to sit and get to stay on the Central Council if everyone thinks they're bigots and they're solely at fault?

So by your and Des's logic you and all ''soccer '' supporters in the country can be held accountable for all money spent by the FAI??? Steve Staunton anyone??

Draupnir

Xavi6 wrote: »

Maybe his team are a bunch of Mr. Softs :pac:

They've had one or two!!!

OhNoYouDidn't

premierstone wrote: »

So by your and Des's logic you and all ''soccer '' supporters in the country can be held accountable for all money spent by the FAI??? Steve Staunton anyone??

No, but all football 'activists', ie people involved at club level are and guess what. Stan is gone and the FAI's accounts are available online and 100% transparant.

Totally shot yourself in the foot with that point.

premierstone

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

No, but all football 'activists', ie people involved at club level are and guess what. Stan is gone and the FAI's accounts are available online and 100% transparant.

Totally shot yourself in the foot with that point.

GAA accounts are freely available aswell even though as an amateur organisation there is no obligation on them to do so

dfx-

premierstone wrote: »

So by your and Des's logic you and all ''soccer '' supporters in the country can be held accountable for all money spent by the FAI??? Steve Staunton anyone??

No, but everyone is accountable, if they don't openly and justifiably criticise them and at least attempt to do something about it.

The banner in San Marino calling for Delaney's head over Staunton by Bohs fans and the fans voting with their feet against Cyprus last year where only 55,000 people were there. Personally I won't go to an Ireland match and not particularly interested in watching them either - made easier by them being at home in Croke Park, I'll admit.

There's plenty of open criticism, where necessary, of the FAI. :P

premierstone

dfx- wrote: »

No, but everyone is accountable, if they don't openly and justifiably criticise them and at least attempt to do something about it.

The banner in San Marino calling for Delaney's head over Staunton by Bohs fans and the fans voting with their feet against Cyprus last year where only 55,000 people were there. Personally I won't go to an Ireland match and not particularly interested in watching them either - made easier by them being at home in Croke Park, I'll admit.

There's plenty of open criticism, where necessary, of the FAI. :P

Exactly, you've actually made my point for me cheers!! Do you not see now how ludicrous it is to suggest that anyone who is a member of there local GAA club or anyone who supports there county team is accountable for the Thomas Davis affair?

dfx-

Because nobody said anything. This is why "some local people were against it" doesn't wash.

If you were against it, you should've done something. Nothing was said, not one club came out and dared to step out of line and the members comprising those clubs can only be at fault for that.

The GAA were given free will by the silence. The FAI were made known of getting rid of Staunton in no uncertain terms...you seem to be missing my point.

Raskolnikov

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

They used to spread broken glass on football pitches amongst other things.

:pac:

Mushy

dfx- wrote: »

Because nobody said anything. This is why "some local people were against it" doesn't wash.

If you were against it, you should've done something. Nothing was said, not one club came out and dared to step out of line and the members comprising those clubs can only be at fault for that.

The GAA were given free will by the silence. The FAI were made known of getting rid of Staunton in no uncertain terms...you seem to be missing my point.

Maybe people at club level did bring it up, but it didn't get beyond that. For my club, as an example, brought up, didn't go further. Why not you ask? Well, cos our club doesn't care for TD, or SRFC for that matter. Other pressing issues of more immediate importance were debated and voted on. GAA possibly risked vilification from their own clubs had they NOT done antyhing to help them.

Mushy

dfx- wrote: »

And how do the bigots get to sit and get to stay on the Central Council if everyone thinks they're bigots and they're solely at fault?

And how do the idiots get to sit and get to stay in the Government if everyone thinks they're idiots and they're solely at fault?

dfx-

So you didn't care. Breaking news!

Bigotry, division and thousands of futile euro spent on it raised by clubs doesn't matter. I hope whatever did is sorted too.

_blank_

Question to the gah heads.

Do YOU, personally, care about what the gah tried to do to SRFC?

If you do care, did you do anything about it, within your club?

Did you ask your club chairperson/president to bring it up at a County Board level?

If not, how can you claim to care.

This does all reflect back to the original point of this thread by the way.

The gah were trying to force the closure of SRFC in an attempt to poach the Tallaght based talent.

Mushy

dfx- wrote: »

So you didn't care. Breaking news!

Oh God, you don't get it. Matters in the apparently cocoon world of LOI soccer are not top of the agenda for every club that comes under the GAA organisation. Do we need to apologise for it or something.

Mushy

Des wrote: »

Question to the gah heads.

Do YOU, personally, care about what the gah tried to do to SRFC? Partially

If you do care, did you do anything about it, within your club? Agreed when brought up

Did you ask your club chairperson/president to bring it up at a County Board level? Agreeing to it is doing so

If not, how can you claim to care.

This does all reflect back to the original point of this thread by the way.

The gah were trying to force the closure of SRFC in an attempt to poach the Tallaght based talent.

For the last bit...whats to stop the potential future soccer stars from travelling to wherever they may have to? Plus I'm sure soccer/football clubs exist in Tallaght either way. It could've happened to any LOI club, it just so happened to be the most sucessful club in LOI history. Was primarily got to do with stadium usage wasn't it?

OhNoYouDidn't

Mushy wrote: »

Oh God, you don't get it. Matters in the apparently cocoon world of LOI soccer are not top of the agenda for every club that comes under the GAA organisation. Do we need to apologise for it or something.

but if you are in Dublin, your club voted in support of the case.

even if you aren't, a portion of your membership money paid for the case.

our point is that actions like the Gah suing the state to change the nations sports funding policy in order to get at a football club was not felt worthy of debate in your club.

but they still took your money.

this would not have stood within the FAI family.

_blank_

Mushy wrote: »

For the last bit...

Why ignore the rest of it?

Anyway.

Mushy wrote: »

whats to stop the potential future soccer stars from travelling to wherever they may have to?

I'm sorry, I don't understand the question.

Shamrock Rovers were granted tenancy in Tallaght Stadium by SDCC.

Rovers have been homeless since they sold their ground twenty years ago. Now, I'm not looking at this as a sob story, I hate Rovers as much as the next man, but they finally got a home after all those years, and the gah tried, maliciously, to stop them moving in.

Mushy wrote: »

Plus I'm sure soccer/football clubs exist in Tallaght either way.

Yes, and Rovers have invested a lot of time and money in the locality, building up roots and things like that.

Again, the gah came along and tried to kill the club. For no other reason, that I can see, than badness

Mushy wrote: »

It could've happened to any LOI club, it just so happened to be the most sucessful club in LOI history.

It couldn't have happened to Bohs, they own(ed) their own place.

Shels had a lease on Tolka Park.

Pat's have Richmond.

UCD have the Belfield ground.

Outside of Dublin.

Longford have the Flansiro.

Cork City have Turner's X, which is owned by the Munster League.

etc etc.

Mushy wrote: »

Was primarily got to do with stadium usage wasn't it?

Yeah, TD, who own extensive tracts of land in Tallaght already, wanted to encroach on the new stadium, and brought Rovers to court, with the EXPRESS intent of killing off Rovers, as a club.

OhNoYouDidn't

Mushy wrote: »

For the last bit...whats to stop the potential future soccer stars from travelling to wherever they may have to? Plus I'm sure soccer/football clubs exist in Tallaght either way. It could've happened to any LOI club, it just so happened to be the most sucessful club in LOI history. Was primarily got to do with stadium usage wasn't it?

Christ on a Honda.

TD stated in court they wouldn't use the stadium - they arent even the parish club

_blank_

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Christ on a Honda.

TD stated in court they wouldn't use the stadium - they arent even the parish club

Ah yes.

Apologies.

ONYD knows more about this than me.

Also apologies to the previous poster, I didn't notice the addressed points in my quoted posts.

dfx-

Mushy wrote: »

Oh God, you don't get it. Matters in the apparently cocoon world of LOI soccer are not top of the agenda for every club that comes under the GAA organisation. Do we need to apologise for it or something.

And the GAA - your GAA - spending hundreds of thousands of Euro backing a club in your organisation against an LOI club in an unwinnable bigotry case isn't on the agenda?

Can I become accountant of your company please?

It wasn't about usage. TD wanted a full size GAA pitch built, setting the project back years and even then, a full size pitch cannot fit into the site. A full size pitch they said they wouldn't use. They knew if they won, the project was dead. This was their goal.

Mushy

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

but if you are in Dublin, your club voted in support of the case.

even if you aren't, a portion of your membership money paid for the case.

our point is that actions like the Gah suing the state to change the nations sports funding policy in order to get at a football club was not felt worthy of debate in your club.

but they still took your money.

this would not have stood within the FAI family.

Yeah, but why tar everyone in the GAA with the same brush? As I said where I quoted Des last post, I was never in full agreement with it, but I'm not gonna abandon/boycott the organisation over it. Hell, right of the top my head, I dont think any GAA supporter here expressly condoned the actions against SRFC. We're more defending the organisation against some of your views rather than saying we're all for one, one for all mentality there. Don't think we're all bigots cos of one clubs actions(obviously manifested further) and clubs further afield lack of action. Those clubs(further afield) would have had more pressing local issues. Yeah there are some places further away that would have agreed with them(TD) too, but it wasnt widespread to every club.*

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Christ on a Honda.

TD stated in court they wouldn't use the stadium - they arent even the parish club

Parish club or not, isn't relevant...for bringing this to court is then just petty...to make a little understatement

Des wrote: »

Ah yes.

Apologies.

ONYD knows more about this than me.

Also apologies to the previous poster, I didn't notice the addressed points in my quoted posts.

Apology accepted...thought it was in bold, maybe didnt appear that way.

*eugh, block of text...apologies for that

~Rebel~

Des wrote: »

Question to the gah heads.

Do YOU, personally, care about what the gah tried to do to SRFC?

If you do care, did you do anything about it, within your club?

Did you ask your club chairperson/president to bring it up at a County Board level?

If not, how can you claim to care.

I personally thought it was very poor form. I also think what the government did limiting the school book refund scheme to only designated poorer schools rather then across the board was an absolute disgrace of a decision. I think a lot of things, but to be honest if i were to act on all of them the way people here seem to expect id be spending all my days picketing.

Do you guys all act against everything you think is wrong in the world? If not then its a bit hypocritical...

If i were in dublin i'd probably have felt much stronger about it, but im not and got very little exposure to it bar bits and pieces on the news so felt no strong obligation to go charging up the country with my pitchfork and flaming torch.

Mushy

dfx- wrote: »

And the GAA - your GAA - spending hundreds of thousands of Euro backing a club in your organisation against an LOI club in an unwinnable bigotry case isn't on the agenda?

Can I become accountant of your company please?

It wasn't about usage. TD wanted a full size GAA pitch built, setting the project back years and even then, a full size pitch cannot fit into the site. A full size pitch they said they wouldn't use. They knew if they won, the project was dead. This was their goal.

Read above. Hopefully addressed to your satisfaction in response to ONYD

hunter164

shane86 wrote: »

Was reading up on Cillian Sheridan and read he played for the Cavan minors before opting for soccer. In your view does Gaelic often take potentially national team standard EPL quality athletes? Or due to the physicality and the need for physically strong build is the contest for the athlete more between soccer and rugby, and many talented gah players would not necessarily be great soccer players?

About 7 years ago now we were playing Blackrock College in a schools soccer match, and easily the best player on field that day was Mark Vaughan, currently of Dublin. About 15 or 16 at the time. Packie Bonner and a few suits were in attendance, scouting presumably. For whatever reason, he chose gah over the big money footy could offer. Looking for an opinion from people who watch soccer and GAA regularly, are there many players who in your opinion could have become great soccer players, or due to the differing way the games are played is it impossible to tell? Or are gah and rugby the two sports competing with each other for the attentions of an athlete who could play either? (they do IMO have more similarity than gah and soccer in some respects. More physical contact in defence, a similiar type of passing, less precision needed in hitting the "goal" etc). Is there a reason why alot of strong gah counties (Kerry, Tyrone, Armagh, Meath) produce few if any notable soccer players? Is it a coincidence that most national team standard Irish soccer players hail from Dublin or Cork city?


Also, might it be down to family pressure? I dont watch alot of gah but the makeup of most teams seems to be a mix of IT and uni students, guards, solicitors, doctors, engineers etc etc qualified people basically. Compare it to soccer, nearly certain I read somewhere that D Drogba has a university degree in France but apart from that I cant think of one soccer player who has a degree. Are more middle class families (from where many GAA players seem to hail) more likely to push their sons in the direction of education and voluntary sport, rather than soccer, where there seems to be little time for academic advancement and where the risk of not actually making it is huge? Leaving families with the impression that their son can either go to college, get a very good job and be a gah star, or take the gamble of going to England and coming home at 21 with no college experience, no trade and not even any general work experience.

Do you ever think they preferred Gaelic?

~Rebel~

Just as an aside to the mention of Kerry not producing any great soccer players being strange and possibly caused by clubs forcing them to play GAA over soccer, I dont buy that really, after all they dont produce any decent hurlers either. I think in that case its just more down to Football being THE sport in Kerry, with all the kids growing up seeing the respect and love the county teams players get and the standing in which they're held within the community. its probably hard to look at other sports the same way when your walking amongst people viewed almost as gods.

patmac

Why do all soccer threads with the words GAH or GAA in it get hijacked by the same one or two people who also hijack any thread with the words Eircom League and Premier League together? I made a point in the 13th post on this thread and was immediately called a bigot we are now on post 100 with very few of the intervening posts having any relevance to the original topic. TBH it's not doing the credibility of the soccer forum or LOI any good.