Is GAA to blame for our lack of talented soccer players?

TimeToShine

I'm of the opinion that GAA is the reason we're not producing as many young talents as other countries. Emphasis in secondary schools is always on hurling and football depending on the county, and a bit of rugby thrown in, with soccer always taking a backseat. As a result we have countries like Croatia, which is a smaller country than Ireland and has a smaller population, are totally outclassing us out on the field. It's quite obvious their players are far more technically gifted than ours. There are young guys everywhere who are seriously talented soccer players forced to give up because they make the U-21 county team and are pretty much forced to drop the "foreigner" sport. I can't help but think GAA is wrenching a plethora of talent from the national team that could really propel us to achieve something on the world stage.

TerryTibbs!

Please lock this now.

applehunter

What a ****ing clown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Bozo is.

Pudsy33

No, its not. Other countries have other sports too. Please don't cause an inter-sport pissing contest.

Lamper.sffc

just stop

im invisible

Did you see that ludacrous display last night?

Vincent Vega

yeah totally.
But then if Croatia too didn't focus their attention on handball and water polo, they would surely produce far better footballers also.
sound logic.:pac:

Duff

No. No proper organization at grassroots level is.

Xavi6

TerryTibbs! wrote: »

Please lock this now.

Keep it open til the morning, overnight entertainment is needed after that game.

kryogen

If the Gah heads see this thread your fcuked boi!!

But in response to this silly narrow minded question, no it is not responsible.

/thread

applehunter

Paddy Kelly looks like a loss to Basketball Ireland than to soccer. Would be a cracking point guard.

Superb display today from Ballincollig man today vs Kerry.

~Rebel~

Basketball, handball and Ice Hockey are huge in Croatia. Soccer is number one, but its far from being a one sport country.

As for people being "forced" to quit the foreigner sport? Forced by whom exactly? People will choose whatever they prefer playing. Yes, having a huge interest in 4 sports will lessen the number of people who go into soccer, but there's nought wrong with that. As a nation, our high quality representation at Rugby and Soccer (one of the best in the world in rugby, and 18th in soccer), as well as GAA, is something to be proud of.

Nothing is "to blame", aside from coaching at grassroots level. We just happen to be a country - like many others - where the natural athletes are spread between a number of different sports. Instead of blaming these other sports, I'd much rather the FAI to look inwardly and continue the steps already taken to develop kids properly.

Amirani

Soccer still has the highest participation rate in this country of any team sport. You're never going to have a country focus on only one sport, we need to improve out junior coaching of the game.

Maximus Alexander

im invisible wrote: »

Did you see that ludacrous display last night?

The problem with Ireland is they always try to hoof it into the net.

Helix

people supporting the domestic game would be a good place to start

of course we know that's never going to happen

kryogen

Helix wrote: »

people supporting the domestic game would be a good place to start

of course we know that's never going to happen

The problem with it isn't simply the lack of investment in the LOI, but a major problem in the fan base being small is that following an English team is kinda ingrained in us, it is passed down from generation to generation most of the time and with the ease of access to these clubs now via the media (if you cant travel to many games in person) it is very hard to get people to go to watch a local team (if they have one) I have been a season ticket holder with Waterford United for about 12 years now, I still remember Tony Hall and Lynch and when John Frost was just a lad, Chilli Power and Rennie when they were young!

But the likelihood is that my children will learn about Manchester United before they learn about Waterford, now my Dad is from Salford so Manchester United is a huge part of my footballing heritage anyway but whether it comes from the parents or the other kids in school, or simply the fact that everywhere you go you will see ads or posters or something to do with the EPL it will be very hard to really raise the level of interest in the domestic league here to what it needs to be to be a good league.

There are some super players in the EPL and some of those that left are proving that they can cut it across the channel aswell, the sad thing is that the loss of our best and brightest players will never end because of the lack of opportunity to progress their careers here.

Sorry for the rant

dfx-

Paging CiaránC to the thread:)

Helix

i dunno, i believe that bringing kids early will make fans out of them

at 5 years of age you don't know the difference between good and bad football. i remember my first drogs game at that age and the fact that i was going to a football stadium at all was the coolest thing ever. i loved it and i went to pretty much every game for the guts of 15 years before going to college, then i was back as a season ticket holder for a couple of years before moving to canada

if you get kids into it early enough you make fans out of them, regardless of whether they follow an english side or not

Spread

In a word YES

Optimalprimerib

Remember about 20 years ago, they had the home farm everton initiative. That produced talent of the likes of dunne, Jeanette and duff. From my knowledge, there has been nothing since.

That also coincided with a relatively successful Irish team in '88, '90 and '94 which inspired kids to play soccer.

That said if the talent coming through was blooded properly in the current set up it may have been a different story. I have mentioned it before but promising players coming through are not given any confidence by trap. Imagine how McLean feels this morning. 3-1 down, nothing to lose, a winger taken off to be replaced by a striker that never plays as a winger. He may not have made a difference, but sometimes it is the new faces that shine on the big stage.

stovelid

Easier to blame the GAA then to take an active interest in football in your own country, I guess.

The current Irish squad is just inferior to the previous ones we sent to tournaments. Simple as.