And its only fucking November, fuck that
1B final in the first round so.
Hurling people, and in particular hurling men, care about the league.
I saw some reference about us being away to Limerick again. Surely not?
[quote=âBandage, post: 862830, member: 9â]Hurling people, and in particular hurling men, care about the league.
I saw some reference about us being away to Limerick again. Surely not?[/quote]
We never have to play in Wexford park again.
As long as die hards like myself and @dodgy-keeper get to make the long trip to Antrim and back this year I donât care where or when we play everyone else.
weâll never hear the end of the cunts moaning when they got a bit wet when it rained in 2009
Limerick people giving out about rain. Do they stay indoor the whole fucking time when theyâre in their home county?
If anything it gave them an unfair advantage.
[SIZE=6]Joe Brolly: Leave the hurlers to hurl[/SIZE]
http://gaeliclife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Picture-6-300x209.png
Eddie Keherâs father played football for Roscommon. Good job he moved to Kilkenny or his son might have spent his career struggling to get past Mayo and Galway in the Connacht football championship, instead of becoming perhaps the greatest hurler the game has seen. It would have been like Ali taking up baseball or Peter Canavan going to Dungannon Swifts.
Keher is an icon in hurling circles and for good reason. The 1972 hurling final provided only one of countless examples of his greatness. With 12 minutes to go that day, the Cats were in dire straits, trailing by eight points to a rampant Cork. Keher won a ball near the touchline and took a ferocious belt of a hurl in his unguarded face.
Undaunted, he weaved his way through the defence and drove a remarkable goal to the net. He turned immediately and went back to his position, his face a mask of blood from a deep gash over his eye. The stitches could wait. The goal launched a legendary turnaround. Keher had been well held until that point but the belt sent him into overdrive. By the final whistle he had 2-9 to his name and Kilkenny were champions by seven points. It was a glorious and honourable day, which will never be forgotten.
Since he finished playing, he has become a revered figure in Irish life. The man simply oozes class. So when his proposals on a revamp of the rules in hurling were publicly released just after Christmas, the hurling world sat up and took notice. His document, drafted at the suggestion of GAA president Liam OâNeill, is brilliant in its simplicity. Hurling, he says, is being ruined by needless legislation.
âCards are not compatible with hurling. This has been confirmed at top level by virtue of the fact that many of the sendings off from yellow/red cards have later been rescinded by the committee in charge. Unfortunately, the teams suffering from those injustices have been wrongly penalised, in that the result of the games cannot be reversed, or a replay called for.â
His solution to the problem? Get rid of cards altogether and go back to the pre-1999 rules. It is an attractive argument. The new system would work like this: A player committing an act of dangerous play, resulting in minor injury, would have his name taken and a free given. A repeat offence and he would be sent off. A player who deliberately strikes an opponent with an intention to injure would be dismissed. Beyond that, Keher contends a free is sufficient punishment, since the statistics show that over 95 percent of frees from scoreable distance are converted.
The proposals would mean that referees would once again become facilitators of the game rather than box tickers for an overly fussy disciplinary system, which is inevitably producing unjust outcomes. In this regard, look no further than Ryan OâDwyerâs dismissal in last yearâs All Ireland semi-final against Cork. An enthralling game was moving towards an absorbing climax when it was abruptly ruined by the Dublin manâs sending off on a second yellow. Or what about Henry Shefflinâs dismissal in the same championship? Or Pa Horganâs? Three entirely needless sendings off in massive games. Three victories for box ticking that left hurling folk simmering.
I have always thought that hurling imposes itâs own morality. With the hurl in hand, a man can cause serious injury, so players who go out to maim are simply not tolerated. Which explains why instances of really dangerous striking have always been extremely rare. Under Keherâs proposal, those offenders will still be immediately sent off, leaving hurlers to hurl.
Keher makes the point that yellow and red cards were poached from soccer, introduced in the 1970 World Cup to address the language barrier. âThey are totally at variance with the ethos, physicality and manliness of the game of hurling.â
Because of these nit-picking rules, âPlayers are now encouraged to feign injury, or duck in under the opposing playerâs hurl in order to have him issued with a card, which is a most unwelcome trend in our traditional and otherwise sporting games. Hurling was never a cynical game, but it is now starting to become one due to the unjust penalties imposed for fouls by players full of honest endeavour.â
Under Keherâs proposals, hurling would in effect become a protected species, akin to a green belt or a heritage site. There would be no possibility of permission being granted for any intrusion into the worldâs greatest field game. Hurlers would hurl and the refereesâ job would be to let them play. It is impossible to define what a dangerous foul meriting a sending off is, but we all know it when we see it. Otherwise, the benefit of the doubt would be given to the player. This way, hurlers could hurl themselves into the game in the full blooded way they have done for generations, safe in the knowledge that they will not find themselves sent off for a split second mistiming.
Mike Mac, Clare trainer during Ger Loughnaneâs glorious reign, famously said âMen win All-Irelands.â I vividly remember sitting in the Cusack stand for the epic 2009 final. Tommy Walsh was just in front of us when he got a powerful belt in the face from Tippâs Benny Dunne near the end of that epic contest. The force of it knocked him to the ground but Walsh got straight back up. Dunne was sent off because the ref had no option, not because Tommy was writhing around on the grass. It was a vivid reminder that hurlers are men of honour, who have always zealously guarded their dignity, from the days of Ring, through to Keher and DJ Carey and Shefflin.
It would be entirely wrong to assume that Keherâs proposal has a Kilkenny bias. It was drafted only after detailed consultation with hurling people around the land. It would also be mistaken to think that it is a dreamerâs charter. I believe he is right and it is apparent that the overwhelming majority of hurling folk think so too. The fear at HQ is that endorsing the Keher plan will segregate hurling from football. In my book, that is something to be welcomed, not feared.
While football aficionados have watched with dismay as our game has become diseased with cynicism and a win at all costs ethos, the ideals of hurling have until now remained an inspiration to us all. Hurling is incompatible with political correctness. The greatest game in the world is a national treasure and luckily, we are still in time to protect it. The Keher proposal will ensure that in 100 years time, men will still be winning All Irelands.
Joe and Eddie are talking shite there.
No surprise to see a Kilkenny native pushing for the reintroduction of hurling without rules. They were found to be a very limited side last year when referees belatedly started penalising their brutality. âManlinessâ seems to be the code word in the county for gang tackling opponents around the head. âTheyâve taken the manliness out of hurling.â Fucking animals. At least Wexford players wind on ladsâ heads and bodies one at a time.
Post Anglo, that is a very brave sentence to say.
Keher is a particular breed of superior cunt and a snob to boot. Kilkenny have been found out a bit and canât handle it.
The article basically says that hurling should be played without rules other than maiming someone being frowned upon.
An old Cork buddy of mine who hurled in the 70âs says that Keher is an obnoxious bastard who used to look down on Corkâs John Horgan (a van driver) from his privileged position as a bank manager and wasnât shy about referencing it during games.
A bollix of an individual.
Itâs the cards, the cards are the problem. True hurling people would love to get a scissors and cut up every card in the country. Actually, feck the scissors. ripping them up with our bare hands would be much more manly.
These cards are a cancer on our game.
I like Joe, but heâs most definitely talking out his hole here, Eddie fucking Keher I ask you.
[quote=âmyboyblue, post: 897835, member: 180â]
His solution to the problem? Get rid of cards altogether and go back to the pre-1999 rules. It is an attractive argument. The new system would work like this: A player committing an act of dangerous play, resulting in minor injury, would have his name taken and a free given. A repeat offence and he would be sent off. A player who deliberately strikes an opponent with an intention to injure would be dismissed. Beyond that, Keher contends a free is sufficient punishment, since the statistics show that over 95 percent of frees from scoreable distance are converted.
- See more at: http://gaeliclife.com/2014/02/brolly-leave-the-hurlers-to-hurl/#sthash.fXJclM3X.dpuf[/quote]
Forgive me for my confusion, but are the ânewâ rules that Eddie Keher proposes not exactly the same as the ones currently in operation, except for those pesky cards?
[quote=âElvis Brandenberg Kremmen, post: 897853, member: 1624â]Keher is a particular breed of superior cunt and a snob to boot. Kilkenny have been found out a bit and canât handle it.
The article basically says that hurling should be played without rules other than maiming someone being frowned upon.
An old Cork buddy of mine who hurled in the 70âs says that Keher is an obnoxious bastard who used to look down on Corkâs John Horgan (a van driver) from his privileged position as a bank manager and wasnât shy about referencing it during games.
A bollix of an individual.[/quote]
Ask your old Cork buddy about the court case that ensued after a disgruntled husband came into the bank in Carlow one day and hit Eddie an unmerciful box.
[quote=âElvis Brandenberg Kremmen, post: 897853, member: 1624â]Keher is a particular breed of superior cunt and a snob to boot. Kilkenny have been found out a bit and canât handle it.
The article basically says that hurling should be played without rules other than maiming someone being frowned upon.
An old Cork buddy of mine who hurled in the 70âs says that Keher is an obnoxious bastard who used to look down on Corkâs John Horgan (a van driver) from his privileged position as a bank manager and wasnât shy about referencing it during games.
A bollix of an individual.[/quote]
People in KK donât even like Sanctimonious Senior-- I have heard it said that he allegedly substituted Chunky In an All Ireland to prevent him breaking his scoring recordâŚ
Oozes class my hole. The man is a rent a quote nowadays, and always with some sort of barb to any perceived slight to kilkenny.
Kilkenny are shit keen on manliness until you hit one of them a belt
Hadnât heard that one. He is not popular in his home club for definite.
Generates a lot of seethe around here for an ould lad.