A decent aul rant
That is fucking outstanding!!!
Nothing like cutting the head off one of the management team the day before a game to save the soul of hurling in your county 
https://sportstalk.ie/time-for-gaa-to-give-weaker-hurling-counties-a-helping-hand/
Interesting piece.
Surely there should be a a nice few euro given to the winners of the Joe McDonagh each year to bring their prep closer to the Liam McCarthy sides they will be competing with the following year - an extra 50k or so be it for additional backroom or training prep and not to line pockets of the executive.
There is a big opportunity to be had in the coming years with the Joe McDonagh and potentially the tiered football championship. Tie them into the new TV deal and make sure there is at least one live televised game each week, even if it is the current Saturday 3pm slot, it is the only way they can build a profile for the teams and players.
But it all comes down to underage structures and numbers. I have a friend who hurled for Mayo for a number of years, there are five hurling clubs in Mayo and about 100 adults playing the game in a county with a population over 125k.
Now that hurling is trendy among the d4 gaeltacht brigade, kildare will fall into line.
And there, in a nutshell, is the monster we have reared. A perception that you canât be a competitive intercounty team without a few hundred grand a year for âsupport staffâ
Tis a fucked up way of thinking.
When Cheddar went looking for money from Croke Park, he attempted to ring fence it from the County Board, basically asking to ensure it barely passed through them, and instead went to him and a coterie of Hurling men who would ensure it wouldnât be siphoned off to buy a pair of Preds for Donie Kingston or the likes. Obviously this was a no go, but does tie into what you mentioned about lining the pockets of the Exec in a County. Its all too familiar.
When you look at what the GAA do with the likes of the Boston Classic, or the shite Galway played in Australia this year, you can see thereâs money there to spread around. Some will argue that this is all from sponsorship, but then pass that sort of thing off to the JMcD winners/finalists, or ask the sponsors to kick in another 50K to go that way. Fuck it, even send the JMcD teams out to these things. LMcC teams/finalists will dominate All Stars and get their own Holidays, why not kick something the way of these teams?
Anyway, thats all window dressing as youâve said, its worth fuck all unless you get into the county and work on the support lines therein. Carlow are doing good work now, theyâve got the IT there with good teams competing at Fitz and Sig levels. The facilities and structures exist, thereâs a good coaching course in existence there too. There ways and means of driving things on. The same is in Laois. Critchley has gone back into the Setanta programme, and the structures are being renewed again, and the methods are being sharpened again. A few quid in there could revolutionise what that poor man is doing.
1 Like
Regan took joeys elbow and rammed it down his throat
2 Likes
What I mean is that it demeans a well respected and liked and enjoyed national pundit and host to become a party political broadcaster on behalf of the kilkenny hurling team.
Youâre overreacting ever so slightly
I am not.
Genuinely that broadcast was just a Brian Cody mouthpiece not only unchallenged, but actively promoted by the host. I was honestly surprised by the level of it.
Anyhow, Iâm over it now for the rest of the morning.
The best of the lads from the Joe Mc and Christy Ring counties get to play Scotland in shinty on a bog near Inverness every November. They get plenty of perks and are well looked after by the GGA.
1 Like
Itâs very simple -
We need to follow the NFL system here and do away with league and provincial âŚ
8 groups of 4 by region = 32 - keeps local rivalry
Play your divisional teams twice and a selection of non divisional teams (league format)
Play-offs = knock out
God bless the United States of America.
More of a punishment than a perk. Although I heard the mileage is good âŹâŹâŹ
Fair deuce to Carlow, they are doing great work but with very small numbers. When they played us last week, I think 25 out of 26 panel members came from just four clubs. Hard to make real progress with those kind of stats
TV would be the big exposure for these counties. Televising some of the Joe McDonagh clashes, while you would have the usual complaints about how it will hit attendances, would give a massive boost to counties at that tier. When you look at the one-sided nature of games in Munster this year, you may well end up with a better product. Obviously there would be scheduling considerations, but if you had Laois vs Westmeath on RTĂ or TG4 on a Saturday afternoon, fuck yeah Iâd watch it. @Little_Lord_Fauntleroy would have a conniption though.
Aside from all that, having an auld highlight or two on The Sunday Game, even an auld goal from Austin Stack Park, would be a good fuckin start.
Saturday afternoon 4pm -+ 6pm games ⌠TG4.
Job is oxo
2 Likes
Time has come for GAATV. All roaster, on the hour, every hour.
Tg4 destroy rte in highlights. Kell surpreeze
Carlow are helped massively by playing in kilkenny leagues, no reason the likes of that cant be extended, westmeath and offaly clubs ineast galway, north tipp etc
5 Likes