I honest to God couldnt give a crap. Whats wrong is wrong. Ultimately, Mick, as far as I can recall, never dropped players off an U14 development squad because they played an AI 1/4 final. Nevermind the fact that twitter wasnt around to record any outrage.
No amount of whataboutery, and thats exactly what that is, will get away from the fact that Offlay development squad mentors dropped 4 13 or 14 year old boys from a squad for missing a training session because they were playing an important game in soccer.
No, they dropped them because of a breach in discipline and an attempted power play by the parents.
To repeat: there was no problem about two U16s skipping training to play an important rugby match. How do you account for this reality?
The credulousness of people where anti GAA stuff is concerned never ceases to amaze me. The phenomenon remains a terrible advertisement for democracy.
Gaa is very quick to promote how great they are , they should expect a bit back at times ā¦
Itās a bit precious to be labelling an alternative opinion as āanti-gaaā when people expressing it are anything but.
Likely good players too if they are decent soccer players. In a county crying out for them. Silly stuff
You keep saying anti GAA. Iām not going to ream off my own GAA credentials, but you genuinely couldnt be more wrong. And anyone responding to you here are heavily into GAA.
Iām not anti GAA. Iām anti arsehole power tripping mentors who are damaging the sport doing stupid crap like this. And the U16 thing is more whataboutery. We had Wexford minor hurling managers sacked before a ball was pucked because they wouldnt let players play for a combined schools hurling team. They have nothing to do with the U16 football team who treated their players brilliantly. its not an equivalence to compare the Offaly U14 football to the Offaly U16 hurlers. Its one set of mentors doing the right thing over another completely different set of mentors doing the wrong thing.
And again, its entirely wrong. No whataboutery will change my mind on that.
exactly. And in a few years they could be the leading players on their GAA team giving up the soccer. Or they might not. But they wont know now.
As a coach said to me before, Iāll treat everybody fairly, but that doesnāt mean Iāll treat everyone the same.
Serious time, money and organization goes into these development squads. The lads are free to play the game they love with their clubs but Offaly were correct here. They donāt need time wasters or disruptive parents - theyāre trying to build something.
Maybe thatās the problem ā¦ itās a fuckin hobby.
I am not saying you are personally anti GAA. I do not think you are, unlike some other lads here.
What I am saying is that a perspective that does not apply the same criteria to GAA matters as to other codes is an anti GAA perspective in the extent that said perspective is unfair to the GAA. This point, by logic, is inarguable.
Pretty much all organized sports have protocols and conditions attached as regards membership of various kinds of panels. There is nothing odd whatsoever about any part of the GAA, Offaly or elsewhere, bearing out this reality.
I am not a whataboutery merchant. Intensely dislike that craic. I am talking about principles. And I would refer you on the point about āmentorsā to Offaly GAAās general statement of support for the U14 management. Whatever else happened, they did not go on a solo run.
I think I said this to you before malarkey but you are a bit older than a lot of lads here and your antenna is always up for the die hard anti gah hot press Declan lynch types you had to put up with as a young adult. That set hasnāt had any voice or influence in a long time and it means gaa fellas of our age donāt automatically get their back up at any criticism of the gaa.
They can play with their clubs so. No big deal.
Good point, in fairness.
But I would not accept āThat setā has run out of influence. The dynamic has transferred to social media. Which or whether, have you not read in recent years Brian OāConnor in The Irish Times?
But you are ultimately doing whataboutery. Whether or not rugby or soccer or ludo get the same online shite as GAA for being arseholes is somewhat irrelevant. Whats wrong is wrong. Dont be arseholes and no one will give a crap on twitter or wherever. other sports dont have the same archaic rule that forbid foreign sports, so no matter what happens, that will always have a bearing on how it is perceived, whether rightly or wrongly.
Offaly GAA supporting their mentors in this, is what they have to do because they followed āthe guidelinesā. The guidelines are scutter and should never have been in place. What benefit does it bring to an U14 footballer in Offaly to sign a form and permission slips to miss a training.
I am not. I am saying the same treatment/coverage should be given to all codes. This situation plainly does not occur where the GAA is concerned ā as you effectively concede.
This unfairness does not worry you ā because it seems you believe the GAA has a āhistorical debtā to say. Why else mention āforeign sportsā at all? That mention precisely makes my point for me. You are applying different criteria to coverage of the GAA, which is unfair.
Although I do not accept those Offaly mentors were āarseholesā, the GAA contains a fair amount of people in that category. But the reality is that you cannot tolerate having individuals in a panel, of whatever age, who believe they deserve different treatment from the other panelists because of their superior talent. That way leads to anarchy and lack of development.
A power play in u14 bogball 