General GAA - AOB

Wishing one and all a Very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all on the forum. Here’s hoping 2018 will continue to show us on an upward curve. Best wishes and Happy Christmas to all the players, mentors, officials and support of all clubs and county panels. Cill Dara Abu...

I know Tommy K was tweeting about it and I dabbled in debate on another forum about it...so here goes. Who would you like to replace Padraic Duffy?!

The talk is someone from a business background, or with a business qualification, which shows that they will need to have a handle on the commercial negotiations.
However, many of our top business people didn't necessarily start with a formal business qualification...
Online whispers have mentioned Liam Sheedy as he is involved with BOI.
I wouldn't say no to pat Gilroy who has serious business acumen as well as having played inter-county and managed an All Ireland winning team.
Padraig McManus is another option who would have an excellent standing in the business and GAA world.

I am just wondering what the feeling is here? It is such a huge job and there is so much shite coming down the line too. With the 'recovery' in the country it also means that money will be slushing around again, so we better spend wisely.

GAA is in competition with other sports for young talent there is no doubt about that. There has always been soccer in the county however in the last 15 years or so rugby has gained popularity across the country Kildare included. My question is do people here think rugby is getting too popular in kildare and is it likely to have a detrimental effect on GAA in Kildare?

Don’t rule out John Costello either.

The annual report might scupper his chances! I honestly think Gilroy would be great. He is a proper GAA man and is a serious operator. He just comes across as decent too.
I know he doesn't have the profile but Fergal McGill was Duffy's right-hand man and could step up...

In terms of the other question and rugby in Kildare I tend not to be too concerned. I just look around at my mates, with their Leinster jerseys on, heading off to the Aviva and all that. Great craic but not one of them have ever chased an egg in anger.
These same lads won't bring their kids to the local rugby club either. Rugby is a great day out for the majority of people in this country. It's a great sport but once you go below the top tier entertainment the crowds fall off.
In the past the GAA had the Ban and other ways to go on the offensive in other sports, but we are secure enough now. When shit gets real in rugby the real rugby people are the ones left standing and their numbers are not that great.

***I know I am being anecdotal here based on what I see, but the number of rugby fans does not equate to playing numbers. I am sure we all know plenty who are fans. I am one. Love shouting on Ireland but could not be arsed going to a J1 game locally.***

Flamingo wrote:

The annual report might scupper his chances! I honestly think Gilroy would be great. He is a proper GAA man and is a serious operator. He just comes across as decent too.
I know he doesn't have the profile but Fergal McGill was Duffy's right-hand man and could step up...

In terms of the other question and rugby in Kildare I tend not to be too concerned. I just look around at my mates, with their Leinster jerseys on, heading off to the Aviva and all that. Great craic but not one of them have ever chased an egg in anger.
These same lads won't bring their kids to the local rugby club either. Rugby is a great day out for the majority of people in this country. It's a great sport but once you go below the top tier entertainment the crowds fall off.
In the past the GAA had the Ban and other ways to go on the offensive in other sports, but we are secure enough now. When shit gets real in rugby the real rugby people are the ones left standing and their numbers are not that great.

***I know I am being anecdotal here based on what I see, but the number of rugby fans does not equate to playing numbers. I am sure we all know plenty who are fans. I am one. Love shouting on Ireland but could not be arsed going to a J1 game locally.***

This is a very good point - however, it's actually similar to following the county football team and attending club league games or contributing to the club in some fashion. Probably applies in every sport. It's always the few keeping things going away from the limelight.

"In 2013, research amongst over-16s showed that just 2.3 per cent said they’d attended a rugby match in the previous week yet three times more were at a Gaelic football game, two-and-a-half times as many had been at soccer while even hurling with its shrinking strongholds came in at 2.9 per cent. In terms of club membership, while 21 per cent of the country is a member of a GAA club and golf claims nine per cent, rugby lies at around 3.5 per cent, not dissimilar to swimming and athletics."

Thanks for the figures TK. Sometimes when I hear IRFU and FAI talking about people playing their sports I wonder are they throwing in astroturf lads and tag players...

Christ I am Mr Anecdote here, but another instance of why I would not fear rugby in Kildare in terms of taking away playing numbers is the fact that when the kids grow up rugby is such a brutal sport and at a meal last Christmas some of the mammies (mammies who enjoy the rugby day out) don't want their children playing rugby as it's too rough. Lads need to be freaks to make it.
The game for all shapes and sizes is gone and now lads are built like tanks at adult level. There is still room for the nippy corner forward in GAA, or a slight'looking but sticky defender.

As Ogie said too there are plenty of fair weathers in GAA but I think the big thing is to bring to concentrate on ourselves and turn the numbers many clubs are getting in their nurseries into future players/ volunteers. The big challenge is getting the mammies and daddies down for the league matches.

For me big challenge in Kildare isn't rugby, but tapping into the migrant numbers from Dublin and elsewhere and getting them involved locally.

TommyKeegan wrote:

For me big challenge in Kildare isn't rugby, but tapping into the migrant numbers from Dublin and elsewhere and getting them involved locally.

Exactly! If we put our efforts into minding and improving our own house it would serve us best.
Three colleagues who never walked on to a GAA pitch have their kids all playing with Cuala now. They have been roped into small jobs at the nursery, eg minding a station, and are helping out with the teams now in a small way. One lad is from Limerick and pure rugby, but he is really getting involved in underage committees.

Flamingo re Cuala. It is an example of how 'migrants' from the rest of Ireland went into Dublin and helped to develop an All-Ireland winning club. The Holden family who are steeped in Cuala are all originally Kilkenny. A success story which should be mirrored here in Kildare especially with the huge numbers of non-Kildare people who now live here.

At risk of making this a Cuala thread, a man from Raheens named Peter Dunne was a club stalwart there from the 60s too. I think he helped Tom Holden set up their original street leagues.

Athy Rory Feely signs for league of Ireland Waterford city

Well all i know is that i have been coaching underage teams in kildare since the early 80s and its only in the last 5 years or so where ive had young lads missing training because they are gone rugby training.

Big Ball I don't think it can be dismissed out of hand, but I do think we need to not go down the old path about worrying or fighting against other sports. Gaelic Football is top dog and we need to make sure that we keep our house in order.
Just out of curiosity what age groups are these teams? Are lads in the younger ages more into rugby or can you see it as they go into late teens?

To ask again about the GAA CEO job this was interesting to read:
https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/ewan-mackenna-in-a-world-where-a-good-deed-is-a-feat-and-not-a-reflex-the-gaa-needs-joe-brolly-at-the-helm-36461713.html

I know Sunday Game Brolly can be a sack, but GAA man Brolly is a solid club worker and he a lot of stuff for free or donates fees.
I would still say Pat Gilroy is m choice.

Flamingo, I see it at all age groups from u 8s up to minor. We cant hide from the fact that we are competing with rugby for the minds and hearts of the youth. People might not accept that view but that is the reality. We need to make our sports as attractive as possible to the youth by ensuring regular games, well structured competitions, good playing surfaces etc.

Big Ball I am not disagreeing that there is competition but as I said I think we both agree that making the GAA better is the best way. Simply blow the other sports out of the water.
I honestly think there is so much shite coming down the line with rugby that the gloss of actually playing will wear off. Lads retiring early and further down the line concussion-related issues.

As I keep trying to put it back to my original post, which is very relevant to yours too Big Ball, who would you want to see take over as CEO and lead the GAA?

There was a time around 10 years ago when the County Board didn't put in any fixtures for the two weeks of the Builders holidays to allow players take a weeks holidays, and now i see Dublin have released a fixture planner for the year so people can plan around weekends.
Is there any chance our CB can do the same so people can make some plans? Do we even know yet if the championship is in April this year?

Interesting read from Kevin Bergin (Tipperary Hurler) he retired a couple of years ago because of the demands of the modern day Hurler/Footballer. He said if he was 18 again playing now there would be no way he would play hurling with the demands placed on them. He also made I think it interesting the social side of an inter county player or as he said the lack of it IE we have a championship match in 3 months time so no beer etc and saying that professional rugby players out the week before a Heineken cup match having a few beers etc and I also saw this a couple of years ago at a party and the rugby players were off with Ireland the next week for a international match something is not right there and thats goes for the clubs as well. What I think is the biggest problem with the Gaa is the Training to Game ratio especially with the county teams Cant think of his name at the moment but some chap did a study of a number of players and over two years they played 90 minutes of incounty football to something like 250 training sessions someone might have more info on that. a lot of problems that are not easily solved or wont be solved.

Bergin didn't make his debut until 2013 after years in the states where he lived a normal club player's type life (if such a thing exists now). He came back and might not have been as willing to buy into the cult-like aspect of some within the GAA.
Joe Sheridan also came out on LMFM saying something along the same lines. This drink ban for months at club level and even county is a joke. You have managers wanting lads 'to show commitment'...are they not killing themselves all year in the 'off season' and then they can't have a pint.
The worst bit is, not even a pint, but going to the pub, going to a gig, doing something enjoyable will be called out. At club level it is a joke and you are making hard rules over socializing that some lads will break and then that is another issue. He went to a nightclub during Rag Week...where is his commitment?!
Where is the commitment to the players? Players at all levels want to play. It would be much better for the standard of the GAA if there were more games as you would have less lads who are good trainers on the scene and more good footballers.

Any word on when the Aldridge and Keogh Cups will begin? They are usually around the 10th of February arent they?

Think they start 17th Feb this year. There's an u20 League being tried this year too and the first 3 Rounds of that are to first 3 weekends in Feb, with semis and finals midweek in March. Minors begin later too I'm told (last weekend in Feb) so that there's no crossover with u20.

I guess there's no real rush in starting all the games considering there'll be plenty of free weekends during the summer. The draws made at the County Board meeting tonight i assume?
Any potential dates for the start of the leagues?

Interesting to read pairic duffys take on things like splitting Dublin and payments to managers in his final report. He's had several years to address payments and done next to nothing and it's a total Dublin love in. Strange that he's OK with a semi pro set up while pushing the virtues of amateurism for the rest of us plebs

Onechance wrote:

I guess there's no real rush in starting all the games considering there'll be plenty of free weekends during the summer. The draws made at the County Board meeting tonight i assume?
Any potential dates for the start of the leagues?

Pretty sure the Aldridge Cup etc starts on the 24th of Feb.
League on the 24th of March.