Irish sooks cancel IR series

[surpstar]

Who cares - the IR Series was a waste of time

 

[Grimreepah]

Eric Miller, the former B&I Lions and Ireland international rugby union player recently retired from rugby at the age of 31 and went back to playing gaelic football, which is where he started off (like a lot of rugby players). He played a challenge game for the Dublin intercounty side a week or so ago. He's about 110kg of pure muscle. If he picked up an opposition player in posession and slammed him into the ground, would he be justified in saying "When I play rugby I'm allowed do that"?

I would not see that as a reason to cancel the competition.

 

[RememberMe]

We should keep it as it is, let the Irish pick their old rugby nuts, and we'll start picking the Jonathan Browns of the competition. I'm sure a few of the large individuals in the NRL used to play AFL in their early days... Let's turn it into the biggest blood bath the world has ever seen... I'd like to see that!

 

[D Mitchell]

ItThey're in danger of being thrashed on a regular basis now that the Aussies are playing sides suited to the IR game. Therefore they are looking to change the rules prior to resuming the series.

They also are suspending the junior series out of fear that we're using it to poach their youngsters.

By all means lets adjust the rules to keep the Irish happy. We'll still beat them provided we spend the necessary time practising before we play the tests.

There's no point in conducting a competition in which one side will win all the time, that's why the rules were compromised in the first place. If the Australians are going to thrash Ireland then the series should either be discontinured or the rules amended to restore balance so there's logic in your first paragraph, despite the triumphalism. My own opinion is that if violence is taken out of the equation, balance will be restored with a leaning towards Irish dominence. To be clear, by violence, I'm talking about the off the ball nasties, the "tackles" beyond the rules and the brawls, not tackles themselves.

The poaching of youngsters to Australian football is nothing compared to the offers from soccer and rugby, I don't think that's a major concern. The AFL has more to lose because the Academy may lose funding if it can't provide some form of international sport for its enrollees. The GAA doesn't have the same problem. It's good to be able to offer its youth the chance of international competition but it doesn't really need it.

It may be too late to amend rules. Sheedy's theory about con men may be right but the signals from Dublin lean more towards permanent disengagement than manoeuvring towards more GAA friendly rules.

 

[D Mitchell]

The problem is that the 2 main incidents that the Irish squealed about - Pearce's tackle and Selwood's bump - were just that, hard and solid. Yes illegal under IR rules, yes deserving of free kicks, but not "thuggery" or "violence".

That's a serious misreading of the GAA position. The GAA complaint is about the Australian attitude towards the game, the willingness of its players to engage in violence and the unwillingness of its administration to do anything about it, that's why it's using words like lack of sportsmanship and lack of trust. The Pearce tackle was merely the tip of the iceberg. The Selwood bump got what it deserved, he was sent off. I reckon the GAA would be satisfied with that.

 

[RememberMe]

More disturbing is the claim by the GAA that it has no trust in the AFL and has no plans to meet in Dubai. No matter what your opinion of the GAA and its players, the GAA has been consistent. It warned at the end of 2005 that further violence would kill the series. None of the AFL , its coaching staff nor its players did anything to guard against further violence, and it’s violence that the GAA is disturbed about, not hard play or solid tackling. The AFL is responsible for the failure of the concept and it has no defence to the damning accusations of poor sportsmanship and lack of trust.

This all comes back to the fact that the game is a contest between seasoned professionals and amateur hacks. These threats by the GAA reek of unprofessionalism. It's like an annual football game between U16s and a senior team. The U16s are whinging and saying, 'If you keep hurting us, we will pack up our bat and ball and go home.'

Personally, if I was in the senior team, rather than playing a game whilst wearing 'kid gloves', against an u16 team that throws elbows, knees players in the back and headbutts, I'd pull out alltogether.

The IR gets the blood rushing - It's always good to see a bit of biff against men with the physique of 12 year olds - but obviously the Irish are as piss weak as they look.

 

[TigerCraig]

That's a serious misreading of the GAA position. The GAA complaint is about the Australian attitude towards the game, the willingness of its players to engage in violence and the unwillingness of its administration to do anything about it, that's why it's using words like lack of sportsmanship and lack of trust. The Pearce tackle was merely the tip of the iceberg. The Selwood bump got what it deserved, he was sent off. I reckon the GAA would be satisfied with that.

The funny thing is that reading the Irish papers and discussion boards, there seems to be a number of "thuggish" and "violent" incidents every week in their games - players being belted, referees being bashed & kicked, supporters belting refs & players etc. Then, it is the complainants being suspended rather than the offenders - or suspensions being set by time (when no games are scheduled) rather than by number of games.

Which code has a culture of violence??

The Aussies go out to win (as they should). They can fight, and then focus on the game. The Irish are great amateur athletes led by very amatuerish officials.

 

[SAYNTS.A1]

That's good

 

[D Mitchell]

The funny thing is that reading the Irish papers and discussion boards, there seems to be a number of "thuggish" and "violent" incidents every week in their games - players being belted, referees being bashed ......

That’s been raised a number of times in the threads so far. How true it is I don’t know but how relevant is it anyway ? AFL teams traditionally rely upon a level of violence, euphemistically called "physicality". The GAA haven’t made an issue of it until now. Why now ? The level of violence applied by the AFL players escalated dramatically in 2005 so much so that the GAA told the AFL that if that level of violence continued, it would reconsider its involvement. The GAA made clear it’s position on violence and, from all accounts, the AFL officials were aware of it. Judging from their behaviour in the Galway test, I’d say that Sheedy, Stynes and the players were too because the level of "physicality" employed by the Australian players was back to pre 2005 levels. Despite the GAA warning, the AFL players went at it again in Dublin.

Even if the GAA players are all violent animals in their club and county games, the way they play International Rules is to play the ball and that’s the standard the GAA required of the AFL team. The AFL coaching staff and players ignored it. That’s why the series have been abandoned. Whether there is a culture of violence in Gaelic football or not is irrelevant.

 

[GoBackToVFL]

Even if the GAA players are all violent animals in their club and county games, the way they play International Rules is to play the ball and that’s the standard the GAA required of the AFL team.

surely you are taking the piss.

if not, then at the risk of copping a red card, i truly believe that you are suffering from the mental disability commenly refered to as a complete idiot

 

[SWANNIES RULE]

The title of this thread sums things up perfectly.

 

[cavanmaniac]

I would not see that as a reason to cancel the competition.

That's not what he asked you.

 

[Horsebox]

The fact that there is the odd punch-up in GAA club games is neither here nor there. The same problem does not exist at intercounty level. Basically the higher up the tree you go, the less violence you can expect. The fact that any time an incident occurs in a club game it is splashed all over the newspapers should be evidence in itself that there is no culture of institutional violence in the GAA otherwise it would not be newsworthy. Like most sports, some teams will have more of a track record for this sort of thing than others. Can you understand how an IR match with 82,000 souls attending and a couple of million watching is different to a club game in the **********ing rain with 2 men and a dog watching while a couple of players get stuck into each other? If you can then you have to agree that it's in no way hypocritical to complain about violence in the 2nd IR game.

 

[RememberMe]

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/foo...E20322,00.html
2 incidents that D.Mitchell doubts even happened.

 

[Grimreepah]

That's not what he asked you.

But that would have been the more appropriate question.

 

[D Mitchell]

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/foo...E20322,00.html
2 incidents that D.Mitchell doubts even happened.

Keep up. Look at posts 194 and 196.

 

[cavanmaniac]

But that would have been the more appropriate question.

But he didn't ask you to frame a more appropriate question, he asked you something else.

 

[D Mitchell]

But he didn't ask you to frame a more appropriate question, he asked you something else.

It's easier to answer the question you want to answer than the one that's asked.

 

[Grimreepah]

But he didn't ask you to frame a more appropriate question, he asked you something else.

I couldn't care less. If someone asks a selective question, then I have every right to put it into context.

 

[cavanmaniac]

It's easier to answer the question you want to answer than the one that's asked.

 

[Grimreepah]