A view from the Hill
It is hard to believe that we are actually at the All Ireland hurling final weekend. It seems to come around so quickly every year. It will be interesting to see what will happen in Croke Park next Sunday if Kilkenny win the five-in-a-row or indeed if Tipperary win the title.
Will the GAA be able to stop the people coming on to the field? I was talking to a few people who were on Hill 16 last weekend who told me that while the new fence is made largely of perspex and is see-through, there is a massive glare off the perspex when the sun is shining and it is hard to see through it at times.
I am of the old school that would like to see people be able to come onto the pitch after the games. I have heard all the health and safety arguments but I don’t think those arguments are strong enough. The GAA is unique in that when a team win an All Ireland, the fans are the players’ friends, neighbours, family, relations, and club mates. They want to be a part of the celebrations. We will all be watching the aftermath of Sunday’s game very closely.
I was interviewed last week as part of the Morning Ireland series on the GAA which was done by Damien O Reilly and it examined a few different aspects of the running of the GAA as he travelled all over the country (including the new fence). The association remains very strong but as we heard last week it is not without problems. Emigration, competition from other sports, fixture problems and finance are common problems in most counties but in general the GAA is coping well with the changed economic circumstances.
The Director General of the association announced last week that he is to crack down on payment to team managers in clubs and countries. He is wasting his time and I think most people in the GAA would agree with me. If a county board or club want to pay a manager they can do so without any bother and all the Padraig Duffys in Ireland would not stop it happening.
Agree with you on George Hook
Seamus
I wholeheartedly endorse your comments last week about George Hook and Sky. Any eejit who falls for this shallow insincere crap deserves what they get.
Why are people so gullible? Once these people have their greedy mits on your family jewels, they just go on squeezing. The pub is the only place to watch the football. It’s free and you can’t hear the clowns who call themselves pundits.
Name and address with the editor.
Note: It’s not everyone that can go to the pub (under 18’s) and unfortunately the pub isn’t free because you have to buy some sort of a drink when you are watching the match, but I agree that it is very hard to listen to George Hook on those ads. Seamus
New era for soccer side
The Republic of Ireland soccer team begin a new era this Friday when they face a very long trip to play Armenia in the first game in the Euro 2012 qualifying tournament.
Let’s hope that we have a bit of luck this time around. We deserve it after what happened against France in the World Cup. However, these trips to Eastern Europe are always fraught with danger and Ireland will be very happy to come home with a draw.
I was reading about the Irish squad on Monday in the national press and there are many who are not playing for their clubs since the start of the season including Robbie Keane, Aidan McGeady, Andy Keogh and Shay Given, which must be a worry for the management team. The loss of Damien Duff and Keith Andrews to the team are very severe and in a hostile atmosphere Ireland will have to be well up for the game. However, a draw would be a good start and we are well capable of getting that. It would be a good start to the campaign with Andorra at home in the next game. It would give the team a platform to go on and do well in the competition.
Increase in rugby ticket price smacks of greed
The GAA comes in for plenty of stick for their pricing structure with regard to ticket prices at times but earlier this summer I praised the GAA for the good value available at the quarter-finals especially for children.
Now the IRFU have gone and raised the price if a ticket to a home rugby international to €100 in most cases. It is a rise of over 20 percent and it is totally unjustifiable in this day and age. I know they have to pay for the Aviva Stadium, but they are exploiting the public simply because they know that the foolish fans will pay whatever they charge. It should be remembered that (like Croke Park) the taxpayer has paid out hundreds of millions of euro for this stadium. The IRFU have run a very tight ship in recent years and have managed Irish rugby very well, but this huge increase in ticket prices smack of total and utter greed in my humble opinion.
Try out technology in the league
There is always one area of controversy that dominates all others in the GAA summer and this year it is the very high profile mistakes that have been made on the field play by the officials in some of the biggest games of the summer.
Now the cry is for technology to be used to sort out these decisions and it is interesting to note that Liam O’Neill, who is most likely to be the man to succeed Christy Cooney as the next GAA President, has called for technology to be tried out in these cases. Of course the argument is that it is easy to have a look at these incidents in Croke Park where there are loads of cameras and angles and excellent coverage. But in the case of lower profile games in the provincial championships and in the qualifiers, there might only be one or two cameras in operation and in most cases the evidence would in inconclusive. However it is praiseworthy for O’Neill to be taking this stance and we are in for a very interesting few months ahead.
I expect that there will be a load of motions to conventions all around the country urging the authorities to use technology in the big games. At least the GAA authorities have said that they are amenable to looking at the use of technology. The soccer people (Blatter) totally ruled it out at the World Cup. It works well in rugby and it should be tried in the GAA. A trial in the national league semi finals and finals next spring perhaps.
Hoping Harrington will repay Monty’s faith
I watched the news conference live from Scotland last Sunday evening as Colin Montgomerie named his three picks for the forthcoming Ryder Cup and there was relief here in Ireland when he chose Padraig Harrington (right) as one of the three.
It was a brave decision because Monty overlooked Paul Casey and Justin Rose in favour of Harrington and both those English players have had a fantastic year so far, but as Monty explained he went for experience and let’s hope Harrington repays his faith. It is a very strong European team but the fact that there are no less than six players making their first appearance in the competition make it a unique team.
Monty had no option other than to pick Eduardo Molinari. Monty said he would be watching how the Italian got on last week and he didn’t disappoint. He birdied the final three holes to win the championship in Scotland and that sealed his place in the team. It will be fascinating to watch the two Italian brothers play together in such a big competition. I would say that Mr and Mrs Molinari are very proud parents!
