GAA Angry Fans
Some Limerick fans don’t like the way others picked on Waterford’s John Mullane in Saturday’s Munster hurling replay. There’s criticism of Clare’s numerous stay-at-home fans who weren’t prepared to travel even a little bit of the road with their team. According to some fans, referee Barry Kelly should’ve red carded Kilkenny’s Tommy Walsh in the game against Galway.
Soccer-style scoring celebrations come in for a rap and hardly a week goes by here without anger being expressed at the decrepit state of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the poor standard of the football championship and, of course, TV3’s coverage.
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I’VE MISSED VERY few Limerick championship games in either hurling or football over the past forty years. Most of it has been disappointment but I've always been proud of the loyalty, sportsmanship and knowledge of the game that our supporters have shown despite every broken dream we've had to put up with. For the first time ever, I didn't feel that way in Thurles on Saturday evening. Regardless of what John Mullane was doing on the field, it did not justify the constant, ignorant, personalised abuse showered on him by a section of the crowd underneath the Town End scoreboard. That's not the way Limerick supporters should behave
MULLANE WAS INCREDIBLE on Saturday. His first touch is fantastic and makes life near impossible for his marker. However, he also gets involved in stupid things. When Geary committed the foul that led to his Yellow in the first half Mullane ran thirty yards to get involved. Why? Although he got dogs’ abuse from the Limerick fans on the terrace (something I don't condone, by the way) was it really necessary for him to wave goodbye to them for the last five minutes of the match?
THE WAY LIMERICK targeted John Mullane was atrocious. I was disappointed with Limerick’s physical (in an illegal sense) attitude on Saturday as opposed to the fair way in which they played the game the previous week. As for Mullane, I must admit that I read him all wrong as I thought he was on the way out after seeing him on the telly in a couple of matches in the club championship this year. He has certainly put me (and a few of the Limerick defenders) right back in our boxes. Roughing him up - or trying to - was never going to work as he thrives on that type of aggro-based energy. I can't say I like him but I must say I admire him as an achiever and hurler.
The targeting of John Mullane by opposing fans and players is not new. It’s been going on since at least 2004. The big difference now is that John just ignores it and responds to all the blackguarding on the score board... where it hurts the opposition most.
I USED TO be a huge fan of Kilkenny’s Tommy Walsh. When he first came on the scene he was majestic, no matter where they played him. However, in the last two years he has gone overboard with his rough play. He used to be a hardy player with great guts, but no more. He should go back to showing us his fantastic hurling skills. It’s a pity because he could have been an all time great.
TOMMY WALSH IS a great hurler. He is unreal for a guy his size but he should have walked on Saturday night. Kilkenny walk the line in general and cross over it on a regular basis. They have become a very unsatisfying team to watch, with too many hand passes, too much cynical play. Yes, it is interspersed by brilliance but their power play has become too much like Ulster football.
TOMMY WALSH DID NOT deserve to be sent off against Galway. He was rightly booked for a late pull and referee Barry Kelly correctly used his common sense regarding the foul on Andy Smyth. The two offences combined did not warrant a Red in my opinion.
I won’t rake back over previous years, but it seems to me that Barry Kelly should have given Tommy a second Yellow for his foul on Andy Smyth. And that decision that might have had a significant effect on the outcome of the game.
I WAS VERY disappointed at the very poor level of support for the Clare hurlers on Sunday. God be with the days when you couldn’t get into the terraces for fellas going around hawking bodhráns and the like.
: I think we shouldn’t underestimate the effect of the recession in making fans more careful about what games they spend their money on. That said, too many Clare fans lacked confidence in their team but they were proved wrong. They were no more than a couple of pucks of the ball behind Tipp who are reckoned – wrongly in my view – to be Kilkenny’s closest challengers this year.
CAN WE DO anything to stamp out this annoying practice of player celebrations after scoring a goal? The Waterford lads started it a few years ago, but now I see Seamus Callinan at it for Tipp on Sunday and Joe Canning for Galway.
: I think Joe Canning is well entitled to his celebrations. As for the others you mention, I see nothing wrong with a bit of exuberance after scoring. It shows the players care and that they have pride in their jersey.
THE CORK COUNTY championships in hurling and football are very efficiently run under difficult circumstances. However, for almost half the teams in the Senior/Intermediate hurling and football the season is over because they are out of the championship. There are league fixtures to be played but, for the most part, they are meaningless. The kernel of the problem is the inter county back door system. The inter county managers are demanding more time with their squad. The club is the first introduction to hurling and football. The clubs need to stand up and have their voices heard.
That situation you describe in Cork rings a bell in other counties as well. The problem is so ingrained at this stage, you wonder can anything be done about it? I’ve even seen it having a negative impact at under fourteen and under sixteen level, where megalomaniac managers in charge of county development squads wreak havoc in getting club games called off.
WERE YOU SERIOUS about your response about Ger Canning in the ‘Angry Fans’ section of the ‘Examiner’? I can’t stand him and the guy who wrote the comment was probably Ger Canning’s brother! Come on, stop sitting on the fence.
If not Ger’s brother, maybe he was one of the three priests that Ger Loughnane eavesdropped on in Croke Park back in 1998? The fence is an uncomfortable place. You can pick up a splinter or two where it hurts most. I repeat what I said last Tuesday. We’re fortunate to have several good match commentators at the moment and I number Canning among them.
I DON’T KNOW why the GAA spends so much money on fireworks for ten minutes but they don't fund grass roots clubs like they should. They should give a certain amount of money to each club per annum so they can survive!!!!!!!!
Sure, haven’t we been having fireworks at GAA matches over the years anyway? Ah, c’mon! Would you begrudge This Great Association of Ours ten minutes of fireworks out of 125 years?
YOU MISSED MY point completely regarding Croke Park in last week’s ‘Angry Fans’ section. I was simply stating our games are struggling more now because of the increased popularity of rugby in particular. The GAA have assisted in this by opening Croke Park. More young lads are taking up the game in stronghold GAA areas. We must refocus on our own games through schools and clubs. We should use former GAA star players and introduce more coaches and assistants.
Our games are being totally undermined by the internationals on a bigger stage in Croke Park and this is wrong. When the Aviva stadium opens next year the GAA should forget about any future plans to host rugby and soccer games.
OK, Scobby, the ‘Angry GAA Fans’ Disputes Resolution Authority has agreed to rescind the Red Card we gave you last week, now that you’ve clarified your position. My opposition to opening up Croke Park was precisely because of the effect the international games being played there would have on young GAA fans. So, I think we agree on thaT. Once the Aviva Lansdowne Road stadium is open for business, let’s have an end to rugby and soccer internationals at Jones’s Road.
RTÉ and TV3 should share the times for matches that might clash. It is really disturbing when you have to watch boring football when there is entertaining hurling on at the same time and you can’t watch it.
: It’s up to the GAA themselves to work with the broadcasters – and maybe put a clause into their rights contracts – to make sure there is a way of avoiding clashes between overlapping games. I can’t see the broadcasters agreeing off their own bat. That ‘entertaining’ hurling you mention? Hardly the drawn game between Waterford and Limerick? Even ‘Big Brother’ was better than that.
CONGRATULATIONS ON exposing the nightmare that is now Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Even if the GAA cannot afford to re-develop the grounds they could at least clean it up. The approach to the stadium is almost totally neglected. The walls are covered with graffiti, most of the windows are broken, weeds grow almost as high as the stadium walls, with the remains of burnt out rubbish scattered around under the walls of the stadium, not to mention the open sewers that run unconcealed next to the approach pathways.
The inside of the stadium is not much better. The seating had to be butchered so that they could squeeze the paying supporters in, the toilets are a joke and the refreshment facilities are nonexistent. Players have long lamented the state and size of the dressing rooms. At the moment we are embarrassed to say this is the best Cork has to offer. At least they should make some effort for the upcoming Munster football final and show the country that in 125 years of the GAA, Cork are prepared to give the people what they deserve.
: ‘Angry Dan’ is obviously one angry fan. Not a word to be added. ‘Comment of the Week’.
WE HAD ANOTHER two really poor football matches at the weekend – Mayo v Roscommon and Tyrone v Derry. What has gone wrong with the game?
Reforming football is a huge task and one that has been overlooked because of the push in recent years to upgrade the standard of hurling.
Football – at club and underage level – now requires a similar level of coaching programmes and investment to see if we can root out all the basketball and hand passing that has crept in. We need to scrap the lopsided provincial championships and go for a 32-county open draw. Provincial championships favour the stronger counties. How can a province with only five counties achieve the same level of competition as one with nine or twelve counties?
I THOUGHT TV3 did a poor job of presenting the draws for the Qualifiers. Trevor Welsh was completely at sea and had to fumble among his scripts to find something to say about each county.
Whatever about Trevor, maybe first night nerves got a bit to the Uachtarán, Christy Cooney, who mistook ‘Cill Mhantáin’ for Westmeath! TV3’s hurling panellists are excellent, as you’d expect, from Jamesie O’Connor and Daithi Regan.
