Angry Fans

Fans are deeply divided – and certainly angry – about whether or not Kerry should have been awarded a penalty in the opening few minutes of Sunday’s All Ireland senior football semi final.

Apart from that incident, opinion is united that it was a remarkably poor game to watch.

As if being beaten is not enough of a burden to bear, one fan is glad to see the back of the Royal supporters because of their alleged aping of English soccer fans.

At last, Croke Park officialdom have acknowledged the elephant in the stadium – the appalling state of the new pitch – and fans blame it for contributing hugely to the poor quality of the game.

There’s a bit of a wrangle over who should really be installed as favourites for the football final and – as usual – there is criticism of the roles of referees, linesmen and umpires.   This is an issue the GAA really needs to give attention to urgently.

Get in touch:   Give your views and comments to An Fear Rua himself at GAA Angry Fans in ‘The Irish Examiner’    Just drop an email to [e-mail] and get AFR’s reaction to what you have to say.

If you make the ‘Comment of the Week’, we have a fabulous prize of exclusive ‘his or hers’ GAA t-shirts, supplied by our old pals at Puckout.com, where you can design your own club or county leisure wear.

GIVEN HIS BLATANT dive against Meath, is it fair to say Colm Cooper is a member of the Drogba/Eduardo school of player?  While recognising his talent, Colm sometimes spends more time than necessary on the deck.   The Meath back slipped on the pitch. The ball went through to Cooper, who was ‘tagged or touched’ by the Meath player. He went down like he was pole axed, the referee panicked and gave a penalty.   Cooper is talented. It is not his fault.  It was the ref who gave the soft penalty in the first minute of the game. Kerry deserved to win, but this early decision ruined the game as a contest.    Poor refereeing and umpiring does the GAA no favours.

Postman

AFR’S SHOUT:   No referee gets every decision ‘spot on’.   Gearóid Ó Cnámha as contae na Gaillimhe had a reasonably good  game on Sunday and consulted to good effect with his umpires over a number of major decisions.   No wonder, since two of his brothers were numbered among them, so they probably relied as much on mental telepathy as on their mics and ear pieces.