No Rules, No Future
Written by Francie, regular commenter and now contributer to the blog.
No rules and no future, this series has to come to an end now. For the GAA, it’s time to stop milking the cow and look at the well-being of our GAA stars.
My comments on this farcical series last week have been justified I feel, after Sunday’s distasteful showings in front of a packed Croke Park. Many came to see a fight and were rewarded even before the ball was thrown in. Talking to a friend before last week’s game in Galway, he commented that all he’d go to see at one of these games is a brawl. And I feel he’s not alone. Lacking in this form of entertainment last week, Sunday’s first quarter provided it in abundance.
We all know it takes two to tango and one can always take the lead, a position I feel the Aussies embraced with pleasure on Sunday. Why wouldn’t they? Physically stronger than their Irish counterparts, they held the all the aces for such a contest. Pride will always cause you never to turn away from such confrontations but our GAA players should not have to be involved in such contests. Before the game Graham Geraghty was told he was a marked man. The same player left the field on a stretcher 13 minutes in after being knocked unconscious. When studied, the tackle appears intentional, one aimed to cause damage. In such circumstances, refereeing has to come to the fore. Protection of players is one of the main responsibilities of a referee. How no red card was shown yesterday beggars belief.
I think Irish captain Kieran McGeeney summed it up in his post-match comments, “If you want to box, say you want to box and we’ll box. If you want to play football, say you want to play football and we’ll play football”. In Ireland we have plenty of men who can fill both roles. Our GAA stars shouldn’t be made do both.
tags:international rules
Published by Colm.
No rules and no future, this series has to come to an end now. For the GAA, it’s time to stop milking the cow and look at the well-being of our GAA stars.
My comments on this farcical series last week have been justified I feel, after Sunday’s distasteful showings in front of a packed Croke Park. Many came to see a fight and were rewarded even before the ball was thrown in. Talking to a friend before last week’s game in Galway, he commented that all he’d go to see at one of these games is a brawl. And I feel he’s not alone. Lacking in this form of entertainment last week, Sunday’s first quarter provided it in abundance.
We all know it takes two to tango and one can always take the lead, a position I feel the Aussies embraced with pleasure on Sunday. Why wouldn’t they? Physically stronger than their Irish counterparts, they held the all the aces for such a contest. Pride will always cause you never to turn away from such confrontations but our GAA players should not have to be involved in such contests. Before the game Graham Geraghty was told he was a marked man. The same player left the field on a stretcher 13 minutes in after being knocked unconscious. When studied, the tackle appears intentional, one aimed to cause damage. In such circumstances, refereeing has to come to the fore. Protection of players is one of the main responsibilities of a referee. How no red card was shown yesterday beggars belief.
I think Irish captain Kieran McGeeney summed it up in his post-match comments, “If you want to box, say you want to box and we’ll box. If you want to play football, say you want to play football and we’ll play football”. In Ireland we have plenty of men who can fill both roles. Our GAA stars shouldn’t be made do both.
tags:international rules
Published by Colm.
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