Should we give up football?

They train more often than some professional LOI teams - there's nothing about it that's sacred, it's an observable fact. Simply being paid to do something doesn't mean you're going to be automatically better at it. Roscommon, for example, were training 5+ times a week from November to March this year. Dublin famously trained about 40 days in a row under Ger Gilroy back when he was manager, and that has since become something that's not entirely unusual. There are certain strength and fitness metrics GAA players would blow football players out of the water, and vice versa. That's the nature of high level sports, each is going to have it's areas of focus.

That's peculiar, generally when you use the term "cleaning house" it suggests that one side is vastly dominant over the other - in this case, though  there have been 42 official "International Rules" test matches, of which Ireland have won 21 and the Aussies have won 19. This must be the first ever case of a side who has lost more than they have won "cleaning house" 

Simply being paid to do something doesn't mean you're going to be automatically better at it. -  Its not about being paid to do it, its your job, its all you need to worry about when you get up in the morning, you are paid to train and rest properly, and all of your coaches are also professional.

 Roscommon, for example, were training 5+ times a week from November to March this year. Anyone involved in any kind of serious rowing squad or athletics training group would be doing this year in, year out, this is not ground breaking - this is decent level amateur commitment.

Dublin famously trained about 40 days in a row under Ger Gilroy back when he was manager, and that has since become something that's not entirely unusual. This is a classic amateur approach to training, like cramming for an exam. It all depends what they were doing in training but any decent measurement and feedback part of that programme would have reported diminishing returns to any fitness or strength metrics from day 15 to around day 20. Just because training 5 days in a row is good, training 40 days in a row is not 8 times as good. 

There are certain strength and fitness metrics GAA players would blow football players out of the water.  If you mean professional football players, there is no dataset that exists to back that up.

....And there is the sacred cow, if people simply believe it to be true - then it must be true. It is not true.

Again, something being your job does not mean you are going to do it better - in many cases it leads to complete apathy, which has been and is a massive issue in football. Players being paid exorbitant wages who simply don't care about playing for the team they're at, because either way they're picking up their wage packet. To do something as taxing as inter county GAA without being paid requires you actually want to be there, you can't do it without complete commitment.

Right, so you're acknowledging that GAA is at a minimum on a par with the training for two high level Olympic sports, good man 

Training 40 days in a row was a drastic tactic in response to a drastically malfunctioning team, and it worked. Dublin went on to win their first all Ireland in 16 years after it. The 40 days in a row obviously included recovery sessions, the point is that the squad were getting together every day, sometimes more than once a day, for 40 days in a row. That displays a level of commitment (amd ability to train) beyond what is found in most professionalised sports. Again, you try to use the word "amateur" as an insult here, clearly misunderstanding the meaning of the word.

Like many Irish soccer fans, you can't acknowledge the brilliance of the GAA because for whatever reason you think that denigrates the brilliance of soccer, it doesn't, they're completely mutually exclusive. The small mindedness that exists in Irish sports is a sad thing.

Right, so you're acknowledging that GAA is at a minimum on a par with the training for two high level Olympic sports, good man  - I'm afraid not my good man. I was comparing to club rowers, not carded athletes. For those never involved in professional sport that means the ones who are funded by Sport Ireland, as in they are professional athletes for a fixed term - length of funding. GAA players are no where near these people.

I agree with a lot of what Baldrick said above. Its not possible for GAA players to be at the same level as professional athletes for all the reasons he outlined. If you can't understand this I ca't explain any further.

Also, the idea that inter county GAA players are somehow fitter and stronger  than other committed amateurs (athletics, AIL Rugby, Boxing, Rowing etc etc) is simply not true.

That TV show The Toughest showed up the athleticism of GAA players compared to other sports.

Aidan O'Shea went over to do the NFL fitness and athleticism trials and was badly shown up.

Jumping heights, sprinting, reaction times etc..