Should we give up football?

sid waddell wrote: depechemode wrote: I hate the GAA- not because of the actual sport (although kicking a ball over a bar 10 yards out or tapping a ball in to the goal with your hand is rubbish) but because of the bigoted attitude I’ve witnessed so many times .  First time I remember was  My father telling me years ago as a kid taking a beating of the Christian brothers for going to Dalyer to watch ireland play. He had many stories of their hate of soccer Over the years the comments I’ve heard from these bigots towards soccer particularly Irish soccer is sickening - worst still some of these clowns will watch Liverpool or Man utd but hate the national team or LOI . I’ve witnessed this through work colleagues - in-laws coach’s and casual acquaintances   Obviously not all are like that but the smugness can still race to the top with many For every anti-association football bigot in the GAA there's an anti-GAA bigot in association football It's 49 years since the ban was lifted Get over it Anti-rugby bigotry also runs deep in both GAA and association football Normal people are not preoccupied with these things All sports can co-exist Loads of our international association football players and indeed League of Ireland legends come from serious GAA backgrounds Kevin Moran, Niall Quinn, Steve Staunton, Packie Bonner, Kenny Cunningham, David Meyler, Damien Delaney, Shane Long, Con Martin, Dave Barry, John Caulfield, Paddy Ambrose

pre Madonna wrote: My memories of the GAA growing up are of the local comm-meat-tea and their hatred for all other sports, completely unnecessary sectarianism towards family members and, on the rare occasion it was possible, disgusting racism.  Plenty friends were involved in it but many with a more internationalist outlook were put off it for life. The history of rule 42 and the ban wouldn't have endeared me anyway. It's a backwards looking organisation full of FFers. That may well be changing, but it will never be for me and the best thing about living abroad is being able to ignore it. The sports are sh*te too. Either watching lunatics with sticks or pound shop sumo wrestling.

FrankosHereNow wrote: pre Madonna wrote: My memories of the GAA growing up are of the local comm-meat-tea and their hatred for all other sports, completely unnecessary sectarianism towards family members and, on the rare occasion it was possible, disgusting racism.  Plenty friends were involved in it but many with a more internationalist outlook were put off it for life. The history of rule 42 and the ban wouldn't have endeared me anyway. It's a backwards looking organisation full of FFers. That may well be changing, but it will never be for me and the best thing about living abroad is being able to ignore it. The sports are sh*te too. Either watching lunatics with sticks or pound shop sumo wrestling. That’s it exactly. Feeling of superiority amongst GAA folk is unbelievable. Arseholes like Brolly writing articles claiming GAA supporters are “true gaels”. Backwater parochial bullsh*t. AIB have an ad in the radio with some chap saying “the GAA is the heartbeat of Ireland”. Absolute f**kin nonsense. For Zizu and O’Shea, do you think because I’m Irish, I have to like the GAA? That sounds exactly like the GAA mindset alright.  I hate the organisation. I’m indifferent to the sports themselves

Where to start with the GAA ? All the old cliches like The Ban, kids getting battered in school for playing 'the foreign game', kissing the bishops ring, the Artane boys band etc. in Dublin if you were a young fella and acting the maggot you'd be threatened by your ma with Artane, even the mention of the name of the place gave me the shivers. But more than anything else it's how the GAA permeates through so many areas of official Ireland and the soft power it has through these connections, and how the GAA hoovers up most of local  sponsorship. I've seen so many people get preferential treatment on account of their GAA connections that it totally goes against my ethical beliefs. Or maybe I'm too stubborn to play their game. And I was suspended from school for a week when I was 14 for not turning up to play a match for the school team which was great at the time but might have influenced my fee!ing towards the GAA. I don't hate them, they do great work in many communities but just not my cup of tea.

The O'Shea wrote: FrankosHereNow wrote: pre Madonna wrote: My memories of the GAA growing up are of the local comm-meat-tea and their hatred for all other sports, completely unnecessary sectarianism towards family members and, on the rare occasion it was possible, disgusting racism.  Plenty friends were involved in it but many with a more internationalist outlook were put off it for life. The history of rule 42 and the ban wouldn't have endeared me anyway. It's a backwards looking organisation full of FFers. That may well be changing, but it will never be for me and the best thing about living abroad is being able to ignore it. The sports are sh*te too. Either watching lunatics with sticks or pound shop sumo wrestling. That’s it exactly. Feeling of superiority amongst GAA folk is unbelievable. Arseholes like Brolly writing articles claiming GAA supporters are “true gaels”. Backwater parochial bullsh*t. AIB have an ad in the radio with some chap saying “the GAA is the heartbeat of Ireland”. Absolute f**kin nonsense. For Zizu and O’Shea, do you think because I’m Irish, I have to like the GAA? That sounds exactly like the GAA mindset alright.  I hate the organisation. I’m indifferent to the sports themselves  You are literally displaying a sense of superiority yourself now. There are individuals within every sport that seem to think they're better than every other sport, and soccer is absolutely not immune from that. Personally I find it all very baffling, I don't particularly enjoy Rugby or Cricket for example, but you'll never see me raving about how terrible or insidious their entire sporting community is. It's actually just incredibly spiteful and small minded to do so.

I make no qualms about my chip reserved for the GAA. It has many good people in it, but it allows the bitter and twisted to shine through all too often.

pre Madonna wrote: I make no qualms about my chip reserved for the GAA. It has many good people in it, but it allows the bitter and twisted to shine through all too often. I really hope it is changing,  for Ireland's sake, but it needs more of the good people to stand up to the bigots.

Begrudgery is a core Irish trait...Great people in the GAA, great people through out irish football, including the LOI and even, dare i say it, great people involved in rugby at club level...ball bags in all too. 

well said Sid