Irish fans chanting as Gaeilge

The good thing about being "old" Igor is we can remember things like the old Engljsh First Division and of course Euro 88 and Italia 90!

I'm only 17 but my younger sister is still in primary school and our National School only offers hurling and gaelic football to the youngsters. Even in my secondary school, football is played but in my opinion is discriminated against. They do end of year awars for every team in every sport(GAA, hurling, rugby, athletics, even badminton!) but no awards are handed out for football. The vice principal strongly dislikes the sport, and the fact that all the messers in school are the best players doesn't help....

"end of year awards"

Stand in the corner boy

Ha ha Great wall thats the thing the best Footballers are always the biggest messers! If the Fai were any good they would do more to promote the games in schooks. Its still primarily an urban sport.

Soccer/football was called "Peil Luther" (Lutheran football) in my school.

COLEMAN:
With all this institutionalised support of GAA, what chance has soccer and the other international sports of doing well? Now, Ive nothing against Gaelic football and I freely acknowledge its place in the Irish cultural heritage. However, its never going to catch on internationally. Its too much "hands,knees and bumps a daisy" for the average bloke. If it were going to catch on it would have already done so by now. Hurling, I feel is in a similar situation, but has the added disadvantage of being potentially quite dangerous, especially from a parent's point of view. This means that as regards competing on the international stage and bringing glory to the country you're looking at endless matches against the NYPD and modified Aussie rules teams. The World doesnt give a toss about these matches = no glory for Ireland if they win! This institutionalised funneling of the majority of Irish youth into sports which have basically no international relevance or following, means that the chances of Irish sportsmen bringing international glory to Ireland are greatly diminished.

In the circumstances, considering the odds cynically stacked against them by the church and state, it has to be said that some Irish sports people have managed to do remarkably well and bring glory to the country by proving they are World champions,especially in boxing(eg.McGuigan, McAuley, McCullough, Monaghan, Caldwell; Carruth); Snooker(Higgins,Taylor); Athletics(Sonia O'Sullivan, Coughlan); Motorsport(Adam Carrol, Ralph Bryans, Joey Dunlop, Eddie Irvine); golf(McIlroy, Daly, Clarke, McDowell, Harrington); Soccer(Best, Brady, Blanchflower, Keane).

How many more sports people could we have added to this illustrious list if it hadnt been for the millions cynically siphoned off into the "Deadend Street" of Gaelic games which is as much of a pseudo political organisation as it is a sports body? Those Protestants like Sam Maguire who first set up the GAA really have a lot to answer for! As a nominal "Prod" myself, I hang my head in shame!

If you're a Prod, does that make me a

The G.A.A. , a self delusional, xenophobic, selfish organisation, happily wallowing in all that, plus a stultifying insecurity, a toxic cocktail that is as unpalatable as it is is predictable when it rears it's ugly head.Speaking of cocktails, ta se de h-aoine agus nil aon gloine no deoch agamsa, agus mar sin taim amuigh, oiche shona dibh go leir.

That sounds a pretty potent cocktail there MILLTOWN!