We like to win in the GAA.
It's a competitive beast, this thing of ours. Think of your own county, think of all the neighbouring clubs and all the towns on the border with another county and think of how many disputes arise from them alone.
His club is actually in that county but they play in this county. That girl and her family are from there but they play for here.
Any young lad with even an ounce of talent is going to be pulled apart before he even hits under-14 if he's living on one of those roads - like most of them do - which run into another parish.
Disputes over players and territory and just the parochial pride that clubs have fester for generations in the GAA and that amounts to an unhealthy obsession with the avoidance of losing at whatever costs.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOE_GAA/status/870024353991340032
Losing is too risky - not with all that has already gone on between your club and everyone else. It's not even about winning or taking any joy or fulfillment from that - no, it's just about making sure that other shower have no more ammo on you.
It's about saving face, getting by with as little amount of losses as possible. So forgive some people if they don't have time for any of your pissing about.
That weight of upholding the pride of the parish bears heavy on some people and it spills out in many forms. From passive aggressive
WhatsApp messages to committee meetings and bad blood on the sidelines, rivalries can change a person and, if the man who refereed a blitz in Offaly on Monday night is to be believed, it is getting out of hand.
According to Ronan McGuire, an under-10 player was told to only use his strong foot after he hit a wide at a blitz trying to use his weaker limb.
https://twitter.com/RonanMc15/status/892133988827004933
The ref contacted SportsJOE and asked if this is the real problem with the so-called weaker counties, things like this.
This is just a general problem with the GAA though, when coaches are so desperate to win that everything becomes short term thinking because they can't afford to look at the bigger picture - because they can't afford to lose. A nine-year-old practicing off his weaker foot cannot be tolerated because it might ruin the game you're playing in an under-10 blitz right now on a Monday night. It doesn't matter if that attitude might stifle his development in the future or if taking a little hit at that age group might help in the long run.
Too many people just want immediate results and when that is seeping down as low as under-10s, then clubs really need to have a look at the men and women they are leaving in charge of their children.
