Casual anti-Americanism (1 Viewer)

[therealjohnny]

The People's Republic of Cork versus the Other Capital?

Displaying a good knowledge of the national zeitgeist( or something) there Jane!

Give it another 9 years or so, you're on the right track

 

[Pantone247]

I blame the americans for making it so god damn hot

 

[billygannon]

Billy, please. This just isn't true. Soccer is a business with a community-based element. That's a pretty fundamental difference

Em... no. I don't think you understand the nature of the FA.
The big-business element you're referring to in English football is the Premiership - which is run by the Premier League. Which is a different organisation to the FA.
In Spain, the clubs are inherently community-based. The presidents are elected by the club members. Indeed, the election of the Real Madrid president, or the Barcelona president are generally bigger than local elections.
You cannot seriously claim that the GAA is not commercially driven.

What? You think ordinary members of the GAA are xenophobic because none of them are arsed flying out to Hungary to try and teach the natives how to double on a ball?

I'm not referring to ordinary members of the GAA. I'm referring to the organisation. It has tonnes of money and there's no reason why it shouldn't try to export the game and promote it abroad.
There would be a hell of lot of people involved in GAA who would love to teach people from other countries how to play gaelic football or hurling. Indeed, it's well documented how Irish peacekeepers working for the UN have shown people in places such as the Lebanon how to play gaelic football.

This is a different issue to the promotion of GAA games abroad, but I don't really see what the big deal is about this. Number 1 it's private property, as far as I'm concerned the GAA can do what the fuck they like with it, and number 2 there's been majority support for allowing other sports use the ground for years, but you need a 2/3 majority to change certain rules

Well, you see, it's not private property. Considering that Irish government gave them €60 million to improve it.
But yeah... most people wanted other sports played on it.
It's just the bigots who didn't.
Ah! The bigots.

 

[jane]

I blame the americans for making it so god damn hot

See, if Al Gore had become president, we wouldn't have all this glorious global warming that's giving us this lovely summer day. No, we'd be down the mines, digging for more trees to hug. MORE WAR FOR OIL.

 

[jane]

Displaying a good knowledge of the national zeitgeist( or something) there Jane!

Give it another 9 years or so, you're on the right track

Back when it was pretty easy to get residency and citizenship, a woman I know was going to finalise the process, and they started quizzing her about Ireland at the window. She ended up giving the guy a lesson in Irish history. What's funny is that this happened to me in Immigration a few months ago. Too bad no matter how much I know, I'm still gonna be shipped out soon enough.

Sigh.

 

[Franco]

I don't think it's fair to call people who have helped run and maintain an organisation - the most popular in Ireland - a load of bigots. The northen counties routinely voted against 'foreign sports' in Croker for reasons that are too obvious and boring to go into here.

It's not the fault fo the GAA that Merrion Square couldn't get it's head out of it's arse long enough to build a stadium.

All sports are in competition with each other. Any significent investment by the GAA abroad would be detrimental to the game here. The GAA does not have the same financial clout as the FA for FIFA.

 

[Pantone247]

See, if Al Gore had become president, we wouldn't have all this glorious global warming that's giving us this lovely summer day. No, we'd be down the mines, digging for more trees to hug. MORE WAR FOR OIL.

Jane, as you well know, I firmly believe that the current heat wave isn't global warming, but God rewarding us for being good christians for the past 3,000 years since he created the world. Amen.

 

[jane]

Jane, as you well know, I firmly believe that the current heat wave isn't global warming, but God rewarding us for being good christians for the past 3,000 years since he created the world. Amen.

Of course! And the warmer it gets, the more we need to invade other countries and take back the oil that is rightfully ours. There's a reason God put all that fresh crude in them Bible lands. In fact, all of the environmental disasters that have hurt white people have been our punishment for not getting it out of there quickly enough.

Shit, my conscience feels better already. More bald eagle eggs, Pantone?

 

[Pantone247]

Shit, my conscience feels better already. More bald eagle eggs, Pantone?

thank you kindly Jane, but I'm off to rub more factor 50 onto my back here, for some reason God, in his infintie wisdom, decided to burn several layers of dirty, evil sinful, flesh off my back when I fell asleep in the bleachers at the tractor pull.

 

[jane]

thank you kindly Jane, but I'm off to rub more factor 50 onto my back here, for some reason God, in his infintie wisdom, decided to burn several layers of dirty, evil sinful, flesh off my back when I fell asleep in the bleachers at the tractor pull.

What were you doing in the bleachers? Too 'shamed to sit in the VIP section with the other winners of the pie-eatin' contest?

For anyone wondering, Pantsy goes under the name of 'Carlene' and his secret trick is known as 'The Carlene Pop', in which (s)he pops up and down during the eating, thus compacting the food in the belly, making room for more:

That's our Pantsy!

http://www.ifoce.com/

Remember, Pants, July is RIB MONTH.

Your stiffest competition, in both rapping and eating, is definitely Badlands Booker:

Nobody, but nobody, messes with the world onion-eating champion.

http://www.badlandsbooker.com/

Some people say his first album, 'Hungry and Focused' is his strongest, but while it is a promising debut, I think 'Ingestion Engine' shows he's not only matured, but that his understanding of his position on the competitive eating circuit is much more nuanced, and has real implications worldwide.

 

[egg_]

You cannot seriously claim that the GAA is not commercially driven.

If by "commercially-driven" you mean "profit-driven" then yes I can, and I do. You can be as cynical as you like, and everyone likes to bitch, but the GAA is not about money. Really

I'm not referring to ordinary members of the GAA. I'm referring to the organisation. It has tonnes of money and there's no reason why it shouldn't try to export the game and promote it abroad ... There would be a hell of lot of people involved in GAA who would love to teach people from other countries how to play gaelic football or hurling.

Ah me arse. They might agree with you if you suggested it, but they'd just be being friendly. There's plenty of GAA heads in my family and my in-laws, and what they really care about is whether Buffer's Alley will beat Oulart, or how Mattock Rangers are going to do next year. If you suggested to them that they go over to Hungary for a week to teach hurling they'd think you were off your nut

Well, you see, it's not private property. Considering that Irish government gave them €60 million to improve it.

Ah but it is Billy. I've got government grants for developing software products, that doesn't give you a say in what I do with them, no matter how mauch you've paid in taxes

 

[plug]

Actually, this point doesn't link in any way to the point I made preceeding it. Still, it is true.

Irish people are really bad at casually taking the piss out of people because of where they're from. It's just stupid.
I mean, for fuck's sake... Ireland spends, I dunno how many millions of euro every year on two sports that they refuse to promote in any other country.
It's inward looking if anything.

the whole issue of gaelic grounds being used solely for gaelic games is obviously an old political/historical issue. the g.a.a. was set up in a time long before the nation's colonial wounds had healed, and maybe their policy reflects this. it doesn't seem particularly harsh within the context of those times to ban 'outside' sports. but, looking at it in a positive light, surely the g.a.a.'s main concern was not to alienate other sports, but to try and rescue certain elements of a culture that had been neglected or even oppressed by outside forces for a very long time?

of course this defensive stance is no longer really valid in today's terms, and as it happens, it seems to me and a lot of others I know, like a very good idea for the g.a.a. to open their doors to the use of croke park etc. for soccer and other international games, considering all the revenue that it might generate for, as was already pointed out, a non-professional orginisation. we'll have to wait and see what happens there... I reject the idea that the g.a.a. is xenophobic. old fashioned, beuracratic, slow to change maybe. but this is an issue that's under debate isn't it? people (g.a.a. members) want to change this aspect, so it's not an entirely "inward looking" organisation..

But there is something wrong when you make that sport exclusive to your country.
And when you ban other sports (i.e. those evil English sports of soccer and rugby, but not the perfectly acceptable sport of American football) from being played on the pitches that are only used a couple of months every year.
How come sports such as tennis, or golf, or football, or rugby, or baseball, or basketball, or pretty much any other sport you can think of, are played at international levels?
The only other sport I can think of that's guarded in such a way by the nation is Aussie Rules.
The behaviour of the GAA towards promoting it and incorporating other countries into it is just daft. Hurling and Gaelic football are excellent games that a lot of other people from other countries would love to play. It's been managed in a way where they're frightened if the foreigner should come in and take it over. It's plain stupid.

with regard to gaelic games not being an exclusive/non-international sport; I can't seem to find any evidence that suggests that the g.a.a. discourage its proliferation in any way throughout the world. I asked several keen g.a.a. supporters this afternoon, they all seemed rather bemused, and doubtful about the notion that there is, were, or ever be measures taken by the g.a.a to cactively ounteract the playing of gaelic games abroad. I'm willing to be corrected on this though; you may be party to information that I'm not, but imho I would imagine that the attitute in the g.a.a. would be quite the opposite? otherwise, why would the g.a.a. bother sending/sponsoring young irish players over to play/train with established hurling communities in the US and UK every summer? the people that make up these communities are americans and english people are they not?

and with regard to international appeal: surely soccer's worldwide popularity compared with the likes of hurling is more to do with the fact that the british empire enjoyed considerable historical influence on the world stage for many centuries, which extended far beyond the boundaries of its own empire? just because the british empire never occupied much of latin america beyond belize and some carribbian islands doesn't mean that they hadn't considerable influence there through trade etc. plus soccer is a highly accessible game, no? all you need are legs and a ball of some description! and some skill of course, but the point I'm trying to make is that it's a beautifully straightforward game.

anyway, shitloads of countries have their own national sports that aren't played on any international stage. there are even region specific sports! take the basque region, for example..

for the record, and I've talked about this before with friends, international hurling would be fucking awesome!

 

[broken arm]

GAA. it's just not cricket.

 

[Franco]

I like cricket and hurling. Bit of a Renaissance Man, me.

 

[billygannon]

Right...
Apparently there's 45 million Irish-Americans. There's something like half a million Irish people in England.
And there are several Irish people living in countries around the world who all love playing hurling and gaelic football.
Indeed, the Irish people and Irish culture have reached several countries around the world - maybe not the same as the British Empire, but certainly a significant amount.

Why then haven't they introduced hurling and Gaelic football into other countries when it's been something that people from other countries have no problem doing? How come the English could easily introduce a complicated game such as rugby to Argentina? England and Argentina had about as much cultural and social links as Ireland and Argentina had in the 19th century (afterall, it was an Irishman who found the Argentine navy).

I can understand why hurling might not transfer well - not being able to ash/having to learn from an early age... but Gaelic football doesn't require much. And Gaelic football is a brilliant game... it's more fun to play than rugby.

Surely introducing GAA sports to other countries would increase it's appeal? How would it not do so? Why should it be only Irish people who get to enjoy it?

 

[Spam Javelin]

I doubt any non-indigenous sports were ever introduced to one country by another with the purpose of raising awarness of the game or increasing its appeal.
I'd imagine the beginnings of these sports were ex-pats playing them for their own amusement and then the locals becoming interested in it.
Gaelic sports are played all around the world, at a very small scale.
Perhaps nobody wants to play them.

 

[plug]

maybe they don't have sufficient resources, or it's down on their list of priorities, or they don't think that it would take root, which would be a possible waste of cash? lack of vision? I dunno... maybe it's something that might happen in the future. I really like the idea of it. all I'm saying is that I really don't believe that there is any kind of concerted effort on behalf of the g.a.a. to keep it within the margins of international sport.

I'm gonna subscribe to a g.a.a. forum and find out.

 

[jane]

PErhaps it would be useful to consider a historical angle: that when Association football was developed as a sport, it was part of the public school system, and developed by a dude called Rev Thring who had access to land, and needed an activity that would tire the lads out so they'd be too exhausted to masturbate in their beds.

Is it any wonder why the sports of politically dominant nations -- who had control of the most land -- appear to be more widely taken up than those of the less-internationally powerful ones -- who, outside of their own countries where they might have agricultural land, did not have access to space?

As for the IRish, yes, there would have been a huge number of them in England and in the US as well as Australia around the time that football was becoming organised, but the difference is that many of these Irish who would have played GAA or its precursors would have lived in towns and cities, where there would be little leisure time (people worked insane hours and six days per week) and even then, there was very little in the way of public space on which to play their sport.

So really, the social geography of these sports, the availability of actual physical space was definitely a factor in their uptake. The wealthier folks had land and could have pitches, while the poorer folks did not. It's more complex than this, obviously, but in general, it's something to consider if you're thinking about why and how sports have been adopted or not adopted in other countries. There's also a very strong political angle: sports might be a way of transcending political divisions, but sport has always been really political, as evidenced by the controversy that discussions of Croke Park always stir up.

Blah blah blah, the sport of pedestrianism which eventually converged with long-distance running blah blah blah the sport of the labouring classes blah blah blah because the road itself was the only open space people really had access to, blah blah blah -- go on the runners!

 

[Osama Van Halen]

Right...
Apparently there's 45 million Irish-Americans. There's something like half a million Irish people in England.
And there are several Irish people living in countries around the world who all love playing hurling and gaelic football.
Indeed, the Irish people and Irish culture have reached several countries around the world - maybe not the same as the British Empire, but certainly a significant amount.

Why then haven't they introduced hurling and Gaelic football into other countries when it's been something that people from other countries have no problem doing?

IT HAS ZERO SEX APPEAL. ZERO. SHIT JERSEYS, FUCKIN' SHORTS SO MANKY THEY'RE LEDGENDARY.... WHITE LEGS COVERED IN SCARS/SCABS/BRUISES... JUST A DISTASTER. THEY'RE THE ROUGH BITS OF ALL OTHER SPORTS IN A NEAT, POORLY DRESSED PACKAGE.

YOU CAN'T LOOK COOL PLAYIN G.A.A..... ITS A BIG STINKIN' COUNTRY BOYS SPORT.

AND LADIES??? MY SISTERS PLAYED FOR DUBLIN MINOR IN BOTH DISCIPLINES...SAW A LOT OF GAMESTHE PROPORTION OF HOT GIRLS TO TEN TON TESSIES IS WAY OUTTA LINE. IN THE TEN TON DIRECTION.

THAT'S WHY IT'S ONLY FOUND IN IRELAND. SIMPLE.
​

G.A.A.L.L.A.H.Q.U.A.N.D.O!!!

 

[jane]

Dude, when you're playing a sport, I don't think you should have to look sexy, too. What's the point of that? If it was about looking sexy, you might as well skip the sport entirely, go to an aerobics class, and then put on a slinky evening gown.

PLUS: just because someone is a 'ten ton tessie' doesn't mean she might not be a good sportswoman, or worth watching. Being fit doesn't necessarily mean looking like a model. And anyway, I'd rather have my daughters playing GAA than doing beauty pageants -- the latter might be better for a short-term confidence act, but the former would actually help build self-esteem. Except, like, when she might be denigrated for not being a beauty queen on top of being a sportschick because that's pretty uncalled for.

And I think a lot of people like GAA sports precisely because there's an unsexiness about them that makes them more about the game. In a way, I do think they could be more likely to be taken up elsewhere, as other sports end up succumbing to the pressures to be sexed up.