Daily Dose: August 21st, 2009

Thanks Cathal,

My question was just a bit idle speculation, but it's good to get some more in-depth information.

I definitely disagree with the Rafa Nadal comparison though, mostly because there are a lot more similarities between between Gaelic football and soccer than there are between tennis and soccer.

I'd like to make a few points:

Firstly, Alan Brogan is not the best example of a top level Gaelic footballer and is only chosen for a "challenge" like this as he is a city boy and well known by the urban population.

Secondly, Gaelic football is not the problem. Most 'Gah' players work 9-5, Monday to Friday. It's an amateur sport and on the weekends, the either represent their local area or the larger area, depending on the time of the year. Of course, some of these guys could have been excellent soccer players but to wonder how the National soccer team would do if the Gaelic footballers switched over is a bit like wondering how good a player Rafa Nadal would have been had he chose soccer over tennis and would he now be one of the new 'Galacticos?'

The Irish soccer team at youth level is one of the best in the world so we already know there is a problem and we know exactly what that is; our own League system is completely inept. It's basically an amateur setup that keeps trying to go professional only to find that that bankrupts the clubs slowly be surely. So what happens is that our hottest talents ended up going to some second-rate English side like Scunthorpe (no offence intended) where the can't settle in and are hardly excited about representing their side week in, week out.

However, Steve Coppell and Reading have shown the world how much talent there is in Ireland. He takes a bunch of players from the Irsih League over to Reading and they all settle in well because there is a group of them and in time, they go on to prove that they are good enough for the Premier League.

Gaeilc football really isn't the problem...

Pavlyuchenko still got the point on the first kick, so fair shakes to him. Defoe would have been on the ground trying to catch the ball like that. Xabi Alonso played some Gaelic Football growing up as well, so did Celtic player Cillian Sheridan.

Nice call on the asterisk though, would have had tons of Gah heads on here, up and arms! :D