Drug Testing For Gaa Players.

[mickmack]

Shure arent we known for being "cynical"

[owenabue]

Yes ye are, by more than people than Billy! I of course will not make a call on that one.

[mickmack]

How is Niall Cahalane doing? Billy had no problem sending him out to maim and gouge and bully. As a matter of fact Billy thought Niall was great. Evev see the sneaky punch Cahalane thre in the 1993 final v Derry

I saw Tony Davis punch Pat Spillane in the face just after the final whistle sounded in Killarney after Cork won a munster final in the 80s or early 90s. Billy loved him too.

Even see what Conor Counihan did to Jacko Shea in the Munster final of 1988. It was the most unsporting foul/assault that I have ever seen.

Of all people, Billy Morgan shouldnt talk about being cynical.

He would gladly have Davis, Counihan and Cahalane back now.

As far as I know Cahalane assaulted a ref and in the end Cork County Board moved against him. They had to. The incident was shown on the 9 o Clock news.

[kerrygold]

jacko was very annoyed over the counihan incident,it was the oly time he laid his hand/fist on another player while wearing the kerry jersey.

[owenabue]

How many times do I have to tell ye that there is a possibility I don't agree with what Billy said or how he said it. Seriously, believe it or not, some people in Cork have minds of their own. I could start naming things Kerry players did, but what's the point? No team are 15 angels.

[kerry07]

Billy is a w****r

[kerry07]

I agree fully with Kerrygold. Drug testing is a highly invasive activity when ever conducted. Its fine when consented to as part of a contract of employment but really in an amature set up its not on at all.You might well reflect on this one. Imagine an out of hours testing regeime was implemented. I gather it is planned and the regulations are in place by the sports council. How would you feel as an intercounty player if you were approached by sports council officials at your place of work. How would it go down with employers in the private sector like accountants solicitors medical professionals. I can tell you it would lead to difficulties with many if not all. Fine if lads are being paid a wage but otherwise its a gross intrusion that no one should be asked to put up with. PS Its impossible to perform at intercounty level succesfully and engage in regular abuse on narcotics. C2 H5 OH can be accomodated in moderation apparently.

[kerrygold]

i hope the sun keeps shinning for those who think that the modern intercounty player can keep on giving of themselves all the time.

mike mac,eamonn and jack will be come the norm in the future and walk away from the game at a young age.

[bigmac]

can any1 please name an amateur sport that has no dope testing,get a grip here lads theres no stigma to proving ur clean its only when those who miss and delibertly try to avoid them that will be worried.i read about an english runner who was tested at a dinner party out of season, she was'nt amused at the test but understood the reasons why it had to be conducted.
the point was also made about private sector workers,i'm sure its not uncommon for firms to test employees i know my br in law gets 1 every year

[branch]

I have to say random drug testing of players is a must lads! Otherwise you will have players taking on the the age old "Give em an inch...." For example, if you are a player getting old and falling a bit behind, you will think, where is the harm is getting a little "boost"?? Nobody is going to know!! Or a young player desperate to make your county team, Nobody is going to know!

Inter-County players are people who are looked up to by every child in a county that ever picks up a football or hurley, when they are outside kicking a ball off the wall of the house they are running through the commentary of a game making themselves Darragh O'Se or the Gooch or Star! When you put on an inter-county jersey, like it or not, you are a role model for all these kids! What kind of message would it give to these kids if it was found out that player x needed performance enhancing drugs to play the way they did?? The purity of the game would be lost! This needs to be stopped before it even starts!

Just to pick another amateur sport in Ireland that conducts random blood tests after games! National League basketball!

[kerrygold]

was the runner british grant aided and of olympic international standard contracted to the british team.

is testing at work not a professional in a professional invoirment as an employee contracted to an organistation who pays wages.

testing isnt conducted at senior club footballing/hurling standard level an organised legit organised amatuer sport.

just for pig iron,are the ladies senior intercounty footballers and camogie players drug tested?

[joan]

All GAA ladies are subject to random teating. It think it has to been done in the interest of fairness across the board. But has to continue begin done at training as it would be unfair to go to ones place of work.

[mickmack]

professional standards cant be applied to amateur players..................

[bigmac]

ok lads so let me get this straight,we're all for cheating as we seem to be against testing of players then my first statment must be true and if it is not can someone please tell me how we would know or combat those who dabble in the drug market

[kerrygold]

nobody is supporting drug cheats here,read a few posts back where i said i have no problem with drug testing if the players were paid their grants,but they aren't and the thought of them receiveing grants fills alot of people with revulsion in gaa circles.
If performance enhancing drug taking is such a major problem of epidemic proportions in gaa circles why is random sample taking not happening at club level,imagine the up roar that would greet this policy shift if it came to be put in place,there would be war,amatuer lads going down to the local pitch to enjoy their past time while representing the small local parish.Imagine asking the club captain,a non county player, to provide a sample after spending 4 hours that day comuteing in a car to a high pressured job in the big smoke,imagine a mistake where he took a cough bottle resulting in a failed test costing him his job and reposition of his home with half a million morgage around his neck.This would not be fiction but posible reality.
My point if club players are not tested why should the county players be tested,both are deemed to be the same beast by many,how often have you heard the cry the gpa doesnt represent the ordinary club player but the elithe,both should be equal and represented accross the board.Is there not a contradiction here if some if you deem the county player testable and the club player not testable.wheres the difference between them so.
Testing of county players came into being because the gaa relented to pressure from the sports council of ireland when the treat of removing grant aid was put on the line,this a money issue,not a drug issue in gaa circles,maybe you could call it political correctness,personally it doesnt bother me what you call because i consider it be a load of crap.
Take a read of martin breheny's article where he rightly claims the gaa player in not an employee of the gaa,nor indeed contracted to them or their county boards.Thats fact,gaa players are amateur,like the club player just representing their parish at county level,same difference,just lads taking part in a pastime after their days work and commute.
Remember recently on the late late show their was a runner,cant think of her name,from waterford i think,the blonde girl, if i'm not mistaking was also a teacher in a public job.She failed a drugs test and relentlessly defended her inocence on the late late show and through other avenues.John Tracey sat on the panel that night as stoney cold as a slab of connemara marble.Personally i dont want to see any gaa player from any county in ireland been put in the same position defending themselves in public.
Do you really think that a belly full of drugs would have made the differece between mayo losing to kerry in '04 and '06,no chance,that would be a rediculous claim to make that mayo could have beaten kerry if ther used performance enhancing drugs.All- Ireland are solely won by teams that have great players onboard,galway won in '01 because they had padraig joyce,armagh because young ronan clarke and stevie mac were brillant that day,tyrone because they has canavan and mcguigan,kerry have won all-irelands because they had lads like maurice and the gooch who rose to the occassion on the day,no belly full of drugs will replace this level of footballing brillance and genius.It may turn players into athletes and runners but people who know their football will recognoise this.You would discredit such a victory and give it no recogition or respect,such gains by a team would be short term and not sustainable in the medium to long term.
Drug testing of gaa players is purely polically motivated,driven by the gaa receiving grant aid,its proberly polictical correctness thats run mad in this country in recent times.Seen to be done.The gaa should make a stand on this and if i was a county player and made a stand by refusing to present a sample i'd hope my county board would back me in the courts.
This testing is not because of a drugs problem in gaa circles,if it was the club players would tested also.If you want to threat the senior intercounty players as a different animal to the club player and as a political pawn pay them their grants,compensate them for their time and sporting brillance achieved,make sure guys like brian mcguigan are proberlly treated if injured,and dont be grudge them this grant aid.
I dont feel the consequences of testing strictly amateur gaa players has been fully thought out by the majority.A footballing team that developes a long ball game that carries great players on board will always beat a team thats pumped up with a belly full of drugs.