Great doco. Interested if some of the Irish TC'ers could reveal to me why hurling is an amatuer sport? I think it's obvious after seeing the doco how important it was for Setanta to be a professional athlete - he mentioned not wanting to have a job about 4 times! - but with the tv coverage, packed stadiums and big name shirt sponsors you see in the hurling footage, why cant the sport support its athletes as professionals?

Will have to watch it tonight.

Hey my nose might of made it

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

If I understand it correctly, the big tv coverage and sponsorship stuff was only for the all-ireland stuff, which I guess is kind of like state of origin? Sean Og's local club didn't seem to have much in the way of advertising.

It's a cracking sport though - I'd love to see more of it. Foxsports, get off your arse!

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

Yeah its not like they will have any decent sport to play on FoxSports 3 this year.

And I am locked into a 2 year deal till end of this season - on the promise of their being AFL.

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

great stuff, lets hope it a big year for the boy's and all that hard work pays off

Flower amazing.....Great Doco....

Loved seeing how proud and passionate these boys are about being at carlton, and being professional athlete's. Carlton football club prides itself on being a proud and passionate club and i hope that the rest of the list, and im sure it is are just as proud to be playing for CFC.... Im not sure how they got here but whoever made it happen, thank you!!!

Im pretty happy knowing that these boys are on our list.

Very happy

A great watch.

Thanks to our Irish friends for posting it on the internet and allow us all 'down under' to watch.

Cheers

Beano and Kevin Bohane, correct me if I am wrong but the main reason why its an amatuer sport is something called the Gaelic Athletic Association, which is essentially the parent body for all Gaelic sports like football, hurling etc and all sports under its auspices are conducted according to an amatuer code.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Yep Agro Gaa is an amateur organisation for amateur sport but we still show up the IRFU & FAI with our organisation. I believe hurling/football could support professional sport but the vast vast majority of GAA members up and down the country are against professionalism. Treat players right no probs but we dont want pay for play. besides how would it work? In hurling max ten teams could have viable professional teams. Cork are successful in both codes so we would be at a disadvantage visa vie teams with only one sport to play. I just dont see there being a way thats viable for all counties to participate in. A player in Louth (smallest co) should have just the same chance of playing as a fella in Cork(biggest county) & under current system small counties can play and beat bigger teams. Professionalism would also make transfer market so loyalty to club/county would go out the window.

Rant Over

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Setanta Ó hAilpín 64 AFL Games 45 Goals

Up the Rebels All-Ireland Hurling Champions 2004/2005

Follow that brionglóid

By Michael Moynihan
THE latest round of bad weather to hit the country?
You can maybe put down to a bout of synchronised national inhaling last night.
It came at about twenty past ten, when every man in Ireland watching the documentary on the Ó hAilpín brothers took a deep breath in an effort to flatten his stomach as much as possible. This was the point during the programme at which middle brother Setanta strolled down the hallway of his home in Australia, showing off a physique on which an amazing variety of muscles were jostling for attention.

Less seriously, some random thoughts following the programme included: the impression that Mrs Ó hAilpín would make a fairly decent goalkeeper, given the standard of forward she faced in the family’s back garden over the years; that Setanta’s bushtucker mullet looked far less á la mode than his Del Piero of 2003; that if the secret of Sean Óg’s fitness is the curried octopus he feasted on as a child, he’s welcome to it; and that GAA authorities can rest easy that the only sliotars on offer in remote Rotuma, near Fiji, are offically sanctioned O’Neills-manufactured balls.
Which should make policing puck-outs in the South Pacific a fairly low-maintenance task for referees in the 2007 season.

What was more interesting than the abs and pecs on offer was a comment or two from the brothers, however. Reflecting on the long trip from Rotuma to Cork, Sean Og Ó hAilpín said at one stage about his youth: “I didn’t look Irish. I had to explain the Rotuma bit, because I take my features from my mum. I’m proud of that.â€

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Setanta Ó hAilpín 64 AFL Games 45 Goals

Up the Rebels All-Ireland Hurling Champions 2004/2005

Sean Og is the greatest bloke I have ever seen. I am scum compared to him.

I wish we could hook him (and the rest of the family) up out here during the season... for good even. What an influence he would have on the whole club... What chance Fahour can swing a bank transfer?

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Right, For those who are interested, if you go to aussie torrents, you can download GAA games the day after.
How did any of ye find the mininova link to download the docu?

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'Cause I'm J.U.D.D
I'm dynamite
J.U.D.D
And I'll win that fight
J.U.D.D
I'm a power load
J.U.D.D, Watch me explode

Organisation
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) was founded on November 1st 1884, by a group of spirited Irishmen who had the foresight to realise the importance of establishing a national organisation to revive and nurture traditional, indigenous pastimes.

Until that time all that was Irish was being steadily eroded by emigration, desperate poverty and outside influences. Within six months of that famous first meeting, clubs began to spring up all over Ireland and people began to play the games of Hurling and Gaelic Football and take part in Athletic events with pride. From 1925 the GAA handed over the organisation of Athletics to a separate organisation.

The Irish who emigrated brought their national games with them and both regional and club units are now well established in America, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Canada, mainland Europe and in many other parts of the world where the large Irish diaspora are located.

Clubs

The GAA has over 2,500 clubs in Ireland alone. The playing of Gaelic Games is based on the GAA Club, and each of the 32 Counties in Ireland have their own Club competitions, culminating in County Winners in championship and league. Club units outside of Ireland have their own league and championship competitions with the format dictated by the number of players and clubs available.

Clubs are generally based in a specific geographic area (usually a parish), and draw their players from that area. In certain cases, e.g. universities, the club will represent an organisation or institution and will draw their players from the members of that organisation.

Clubs will field one or more teams at various levels, and will play in their county's leagues, cups and championships. Most clubs will have both hurling and football teams, but some clubs will concentrate exclusively on one or other of the two Gaelic Games.

The winner of the County Championship will go forward to represent that county in the Provincial Club championship, and should they win that, to the latter stages of the All-Ireland Club Championship, the finals of which are played in Croke Park on St Patrick's Day (17th March).

Inter-county teams are selected from the best players from the clubs in every county.

Counties

The county is a geographical region in Ireland, and each of the thirty-two counties in Ireland organises it's own GAA affairs through a County Board. Counties have a number of Divisional or Juvenile Boards to organise competitions at district and youth levels.

The County Board (and / or subsidiary boards) will organise competitions for the clubs within its jurisdiction. They are also responsible for the organisation of teams to play at inter-county level, at all age groups from Under-10 to Senior.

The county teams play in their respective Provincial Championships at all grades, and if successful will go on the play in the All-Ireland series. A current experiment in hurling allows the defeated senior and minor hurling finalists in Leinster and Munster to re-enter the championship at the All-Ireland Quarter-Final stages.

Provinces

The Provincial Councils are the organisations responsible for the arrangement of GAA matters within their Province. They organise the Provincial Championships for clubs and counties in both hurling and football, and look after organisational and disciplinary matters in their jurisdiction.

Inter-Provincial teams in hurling and football are selected from the best players from the counties in every Province and compete for the annual Railway Cup Hurling and Football competitions.

National Organisation

The National Organisation (GAA) is run by Central Council (Ã

_________________
'Cause I'm J.U.D.D
I'm dynamite
J.U.D.D
And I'll win that fight
J.U.D.D
I'm a power load
J.U.D.D, Watch me explode

Yep, got it thanks Beano. I only got about a third of the way through it so far, but it's very much appreciated. The youtube version was killing me, whenever any action occurs, the whole thing turns to a blurry mess.

I think you will find that ESPN will show the games.... They just need to agree on a price. Channels 7 are still hurting from paying over the quote so they won't let it go cheaply (or at market value). AFL can't do squat because they saw the dollar signs and jumped at the deal.

"Who told you to put the balm on?"

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Watched the Doco again last night! Simple & Honest! I loved it.

Made me miss Dublin actually................can't wait to get back there and check out a few Hurling games.
When i was in Dublin i was constantly asked by people how Setanta is going, the Irish really do miss him. It'd be kinda like Chris Judd leaving to go play GAA.

To all my Irish TC'rs............................do they still have 'Supermacs' over there? Man, i'd love some 'Supermacs Nacho-Fries' right about now!

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

Interesting article re doco from Irish Times:

Note aisake's nickname!


"The Irish Times: Keep an eye on big brothers
Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)
January 17, 2007


GAA: Pat Comer's splendid television study on the O hAilpIn brothers, showing tomorrow night, is not to be missed, writes Tom Humphries

It was 40 degrees in Melbourne yesterday. Carlos and the Zak Dog, as they are known locally, got up early for the usual ding-dong.

The regime starts early and taxes them hard. Unrelentingly the rooster crows with the break of dawn on the six days a week that they train. Three sessions a day usually. Boxing in the mornings from 6.30 to 7.15. A break for an hour or 90 minutes. Get some massage or some food, then training at 9.30 for two-and-a-half hours of skills.

Mainly they do kicking and catching and working on timing but there's a lot of running in between, just getting themselves tired so the fatigue can replicate the conditions of AFL games.

They do a lot of drills, and warm-up work alone takes 40 minutes or so. Stretch, run, sprint, jog, etc. By the time they're really into it an hour has passed and soon it's time for the warm-down and another stretch.

At 12.0 they're away for lunch and then back to the club for conditioning: bounding and bouncing, glutes work, core-stability work. That takes till almost four o'clock. Monday. Wednesday and Friday.

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings it's a swim and then on afternoons pilates. Slightly lighter days.

No rest on Saturdays. Up at 7.0 to head to Sandringham for the weekly biathlon work. Up the hilly cliff then running along the dirt track, up hills and down dunes. Then swim out 300 yards, swim back, run the track for 15 minutes, swim again, run again, swim again, run again.

Sometimes the running is replaced with biking. Either way it hurts.

Then finally they fall into the arms of Sunday.

The AFL season is two months away but Setanta and Aisake O hAilpIn are steaming towards it with the familial trademarks of good grace and heroic determination.

Last night their brother, Sean Og, started back training with the Cork hurlers. New year. New coach. The usual rain and muck after a day at work. Sean Og threw the kitbag into the car and headed off in the darkness knowing he would have to cope not just with the slog but with the fact of having been described as "babe-allicious" in a Sunday paper this week.

The context was a preview of Pat Comer's splendid documentary about the O hAilpIns, Tall, Dark and O hAilpIn , a film which is, strangely for a family who have become such fixtures in the national imagination, a study of constant journeying. Comer's unblinking eye followed Sean Og not just through a hurling season but home to the Fijian island of Rotuma.

Often lazily we hang our aspirations about multiculturalism on families like the O hAilpIns, congratulating ourselves on the miracle of seeing young men with brown skin playing hurling in Croke Park.

Sean Og's journey home, after 19 years, into the culture he came from, to a place where his relations are surprised he has runners and where the village has one TV is a study in grace and openness. Every experience and sight is taken and valued with the sincerity we have come to expect of the man. And every story he has of the world he comes from is absorbed with reciprocal interest.

When Sean Og departs on the back of a small pick-up truck to the airport and then on a propeller lane into the skies you feel an odd tug of emotion and can't help wondering about the journey the O hAilpIns made to Ireland all those years ago, their memories of the train journey to Cork in the rain and mist and their first sightings of cows.

Were we ever as engaged by the need to hear about their culture as we were to swaddle them in ours?

The other strand of the film follows Setanta and Aisake in Melbourne as they fight for starting places with Carlton. Setanta was dubious at first about the idea of a documentary. Both brothers are still at various stages of their apprenticeships to a sport that has its own mysterious skills and choreography.

"It is frustrating," says Setanta. "You see people doing things that you think you should do. I'm only in my fourth year. They tell me to play my percentages. Do what I'm good at and do what I've been doing. At times it's good to go outside those boundaries though. I reckon if I keep making mistakes and learning from them I'll get there."

Every conversation with an O hAilpIn highlights the role of their remarkable mother, Emeli, who spent six months in Australia with her boys last year, supplying them with the alpine ranges of food they grew up accustomed to. In Australia too they are surrounded by their own support network.

For Setanta the first year alone in Australia was the toughest, living away from home and the teeming family quarters in Blarney. He lived with a Melbourne family and he still heads over to Kerryn Banston's home for dinner two or three times a week.

Then Aisake arrived and things improved. Somebody to talk to all the time. They speak Fijian among themselves and Irish the odd day in case it goes rusty. Insulation against the bad days, of which there are still a few.

"There's been a few hard ones all right," says Setanta. "When you're trying to break onto the team there's just days when you think you're miles away or times when you play a couple of games and know you haven't gone well. You're training away and not hitting your targets. You wonder - is this game above me?

"I had a day that sticks out. We played Box Hill last year early on and we were up by 100 points and I was in the back line and my man kicked two goals on me. About the only player that scored for them was my man. He got out and marked three or four balls ahead of me. We were up and I was struggling. I'm thinking, we're up 100 points and I can't mark one guy.

"That was a low but I tell myself if I keep grinding away at the stone it will turn soon. Hope is the big thing. If I have a bad day I reassess what I have to do and work harder. They're telling me they want to play me in the back line. It's a far cry from corner forward. They find the best position to play a guy coming into the game is the back line. You face the ball."

Defence is new to him but on one of his 11 first-team appearances last summer he caused a stir with his play on Barry Hall of Sydney. He'll be a full back or centre back this season.

Tadhg Kennelly has been another support through hard times. They speak several times a week and watch each other's games on tape. Setanta watches out of sheer admiration, Tadhg in a mentoring role. "I admire him so much. From the first day I set foot here, he's been nothing but great help. He flew down here to meet me. I appreciate it very much."

Setanta and Aisake try to pass on what Kennelly has given them by staying in touch with Colm Begley and Martin Clarke.

Aisake and Setanta stayed in Melbourne for the Christmas and were joined there by their siblings, one of whom, Teu, has made the move permanent. It's hard to imagine what reflections and memories they shared of their remarkable lives as a family.

Home though is still Cork.

"If I did finish up here the first thing I'd love to do would be come back and play hurling and football for Cork," says Setanta. "That was the only thing on my mind growing up. As life goes on your priorities change. Now I'm here I'd still love that."

His contract ends at the end of this year and as usual he's philosophical. He had 11 first-team starts last year. His target this year is "as many as possible". Then he'll see.

"If I just concentrate on my football, each week, everything should fall into place. I'll play as many as possible and see where it takes me. Train hard now and let everything else fall into place.

"With Aisake there's a massive improvement. His ball skills have stepped up hugely. It takes a lot of time. You have to be patient."

The journeying goes on. Training in Fermoy. Training in Melbourne. Spanning cultures and representing the best of each."

As was said in the documentary:

Setanta your in the paper for the right reasons.

Your in the paper because you are playing good football.

Not because you are a novelty.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Whist living in Ireland in 2003, I remember watching the preview of the All Ireland Hurling final and one of the pre-eminent commentators referring to Setanta as the 'David Beckham of Hurling', to which I chuckled, "yeah right".

After following Setantas progress to date and the enormity of his potential (and assuming Aisake keeps progressing), I believe these guys are going to be embraced by footy public here like nothing before. They are a marketers dream, and it's not as if we couldn't do with more bona fide marketing streams.

Oh yeah, the chicks will love them, if my wife's reaction to the doco is any indication

I'm not into conspiracy theories, but

I reckon "The Spew" deliberately threw a spanner into the International Rules Series - because he realized if Setanta and Aisake make it big time with Carlton then the income potential available to Carlton with 10,000,000 Irish and the related merchandise and membership income would be the answer to Carlton's prayers.

Then as I said I'm not into conspiracy theories.


And our current board has no clue how to exploit this anyway.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill