Offaly GAA Media Access

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.
Offalys Future
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Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Offalys Future »

I find it really strange the Offaly media relationship with the county board especially.

At the coaching forum with Dermot Healy the local media had live text commentary for anybody on twitter, Facebook etc. (They released videos of the presentations also)
This was such an important meeting for Offaly hurling and I don't believe it should be put out on Twitter and facebook to see how many hits and likes they can get.

This was the case last week at county board meetings also and I noticed this for Westmeath too.

This wouldn't be allowed happen in many other counties and it is my opinion that some of the media guys on this forum and in general in Offaly are less critical of Offaly county board because they are given such access. I hate this you scratch my back I scratch yours attitude that exists in Offaly at the moment.

Surely it should be the Offaly PRO who after every county board meeting would supply minutes to the relevant media.
What is the role of the current Offaly PRO?
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blinkers
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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by blinkers »

Ah stop are you for real. I followed the live updates and found it great to get an insight to what actually goes on at County board meetings. Most supporters players and members of clubs wouldn't have a notion what goes on I think it was a great idea. What's the point in been closed off from the media and the public.

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Lone Shark
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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Lone Shark »

I suppose logic would suggest that this would be the type of topic where I really should weigh in, seeing as I'd be part of this media landscape and all.

First of all, to deal with the points of fact: In every county, local media would have access to county board meetings, while the hurling forum in the county arms was advertised as an open forum where they wanted people with an interest in Offaly hurling to attend. So it's hardly a surprise then that local media, who would both have a personal and a professional interest in Offaly hurling, would do so. This happens everywhere. Joe Troy was tweeting from the county board meeting last week, but if you haven't seen that in other counties, it's because you haven't looked, or because the journalists in question are more old school and so they don't tweet. It's not that they aren't let in, no matter what county you're referring to.

Secondly, in the modern era these things aren't put up on social media for likes and hits, they are put up there because there are a lot of people who consume their news in that way. Midlands 103 is an excellent resource for local sports news from what I can tell, definitely up there with the better local radio stations in Ireland, but much of their programming on sport is at a time when I'm out and about covering games - so using their twitter and their soundcloud page is my main way of accessing their content. People don't want their news once a week in a big paper any more, they want it when it happens, so that's why social media outlets are critical.

Secondly, there isn't a back scratching arrangement at all, but there is a mutual respect there, or at least I'd like to think so. Everyone that's involved with reporting for the radio or for any of the local papers is an Offaly native and is someone who cares deeply about the betterment of Offaly GAA. God knows there are people who don't think a lot of us in the local media at times, individually or collectively, but there is a genuine interest there far beyond just earning a wage, or the smaller few bits here and there that freelancers like myself pick up. Offaly GAA has been in the national eye for the wrong reasons on several occasions, but those stories almost never emerge from the actual local journalists here - and that's not because we're in a state of oblivion. It's because we appreciate the difference between writing opinion pieces and covering news that will stimulate debate and that might be a force for change, and those that simply make the county look bad to no obvious end. For example, what happened at the junior football semi final a few weeks ago could easily have been a national story - but who would have been helped by one of the locals going that route and selling it to whoever would pick it up?

Equally on the county board management committee there are people that I would have strong disagreements with, and I've had those debates and indeed written articles to that effect, but if you asked me to name one who's in it for personal gain, or for the glory of it, I couldn't pick out one. They just want what's best for Offaly, same as the rest of us. And since we're all human, we get along, even though some of them (the same as us) mightn't necessarily be as good at their job as some people would like. However they are the ones willing to do it and they do all put in a genuine effort, so of course that makes those of us in the media that get to know them far less likely to make personal attacks or to plunge the knife in just because we can. And to be crystal clear, I don't see that friendly relationship as a bad thing. In fact some would look at the likes of the recent interview with Padraig Boland on Midlands radio and say that this kind of open, frank conversation from the head of Offaly GAA administration couldn't happen if there wasn't that mutual trust there.

It's not like we're talking about massed cover ups here or anything either, to be fair. It's about the fact that we don't just go off ranting about how everything is terrible purely because we have a platform.

To answer your final question, Eamon Cusack of Durrow is currently performing the role of PRO, but that particular role is one that has evolved hugely in the GAA in recent years and one that means very different things to different people. And while reporters attending county board meetings is commonplace, minutes of such meetings being distributed for public consumption isn't. I'm not saying that it would be a bad thing as such, but that's not something that happens generally.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

Offalys Future
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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Offalys Future »

I do think Midlands Radio do a great job reporting local sport and long may it continue.

I have no problem with local media attending county board meetings I just don't think it is right that they have live feeds at these meetings.

If local media are able to give their own views by some writing opinion pieces and some giving predictions on games etc then I would expect them to ask the hard questions to our county board. I don't believe this happens at all in Offaly.
The interview with Padraig Boland was a perfect opportunity to really ask tough questions and get clear responses. we didn't get that.

I know who the Offaly PRO is, my questions was what is the role of the current Offaly PRO?
Last edited by Offalys Future on Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Lone Shark
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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Lone Shark »

Offalys Future wrote:I do think Midlands Radio do a great job reporting local sport and long may it continue.

I have no problem with local meeting attending county board meetings I just don't think it is right that they have live feeds at these meetings.

If local media are able to give their own views by some writing opinion pieces and some giving predictions on games etc then I would expect them to ask the hard questions to our county board. I don't believe this happens at all in Offaly.
The interview with Padraig Boland was a perfect opportunity to really ask tough questions and get clear responses. we didn't get that.

I know who the Offaly PRO is, my questions was what is the role of the current Offaly PRO?
I'm not trying to be condescending or anything, but I've no idea why you're okay with local media attending a county board meeting and reporting on it later in the week, but you do have a problem with it happening live? Why is the timing an issue?

Secondly, the point of an interview, radio or print, is to inform people as to the views, knowledge and plans of the interviewee - not to try and turn it into an argument. Asking questions for which there are no answer isn't good journalism, it's grandstanding. If Will O'Callaghan, Kevin Corrigan, Brian Lowry or myself talks to an individual in the county board, then our job is to draw them into providing information - that's what readers and listeners want. Not to try and get admissions of how the whole edifice is crumbling, or awkward silences, or to listen to the interviewer going off on an opinionated rant.

What are the supposedly "hard questions" that you're thinking of anyway? This isn't about point scoring, so nonsense like ""do you feel that you/person X should resign because....." is exactly the type of pointless grandstanding I'm talking about.

Finally, I don't know have Offaly defined the role of PRO in terms of what areas they want to prioritise. The primary one is to be first point of contact, but after that I couldn't tell you want the exact job specification is.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Offalys Future »

Lone Shark wrote:
Secondly, the point of an interview, radio or print, is to inform people as to the views, knowledge and plans of the interviewee - not to try and turn it into an argument. Asking questions for which there are no answer isn't good journalism, it's grandstanding. If Will O'Callaghan, Kevin Corrigan, Brian Lowry or myself talks to an individual in the county board, then our job is to draw them into providing information - that's what readers and listeners want. Not to try and get admissions of how the whole edifice is crumbling, or awkward silences, or to listen to the interviewer going off on an opinionated rant.
I wouldn't agree with this at all and I will suggest questions that should have been asked to Padraig Boland not to start an argument.
But before I do can you please let us know where you studied Journalism/sports journalism?
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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Lone Shark »

Offalys Future wrote:
Lone Shark wrote:
Secondly, the point of an interview, radio or print, is to inform people as to the views, knowledge and plans of the interviewee - not to try and turn it into an argument. Asking questions for which there are no answer isn't good journalism, it's grandstanding. If Will O'Callaghan, Kevin Corrigan, Brian Lowry or myself talks to an individual in the county board, then our job is to draw them into providing information - that's what readers and listeners want. Not to try and get admissions of how the whole edifice is crumbling, or awkward silences, or to listen to the interviewer going off on an opinionated rant.
I wouldn't agree with this at all and I will suggest questions that should have been asked to Padraig Boland not to start an argument.
But before I do can you please let us know where you studied Journalism/sports journalism?
I'm not really sure why my own background is relevant? If you think I'm not fit for purpose feel free to say so, it's not like I don't hear that view on a regular basis and rest assured I won't lose any sleep over it.

The topic at hand is the relationship between the Offaly county board and the local media here, by the way.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Offalys Future »

Lone Shark wrote:
Offalys Future wrote:
Lone Shark wrote:
Secondly, the point of an interview, radio or print, is to inform people as to the views, knowledge and plans of the interviewee - not to try and turn it into an argument. Asking questions for which there are no answer isn't good journalism, it's grandstanding. If Will O'Callaghan, Kevin Corrigan, Brian Lowry or myself talks to an individual in the county board, then our job is to draw them into providing information - that's what readers and listeners want. Not to try and get admissions of how the whole edifice is crumbling, or awkward silences, or to listen to the interviewer going off on an opinionated rant.
I wouldn't agree with this at all and I will suggest questions that should have been asked to Padraig Boland not to start an argument.
But before I do can you please let us know where you studied Journalism/sports journalism?
I'm not really sure why my own background is relevant? If you think I'm not fit for purpose feel free to say so, it's not like I don't hear that view on a regular basis and rest assured I won't lose any sleep over it.

The topic at hand is the relationship between the Offaly county board and the local media here, by the way.
You are telling us what the point of an interview is so in order for you to teach us you must have a qualification in Journalism or sports Journalism. Is that not the case?
If it's not the case then you are not in a position to tell me what the point of an interview is. You are just giving your opinion.
I won't be getting personal with anybody on this forum and I apologise if my comments have upset you.

I know what the topic is as I started it. and I think my questions are all valid.
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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Lone Shark »

Of course it's my opinion, and that would be the case regardless of what qualifications I do or don't have. However it's an opinion formed over years working as a journalist and more importantly, as a consumer of news and sports news for as long as I can remember. It's from that angle that I get really frustrated when interviewers try to become the story, or in these modern "balanced" debates where you have two lads scoring points off each other and a distinct lack of clarity and information.

I know and respect Will O'Callaghan very well, and part of the reason why I respect him is because he appreciates that when he sits down with Padraig Boland or someone like that, the listener wanted to hear what Padraig had to say, and his job was to facilitate that, which he did very well. Not to cause Padraig to become defensive or withdrawn, or to get up on a soap box himself.

If there was actual information that was left uncovered then I'd say you have a legitimate point, which is why I'm intrigued what you mean by hard questions. God knows I'm not too high minded to admit that maybe there might be something I can take on board for some of the pieces I'll be putting together over the winter, for one thing.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Offalys Future »

If its your opinion then that's what it is. You shouldn't tell us what the point of an interview is as it just your opinion and you don't decide what is and what isn't the point of an interview.
you mentioned that you worked as a journalist, but if you have not studied journalism or sports journalism in college, then I don't know how you can class yourself as a journalist.
Again I don't want to turn this into a personal thing. To me the interview was poor, it allowed the chairman to waffle and there was no substance to most of the topics and no tough questions asked. when I get a chance I will give an insight into what I as an Offaly supporter would have liked to have been asked.
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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by white grass »

I really don't want to get involved in a private fight,just want take issue with what qualifies someone to be a journalist(for the record I am not one). A number Ireland's best journalist came to the job without academic training in the field and traditionally most reporters served an unofficial apprenticeship on a local paper.
1. Con Houlihan trained as a teacher and worked on the bog well into his 30s before becoming Ireland's premier word smith.
2. Paul Kimmage was middle of the bunch cyclist whose stubborn nature was one factors which helped unmask Lance Armstrong as a doper.
3. Brendan o hEithir was if you believe his own book ran out ofnearly every job he got, but went on the shine in print and broadcast media as well publishing "over the bar" one of the finest GAA books ever written.
Almost all RTE commentators are gifted or not so gifted amateurs who progressed for local media to the national stage. Until very recent times most GAA reporters started out at Cowan Cup games rather than university lecture halls. Even away from sports reporting a similar trend appears, Pat Kenny is an engineer and Veronica Guiren was was a trained accountant. Like I said at the top I am not taking sides but it strikes me that a lot of posters on this site could benefit from a large dose of self awareness. The prevalent attitude seems to be "we re in mess and it's easier to find scape goats(real and imagined) than fix things" I really believe that all the people on this site want Offaly back at the top table but to an outsider it's hard for that message that get across over the sound of axe grinding!

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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Offalys Future »

I look after my own accounts I have done for the past 15 years. I also look after accounts of friends and family. I really enjoy this and have a big interest in finance. This doesn't make me an accountant!

A national journalist could have asked the questions that were asked to Padraig Boland on this clip. As it was a local journalist I would have liked some research to be carried out in advance of the interview and I would I have liked the chairman to answer some of the questions below.
I would have expected some of them to be asked and obviously below my questions follow on from comments the chairman made in his interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3lBDpmGM3I


1.Padraig is it not the case that Leinster Council had to intervene as they are really concerned about the state of Offaly hurling at the moment. So therefore it is not an Offaly county board initiative it is a Leinster council initiative?

2.You mentioned that Dermot Healy picked a committee? Is this the case that he picked this committee? How come there isn’t any person under 35 on this committee?
Would it not have been helpful to have a younger person’s perspective on Offaly hurling on this committee? Possibly a recent player who has retired who could give a fresh insight into the current structures at underage and senior level?

3.While we are talking about the committee and the setup of the personal could you tell me was it the Offaly county board or Leinster council that appointed Dermot Healy?
At a time when the likes of Liam Sheedy, John Allen, Donal O’Grady, Anthony Daly, Ger Cunningham, to name but a few are not involved directly with a county team was this not a great opportunity to approach one of these modern managers rather than go back to a man who managed Offaly over 30 years.

4.You mentioned that the successful coaches will remain with the teams from grade to grade which makes perfect sense. But what happens if these coaches aren’t successful and what are the parameters that they will be judged on? And who will judge them?

5.You mentioned that all teams should play the same from underage right up and that Offaly need to develop a style of hurling. I don’t really understand what you are saying. For instance what’s the Kilkenny style if hurling?

6.You mentioned that this committee will set the parameters for Offaly hurling and possible you will get three people to oversee this. But you have already reappointed minor, senior and development squads mangers from previous years. Did the new committee have a role in these appointments or who appointed them?

7.Also what reviews took place for all the management teams? Was it a verbal review or was the year documented and you could review what went well what didn’t go so well and how they plan to improve for the coming year?

8.You mentioned that the senior manager will be working closely with all the coaches in the county, what do you mean by this?

9.You mentioned there is a very small intake of coaches for level 1 and level 2 courses in Offaly. What do you think are the reasons for this?
What has the county board done to try and get people to take on these courses and what else do you think can be done to get our club coaches up skilled?

10. You have mentioned twice that the population in Offaly is declining are you aware of the following figures? Offaly's population has increased in every census over the past 20 Years
1991 – 58,494
1996 – 59,117
2002 - 63,663
2006 – 70,868
2011 – 76,687


11.You have mentioned that we all need to be singing off the same hymn sheet in Offaly from players, supporters and county board. Do you feel that you comments at a recent county board meeting about the senior hurlers was ill judged?

12.You have spoken about this new training facility in KK and you mentioned that the funding that Offaly will have to raise is manageable. What do you mean by manageable?
At a time when the debt for O’Connor park is so huge, what is the exact figure? Should we not be trying to repay that first before we move on to another possibly major expense?
It has been mentioned that this facility could cost €1,000,000 in total. Would Offaly hurling and football not be best served by putting this project on hold for the moment and present a business case to Croke park and Leinster council. €1,000,000 WOULD PAY FOR THREE FURTHER COACHES IN Offaly for the next 10 years.

13.The 45,000 from Leinster council. You have said that 35,000 is to be spent on senior and u-21 and 10,000 on underage. Surely for Offaly the main resources and thus the main bulk of this money should be invested into our underage development squads and schools coaches?

14.Is pat Cleary the coaching officer or director of hurling? What is this role and is it reviewed on a yearly basis?

15.Will Offaly be signing a MOU with Athlone I.T.?

16.Will there be a strategic plan put in place for the future development of Offaly hurling? A plan that most counties have and one that is shared with everybody in Offaly?
" In The Presence Of Confidence Doubt Cannot Exist "

white grass
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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by white grass »

Three points and I am out.
1. All journalists need to be very careful when reporting stories, you only have to look at the recent gsoc scandal to see national journalists lose credibility because people felt they had become spokesmen rather than reporters. It's also important that journalists to be informed, Pat Cleary is Offalys coaching officer a position elected at the county convention every year (which is reported in the local papers) and listed on the Offaly website, any reporter asking what his position is would go a long way to undermining their own credibility.
2. Journalism school are a fairly recent development. They have their supporters and detractors ,the writer of moneyball once wrote a piece called "j school ate my brain" (I haven't seen it but it's safe to say he's not a fan). A lot of sports journalism is subjective meaning the that a sizeable amount,if not the majority of it is wrong. That doesn't mean the people writing it are not journalists, you may feel they are good or bad journalists but you can't decide they are not reporters. At the risk of repeating myself, Richard Nixon might not have liked what Carl Bernstein wrote about watergate but he never used " your not a real reporter" as a defence and John Gillians problem with Veronica Guiren was not because she didn't train as a journalist but because she was one. When Con Houlihan died people fell over themselves to say he was the best sports writer of his generation,it would take a fair begrudger to proclaim "but sur he was only trained in Latin and English".
3. Once again at the risk of repeating myself, this site is like a monkey eating its own tail, sooner or latter it runs out of road. Several threads are littered with personal attacks on named individuals and other posters in an orgy of point scoring, as a series of agendas open and hidden are played out without any real understanding of the damage such carry on does to what legitimate points are wrapped in anger and spite.

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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by Offalys Future »

Nonsense of a post. What has gsoc got to do with asking the county chairman legitimate questions.
I have never attacked anybody personally on this forum and I never will.

Offaly hurling is in a complete crisis and in my opinion a half arsed attempt is been made to rectify the situation. Ultimately it will fail.

My questions if I was given the opportunity to the county chairman are the following and I would have expected some of these questions to be asked when he was interviewed recently.

1.Padraig is it not the case that Leinster Council had to intervene as they are really concerned about the state of Offaly hurling at the moment. So therefore it is not an Offaly county board initiative it is a Leinster council initiative?

2.You mentioned that Dermot Healy picked a committee? Is this the case that he picked this committee? How come there isn’t any person under 35 on this committee?
Would it not have been helpful to have a younger person’s perspective on Offaly hurling on this committee? Possibly a recent player who has retired who could give a fresh insight into the current structures at underage and senior level?

3.While we are talking about the committee and the setup of the personal could you tell me was it the Offaly county board or Leinster council that appointed Dermot Healy?
At a time when the likes of Liam Sheedy, John Allen, Donal O’Grady, Anthony Daly, Ger Cunningham, to name but a few are not involved directly with a county team was this not a great opportunity to approach one of these modern managers rather than go back to a man who managed Offaly over 30 years.

4.You mentioned that the successful coaches will remain with the teams from grade to grade which makes perfect sense. But what happens if these coaches aren’t successful and what are the parameters that they will be judged on? And who will judge them?

5.You mentioned that all teams should play the same from underage right up and that Offaly need to develop a style of hurling. I don’t really understand what you are saying. For instance what’s the Kilkenny style if hurling?

6.You mentioned that this committee will set the parameters for Offaly hurling and possible you will get three people to oversee this. But you have already reappointed minor, senior and development squads mangers from previous years. Did the new committee have a role in these appointments or who appointed them?

7.Also what reviews took place for all the management teams? Was it a verbal review or was the year documented and you could review what went well what didn’t go so well and how they plan to improve for the coming year?

8.You mentioned that the senior manager will be working closely with all the coaches in the county, what do you mean by this?

9.You mentioned there is a very small intake of coaches for level 1 and level 2 courses in Offaly. What do you think are the reasons for this?
What has the county board done to try and get people to take on these courses and what else do you think can be done to get our club coaches up skilled?

10. You have mentioned twice that the population in Offaly is declining are you aware of the following figures? Offaly's population has increased in every census over the past 20 Years
1991 – 58,494
1996 – 59,117
2002 - 63,663
2006 – 70,868
2011 – 76,687


11.You have mentioned that we all need to be singing off the same hymn sheet in Offaly from players, supporters and county board. Do you feel that you comments at a recent county board meeting about the senior hurlers was ill judged?

12.You have spoken about this new training facility in KK and you mentioned that the funding that Offaly will have to raise is manageable. What do you mean by manageable?
At a time when the debt for O’Connor park is so huge, what is the exact figure? Should we not be trying to repay that first before we move on to another possibly major expense?
It has been mentioned that this facility could cost €1,000,000 in total. Would Offaly hurling and football not be best served by putting this project on hold for the moment and present a business case to Croke park and Leinster council. €1,000,000 WOULD PAY FOR THREE FURTHER COACHES IN Offaly for the next 10 years.

13.The 45,000 from Leinster council. You have said that 35,000 is to be spent on senior and u-21 and 10,000 on underage. Surely for Offaly the main resources and thus the main bulk of this money should be invested into our underage development squads and schools coaches?

14.Is pat Cleary the coaching officer or director of hurling? What is this role and is it reviewed on a yearly basis?

15.Will Offaly be signing a MOU with Athlone I.T.?

16.Will there be a strategic plan put in place for the future development of Offaly hurling? A plan that most counties have and one that is shared with everybody in Offaly?
" In The Presence Of Confidence Doubt Cannot Exist "

white grass
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Re: Offaly GAA Media Access

Post by white grass »

Jesus wept the thread was supposedly started to ask if the local media was to cosy with the cb, the gsoc reference was used to show that all journalists, sports and news need to be careful to avoid becoming to close to those they write about. I thought it might be a relevant comparison.
The thread then moved on to what qualifies someone to call themselves a journalist, I am not a big fan of the local press but think that people Con Houlihan,Carl Bernstein, Brendan o hEhir etc etc made a massive addition to journalism and if you decide only people who went to journalism college can call themselves journalists then that profession will be a lot poorer.

My comments about the abuse on the site were at the time a comment on the general vibe on the site where threads have of late fallen into "f you" "no f you" but your first thread was something like "county boards is a joke" followed over the years by "offaly hurling management is a joke" "minor hurling management is a complete joke" "what are they smoking in birr". The last decade has been the worst in Offaly in over half century but referring to people as a joke over an over again doesn't seem to have done much to turn the tide.
I have answered one of your questions regarding Pat Cleary, but suggest you send an open letter to the cb with your questions and see if the local media print it (the tribune recently printed a very critical letter) before you rule the press out altogether.

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