Leinster hit back in blue row with Dubs

[suisse]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic- ... 34279.html

LEINSTER rugby last night hit back at Dublin GAA chiefs who accused the Heineken Cup champions of "the subliminal exploitation of Dublin's unique" blue jersey.

In a strategy document for Dublin GAA 2011-2017 called 'Unleashing The Blue Wave', the county's top GAA officials stated that the "appeal of a flourishing professional franchise" represented a real challenge for GAA in the county and that they were determined to "reinforce the fact that Dublin is GAA Country."

"The Blue Jersey is an unique, inclusive brand, uniting Dublin's dense expanse, blurring the difference in class and possession which became so pointedly manifest during the delusional days of the Celtic Tiger," it says.

[suisse]

I find this quite interesting. With a growing support base (and being the only pro team of any sport, really, based in the capital) and a huge amount of success, I was always wondering if the Dublin GAA lads would ever make a comment.

It is very short-sighted of them to assume that everyone in the capital must be a GAA head as they claims "Dublin is GAA country"

The Celtic Tiger reference is unnecessary

[cormac]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic- ... 34279.html

LEINSTER rugby last night hit back at Dublin GAA chiefs who accused the Heineken Cup champions of "the subliminal exploitation of Dublin's unique" blue jersey.

In a strategy document for Dublin GAA 2011-2017 called 'Unleashing The Blue Wave', the county's top GAA officials stated that the "appeal of a flourishing professional franchise" represented a real challenge for GAA in the county and that they were determined to "reinforce the fact that Dublin is GAA Country."

"The Blue Jersey is an unique, inclusive brand, uniting Dublin's dense expanse, blurring the difference in class and possession which became so pointedly manifest during the delusional days of the Celtic Tiger," it says.

What the f*** is unique about a blue jersey?

[cormac]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic- ... 34279.html

LEINSTER rugby last night hit back at Dublin GAA chiefs who accused the Heineken Cup champions of "the subliminal exploitation of Dublin's unique" blue jersey.

In a strategy document for Dublin GAA 2011-2017 called 'Unleashing The Blue Wave', the county's top GAA officials stated that the "appeal of a flourishing professional franchise" represented a real challenge for GAA in the county and that they were determined to "reinforce the fact that Dublin is GAA Country."

"The Blue Jersey is an unique, inclusive brand, uniting Dublin's dense expanse, blurring the difference in class and possession which became so pointedly manifest during the delusional days of the Celtic Tiger," it says.

The irony of the Celtic Tiger reference (I assume that's meant as a dig at us) is that Dublin regularly sold out Croke Park for their championship games during that era and their crowds have fallen fairly dramatically since (especially for the Leinster championship), while Leinster's average crowds have actually been on the increase.

[Leinster Exile]

I find this quite interesting. With a growing support base (and being the only pro team of any sport, really, based in the capital) and a huge amount of success, I was always wondering if the Dublin GAA lads would ever make a comment.

It is very short-sighted of them to assume that everyone in the capital must be a GAA head as they claims "Dublin is GAA country"

The Celtic Tiger reference is unnecessary

That might be the aspiration but not the reality. I find this article very odd & if true makes the GAA appear paranoid.

I have to admit growing up in South West Dublin it always felt more Soccer (Football) orientated then GAA and then Rugby , depending on how close you where to Templeogue/Terenure etc.

[suisse]

What's unique about the navy Leinster jersey is the harp. I don't see that on the Dublin jersey, nor do I see three castles on the Leinster one

[sheepshagger]

What a bizzare article

[Mauler]

"The Blue Jersey is an unique, inclusive brand, uniting Dublin's dense expanse, blurring the difference in class and possession which became so pointedly manifest during the delusional days of the Celtic Tiger,"

Their reference to the Celtic Tiger is peculiar alright. Considering, the man who more than most Sean Quinn helped contribute to the downfall of Anglo and which then subsequently resulted in the bank bail out of more than €70bn - a man who's brother & business partner is Peter Quinn, the former President of the GAA.

[Edna Kenny]

There's no unicorn jizz on the Dublin jersey either! It's extreme paranoia by Dublin, Leinster have worn blue for as long as I can remember.

I think there's plenty of room for people to support both rugby and GAA, and there's no reason kids can't play both sports either. Both Dublin hurling and football teams and the Leinster team have enjoyed huge success this year. With 1.5million people Dublin should be able to thrive in GAA.

The reference to Bryan Cullen is unfair as well. My understanding is that he has taken a job related to his profession, it's not like he's switched to becoming a rugby player. That's the reporters fault, probably trying to stir it up even more.

[TerenureJim]

+1 on growing up in South-West Dublin and having absolutely nothing to do with GAA, it was rugby as the after school & weekend sport with soccer in the park or on the shcool fields wednesday/saturday afternoon for a highly unorganised kickabout. Maybe a bit of tennis during the summer. Nothing against GAA and I enjoy going to games with college mates who grew up supporting Dublin and obviously being from Dublin I'd follow them in the championship but it just wasn't my sport growing up.

Utter nonsense to claim Dublin as being a GAA county it's a county that embrases a lot of sports and frankly Dublin GAA would be better off fostering links with Leinster rugby to boost overall child/teenage/20 something participation in sport in general.

Also as regards what's unique about Leinster Rugby is that it represents all of Leinster, games may be played in Dublin but people travel from all over to go to games and participate in the sport. It's not a Dublin rugby team or are Dublin GAA worried about the loss the to GAA in Wicklow, Wexford, Louth, Meath, Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny etc of any future Leo, Shaggy, Darce, Rob, Jackman, SO'B etc

Would Dublin GAA not be better off trying to win more migrants into Dublin over to the sport rather than picking a beef with Leinster rugby and alienating a substantial number of people who had thought this inter sport war of independence garrision games nonsense rivalry was behind us.

[TerenureJim]

Also they may want to do a bit of research on what jerseys the kids in traditional GAA areas of the capital are wearing as I'm fairly sure there's a whole lot of premiership jerseys doing the rounds there....

[Broken Wing]

This is the Indo creating a story out of nothing. Bar the following comment -

We can't copyright a colour but the subliminal exploitation of Dublin's unique sporting hue by our competitors has not gone unnoticed

- the rest of the piece, and the entire launch yesterday, is about Dublin GAA looking to grow the brand and the challenge having a successful professional side in the city presents.

I find the comment more than a little paranoid but the Indo is trying to build it into something. Even the headline suggests something that just doesn't exist.

[Lar]

Agree the blue jersey element of that strategy document is slightly bizarre but aside from that there is no story in that article.

[Darce]

Indicative of the environment that the GAA as a whole has operated in for many years. Fear and paranoia win out

[Broken Wing]

Here's how the Irish Times covered the same story:

THE DUBLIN County Board are to seek “provincial status” for both funding and administration purposes as part of their new six-year strategic plan, the full details of which were announced in Croke Park last night.

In a broad and somewhat bold plan – entitled Unleashing “The Blue Wave”: A Strategy for Dublin GAA 2011-2017 – the central theme is Dublin’s ever-changing demographics, which is actually described as a “time bomb”, and thus presents several unique challenges to the county board.

According to Dublin’s Strategic Committee, who produced the document, “the financial resources that are currently available to the Dublin County Committee are inadequate to enable Dublin GAA to give effect to the initiatives identified as appropriate in the strategic review”.

The plan, which runs to 86 pages, also claims that there should be a mutual recognition of the interdependent relationship between Dublin’s ambitions for the GAA in the capital city and the overall wellbeing of the Association.

This is just an excerpt but shows the approach the IT took to the story. The full article is here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/spo ... 81839.html

Not a single mention of rugby or a row or any other Indo fantasy nonsense. 86 pages and the Indo found one sentence about the jersey and spun it into a row between Dublin GAA and Leinster Rugby.

[nelly the elephant]

Indicative of the environment that the GAA as a whole has operated in for many years. Fear and paranoia win out

Not accurate.....an annoying, admittedly vocal minority

[Xanthippe]

"The Blue Jersey is an unique, inclusive brand, uniting Dublin's dense expanse

Shocking, absolutely shocking - how can the GAA be allowed away with describing the population of Dublin as dense !

[scrum25]

To be fair I often wear my light blue Leinster training jersey from about three years ago to Croke Park when Dublin are playing but its no different to the cork jerseys you often see in the crowd at Thomond.

Their real problem is that O'neills gear is pretty poor.

[Darce]

Indicative of the environment that the GAA as a whole has operated in for many years. Fear and paranoia win out

Not accurate.....an annoying, admittedly vocal minority

I make reference more so to the past (Bans on RUC men, members playing foreign games, etc) than the present.

But as you say, there is an undercurrent there

[janeymac08]

It is very short-sighted of them to assume that everyone in the capital must be a GAA head as they claims "Dublin is GAA country"

The IRFU/Guinness ran a promotional campaign based on "This is Rugby Country - Play Your Part".

Sexton, Heaslip and maybe Tommy Bowe were featured! Here is one of the ads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL2SRo-V-BM&NR=1

They had a poster campaign as they were all over Terenure anyway (Terenure Jim probably remembers them). If not, it was obviously a waste of a campaign!