Comments on: David McWilliams terrible use of Statitistics

By: Dan Sullivan

Dan Sullivan — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:42:44 +0000

Sure, FT, cos the GAA player roster in all clubs is 100% representative of the full spectrum of Irish working adults.

By: Niall

Niall — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:33:54 +0000

McWilliams is probably a pretty smart chap in his own way, but he’s a bit of a gobshite when it comes to certain everyday matters. I remember he was on the Late Late a few years back around the time that we sent those incest twins from Athlone to Eurovision. The male twin had apparently joked that he thought some famous Hollywood actor should play him in a proposed movie based on his life. Now the proposed actor was much older and of a completely different race if I recall correctly, so clearly incest-brother was taking the mickey. But McWilliams didn’t pick up on this and started a ‘deep and meaningful’ analysis of what this said about Ireland’s youth. When Pat Kenny stops you for failing to pick up on the humour in a situation, you know you’re not in touch with reality.

By: FutureTaoiseach

FutureTaoiseach — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:21:09 +0000

DS I am just trying to get some hard numbers on the scale of emigration from Ireland and evidence of how much of it is Irish emigration, which is obviously relevant to this topic.

By: Dan Sullivan

Dan Sullivan — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:24:37 +0000

FT, are you suggesting there is some massive number of non-Irish nationals who are members of GAA clubs who are moving to clubs overseas? Or are you just trolling for something else to hang on the immigration banner?

By: FutureTaoiseach

FutureTaoiseach — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:34:20 +0000

The stats don’t make clear how much of the emigration is by Irish nationals. Does anyone know how much?

By: Paddy Matthews

Paddy Matthews — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:53:49 +0000

You don’t seriously expect a ‘Rock boy like McWilliams to understand the intricacies of the Gaa, do you? Even Mark Vaughan had to have the basics explained to him…

By: simon

simon — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:55:02 +0000

sanctions ehh fair enough. you learn something new every day

By: Gav

Gav — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:50:55 +0000

I think there’s a little compromise to be reached here.

The GAA transfer stats don’t include people going to play abroad for the Summer – these guys are given ‘sanctions’ which don’t appear as transfers, and so anything on those lists IS a full-transfer.

That said, you’re completely right in rubbishing the fact that there’s any more of these this summer than there is at any other time. With a membership of 900,000, it’s hardly an epidemic if a dozen or so people are moving abroad every month.