http://balls.ie/gaa/346334-gaa-code-of-conduct/
It seems like one inter-county team (and maybe others) is going to extreme lengths to suck every ounce/trace of fun out of Gaelic Football.
If it wasn’t bad enough that most modern players are not players “par se” but more components of a blanket designed to prevent the opposition from scoring whilst said opposition deploys a mean almost identical blanket of their own, if that wasn’t bad enough, don’t you dare even contemplate coming back from Lifestyle sports with a pair of boots that are anyway colourful.
Oh no, all boots must be black, no colour will also be permitted in your hair and if you do dare to buy a pair of flashy blue Nike boots, there is a designated senior player that will decide whether these boots can be permitted. (Imagines player with colour chart, examining boots forensically before ultimately disproving.)
Sounds like something you would see in bloody North Korea, rules, rules, and more rules, no room for personality,fun, or self-expression. (red boots…you sir are going to a work camp)
Colm Parkinson was the man that revealed this unknown Inter County’s code of conduct but it really is embarrassingly stupid and something from a bygone era.
These kinds of rules, these kinds of attitudes, these kinds of environments, are what can put players off playing the game they love, the training field becomes more and more like an army camp, regimented, fanatical fitness programs, absolute devotion and seriousness while you also contemplate how you are going to get out of bed for work the following morning.
Of course this is one team, one can’t paint all teams with the same mundane fun-sucking brush, but players play football, hurling, rugby, soccer, (other sports) predominantly because they love it and the more teams insist on draconian codes of conduct, the more potential superstars will be driven away.
