Kangaroo soup

Marty marty marty.........

taken the kangaroo soup...again

DOWN manager James McCartan all but confirmed the worst kept secret in Gaelic football on Saturday night -- All Star Martin Clarke is planning to resume his Aussie Rules career at the end of this season.

Clarke is making a flying visit to Melbourne this week to finalise his new deal and undergo a medical with a view to resuming his AFL career with Collingwood in 2012.

Asked if he could confirm Clarke's trip McCartan said: "You'd need to ask Martin that. I'm only his football manager.

"But, if he is going to Australia, I absolutely have no problem with it. Martin is entitled to do exactly what he wants with his future and he has been more than honourable in all his dealings with Down."

Clarke (23) signed for Collingwood in late 2006 and made the transition to the oval-ball game particularly quickly. He refused the offer of

a second three-year contract and returned home to try and help Down win the All-Ireland, but Collingwood have been pursuing him ever since.

Irish Independent

Every time this happens I can't help we're being forced into something. Catch 22 almost, we want to preserve our amateur status, but with AFL we're competing with a professional sport, great Austrailian weather and a better standard of living for decent earners in oz.

Thankfully though, the so-called "experiment" seems to have slowed down a wee bit with Nixon being banned by the AFL for er-herm certain goings off/on. I wish Marty well with his new team next year, but, really wish the GAA would/could do something about this sort of thing.

Best of luck to Marty. Unfortunately we have also lost a great minor to Aussie rules.
While Marty was being paid as a coach by the County Board it does not compare with a Pro sportsman salary.
Only hope when he returns he is in a frame of mind to give his all to help make something of whatever we have left of this summer.

The experiment is definitely slowing. Marty is one of the few that can keep deal with the Australian game whether that be the game itself or with being 12000 miles away from home (and even then he struggled with homesickness). Be hard to see how he's going to fit into the Collingwood squad at the moment though.

Pearce Hanley is an absolute beauty by the way. Really enjoying watching him develop into a great defender for my club. Proud to have that boy on the team.

Marty will b a big loss to down and the gaa as a whole, he played well on Saturday even if he was out done by wee Jamie.

Yeah. I was only messing with the 'soup' thin. It is sad to see, but who can really blame these lads.

you cant blame them but id blame the gaa for not doing enough to keep the talent in ireland.

time the gaa look towards professional gaelic football stop living in the old tradational past.

our sport is amutear in name only ok when it was one game a summer gaa and little tv coverage it was fine to say were amutear unlike today with the professionalism most teams have in training and preparation put into matches.

players who grow up playing gaa should have the right to stay here and play it and be able to earn a living if they are good enough.

Professionalism eh, this might make an interesting read-

http://www.hoganstand.com/int_rules/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=143413

It's a nice idea pat but I can't see how it would work fairly, money corrupts and I honestly think it would be the ruin of the gaa. Players were goin to Aus even when it was a one game summer and as said above the Irish experiment is drawing to a halt. Most players are very well looked after and little struggle for work, I doubt a professional gaa could offer Marty a wage and lifestyle that would compare to that he will have in Aus.

well if he is after lifestyle good luck to him but im talking players who have pride in their county like tommy walsh who wants to be in croke park winning sam then winning the afl championship in sunny oz.

players who would love the chance to stay here and pull on the county jersey could be paid a decent i understand pride and money dont mix look at soccer today but a decent wage for the elite and possibly part time for others could be good for players like walsh etc.

Aye, the road to professionalism is often a painful one for amateur games like ours, just look at how its affected rugby union in some parts. There is a difference between turning pro and selling our souls, but I know what you mean. I'd love to see more games and less players being drawn elsewhere but I'm not sure that being pro would work across the board, smaller counties would probably struggle.

I'm not too sure about your comment about players struggling for work, I've heard of quite a few players being unemployed due to the recession and clubs have lost good talents due to emigration. Ireland is too small to have pro soccer, rugby and GAA, the money isn't there, but, help for struggling players could probably improve.

Not a good idea pat- could lead to the start of turning pro and you'd also create a two-tier system which some would view as unfair. And what about club games, do you get paid for paying for your club or just county and if so who gets paid and who doesn't?

I just don't see it working.

The big probelm I think is the number of club players we are losing to Aus, not the few big name inter county players. While it's a shame to lose Marty n the likes in the grand scheme of things it makes little difference. Its the economic downturn that will have the biggest effect on the gaa. That brings on another point, how would a county board like Leitrim afford to pay it's players, and if it didnt yet say Tyrone did how would that help to close an already huge divide?

Sorry gw, I didn't c ur post.

I was referring to inter county players not struggling for work, I agree it's a huge issue at club level.

Some counties look after their players a lot better than others....

Petrol allowance has gone down in meath over the last decade....How is that right?

professionalism is pie in the sky.

The most radical thing we could conceive of is some sort of profit sharing.....beyond that. no way.

If GAA ever did go pro only fitba & hurling could, I can't imagine pro rounders or handball. The whole system would have to be changed- the best way to do it would the profit sharing that you suggest RB, kind of like the NFL in America. I think going pro is a nice idea with some advantages, but, I'm against it. The cons far outweigh the pros and it'd be more costly and more trouble than it's worth.

Since it's a rural county we've probably just all went back to riding donkey's to work RB.

Mount Nebo wrote:The experiment is definitely slowing. Marty is one of the few that can keep deal with the Australian game whether that be the game itself or with being 12000 miles away from home (and even then he struggled with homesickness). Be hard to see how he's going to fit into the Collingwood squad at the moment though.

Pearce Hanley is an absolute beauty by the way. Really enjoying watching him develop into a great defender for my club. Proud to have that boy on the team.

Mount
Any idea who Caolan Mooney has signed for. He is a Down minor this year and was on his way to OZ as soon as his interest ended in the championship ended. Luckily Armagh obliged on Saturday

Ar aghaidh le cheile....

Mooney's heading to Collingwood too. He's a superb young footballer and has really impressed the few times i've seen him play.

Best of luck to him and Marty though. It's a pity to see them leave but it's a great opportunity for them.