Benny Coulter retired from inter-county football last Monday. During the latter part of his career, Coulter seemed to evince an almost Ronnie O'Sullivan like disdain for the sport he played for so long and was not shy with telling newspaper men about it.
A few years ago, not long after he and Down reached the 2010 All-Ireland final, he remarked that he wouldn't pay a tenner to watch a game of Gaelic football.
Now, that he's retired, it doesn't look like the GAA can expect to get their hands on too much of his money. In a typically forthright interview with the Daily Star, he lambasted the modern game, saying it strangles individual flair and rewards turgid, defensive football.
He blames coaches for overloading on gym sessions and analysis. He instanced Eoin Bradley as one of the few players he pay to watch but said for most there was a sickening emphasis on fitness at the expense of skill.
There is too much time spent in the gym and crap like that, or in front of TV's watching stuff... With a lot of county footballers it's more to do with how fit you are, stuff like that – it sickens me too at times.
His take on club football was withering.
There are games you got to at club level where two teams are playing defensive systems and it is ridiculous at times,” Coulter said. I was even reading stuff the other day, colleges games where they were playing two sweepers.
