Furious GAA fans call out Pat Spillane over RTE Late Late Show comments

Friday night's Late Late Show was a GAA special as legends of Gaelic football and hurling past and present were celebrated.

Pat Spillane joined Patrick Kielty in the studio and told him of his concerns for the game he loves and his hope that the new Gaelic football rules will help to improve things going forward.

The Kerry legend highlighted the number of hand passes compared to kick passes during last year's All-Ireland final between Armagh and Galway and said he felt there was "no atmosphere" during the game.

"I don't take anything away from Armagh and it was brilliant to see Jarlath [Burns, GAA President] hugging his son at the end of the game because that's family but I looked at the statistics for last year's All-Ireland football final," he began.

"97 kick passes, 592 hand passes. 500 more handpasses than kick passes and you are saying Gaelic football? This is not Gaelic football at all, this is handball."

He added: "Do you remember when they brought the blasphemous film to Craggy Island and Dougal and Ted had a protest?

"I felt like taking Father Ted's placard from that day and walking across Croke Park with 'Down With This Sort Of Thing'."

Spillane was a spectator at the game and revealed how he found himself watching a seagull on the pitch more than the match itself.

He explained: "The longer I was watching the game in the first-half, I was drawn to the fact that there was a seagull on one side of the field.

"I got obsessed with the seagull. I Googled, 'are seagulls an intelligent bird?

"It said seagulls are much smarter than you think and in actual fact seagulls are the most intelligent of all birds.

"This bird knew damn well because there was no danger of the ball being kicked down the other end of the field."

However, some fans weren't happy with Spillane's comments and took to social media to have their say. One wrote: "No harm to Pat Spillane but to say that there was no atmosphere at the All Ireland final is a blatant lie."

Another commented: "To let Pat Spillane on to make little of our title. Ffs. It was supposed to be a celebration. Ruined it for me. Football has changed. For the better I am not sure. I hope someone puts him right."

Someone else said: "No Atmosphere at the all Ireland final? Jesus Pat Spillane is hard to listen to."

"It's cringing watching Pat Spillane cutting the s*** out of football, a game that gave him everything," read another comment.

Another person wrote: "Pat Spillane is talking nonsense. The game was better now than in his day, faster quicker, more skilful."

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