B.B.C. Northern Ireland Lose Out On G.A.A games

To be fair something needed to be done crowd figures appeared to be well down but not sure if this is the answer obviously if people are not not going to matches it is because they feel they are not getting value for money or not getting entertained enough. The 'soccer' world cup destroys the GAA income every 4 years so last year would been a really really bad one for the organisation. I for one think the tv coverage helped the GAA and brought a lot of new people to watch the games, this won't continue. I know a family who wanted to sit down and watch a championship game last year cost them €125 for that for 70 minutes, no thanks. All in all it's a major blow and another major backward step by the GAA.

Tackling the proper issues of blanket defense, crazy tickets prices and limiting the hand pass to bring in some sort of football into it may start bring the 'people' back to the games.

It's whatever floats your boat...........I have seen grown men get excited talking about a 0-0 soccer match with 3 or 4 shots on target...........The figures for attendances are GAA 65% AND Rugby, horse and greyhound racing 25%.........soccer, cricket, athletics etc make up the rest.....CSO figures...thank god ticket prices have come down and in tough times we all know the GAA gets stronger.........Take Dublin for example Hurling and Football has never been stronger in the capital.........Sunday is the big sporting day in Ireland and as long as the GAA can hold that........there is hope.

what match was that rocket that was going to cost 125e for a family for 70 min?...im intrested to know..

Exactly Gant 100% right mate, The playing of GAA matches on a saturday has been a disaster, Saturday is a traditional day for soccer and Rugby the GAA were biting of way more than they could choose trying to tackle these sports.

I know a high ranking GAA official who proposed that during the GAA they stop playing altogether during the world cup "How can you compete against teh greatest show in the world?" Fair enough point but i think if we make the Sunday "our day" as you point out we can't blame any other sport for taking away are crowds but the GAA are suggesting the crowds are down no matter when you play the games, which is worrying but overall i agree with you lets have a last chance saloon effort to get the crowds back by playing games on 'Sunday only' although i still argue we need to change the rules for people to see more actual football than the hand passing we just see now. Nice to agree on something eventually Gant !

Sligo v Galway Kavvie, 3 kids and his wife.

Sorry Kav it was Sligo v Mayo actually i think, wife was preggers kids too small to stand up and wanted to see the big game, he was told no kids tickets for the stand.

there was a minor match that day also?...so they got 2 matches(130 min)...5 people...not too bad...12.50e per head per game?

Sure Kavvie people ain't interested in a minor match, if the minor was played on it's own what would it attract? In the Sligo v Galway match they put the tickets down to 20 euro per head, so considering the match was a prov semi final and tickets usually increase as the tournament wares on, they valued the minor match at less than 5 euro ahead taht was played the same day of Sligo v Mayo. So you're looking at 100 euro at 3 kids and 2 parents going to see a 70 minute game between 2 of the lesser lights of GAA football in Sligo v Mayo sure no wonder crowds are dropping !

kavvie - very very few people go to a GAA ground to watch the minor match so that is a ridiculous claim

RF - While you may have some views worth listening to on the subject, spouting about "high-ranking officials" just makes you sound like a moron and results in most of these threads descending into farce

IMO it's a good idea and will hopefully encourage people back to the grounds. Even the mighty English FA don't allow games to be shown live at 3pm because they fear it will impact on attendances.

Very expensive isnt it.

A friend of mine went to see Dublin lift their 1st National Hurling League title in 70 years with his wife and family 4 kids for 70 euro all in.

Great half way line seats in the lower cusack so he said.

Up the Dubs.

[:D]

Saturday was Rugby day and GAA was primetime on a Sunday..........I can't speak for soccer as the season is over by the time the GAA starts up.......Rugby and Soccer are normally winter sports now............To be fair I would be worried for soccer if the biggest show on earth as they call it din't dent a few of the GAA gate figures.......so the cost has gone from €125 to €100 for the family ticket......did they get a refund and if not they only have themselves to blame.........kids don't pay full whack and you well know that.

He's still persisting with the sligo waffle too. Meh.

Sure the whole Dublin GAA series in Croke Park.......€75 for a 5 game ticket and a €5 for kids included entertainment.great value.

Is that for the Championship Gant or just the mickey-mouse league games

Great bit of marketing by Costello and the board. Doing a great job over the last few years.

Championship didn't start yet.........so the huge crowds were just for the mickey mouse league games.

Sure the soccer season in England starts in early Aug Gant does not end to June, did not know the All Ireland finals had been played already. So are you saying we need to shorten the championship gant? That would only work 2 out of every 4 years as the other 2 you clash with Euro champs and the other the greatest show on earth the FIFA world cup. Anybody remember the crowd at Dubs v Wexford match last year and that only clashed with Ghana and Serbia yet people want to watch these games.

Gant at the end of the day you're right playing just on a sunday and having no TV coverage will be a boost to crowd figures but maybe just enough to keep a status quo for the timebeing.

GANT007
09 May 11 13:23 Joined: 19 Sep 08 | Topic/replies: 2,192 | Blogger: GANT007's blog
Sure the whole Dublin GAA series in Croke Park.......€75 for a 5 game ticket and a €5 for kids included entertainment.great value.

db1974
09 May 11 13:26 Joined: 08 Mar 07 | Topic/replies: 1,624 | Blogger: db1974's blog
Is that for the Championship Gant or just the mickey-mouse league games

Please answer the question gant !

[:D] Come on you boys in blue [:D]

Rocketfingers don't be giving the GAA more credit it deserves it cannot compete with the premiership. We can only compete in the domestic market..........The championship only really runs from June till the end of September.........No rocketfingers the finals are played in September...........RTE viewing figures for GAA matches are huge and advertiising revenue is significant......

GAA 65%......Rugby, Horse and Greyhound Racing combined 25%........A.N. Other 10%.......CSO FIGURES.

For the league of course..........It's like a premiership club giving a discount to fans for pre season and then down to business.

Last Sunday’s live coverage of the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Final on TG4 achieved the highest audience ratings ever for the channel. The official Nielsen television audience measure reports that the television audience for this match peaked at 430,000 viewers at 5.35pm as Dublin overwhelmed Kilkenny in a historic triumph at Croke Park to take their first hurling League title for 70 years.

The television audience on TG4 was even higher than the previous Sunday’s coverage of the Division 1 Allianz Football League Final. An average of 310,000 viewers watched the entire hurling match. As with the previous week, TG4 was comfortably the most popular channel in the country on Sunday afternoon last, with one in three people viewing television in Ireland on Sunday afternoon watching TG4. This gave it a share four times higher than any other channel for that period and the television audience for the hurling match delivered an overall reach of 620,000 viewers for TG4.

It is worth noting that the Nielsen systems only measures domestic viewership and does not include those watching in pubs, clubs etc.

From the excellent hill16.ie

That's some viewing figures for a league final but Rocketfingers will argue with you that it's not like with like......stiff competition from Emmerdale, Corrie, Eastenders and Fair City......

Gant we are singing from the same hymn sheet mate we are both saying it was stupid for the GAA to take on soccer by moving games to the traditional day of soccer? To be fair that is the only comparison that people should ever make with both sports. We are both saying we need to move back to a sunday as the GAA lost huge crowd figures.

Issue 2 TV lockout does it need to be done? Yes and no, until they adjust the rules that you can't hand pass your way around the pitch with players being afraid to kick the ball then i would agree it best to hide GAA style football away but hurling no, it's a great game and the traditional Irish game, this needs to be shown as much as possible.

Issue 3 Club finals crowd figures are a long way behind other club finals in different codes, Sligo had 2.5k to watch league final v Antrim last year, 36,000 to watch Sligo Rovers lift the FAI Cup in a 'club final' both second choice competitions in their respective sports.

Tony Fenton
09 May 11 13:59 Joined: 20 Jun 06 | Topic/replies: 2,311 | Blogger: Tony Fenton's blog
Last Sunday’s live coverage of the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Final on TG4 achieved the highest audience ratings ever for the channel. The official Nielsen television audience measure reports that the television audience for this match peaked at 430,000 viewers at 5.35pm as Dublin overwhelmed Kilkenny in a historic triumph at Croke Park to take their first hurling League title for 70 years.

The television audience on TG4 was even higher than the previous Sunday’s coverage of the Division 1 Allianz Football League Final. An average of 310,000 viewers watched the entire hurling match. As with the previous week, TG4 was comfortably the most popular channel in the country on Sunday afternoon last, with one in three people viewing television in Ireland on Sunday afternoon watching TG4. This gave it a share four times higher than any other channel for that period and the television audience for the hurling match delivered an overall reach of 620,000 viewers for TG4.

It is worth noting that the Nielsen systems only measures domestic viewership and does not include those watching in pubs, clubs etc.

Hurling is a great sport i love it, so fast and skillful, it has all what's missing from gaelic football. You'll never hear tv companies being told no you can't show a hurling match live as they know they will always get the crowd to watch it. Hurling the only traditional Irish sport that's why people watch it and that's why gaelic football will always be in it's shadow?

To be fair the Saturday games are in the evening and out of the way of other sports......Publicians and TV viewers are glad of them.

The club finals this year on St. Patricks day were decent 26000 is a good crowd by an standards.........the 36000 will go down in LOI folklore in years to come people will say "i don't believe you"..........bet you were glad you were there on the loi's biggest day but not payday.............the pressure will be on to do the same this year.

No GAA person is in any doubt Hurling is the best of our games..........Football will be always in the shadow but both come under the same banner and supported by all 32 counties regardless of the level they play at.

Gant why don't we see Hurling matches being black out? You have to wonder is it the GAA saying no or the Beeb saying no and the GAA trying to save some face? I've never heard of planned live games being scrapped because the authorities feared the crowd would be so low it would look bad on tv in any sport.

Gant any chance i could get an answer to this? I notice you're very slow to answer some questions at times


Rocketfingers

Gant why don't we see Hurling matches being black out? You have to wonder is it the GAA saying no or the Beeb saying no and the GAA trying to save some face? I've never heard of planned live games being scrapped because the authorities feared the crowd would be so low it would look bad on tv in any sport.

I don't think I ever refuse to give an answer and as I see by the smiley faces you are getting excited........That's obviously what the Ulster council decided.........3 less televised games and it might get a few extra bums on seats......at least they have deffered coverage and probably live on line.......maybe it's a BBC decision and are cutting down on Gaelic games.

RTE are not downsizing GAA coverage so probably it will be the same as usual.........RTE show the Hurling and BBC also when Antrim are in action. Have RTE PLANS TO BLACK OUT HURLING MATCHES?

Fingers I'd say the Gaels have wifi so you'll be quids in to watch it online IOI.

36,000 is some crowd for an Association Football match on the southside. Did gate receipts amount to much?

Gant thanks for answering the question asked of you ! Not gentlemen going to sit down for the evening and watch live sport !

Gaa isn't an entertainment, aurely it was meant to be something greater than that and something very different than the corupt sports across the water. Mind you this thread is full of the new generation west brits ruining this country so why not put names on the backs, play a pop record every point and commence playacting and rolling around to cheat another pound.

Fingers will you be answering my question soon.

Sorry Tony what was the question lad?

The gate receipts lad. Did they amount to much from the Association of Ireland Football final?

While you're at it any word from the Association of Ireland and John Giles charity walk. Was it supported by the Association of Ireland Football masses?

No money taken on the gate at all Tony, all ticket lad, prob if there was it would have been a much higher crowd lad. Heard nothing about the other thing only that it was a massive roaring success lad.

Hope your question is answered !

whos bright idea was it to put the down v armagh match on at the same time as the CL final?

Mightymoyes the GAA are taking on the Soccer again, that game should attract a sell crowd out anything less and well be a disaster for the Association for such a high profile game. No surprise if the players and fans look to have it switched ala Donegal players in 2002.

its on bbc2 at the same time as the CL, i cant see the viewing figures being up to much. my mate is going and he told me theyre showing the CL match on a big screen. i assume hes on the wind-up!

Down and Armagh will be switched to 4pm or 5pm not to clash with the CL final........RTE 2 WILL SHOW BOTH.

Sad to see the GAA submit to foreign games Gant

You have to move with the times and what the consumer wants...........the only other option would be to play safe and bury games away on a Friday or Monday night.......that wouldn't be fair on the youngsters.

Liverpool are on fire.......3 up after 15 mins.

Not sure what you're on about my team play on Saturday's it the traditional day of sport in Sligo for the traditional game of the town gant [;)]

Sure I don't know your GAA team......the gaels I see mentioned somewhere else.

I think we both know what i really mean Gant [;)]

Why tell the porkie pies then..........2 Saturday games so far all season against rovers and pats.........the tradition maybe falling apart.

To be fair I see a few Saturday night games coming up........Is the GAA scene still weak in the town .........The GAA made some inroads in Athlone but as you know it's very hard in the garrison towns.

I wish you would call it Assocation Football Fingers.

THANK YOU.

What do you mean by that Tony..........we don't have much soccer down our way.

Association Football is everywhere Gant. Wait until you see the masses turning up next week at the Aviva to see the North v South contest.

Tony i haave my Dublin track top on that was a gift, probably shouldn't be wearing their colours but hey it was free and it is quality. [;)]

I'm with you now..cheers.

Up the Dubs zipi boy.

Can't wait to go up to all the rednecks wearing it and get in their faces with a higher than mighty attitude, don't know what to say though when they say my team are king of the chokers I guess i can always hope to get a gift of a Man utd top instead

Tooright zipi keep up the good work. [:)]

Zipifried.......a Barca jersey with MESSI on the back and you with be carried shoulder high.

Not a GAA fan so it doesn't effect me but a friend of a friend works for BBC Norn Iron and apparantely Jackie Fullerton's been trying for ages now to get coverage of Gaelic games curtailed on the station. May have totally nothing to do with what the subject matter is on this thread but I thought I'd just throw it in anyway.

why would he do that, how does it affect him?

Maybe hes from the dark side

Fullertons attitude is very typical of people from North Antrim , they dispise the GAA and everything attatched to it.Numerous bomb alerts at training sessions in last couple of years alone.

jackie,nigel dodds and peter robinson regularly go to gaa matches together..the roars of them in casement park at times is unreal..

lol @ kavvie