Less than 5k at the cork county final in 2019 which was a double header I think?
Yes, I think the GAA are a lot of the way there now and a split season is the way to go. As you correctly said at the very least it does not to go forward by about 4 weeks to run from mid to late May to mid August.
I was talking to a Mayo man today and he was making the point to me that the likes of Mayo would have a lot of Dublin based players who they can get a lot of them back to Mayo over the summer months and put in some serious collective training over the summer months. He was saying that Donegal would have a similar dynamic as well. He feels that a Championship weighted towards mid April and May and finishing in mid July will severely impact on the ability of the likes of Mayo and Donegal to continue to mix it as serious contenders.
That was Imokilly, a divisional team who draw no support and shouldnât be in the championship. 13,000 at last yearâs final.
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Outside of the two games involving the Limerick hurlers, crowds have looked fairly pitiful at both hurling and football championship.
Football attendances have been pitiful.
The gaa have destroyed the season in the name of greed.
I just flicked on the Wexford v Dublin match when I was channel flicking after the snooker ended. Hard to reconcile the pitiful crowd at it with Wexford v Dublin packing over 75,000 into Croke Park just over a decade ago.
Seems to be very little public buy in to this unseasonably early Championship.
Dublin Wexford was always the barometer on which this should be judged alright
Clare out of the All Ireland Football Championship 2022 on a penalty shoot out on the last day of April.
Is it penalty shoot outs all the way in this new split season/get it out of the way as quickly as possible Hurling and Football Championships?
They arent out yet sure
Into the qualifiers now sure. They stayed up in division 2.
Is there no penalty shoot outs in a scenario where a team faces elimination in their first Championship outing?
If Iâm honest about it, Iâm not hearing the noise. The provincial football championships are racing through at breakneck speed and there is something not quite right about it. Thereâs ducking and diving and dodging going on against a lot of other sports â the Champions League, Heineken Cup, the endgame to the English Premier League â that it is all so hectic just now and theyâre getting lost in the midst of it all.
It is like bumper cars; and I think the GAA are losing!
Why do I say that? The provincial football championships are competing with so many sporting goings-on everywhere that they are arenât cutting it in terms of box office. Apart from Ulster, which remains competitive, and to an extent Connacht, they are just not attractive enough to go up against those other sports and it again makes you wonder about the decision to change the scheduling so that it is all over by the end of July and a shiny Sam Maguire Cup will be out of sight apart from being paraded around schools and clubs wherever it ends up.
Unfortunately the GAA are like a boat turning in the water decision-wise, and youâve still got this 60-40 majority youâve to get at congress for anything to happen. Thatâs archaic and you just canât progress. Every other sport we are competing with â be it soccer, or rugby or whatever â can make real-time decisions based on commerciality and for the good of their games.
The GAA has given away its best two months of the intercounty calendar â in August and September â when it had the stage to itself and was the only show in town. I felt it in PĂĄirc UĂ Rinn on Saturday evening, not enough noise, and Iâm fearful itâll be the same in Croke Park this Sunday for the Leinster semi-finals but especially for the Dublin-Meath game.
I was obviously at the Cork-Kerry match and the stadium, even though the venue was small with a capacity of 11,000, it wasnât anywhere near full. Maybe people stayed at home to watch the Munster rugby match? Whatever the reason, it was a very poor attendance.
It was a non-event, thatâs the reality of it and the appetite wasnât there. Kerry knew they were going to win and Cork knew Kerry were going to win. And Cork people, which I never saw before, settled for a 50-minute effort. Cork people were never like that. Iâm sure Roy Keane watching wasnât happy with that either.
The most interesting aspect of the Dublin-Meath game is to see where Dublin are at. Weâve a fair idea where Meath are at. Weâd a fair idea of where Cork were at. Paddy Power got the spread right at 12 points against Cork and itâll be interesting to see how they call the Dublin-Meath game.
Dublin against Meath should be box office. But when did we think weâd have a day when there would be more interest in the womenâs Dublin versus Meath match than the menâs Dublin-Meath? Thatâs the way it has gone.
I think the Derry-Monaghan Ulster semi-final actually has the top billing of the games this weekend and there was a time when that match-up would never have competed with Meath going up against Dublin.
Dublin-Meath was an amazing rivalry we grew up on and Meath, like Cork, donât have any excuses on why it has come to what it is: they have the population, a commuter belt county, they have the numbers, the bodies, the structures in place, but they havenât kicked on and thatâs not good for anyone in Gaelic football.
The most interesting aspect of the Dublin-Meath game is to see where Dublin are at. Weâve a fair idea where Meath are at. Weâd a fair idea of where Cork were at. Paddy Power got the spread right at 12 points against Cork and itâll be interesting to see how they call the Dublin-Meath game.
Dublin against Meath should be box office. But when did we think weâd have a day when there would be more interest in the womenâs Dublin versus Meath match than the menâs Dublin-Meath? Thatâs the way it has gone.
I think the Derry-Monaghan Ulster semi-final actually has the top billing of the games this weekend and there was a time when that match-up would never have competed with Meath going up against Dublin.
Dublin-Meath was an amazing rivalry we grew up on and Meath, like Cork, donât have any excuses on why it has come to what it is: they have the population, a commuter belt county, they have the numbers, the bodies, the structures in place, but they havenât kicked on and thatâs not good for anyone in Gaelic football.
From my point of view, wearing the Kerry cap, Iâm lamenting the fact Dublin are relegated from Division One.
Ultimately Dublin defined Division One. For all the National League games the last few years, they were the benchmark and, like Manchester United back in the day, you redoubled your efforts. If you wanted to get a fair measure of yourself you marked yourself against Dublin. The Dubs were never off duty because every team wanted to have a cut off them and then for a finish in that six-in-a-row spell, not alone were Dublin playing the opposition but the referees too. When you get that successful, decisions tend not to go your way after a while.
So, yes, for me, Dublin are the team to watch, similar to Kerry in â84 where they got the kick in the arse and had been written off. Thereâs too many good players to lie down and take that. James McCarthy, CiarĂĄn Kilkenny, Con OâCallaghan, Brian Fenton. All these Dublin players are not going to lie down, theyâll be thinking, âthey think we have gone away, we havenâtâ. There was a bit of anger on show against Wexford. Iâll be looking out for a bit of anger in their football again this weekend.
But the issue remains that the provincial championships as it is now has become boring and, while we are not marketing it properly, thereâs also the point our product isnât good enough to compete with the other sports â in the dodgems â as we speed through May.
The Munster football final will be Kerry versus Limerick or Tipperary in Killarney in a few weeks and thatâs going to be a three oâclock game because the Champions League Final is on and, with the games weâre producing, we canât compete with that. The GAA are dodging going head-on because the product isnât good enough.
As opposed to avoiding a showdown with it like a boxer avoiding a good contender, theyâre avoiding meeting up with these head-on, because we canât compete . . . itâs a marketing disaster from the GAAâs point of view at a time weâre struggling at rural level to get teams on the pitch. I see a lot in Kerry of clubs amalgamating. We need to have showcases. We need to make it attractive for young boys and girls to get involved again. We need better marketing and we need better games.
And I do believe it comes back to down to the provincial championships â apart from Ulster and Connacht â being too boring and the GAA know the problem is there but are happy to keep kicking the can down the road.
Change takes too long to come about. If this was happening in rugby or soccer the decision would be made and it would be done. We have to go to congress and it is a convoluted mechanism to get the job done. It is outdated. You have to have a committee that can make decisions in real time, to make commercial decisions and to drop the hammer on it. For the betterment of the GAA, decisions have to happen quicker.
I know all about the reasons for the changes in the playing calendar but you can be certain those club games wonât be played in August, thereâs loads of leagues to be finished off, and weâre missing out on the best dates in the calendar year to showcase our games. We had them, in August and September, and we gave them away and instead weâre competing now with Heineken Cup and Champions League finals and stuff like that which never before was the case.
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The GAA need to start using Bank Holiday Mondays for matches. I donât see the problem myself. Thereâs loads of them between April and June. Youâre there on a Bank Holiday twiddling your thumbs looking for something to do or watch.
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Clare and Waterford played on a June Bank Holiday Monday circa 2010. It hardly broke 10k in Thurles. A friday evening of a bank holiday weekend would be far more appealing to people IMHO.
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Over 10 years ago.
Time to try againâŚ
The U20 Leinster Hurling Final in Carlow on Monday night summed up the sheer folly of it all.
A cold and wet Monday night in early May, players on both sides in the middle of end of year college exams and surprise, surprise a derisory crowd at it.
Kilkenny v Wexford in U21 finals for the bones of 50 years always attracted huge crowds when they were played in late July regardless of whether it was in Kilkenny, Wexford or Carlow.