Thatās a real case of darragh is the alpha male in the room so the two lads just end up agreeing with him.
Anyone get the whatsapp about meath
Go onā¦
Ill let rocko run it through legal
I wonder could it be that Cavan are shite?
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Were they good back in 2005?
Who could have foreseen that playing Championship on damp April afternoons would see attendances fall off a cliff.
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They were and Tyrone were All Ireland contenders
You need to attract the casual fan to games. People who arenāt heavily involved on the club scene, or maybe not involved with a club at all. The slate of games for last weekend passed by without making any impression whatsoever on the public consciousness. I didnāt know any of yesterdayās scores until looking them up during the brief pause prior to the play-off at Augusta getting underway. It wouldnāt occur to me to pay for a non-Wexford specific GGA Plus sub (why the fuck do I want access to the Connacht football championship?) or to watch The Sunday Game anymore. I think Wexford are hurling over the road in a couple of weeks but Iād made other plans for that day months ago because championship hurling in April is just offensive in a truly fundamental way. The whole thing is drifting into a sea of complete indifference bar a couple of pockets (certain Ulster football & Munster hurling rivalries).
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The fun runners and event junkies are up in arms.
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Iāve yet to hear anybody make the case for why smaller attendances and less interest is a good thing?
What is the case?
2010 was the height of the football championship for me.
Sluddengate in the Leinster final.
Four qualifiers turning over the provincial winners in the quarters.
Novel pairings at the time in the semis and final.
Only bad point was that Cork won it.
@Perez2017 is very excited about a bit of unseasonal sunny early April weather providing the backdrop to these zombie zone matches in empty grounds that hardly anybody seems to know that are on.
Iāve got out of the habit of buying newspapers as I just donāt have the time to read them anymore. I picked up a later edition of the Paper of Record to read about Rory today. I had no idea until I flicked through the sports section, that 7 of the 10 matches in the Leinster Football Championship have already been played off by Palm Sunday/US Masters Sunday.
Dublin v Meath will be played off before the schools are even back from Easter holidays. Thereāll barely be 20,000 at that. Itās not that long ago that Dublin v Meath in a Leinster Final was one of the biggest events of the year in Irish sport, played out to a full house in Croke Park on the last Sunday in July/August bank holiday weekend.
This is what the split season zealots have done to what were for over a century the Crown Jewels of the Irish sporting summer.
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The championship starts too early and the structure of the group of life is ridiculous but Dublin v Meath hasnāt been a big draw for a long time. In fact Iād say this years renewal is the most enticing since 2013 when Jim Gavin effectively killed off the last vestige of the Leinster championship with his ruthless management. The split season can be blamed for plenty of things but not the diminished importance of Dublin v Meath. I actually think this years game in Portlaoise is far more attractive than playing it in front of the seagulls in Croker.
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The provincials are literally pre season competitions now in football. The all Ireland sfc starts when they are over and lasts for about 2-3 months. This is probably plenty given that itās semi knock out, the players are amateur (have other jobs so semi pro at best) and that they also play for another team that is hugely important to them ie the club.
These three factors make it incomparable to any other major sport.
If they market and hype the all Ireland again the interest is there for it to be well attended and attract a lot of media and general public interest
Outstanding. This phrase will become a TFK staple going forward, Iām sure of it.
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Cork are playing Kerry this weekend apparently. That used to be a big deal.
But at least its being dumbed down for the greater good, and weāll get Dublin v Mayo in front of 5 or 6 thousand people in Hyde Park for a Super 16ās match some time in early June.
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cork and kerry could\should be played in PUR rather than PUC these times
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Thatās more corks fault really
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You can add 10k to your attendance figures there in all honesty. Whatever about them, the Rhubarbs would travel in big numbers for a crack at the Dubs. Itās still an attractive clash even for the neutral and The Hyde is the ideal venue on a June weekend.