I disagree on the Premier League, people want to see their teams at the beginning of the season when thereās fresh faces and hope, most people lose interest after a while. This is borne out by the viewership figures, the opening weekend of the Premier League is the most watched weekend in the season.
On the media attention, has there ever been more in the GAA? Judging by the amount of podcasts on it there seems to be plenty of interest in these championships whether they are played now or in August and September.
Ballyhale v Ballygunner in the 2022/23 All-Ireland senior club hurling semi-final was a direct clash with the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France. The hurling kicked off at 3:30pm with the sacar throwing in at 3pm.
Kerry v Galway in 2018 was a direct clash with the World Cup final between France and Croatia. Both 4pm starts.
The Munster Final was on the same day as the World Cup Final in 2002. It was an epic day of sport for those who were out on the booze for both games.
I just had to check was I right on this and yes, both took place on the same day. The memory isnt what it used to be and there was a lot of drink taken.
Jamie Wall recited a great line on the Second Captains podcast the other day. āAttending inter-county games are for children and auld fellasā. Thereās a fair crew of bandwagoners attending inter-county games whoād fall into the āunattachedā category when it comes to the club scene.
What time is the World Cup final on at? The infamous Leinster football final of 2010 clashed with the World Cup final too. Extra-time pushed back the Sunday Game highlights show that night.
FIFA are clearly moving towards having the final at a time which is suitable for the largest amount of time zones, which seems to be 3pm/4pm our time.
Be gas if it was a 4pm start and the GAA decided to move the hurling final to 7pm to avoid a clash.
Iād imagine 2026 will kick off no earlier than 8pm our time though because itās in the US. Iād say thereās a chance it could be an even later kickoff, maybe somewhere in the 10pm to midnight window because the FIFA might want to get it on US prime time television.
Obviously GAA games have always happened on the same day as World Cup finals. They generally didnāt directly clash with them though at least until the GAA decided they wanted to do that in recent years and take a kicking, and they were never All-Ireland finals.
Itās basic common sense to schedule your prime events in the time window and dates that best suit them. Itās ignorant arrogance to do otherwise.
The Heineken Cup has decided to have their final on the same day as the Champions League final once or twice. Iād wager they wonāt be doing it again.
Wimbledon decided to go head to head with the World Cup final in 2018. Nobody watched that Wimbledon final. The following year there was one of the great Wimbledon finals but again few were talking about it because the Cricket World Cup final ultimately garnered far more attention.
The Eurovision Song Contest never goes up against the Champions League final for a very obvious reason.
The GAA was happy enough to move the dates of the championship so the All-Ireland football final wouldnāt clash with An Corn Ryder. Yet clashing with a far bigger event is apparently fine.
The consistent and deliberate denigration of your showpiece competitions has to be a uniquely GAA thing. Actually openly sneering at your main competitions.
āWho the fuck would be interested in inter-county GAA?!ā Thatās what heās saying.
Totally bizarre and straight out of the playbook of the far right who all openly hate their own countries and want to ruin them.
But thatās what happens when you run out of arguments.
I couldnāt care less what the GAA hierarchy in Croke Park, think of my opinion. I can see exactly what the split season agenda is for the top brass. Get the hurling and football out of the way in Croke Park by the end of July and then its down to the serious money making business for August and September of hosting concerts and American Football. This year itās Robbie Williams and Oasis, I see and instead of an American Colleges game, they have their first NFL game in September, Pittsburgh Steelers v Minnesota Vikings.
Iām no armchair fan. I rarely have any time now to watch sport on the box, or anything for that matter. Iām just observing what I see of the split season on the ground. Iām living in Waterford for nearly 15 years now and it has been disastrous for Waterford. I played club hurling in Carlow for many years and a few years at inter-county level as well. It has been disastrous for hurling in Carlow. Wexford is next door, my mother is a Wexford woman and the split season has been disastrous for Wexford hurling.
Paddy is gullible though. As was pointed out here over the weekend, Tom Titt the junior hurler can book his summer holidays now months in advance. For that alone, the spin is that the split season is a roaring success and justification for the abomination that now allows a Munster Hurling Final to be decided on a penalty shoot out.
I think youāre coming out more like the far right, with the it was better in my day stick. Again the changes were to benefit the many not just the intercounty, which again doesnāt seem far right. But everything you donāt agree with is far right