GAA 2014

Big Papi said:
920. Back in now as I was coaching future generations of Laois hurlers! - did I miss it?
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Yep, he was on after 8. He was mainly on about the the ground work being done at under age (by the likes of yourself!) over the coarse of the last decade or so being one of the main reasons for talented hurlers coming through now etc. Fair play to ye for doing that without needing a million euros or so like ye'r neighbours there. Second time I heard Chedder on off the ball now, he seems to be a bit of a character!

Date and venue for the Semi finals of the league have been confirmed as well, double header in the Gaelic grounds on the 20th of April. A good decision by the GAA that. Galway and Kilkenny up first followed by Tipp and Clare.
 
The Black Pearl said:
Yep, he was on after 8. He was mainly on about the the ground work being done at under age (by the likes of yourself!) over the coarse of the last decade or so being one of the main reasons for talented hurlers coming through now etc. Fair play to ye for doing that without needing a million euros or so like ye'r neighbours there. Second time I heard Chedder on off the ball now, he seems to be a bit of a character!
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Laois hurling has a real meitheal feel about it at the moment - in my head anyway. We're a football club and for years our team (JunB, say) would go down to the hurling end of the county, get our arses handed back to us and then get a pat on the head from the fukkers, who tell us we were great lads for "keeping hurling going up there".....but don't get uppity about it, was the undertone.

Our (again JunB - and only) team beat Borris in Ossory in a Div4 league match in 1998, starting with 14 players. The Borris manager fukked them out of it afterwards for losing to a "bunch of footballers" and pulled them out of the league!!! That was the feeling between the hurling and football ends of the county.

Nowadays, we're going to play hurling teams and we're holding our own. We may not be beating them all, but we're winning some and that's all we want. We don't want an all-conquering bunch of 10 year olds who won't be playing in 10 years, but we won't hold onto any 10yo whose team is getting walloped week-in, week-out.

We're doing it small in my club, like we're doing it small in Laois. The players are open to get involved in open days, Setanta programme (which is where the vast majority of our county hurlers will come from) and Cúl camps. They are like fertiliser being ploughed back into the club scene and we're slowly, but surely, lifting ourselves out of the doldrums.

Cheddar is brilliant and he's open to conversation with anyone. Himself and Pat Critchley - who initiated the Setanta programme - would bleed blue if cut. Pat is managing the minors, but would drop into one of our U8/10/12 hurling sessions, if asked. This is the support clubs need. Maybe other counties are doing this too, but the real bounce in Laois hurling is coming from the bottom up.
 
The Sky deal leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, similar to the deal AIG struck with Dublin. Firstly, it undermines the nature of an amateur sport when you force viewers to subscribe to a foreign channel. It's bad enough Sky exploit our options with the premier league but now they effect our national sport?
 
Lynk said:
The Sky deal leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, similar to the deal AIG struck with Dublin. Firstly, it undermines the nature of an amateur sport when you force viewers to subscribe to a foreign channel. It's bad enough Sky exploit our options with the premier league but now they effect our national sport?
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That deal will be for broadcasting rights in the UK - not Ireland. RTE, TV3 own the Irish rights. Nothing will change, but our games being on more channels.

Its great news for those living in England that struggle to watch our games & its great that it gives our games wicked exposure across Britain, games that put many sports in their place. Feckin great news for Irish games - i'm baffled by your negativity dude!
 
If it means better highlights shows well then I'll be all for it. Apparently RTE, TV3 and TG4 didn't have enough money between them to send a reporter and a camera to all the matches last weekend hence the joke of a highlights show we had on Sunday evening. That shite will have a way bigger effect on our national sport than Sky getting involved.
 
The Black Pearl said:
If it means better highlights shows well then I'll be all for it. Apparently RTE, TV3 and TG4 didn't have enough money between them to send a reporter and a camera to all the matches last weekend hence the joke of a highlights show we had on Sunday evening. That shite will have a way bigger effect on our national sport than Sky getting involved.
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Its a 3 year deal for live games, i doubt they'll show highlights programmes to be honest man - if thats what you meant?!

I'm so thrilled at this man. I've been dying for something like this to happen for years. The world needs to see our beautiful games & Sky is a fantastic platform for that. Sky viewers will be blown away by the skill & honesty of it all & then have a freak out when they find out they are amateur games played by amateur players.

Most Brits dont even know about our games, so i'm delighted they'll get the chance to see how wonderful & honest they are. Our wee amateur games will put Soccer into perspective. I look forward to the response from the British sporting public when its in full flow during the Summer. Great feckin news..
 
It's for broadcasting rights in Ireland and the UK. They're essentially taking over TV3's old package.
 
There's no excuse for anyone living in Ireland not to go and see there own county in action anyways. The championships are done and dusted within a 3/4 month period and for the vast majority of county supporters there'll only be a handful of matches to attend. You'd swear it was a match a week for 9 month job with the way a lot of people are kicking up about not going to be able to see their county in action this coming summer. For instance If the Kilkenny and Offaly crowd want to see that match, go to the fecking thing and don't be cribbing about what channel it's on.
 
The Black Pearl said:
There's no excuse for anyone living in Ireland not to go and see there own county in action anyways. The championships are done and dusted within a 3/4 month period and for the vast majority of county supporters there'll only be a handful of matches to attend. You'd swear it was a match a week for 9 month job with the way a lot of people are kicking up about not going to be able to see their county in action this coming summer. For instance If the Kilkenny and Offaly crowd want to see that match, go to the fecking thing and don't be cribbing about what channel it's on.
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Not really the point. Plenty of people from other counties enjoy watching games that don't involve their own. I'll be going to Offaly and Kilkenny, but if there was some reason I couldn't go and the match was televised but I didn't have Sky, then I'd be fairly pissed off.
Also, there are plenty of people from Offaly who won't be able to travel to Nowlan Park. Money is an issue these days. To go to a match and bring children from Offaly to Kilkenny will cost well over €100 between tickets and transport, before you even get yourself a bit to eat down there.

Also, elderly people can't always make the trip. My Grandfather never missed a match while he was in good health. Not only did he never miss an Offaly match, he used to cycle to Thurles for Munster finals and other games in the Munster Championship as well as travel to Croker for plenty of Matches not involving Offaly. But in his later years he wasn't well enough to travel to matches. This was during the 90's when Offaly were flying in hurling and doing fairly well in football. So they were on the TV nearly every weekend. It would have been horrible for him not to be able to watch those matches, simply because he hadn't got the right channel.

All that being said, I don't hate the idea of Sky having games. It will be a great way for the sport to grow. I mean, during the summer, the flagship sports on Sky are Formula 1 and Cricket. I'm sure people with no Irish connection will be drawn in in some small way and that would aid the growth of our game. Also, if anyone can promote a new sport to people it's Sky.

On a mostly unrelated note, but as something that could possibly be an issue in the future, though realistically wont. We all know the GAA is an amateur organisation and that will be their stance for the forseeable future. But let's pretend for a minute that this deal caused and explosion in our games and they became so popular that clubs popped up all over Britain, but never affiliated themselves with Croke Park and instead the Great Britain Gaelic Games Association was formed and clubs affiliated with that. Now lets go 100 years down the line and the games have grown in popularity to the point where there was enough money in the English game to start a professional league. Would Croke Park have any power to stop this, or stop any association from forming without their consent?

I'm only wondering because I know almost all GAA clubs around the world, that are set up and run by Irish abroad are affiliated with HQ.
 
The GAA at club level depend a lot on the good will and donations of the local community. That I fear has gone out the window with the Sky deal.
 
thegregster said:
The GAA at club level depend a lot on the good will and donations of the local community. That I fear has gone out the window with the Sky deal.
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Ah, I don't know. Depends on the club I suppose. Rural clubs (Which the majority of clubs are), where the club is the heartbeat of the village or town aren't going to lose members or sponsors or supporters because of this. That's the bulk of your income, along with your lotto or your bingo.
 
RexHamilton said:
Ah, I don't know. Depends on the club I suppose. Rural clubs (Which the majority of clubs are), where the club is the heartbeat of the village or town aren't going to lose members or sponsors or supporters because of this. That's the bulk of your income, along with your lotto or your bingo.
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I wonder was the deal done with Sky because of the debt levels of many clubs? A few high profile cases of clubs owing a few million here and there.
 
RexHamilton said:
Turns out Sky will have a highlights show once a week.
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A good proper highlights show is badly wanted as clearly evident from last weekend.

If Sky manage to put together a proper highlights show, one with proper analysis, few stats and stuff well then I'll be even more for this new venture.
 
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Shame TV3 were dropped. RTE really need to up their game. Its depressing stuff sometimes.

Hopefully Jerome Quinn gets the nod for Sky. good block, passionate about the sport
 
RexHamilton said:
On a mostly unrelated note, but as something that could possibly be an issue in the future, though realistically wont. We all know the GAA is an amateur organisation and that will be their stance for the forseeable future. But let's pretend for a minute that this deal caused and explosion in our games and they became so popular that clubs popped up all over Britain, but never affiliated themselves with Croke Park and instead the Great Britain Gaelic Games Association was formed and clubs affiliated with that. Now lets go 100 years down the line and the games have grown in popularity to the point where there was enough money in the English game to start a professional league. Would Croke Park have any power to stop this, or stop any association from forming without their consent?

I'm only wondering because I know almost all GAA clubs around the world, that are set up and run by Irish abroad are affiliated with HQ.
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There are already a decent amount of clubs in Britain. There is a London league that I played in when I was living there. I don't think this is going to result in any explosion of interest in Gaelic games though. It will be great for the diaspora in America and that but when I was in London they always had the Irish channels to show all the matches in any of the big Irish bars around town.
 
thegregster said:
The GAA at club level depend a lot on the good will and donations of the local community. That I fear has gone out the window with the Sky deal.
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I don't know how the sky deal would effect GAA at club level other than positively for the money received. A few clubs have struggled in recent years but when I started playing Gaelic football in the mid eighties I changed in a prefab clubhouse and played on a battered pitch which needed resodding. We now have a modern club house with bar(massive bar!!!) and a quality pitch with a decent sized if slightly poor quality astro park to train on. The club isn't in debt but the rules of a club means it cant make a profit but it seems the bar is making enough to cover the costs outlayed.
 
Stick said:
There are already a decent amount of clubs in Britain. There is a London league that I played in when I was living there. I don't think this is going to result in any explosion of interest in Gaelic games though. It will be great for the diaspora in America and that but when I was in London they always had the Irish channels to show all the matches in any of the big Irish bars around town.
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Setanta always brought the games to Irish in America and Australia anyway too. This will bring it to a wider audience. In both the UK and Australia, this deal will push the games onto mainstream channels and provide access to Gaelic games to people who would never have had a chance to see them before, unless they had specifically for them.

Either way, this doesn't answer my hypothetical question. I'm aware there are alot of clubs in Britain, the States, Australia and all over the world. They are almost all founded by Irish people and run by Irish abroad and as a result are all connected with Croke Park. My question was simply if this did cause and explosion of interest (I'm not saying it will, I'm just wondering about the power Croke Park has) and new clubs, with no Irish connection, started popping up and in turn a British Gaelic Games Association was set up and they eventually wanted to make a professional league, do Croke Park have any power to stop it?
 
RexHamilton said:
Setanta always brought the games to Irish in America and Australia anyway too. This will bring it to a wider audience. In both the UK and Australia, this deal will push the games onto mainstream channels and provide access to Gaelic games to people who would never have had a chance to see them before, unless they had specifically for them.

Either way, this doesn't answer my hypothetical question. I'm aware there are alot of clubs in Britain, the States, Australia and all over the world. They are almost all founded by Irish people and run by Irish abroad and as a result are all connected with Croke Park. My question was simply if this did cause and explosion of interest (I'm not saying it will, I'm just wondering about the power Croke Park has) and new clubs, with no Irish connection, started popping up and in turn a British Gaelic Games Association was set up and they eventually wanted to make a professional league, do Croke Park have any power to stop it?
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I would say no. They would probably just break away and form separate codes like Rugby league and Rugby union.
 
I guess there already is professional GAA in the states as I know a few who have got paid to play down there. Even in Canada a few players on one club are put up rent free.

I hope it never goes full out pro though as the community aspect of it all is what makes it so great imo. Hopefully the Sky deal brings a bit more worldwide attention though and the coverage in Canada improves as it has become nearly non-existent since Setanta was bought out.
 
The lads on off the ball started off the show there this evening by playing a few snippets of people ranting and raving about this on Liveline today. One lad was arguing how Sky has ruined soccer in England, shure there's no Irish or English players playing in the premier league anymore Joe, it's just full of foreigners on 250 grand a week Joe, he said. Another one was telling Joe how her 82 year old mother who was heavily involved in the local camogie club up until yesterday is now finished with the GAA and all it stands for, for good. Shits just got real!
 
If a Granny stops helping her local camogie team due to Sky more fool her.

Sky used always carry GAA highlights. Biggest concern for GAA is whether Sky will start to pay GAA players personally for post match interviews or will GPA get money (which I assume will happen) Will be interesting to see where SKY takes it. Without question it is a minority new sport on a global platform. TV3 worked with Setanta and Premiersports, maybe some of this play by Sky is to nip the revenue generated by Setanta & Premiersports
 
I'm a bit confused by this. Wont the games that are available to Sky also be shown on TG4? Why would the GAA getting money for showing games be better for the organisation as a whole? I think complete transparency is necessary on the distribution of money and more money should go to counties that are currently struggling to produce decent hurlers and footballers in a bid to make the championship more competitive. Do the same people who object to Sky promoting Gaelic games abroad object to the use of Croke Park for concerts like Garth Brooks and Bon Jovi?
 
limerickcitykid said:
I guess there already is professional GAA in the states as I know a few who have got paid to play down there. Even in Canada a few players on one club are put up rent free.

I hope it never goes full out pro though as the community aspect of it all is what makes it so great imo. Hopefully the Sky deal brings a bit more worldwide attention though and the coverage in Canada improves as it has become nearly non-existent since Setanta was bought out.
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I think clubs in the states do give backhanders to players to get them over for championship. London clubs used to do something similar but it's a far cry from professionalism. GAA would collapse if it went professional.
 
Stick said:
I'm a bit confused by this. Wont the games that are available to Sky also be shown on TG4? Why would the GAA getting money for showing games be better for the organisation as a whole? I think complete transparency is necessary on the distribution of money and more money should go to counties that are currently struggling to produce decent hurlers and footballers in a bid to make the championship more competitive. Do the same people who object to Sky promoting Gaelic games abroad object to the use of Croke Park for concerts like Garth Brooks and Bon Jovi?
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No. As far as I know TG4 have no championship games. The All-Ireland finals and Semi-Finals will be shown on Sky as well as RTE. That may apply to a few more games too but there are something like 14 games in which Sky have the exclusive rights. So for those games, if you want to watch them on tv, you have to have Sky, or go to the pub.
 
RexHamilton said:
No. As far as I know TG4 have no championship games. The All-Ireland finals and Semi-Finals will be shown on Sky as well as RTE. That may apply to a few more games too but there are something like 14 games in which Sky have the exclusive rights. So for those games, if you want to watch them on tv, you have to have Sky, or go to the pub.
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Or go to a family member or neighbours house to watch it, there's bound to be someone nearby that'll have it. It would be like the olden day's again when only a handful of people in the parish had a telly and all the neighbours used to call around on a Sunday to watch the match while drinking tae and eating porter cake. The days when we were all feckin' happy and not going around from one end of the week to the other pure depressed from not either talking to or meeting a soul.

This whole set up could very easily be used as a positive thing too instead of just crying and whinging about it.
 
RexHamilton said:
No. As far as I know TG4 have no championship games. The All-Ireland finals and Semi-Finals will be shown on Sky as well as RTE. That may apply to a few more games too but there are something like 14 games in which Sky have the exclusive rights. So for those games, if you want to watch them on tv, you have to have Sky, or go to the pub.
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Exclusive rights to 14 games isn't bad at all. I usually only watch the RTE televised ones anyway as I like the tooing and froing on the panel along with the match. For me if sky are televising a Dublin game I'll go to the gaa club who have sky. That will also mean I get a few pints and possibly a game of killers on the pool table which could mean a profit at the end of the game depending on the number of lads in the pub. Win win!
 
The Black Pearl said:
Or go to a family member or neighbours house to watch it, there's bound to be someone nearby that'll have it. It would be like the olden day's again when only a handful of people in the parish had a telly and all the neighbours used to call around on a Sunday to watch the match while drinking tae and eating porter cake. The days when we were all feckin' happy and not going around from one end of the week to the other pure depressed from not either talking to or meeting a soul.

This whole set up could very easily be used as a positive thing too instead of just crying and whinging about it.
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I'd be of the same mind as yourself. I don't know if I'd be welcome around at the friends though because I can get fierce loud with a pint on me! Pub is the place for me.
 
Our U8 footballers had two great wins over Portlaoise B yesterday. Sky will show highlights later in the week. U8 hurlers to display their wares next weekend in Emo......#feckemo
 
Can't wait. It's about time the Laois under 8 championship got the recognition it deserves. Rte really slipped up there.

I've a job interview with Marc sports myself in the morning, can't believe I even got to the interview stage. I'll be given a company van and all if I'm successful, driving around from club to club and shop to shop delivering/selling helmets, sliotars, footballs and training equipment and all the other GAA gear that they sell. Talk about a dream job, my mouth will be like sandpaper every night from all the talking I'll be doing during the day.
 
The Black Pearl said:
Can't wait. It's about time the Laois under 8 championship got the recognition it deserves. Rte really slipped up there.

I've a job interview with Marc sports myself in the morning, can't believe I even got to the interview stage. I'll be given a company van and all if I'm successful, driving around from club to club and shop to shop delivering/selling helmets, sliotars, footballs and training equipment and all the other GAA gear that they sell. Talk about a dream job, my mouth will be like sandpaper every night from all the talking I'll be doing during the day.
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Congrats and best of luck with it.

It's a regret of mine that I didn't go for an accountant job in Croke Park a few years ago. It turns out that the FC at the time was a girl I was in college with. She quit after being 'attacked' on a matchday one day, which seems unreal given the amount of security you find there. The lad who replaced her was a friend of a friend - a Monaghan GAA stalwart - who said he was 'in heaven'.....the only two jobs that would fulfill that for me would be in Croke Park or OT.
 
I see the black card doesn't apply to Dublin goalies this week. Tyrone fb trips a player, he's off. Dublin goalie trips a player, that's ok.
 
Big Papi said:
I see the black card doesn't apply to Dublin goalies this week. Tyrone fb trips a player, he's off. Dublin goalie trips a player, that's ok.
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To be honest I think most of the Dublin fans would be delighted to see Currie go as he was a bag of nerves. Losing a keeper isn't half as damaging in GAA as in soccer.
 
Big Papi said:
Congrats and best of luck with it.
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Thanks Papi, I always said you were a sound lad. All worked out well which is a huge surprise as every fecking thing that could go wrong has gone wrong for me recently, young one practically living above in Temple St this weather and other shit as well that I could do without. But I got a phone call there a half an a hour ago and I'm starting this day week. It'll be a big change from what I've been used too so I'll need a bit of time to bed in so as a lad says I'll love ye and leave ye for a while, might call in for a shot of tae and a bit of porter cake when Galway beat Clare in the league final shure! Take her handy.
 
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