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Can the GAA withstand the PR from other sports?

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Tomsmith here from County Cavan

I just wonder can the GAA withstand the PR drive from other sports. It has been relentless over the past week with loads of air time given to other major sports and past heroic act played over and over .
Thank God since I started to write this post I am told that the pressure has somewhat diminished but other sports still have a very strong PR machine working for them.
I say let the GAA waken up and promote our National game to the young of our country

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 3163 - 14/11/2017 21:39:16    2062375

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Ah leave it out

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 492 - 14/11/2017 22:01:40    2062383

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MON sorted that one out for next summer

manfromdelmonte (UK) - Posts: 524 - 14/11/2017 22:04:03    2062384

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Moving All-Ireland finals to August certainly doesn't help...

football first (None) - Posts: 1101 - 14/11/2017 22:35:43    2062394

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the auld soccer didn't do a very good pr job tonight :)

lilypad (Kildare) - Posts: 899 - 15/11/2017 00:06:56    2062402

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The soccer boys really have to earn their PR. We have a small population, no professional league and it's the number one game in most countries in the world. The odds are well and truly stacked against us.

Rugby on the other hand is a serious PR monster. There is a max of 10 competitive nations. In the bigger nations the players are bating the crap out of each other week in week out in their leagues while our top me are wrapped up in cotton wool for the big games. Add to that the top rugby nations in the southern hemisphere haven't got the cash to hand on to their best players so many of them are excluded from international teams. Different story, we have nearly everything going for us.

In fairness to the IRFU they have the perfect setup for success. Great that it gives Ireland a chance to make some waves on the international stage though a little annoying that you have to listen to some giant ego rugby players banging on about their mental strength, professionalism on a regular basis.

Loads of good PR there for the soccer boys too but a thousand times harder for them to earn it. The GAA then don't really do PR do they!

dahayeser (Cork) - Posts: 292 - 15/11/2017 09:18:34    2062412

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i remember a guest on the gay byrne radio show one morning about 1985/86 saying that the gaa was finished and will be a thing of the past by the turn of the century and he called on the goverement to stop wasting money giving them grants,a it was money wasted as most gaa grounds will soon be desterted,

Stmunnsriver (Wexford) - Posts: 1580 - 15/11/2017 10:01:50    2062417

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Replying To football first:  "Moving All-Ireland finals to August certainly doesn't help..."
It'll help the club player, does that not matter more than any PR?

Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 15/11/2017 10:02:02    2062418

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Dont think the GAA overly need PR.
GAA is embedded in nearly every parish in the country.
For me growing up I would have looked at a sliotar and a rugby ball in the same way as I would have looked at a spaceship, something strange and out of the ordinary. But an O Neills, well that was as common as grass!

woops (Kerry) - Posts: 1981 - 15/11/2017 10:13:45    2062422

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Replying To dahayeser:  "The soccer boys really have to earn their PR. We have a small population, no professional league and it's the number one game in most countries in the world. The odds are well and truly stacked against us.

Rugby on the other hand is a serious PR monster. There is a max of 10 competitive nations. In the bigger nations the players are bating the crap out of each other week in week out in their leagues while our top me are wrapped up in cotton wool for the big games. Add to that the top rugby nations in the southern hemisphere haven't got the cash to hand on to their best players so many of them are excluded from international teams. Different story, we have nearly everything going for us.

In fairness to the IRFU they have the perfect setup for success. Great that it gives Ireland a chance to make some waves on the international stage though a little annoying that you have to listen to some giant ego rugby players banging on about their mental strength, professionalism on a regular basis.

Loads of good PR there for the soccer boys too but a thousand times harder for them to earn it. The GAA then don't really do PR do they!"
PR and Political Correctness have one thing in common, as in, they are two variables depending on their politics.
PR - 15 year old gaa player needed two hip replacements, - that's bad PR.
6 month old charged going into Westmeath Intermediate championship game, - bad PR.
Colm O'Rourkes article re the GPA, - - - very bad PR but politically correct.
Player Burn Out, being ignored. - - - Very bad PR.
Sky/gaa deal. - Paraic Duffy defends the deal and Aogán Ó Fearghail insists 'there is
no automatic right for everybody to see every game'. - - - very bad PR and Politically Incorrect. Depends on your politics of course.

supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 1792 - 15/11/2017 10:30:23    2062426

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Replying To Pinkie:  "It'll help the club player, does that not matter more than any PR?"
I'm with you on this one.

I don't understand what extra pr you get from having the intercounty season spread out longer.

If the GAA really wanted to improve exposure the leagues need to move to April and May. Good weather running straight into championship.

The season in GAA has no momentum ever really. Condensing the championship could help it.

Right now there are to few games over too few weekends and what happens is you get a good game and a bit of excitement builds only for there not to be another good game for 2 or 3 weekends. That's why everyone complains hysterically when we have a couple of bad games, because we have so few matches and they're so spread out we don't get our fix of excitement.

What is the role of the GAA, I'd say it's primarily about getting people playing our games so there's not much point to having a rip roaring PR machine if we don't have a good program of games for people to play.

The one big PR mistake the GAA makes in my mind is having games on Sky. You used to get in the region of 200-600k viewers watching TV3 depending on the fixture. We're now getting 20-60k watching similar fixtures on Sky. Despite all the news stories about people discovering the GAA in the uk, fewer people are watching it there also.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 2129 - 15/11/2017 11:44:33    2062446

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Replying To tomsmith:  "Tomsmith here from County Cavan

I just wonder can the GAA withstand the PR drive from other sports. It has been relentless over the past week with loads of air time given to other major sports and past heroic act played over and over .
Thank God since I started to write this post I am told that the pressure has somewhat diminished but other sports still have a very strong PR machine working for them.
I say let the GAA waken up and promote our National game to the young of our country"
Thank God since I started to write this post I am told that the pressure has somewhat diminished but other sports still have a very strong PR machine working for them.

How long did it actually take you to write this if you were receiving updates midway through?

Kurt_Angle (Dublin) - Posts: 420 - 15/11/2017 11:56:10    2062449

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The soccer boys really have to earn their PR. We have a small population, no professional league and it's the number one game in most countries in the world. The odds are well and truly stacked against us.
Rugby on the other hand is a serious PR monster. There is a max of 10 competitive nations. In the bigger nations the players are bating the crap out of each other week in week out in their leagues while our top me are wrapped up in cotton wool for the big games. Add to that the top rugby nations in the southern hemisphere haven't got the cash to hand on to their best players so many of them are excluded from international teams. Different story, we have nearly everything going for us.
In fairness to the IRFU they have the perfect setup for success. Great that it gives Ireland a chance to make some waves on the international stage though a little annoying that you have to listen to some giant ego rugby players banging on about their mental strength, professionalism on a regular basis.
Loads of good PR there for the soccer boys too but a thousand times harder for them to earn it. The GAA then don't really do PR do they!
dahayeser (Cork) - Posts:238 - 15/11/2017 09:18:34 Some very good points. Odds are against us in soccer and cant disagree with anything you say about soccer but in rugby there is more than 10 competitive nations. What countries are players beating crap out of each other compared to us?
England/France? Both heavily rotate players especially france where its still tradition that teams just dont bother with away games and send reserves
Nothing wrong with rugby players or any players from any sport going on about mental strength and doing that isnt showing ego.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 15/11/2017 14:57:37    2062479

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Replying To Stmunnsriver:  "i remember a guest on the gay byrne radio show one morning about 1985/86 saying that the gaa was finished and will be a thing of the past by the turn of the century and he called on the goverement to stop wasting money giving them grants,a it was money wasted as most gaa grounds will soon be desterted,"
Byrne would have been sympathetic to that kind of opinion alright!

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 483 - 15/11/2017 16:20:18    2062500

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Replying To tomsmith:  "Tomsmith here from County Cavan

I just wonder can the GAA withstand the PR drive from other sports. It has been relentless over the past week with loads of air time given to other major sports and past heroic act played over and over .
Thank God since I started to write this post I am told that the pressure has somewhat diminished but other sports still have a very strong PR machine working for them.
I say let the GAA waken up and promote our National game to the young of our country"
They could start by trying to lose the perception that they only care about prospective Super 8 counties. Starting with provincial leagues, on into the league and including the championship they need to somehow increase media GAA coverage for non-Super 8 counties. Today's children are potentially tomorrows inter-county stars. Not like in my day when all you could see was 2 championship semi finals and a final. Today's youth are heavily influenced by what they see on Television and on social media, not a good thing I reckon but such is life.

They, and other sports, should also promote the thinking that children playing any sport is a good thing rather than trying to perceive other sports as the enemy. Children and adults can play a number of sports if they like. It's up to them to decide if they want to dedicate their time to one or to none in particular. No need to go full tree-hugger about it but I think they'll be quicker to pursue a sport, or parents chose sports for their children, if that sport has more open-minded views on other sports.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 4765 - 15/11/2017 17:48:40    2062527

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Who cares about PR? You're either a GAA person or you're not. Who are we trying to attract anyway? We don't want anyone who doesn't want to be involved in GAA. Some people on here are always giving out about rugby being a threat to GAA. That's nonsense. 50% of current rugby supporters are people from GAA stock. They just like rugby as well.

HurlingSnob (Dublin) - Posts: 220 - 15/11/2017 18:05:05    2062536

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Great twenty four hours.Soccer crowd showed up as complete mullackers and rugby crowd as small fry

jobber (Westmeath) - Posts: 543 - 15/11/2017 18:06:05    2062538

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I'm going to say something controversial here.

The GAA does a lot right when it comes to PR.

There are people on here absolutely hate the Provincial championships but they are still a phenomenal marketing tool in my opinion.

The number of casual fans a Provincial championship game can get in is very impressive.

People I work with never been part of GAA clubs beyond their teens who will always go to their counties Provincial championship games.

They'd be soccer and horse racing mad these guys, but they'll go to the Wicklow, Kildare, Louth games.

These are them getting interested in 1st and 2nd round matches which are marketed as Provincial quarterfinals and semifinals. It really does add a bit of a buzz to these games beforehand even when the result is predictable.

I laugh when guys on here talk about only 45k at the Munster hurling final. In most sporting events that's a good crowd. The national stadium for soccer and rugby is 50-55k capacity.

Take into account the population of Cork and Waterford combined is about 170k. The GAA is doing a hell of a lot right. It's got a penetration that other sports could only dream of.

I think we as an association have a bit of an inferiority complex at times over how good our games are. There's a level of negativity that pervades the commentary of our sport that exists less in the likes of rugby or athletics. Where their participants are heroes. Always glorious in defeat.

You take our pundits they make personal attacks on players, utterly lambast teams and question their commitment. It really annoys me that so called GAA people are so extreme in their criticism at times. I'm not really sure what control over that the association has.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 2129 - 15/11/2017 19:20:48    2062552

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Replying To Whammo86:  "I'm going to say something controversial here.

The GAA does a lot right when it comes to PR.

There are people on here absolutely hate the Provincial championships but they are still a phenomenal marketing tool in my opinion.

The number of casual fans a Provincial championship game can get in is very impressive.

People I work with never been part of GAA clubs beyond their teens who will always go to their counties Provincial championship games.

They'd be soccer and horse racing mad these guys, but they'll go to the Wicklow, Kildare, Louth games.

These are them getting interested in 1st and 2nd round matches which are marketed as Provincial quarterfinals and semifinals. It really does add a bit of a buzz to these games beforehand even when the result is predictable.

I laugh when guys on here talk about only 45k at the Munster hurling final. In most sporting events that's a good crowd. The national stadium for soccer and rugby is 50-55k capacity.

Take into account the population of Cork and Waterford combined is about 170k. The GAA is doing a hell of a lot right. It's got a penetration that other sports could only dream of.

I think we as an association have a bit of an inferiority complex at times over how good our games are. There's a level of negativity that pervades the commentary of our sport that exists less in the likes of rugby or athletics. Where their participants are heroes. Always glorious in defeat.

You take our pundits they make personal attacks on players, utterly lambast teams and question their commitment. It really annoys me that so called GAA people are so extreme in their criticism at times. I'm not really sure what control over that the association has."
Very good points Whammo. The GAA has had to battle against snobbery from the outset. For this reason it can be annoying to listen to so many of our GAA tv. pundits being so negative about our games. They have an unique opportunity to promote our games; their comments are the ones that will will grab the media headlines and have the potential to attract people to watch the games or, indeed, get involved in them. Their negative comments, seized on hungrily by many media outlets, of course has the opposite effect. I think it has to be said that the present Dublin football team, because of their success and the style of football they play are doing a huge amount to make Gaelic football fashionable in the capital (I still hope to see them beaten this year). The days when Gaelic footballers and supporters were mocked and jeered at as 'jaa men' are hopefully gone.

neverright (Roscommon) - Posts: 1362 - 15/11/2017 19:51:17    2062558

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Replying To woops:  "Dont think the GAA overly need PR.
GAA is embedded in nearly every parish in the country.
For me growing up I would have looked at a sliotar and a rugby ball in the same way as I would have looked at a spaceship, something strange and out of the ordinary. But an O Neills, well that was as common as grass!"
For me growing up I would have looked at a sliotar and a rugby ball in the same way as I would have looked at a spaceship

Fecking South Kerry ;D

TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 3995 - 15/11/2017 20:14:42    2062562

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