Ormy is the gospel for all things egg chasing on this site

mike03 (Limerick) - Posts: 2000 - 12/04/2014 21:37:29    1574344

Any practical suggestion on how to further promote hurling in the West.

Dromard (Limerick) - Posts: 3 - 12/04/2014 21:56:39    1574347

Mike,
you're on the money for me re rugby in Limerick,i think soccer is the most played sport in the city but hurling is there too we just need more especially from the old christians claughaun and st pats clubs..I can't speak for west Limerick but would love to see more inter county hurlers come from there.

someday (Limerick) - Posts: 1104 - 13/04/2014 10:55:07    1574363

if ye think the hurling situation in west limerick is bad, it is nothing in comparison to west clare. there is absolutely no hurling in west clare - bar one terrible junior b team who often cant field a team.

hurlingexpert (Clare) - Posts: 1941 - 13/04/2014 11:10:37    1574366

Hurling Expert
You could say there was never hurling in West Clare. However the towns like Newcastle West, Rathkeale and Drum were all once strong hurling towns but are now senior football clubs. Parishes which in the past produced fine hurlers like Coolcappagh (Tim Larkin), Ardagh (Jack Beth Enright and Paul O'Connor), Shanagolden (Tommy Moroney), Askeaton (Paddy Fitgerald) etc are all now football teams first. The fact is low land West Limerick was mainly hurling country for much of the last century and is now almost a hurling wasteland

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4340 - 13/04/2014 11:46:37    1574374

As usual, the vast majority of "hurling people" use a thread like this to have a pop at football when, in reality, this is not the problem. Junior soccer is a much bigger factor: there are 42 teams participating in the Desmond league, over 4 divisions. Similarly in the city, junior soccer is king in terms of numbers participating. Now, if we were able to provide a well-organised structure with regular games for all our hurlers AND footballers, both codes might be in a much healthier state.

football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 13/04/2014 12:22:38    1574379

Spot on football first. We've had threads on the Limerick site about how "sad" is was that some West Limerick clubs who were traditionally hurling are now becoming predominately football and that more money should be given to the hurlers over the footballers etc.

What's the problem with West Limerick being predominately football? Lots of counties have football and hurling only areas. As long as the clubs are staying alive and promoting gaelic games, be it football or hurling, surely that is the most important thing??

county man (Limerick) - Posts: 1102 - 13/04/2014 15:02:35    1574405

I agree on certain points with the two previous contributors. However interest in Gaelic games does fall away if one or other of the two sides do not achieve major success and that can only be to the benefit of other sports.

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4340 - 13/04/2014 15:59:54    1574432

Should also point out that most money in GAA in lk comes from hurling ( even money invested in f ball) be carefull what ye wish for lads

disillusiondfan (Limerick) - Posts: 4279 - 13/04/2014 16:40:02    1574470

Most money in Limerick GAA comes from JP McManus...

county man (Limerick) - Posts: 1102 - 13/04/2014 16:56:53    1574487

12/04/2014 14:38:59
Hoover78
In fairness they are making giant strides at under age level re hurling in the West of Limerick.
The biggest enemy to Limerick hurling and football is rugby. You really have to see the numbers of kids that play rugby in Limerick city to believe it.
Galway, Clare, Tipp and Kilkenny don't have that issue.
Huge work is being done at underage level, we have some awesome minors this year that will go on to be very good seniors in my view and in truth the senior team are not that bad at all. Personally i think we are one or two players away from being an excellent side and those players will be seen next year for my money, notably the very talented Ronan and Cian Lynch. Galway has other issues as its a city. There's more and more playing other sports like rugby in Tipperary.
Ye are doing huge work at underage. Hard to say on minor-senior progression but there is plenty of talent in Limerick set up at moment

12/04/2014 15:36:09
Liamwalkinstown
there are pockets of hurling in west limerick in Knockaderry, Monagea, Glantine but on the whole, the larger areas are all football. Newcastle, Rathkeale, Abbeyfeale, Foynes, Athea..the massive St Kierans area
its mad when you hear people say its a hurling county, its actually not really
the city is rugby and soccer, the large West of the county is football, and the much smaller east and south of the county are hurling. And at that large areas of the south are football ala Galtee Gaels etc
To be honest, considering how small the hurlign areas in Limerick actually are, they punch way above their weight to be fair to them and they are a disaster at football considering how good they could.should be
But regardless, Rugby is kicking both their arses at the moment in the city and county and they need to do something to stop that Rugby is going ok but isn't kicking arses as much as it had been, senior clubs are struggling in terms of winning trophies and not winning as much as they had been and

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 13/04/2014 17:57:01    1574523

12/04/2014 16:51:45
mike03
To the fella who said Limerick is rugby mad, you need to rephrase. The city is Munster rugby mad. The vast majority of people from Limerick who watch Munster don't even know where their nearest AIL ground is and would just as quickly stop going to matches as they did start going. People seem to forget that up to 2000 Munster got about 3 or 4000 to Heineken cup matches. Going to Munster matches is a relatively new thing and is more a social thing than an actual sporting thing.
A match between Shannon and Munsters would barely get 1000 people so hardly a sign of a rugby mad city.... Limerick is rugby mad. Having played for a club in the city and played most of my rugby since I turned 18(now 23) I know for a fact the city is rugby mad.
Majority of tickets for Munster matches come from clubs, who sell them to members and tickets from clubs go to those actively involved in clubs..
Munster up to 2000 were getting 6000-8000 at least and this was at a time when the AIL was bigger than the provincial set up and there was no celtic league..
Munster games not really just a social thing. If it was the marketing around games would be very different..
12/04/2014 17:40:59
Hoover78
Mike you obviously never went to Thomond Park, Tom Clifford Park, Garryowen or Rosbrien much when the AIL was in its pomp. Thomond Park would be full to its capacity for many of the local derbies as would the other smaller grounds in town. Limerick is rugby mad, you obviously don't get to see it. I personally support all Limerick teams not just the GAA and i speak as a Shannon fan who attended Thomond Park for many of those games. +1.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 13/04/2014 18:09:05    1574535

I agree county man and his GAA sporting interest is in hurling. Have county board accounts if u wanna deny the obvious go right ahead but most money comes into lk GAA because of hurling. That includes money spent on promoting football which is fine by me just think u guys should take care not to bite the hand that feeds.

disillusiondfan (Limerick) - Posts: 4279 - 13/04/2014 18:16:22    1574538

Ormy there wasn't even close to. 6000-8000 at any munster game pre 2000. They played their first even Heineken cup match in Thomond on a Wednesday afternoon there was so little interest in Munster rugby at the time. There was no more than 3000 at that match either regardless of what any website would have you believe. I went in about 5 mins before the start and you could stand wherever you wanted on the popular side

mike03 (Limerick) - Posts: 2000 - 13/04/2014 19:14:36    1574580

13/04/2014 19:14:36
mike03
Ormy there wasn't even close to. 6000-8000 at any munster game pre 2000. They played their first even Heineken cup match in Thomond on a Wednesday afternoon there was so little interest in Munster rugby at the time. There was no more than 3000 at that match either regardless of what any website would have you believe. I went in about 5 mins before the start and you could stand wherever you wanted on the popular side Try not troll with my name.
Check munster website for attendances... No reason for them to adapt from truth attendances to games from nearly 20 years ago..

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 13/04/2014 19:20:44    1574590

Disillusioned, you've (as usual) turned this into a football v hurling debate. Read my post earlier again: both hurling AND football can be strong in Limerick. My preference is for football, but I'm equally involved coaching in the hurling side of my (dual) club. We will only reach our full potential in limerick when we promote both codes (for males and females) equally. After all, that is the essence of what being in the GAA should mean.

football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 13/04/2014 19:33:15    1574599

Football First
I agree that both codes should be nouroshed but there are 5 clubs in Limerick who make no entry of any team whatsoever in Hurling, which is hardly promoting both codes

Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4340 - 13/04/2014 20:18:03    1574614

Football first as usual u r letting ur football shoulder chip decide direction of this debate. The thread speaks about the demise or poor state of hurling in west limerick and you and countyman are saying it is fine for football to pros per at hurlings expense. I am saying it is not. THAT is what is being discussed here. I didnt start it n I'm not turning it into anything.

As for the promotion of both codes equally? We have discussed this before. Cork n Dublin are competitive in hurlin n football but there isn't anything like equal promotion in Dublin football is far more popular. In cork hurling is more popular. Galway is possibly the only county where both are promoted equally.

Now you want us to be only the second county in Ireland to promote both codes equally???? You want this despite the fact that v v few can be bothered to go to club or county football matches. Are u for real? If u strip everything away u are actually trying to force football on a county that ( BASED ON NUMBERS attending games) doesn't want football. It is hard enough to promote a game as popular as hurling. U want to give equal status to a game ppl don't want. That would only further damage GAA in the county. Ppl won't follow what they not interested in. U or others trying to force it on them won't change it.

Now if u want reply fine but please stick to the point with no personal attacks

disillusiondfan (Limerick) - Posts: 4279 - 14/04/2014 08:15:39    1574705

A big setback for the developement of underage hurling in West Limerick has been the decision not to allow an allmalgamated West Limerick team enter the Harty cup. Why would you lads ever want to play a game where they can't really test themselves against the best that's around the Munster region. IMO amalgamted teams are no different to Ard Scoil Ris as they have players not only from different clubs/parishes but also different counties.

BigMack (Cork) - Posts: 182 - 14/04/2014 08:48:24    1574721

Your name is too long so I'm sticking with Ormy. The Munster website has a habit of having double or triple vision. Last year it said there was 18,000 at one of the league games against one of the Italian teams. This was despite there not being a single person behind either posts. Not one. And both stands only 50% full.

I was at that Heineken cup match on the Wednesday afternoon so can state for a fact that I walked in 5 mins before kick off and got a place in the middle of the popular side without any problem. At most, there was 3000 at it. At most. Munster rugby in Limerick is a relatively new past time and social event.

A certain phrase comes to mind when people try to say Munster rugby was a big thing before 2000: Lies, damn lies and statistics!!

mike03 (Limerick) - Posts: 2000 - 14/04/2014 09:29:48    1574733