Liam I understand why you might think this as it is possibly the case in your immediate surrounds but I dont think it is true at all. If this was the case then a champions league final with a premier league team in it would be the most watched sports show on Irish tv. However this is never the case - the All-Ireland finals, semi-finals and Ireland at international soccer tournaments are almost always the most watched. Irish people have a love of sports and will watch many sports - in the winter this is premiership soccer and rugby as it is the only sport on tv, in summer it will be GAA. However many, many more people are watching the GAA than premiership soccer across the country, though the opposite is probably true in some pockets like where you live.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 24/04/2014 14:57:39    1579495

Liam, a lot of that "interest" is manufactured. And RTE with its endless and banal coverage of EPL is one of prime manufacturers.

It is interesting that Sky is having the same impact on the rest of the country as BBC had on the east coast in the late 60s and early 70s. GAA, with exception of Wexford, was under huge pressure in those years and in Dublin had it not been for the Heffo team it might never have recovered to where it is today. Biggest losers, however were the LOI which saw its attendances fall to a few hundred from big crowds that used go in the 60s.

Seems to me that Sky is having similar impact on rest of country except perhaps even worse because it is more pervasive.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 24/04/2014 15:01:52    1579498

Liamwalkinstown
County: Dublin
Posts: 5488

1579486
The core general point here is this

Irish people IN GENERAL care more about premiership soccer than they do about the GAA.

this may be scandalous, and we may not like it, but essentially, its true.
More people out there care what happens to a premiership manager than care what happens an inter county manager

And essentially, thats the bottom line when it comes to reporting these things.

Sad, but true.

I agree with you. You have hit the nail in the head.

To those that are worried about it, I don't think there is any shame. It would probably be scandalous if the interest in the premiership was not number 1 from soccer's point of view. The Premier League/Sky Sports/UEFA/Manchester Utd et al are massive global brands that are trying incredibly hard with massive funds behind them to capture the minds of people. The GAA is still in theory an indigenous amateur game (I stress - in theory) that does astonishingly well to be able to compete with international games and competitions with its, relatively speaking, limited resources. We should be very very proud of that.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 24/04/2014 15:14:49    1579503

Sorry lads, but anyone who thinks the general population of Ireland would be more interested in the sacking of a GAA manager, any GAA manager then they would in the sacking of Moyes, Rogers, Wenger, Jose etc is just delusional
Sorry lads.

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 24/04/2014 15:24:54    1579508

24/04/2014 11:34:55 hill16no1man
ormond I was not picking any one person out when writing that post. you may have your opinion similar but there is another 7 or 8 posters also along them lines. so no I wasnt having a dig at you. yes they are huge for the simple wrong reasons of their past dominance of terror towards most countries. the british empire used terror and violance to take over most countries therefore gained the wealth and standing
that has allowed them so much influence in this present day.
America used violance and slavery of africa to gain also aswell as flexing its military power
but both run the worlds media today. therefore the icons and images are self created and imposed on the rest of the world
as they have the platform to do so.They are controlling what news is allowed become world news and dictating
them stories to make sure its the angle they want people to believe.
lastly "I ment claim to live in the present" it was a typo. They are huge because of their empirical past rightfully or wrongfully. Not going to go into rights/wrongs of violence(sic). Both British and American media are the main players in media as they are the centres of mos icons and they were such powers. They as countries in this modern era with social media cant control what is allowed to be headline news stuff. Hill with this level of thinking you should join all the mad conspiracy theorists.
24/04/2014 11:41:27 hill16no1man
on the worldwide stage that may be true but the rte news is not a worldwide news station. its the irish national news station and however much it bugs you the gaa is not just a pastime. its actually the biggest sport in Ireland. therefore jim gavin or mickey harte has more standing along sports news in Ireland then david moyes as both jim gavin and mickey harte are managers based in Ireland and are part of the biggest sport in Ireland. The house of commons is bigger on the world stage then the dail im sure you agree but do rte cover the news from the house of commons every day as their main politics news?answer is no they cover the dail as its the irish national news and the dail is the house of the irish governmentIt is still relevant on the local scale of Ireland.
It doesn't bug me at all. But GAA is a pastime and gaelic football being the largest sporting organisation doesn't change the fact that all the players, coaches and virtually all admin staff are volunteers and competing/taking part for their love of the sport and their income is not totally and completely determined by their role in GAA.
Soccer is huge in Ireland at all levels, and Manchester United are still the most followed club in the country and so David Moyes getting sacked less than 1 season into a 5 season contract when he was the chosen successor of their greatest manager ever it is monstrous news.
Bringing in house of commons is nonsensical argument. You cannot compare Manchester united being discussed on news to the dail/commons as they are totally different arguments

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 24/04/2014 15:35:54    1579512

24/04/2014 11:46:16 hill16no1man
so you believe gaa is not a sport because none of the players or managers get paid is that what your saying? That's not what I said at all.

24/04/2014 11:59:16 hill16no1man
that is spoken by someone with a serious inferiority complex.
and your contradicting yourself by saying
why would people follow something only played in Ireland
yet you are trumping the same IRISH peoples decision to watch something only played in ENGLAND
the premier league is not played outside england you do realize this?
so what if england is a bigger country what has that got to do with anything?
china is a bigger country then england should the english not be following everything in china by your thinking
you follow the rabo league yet the english rugby league is bigger why dont you follow it?
even better why do you follow the AIL league sure thats only played in ireland isnt it?Haha you hypocrite if I suffer from an inferiority complex then look in the mirror as you do too.
English people don't follow hurling/gaelic as they never expanded and looked to totally expand it beyond the irish community. If they had would it not be played by a much more significant proportion of people worldwide considering the levels of irish people who've emigrated over the decades.
Bringing in china in the way you have shows you are talking out of your ****.
Size of England has everything to do with this argument. Simple geographic closeness is part of reason why china desnt have the cultural affect on Ireland that England/Britain has.
Bringing AIL into argument... that is part of a pyramid of irish rugby that begins with underage rugby, up to senior club then provinces and then the national team.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 24/04/2014 15:42:24    1579520

24/04/2014 12:18:03 Liamwalkinstown
Hill, Sorry man but I have to disagree with you on a few things.
For sheer popularity, playing numbers and just basic general interest in Ireland, GAA is not the No.1 sport, Soccer is, and thats just a simple fact. You know this, we all know this, even if we dont like it. Soccer is more popular with the man on the street than GAA is, it just is.Jim Gavin losing his job or Mickey Hart would not be anywhere near as big a story in Ireland as Moyes simply because, outside of Dublin hardly anyone would care about Jim losing his job and similarly outside of Tyrone hardly anyone would care about Mickey losing his, bar the die hard fans like those of us on Hoganstand, But the general man and woman on the street....wouldnt care less.
Moyes losing his job is a global story and thats just a simple fact
It might not be idea Hill, but its just the simple truth, and I think to be fair you would agree with this?
Thats why its such a big story. But Hill wont see that. will he?
24/04/2014 13:05:30 hill16no1man
liamo globally yes I have stated that numerous times but we are talking about ireland here. rte is the irish national news not a world news station therefore it has an obligation to report irish news would you not agree english soccer is not irish national news. you state soccers poularity again you are referring to english soccer not irish soccer. I again point out to you the house of commons is globally a bigger interest then the dail but do rte cover the house of commons as its main political news every day?
no again is the answer as they cover the dail as it is irish poilitcs the same should apply regarding sporthill you are coming across very as so bigoted and prejudiced.
RTE exists to serve all the public. RTÉ is "owned" by the public in the sense that its only purpose is to make and broadcast programmes which satisfy the audience
link
That clearly shows English soccer has every right to be covered as it serves the public who desire its coverage..
house of commons compared to English premiership is very different. Politics vs Sport and the goings-on of the house of commons is covered when the situations arise that through coverage of the house of commons satisfies the RTE audience

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 24/04/2014 15:53:56    1579527

Ormond
Not going to go into rights/wrongs of violence(sic).
Ormo if you are going to be all pompous and correct posters grammar it might be best for you to learn what the terms you are using actually mean. The use of (sic) there shows you up to both be self-righteous and completely ignorant of its meaning, though it was a bright spot that gave me a chuckle in an otherwise tedious post. I have little time for anyone who corrects grammar or spelling on discussion boards, but as this one was so delightfully amusing I couldn't help myself.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 24/04/2014 16:03:56    1579538

Ormond, dont use me as a stick to beat Hill with. I may not agree with him but ye seem to dislike each other and I am not taking sides here, I have no issue with Hill atall, I just disagree with him
Also Ormond, sorry to be a bit petty but could you not address peoples points without quoting back everything they said aswell in your own post? Its incredibly annoying.....
No offence like...!!

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 24/04/2014 16:05:38    1579539

We seem to have 'gone off message' here, no-one is doubting the popularity of the beautiful game in Ireland, it is grossly unfair to criticise anyone for taking an interest in the fortunes of a foreign football club, be they English, Scottish or Spanish. What is being questioned here is the fact that the national broadcaster deemed a football related story, based on an English league team, to be of sufficient NATIONAL importance that it should be the lead story on the flagship early evening news bulletin, my view is no, it is not sufficiently important to warrant that level of exposure and we should be asking RTE why that was indeed the case.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 24/04/2014 16:23:25    1579548

Over the last 15 years this country has seen a massive rise in the number of foreigners coming to live here, and the people who slag them off and say xenophobic things are the same people who cant speak Irish and who put Liverpool and United ahead of the Gaa without seeing the irony. That's what makes me laugh.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 24/04/2014 16:33:17    1579551

24/04/2014 16:03:56 Soma
Ormo if you are going to be all pompous and correct posters grammar it might be best for you to learn what the terms you are using actually mean. The use of (sic) there shows you up to both be self-righteous and completely ignorant of its meaning, though it was a bright spot that gave me a chuckle in an otherwise tedious post. I have little time for anyone who corrects grammar or spelling on discussion boards, but as this one was so delightfully amusing I couldn't help myself. the usage of sic was fine. Quite arrogant yes but usage is fine
I have little time for people who cant spell or know how to spell/call people by the right name but will deal with them as I must. most people here seem incapable of understanding that this poster(me) is not called ormo when in fact his name is Ormond.
24/04/2014 16:05:38
Liamwalkinstown
Ormond, dont use me as a stick to beat Hill with. I may not agree with him but ye seem to dislike each other and I am not taking sides here, I have no issue with Hill atall, I just disagree with him
Also Ormond, sorry to be a bit petty but could you not address peoples points without quoting back everything they said aswell in your own post? Its incredibly annoying.....
No offence like...!!I wasn't using you. Whats wrong with quoting posts? All forums allow that as it makes it easier to refer to exactly what somebody has said and exactly what points you are querying/debating. This forum isn't at the technological level where you can just quote a post so I copy and paste other users posts into mine so I can reply back

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 24/04/2014 17:02:36    1579568

joncarter

I'm the opposite jon, I have no problem with foreigners at all, infact I generally make a point of defending them when people complain about them "taking our job" or any other empty nonsense, but on the other hand I can't speak Irish and have zero interest in ever learning it.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 24/04/2014 17:03:15    1579569

is rtes coverage of man utd sacking the start of a revenge policy against gaa over sky deal?

Stmunnsriver (Wexford) - Posts: 2845 - 24/04/2014 17:21:07    1579580

brend I am blue in the face making that point. There are two different arguments here. One is regarding what rte describe as news, the other a xenophobic argument against interest in anything english. What is worse there are people taking arguments for the former and pretending it is supporting their point about the latter.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 24/04/2014 17:26:26    1579582

Ormond
the usage of sic was fine. Quite arrogant yes but usage is fine
Such consistency in being wrong Ormo, it is admirable. Firstly why do consider it necessary or appropriate to be arrogant on a discussion board, you are adding nothing to the debate by being so? And secondly, (sic) is used after an incorrectly spelt word, usually when quoting the original text. I presume you used it as the poster had incorrectly spelt the word 'violence' in his post, but your post spells 'violence' correctly and follows it with (sic). It is amazing how one small thing can so succintly sum you up - arrogant, self-righteous, completely wrong and, when pulled up on it, you continue to argue the point. I await your retort that a friend of your parents is an English teacher and she told you it was right.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 24/04/2014 17:26:31    1579583

Stmunnsriver

is rtes coverage of man utd sacking the start of a revenge policy against gaa over sky deal?

I doubt it, RTE were once again the big winners in the Gaa deal, TV3 on the other hand could well feel aggrieved.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 24/04/2014 17:30:30    1579587

David Who?

kikfada (Louth) - Posts: 2091 - 24/04/2014 17:50:02    1579605

Many Irish people have a preoccupation with English soccer which in itself is harmless. However, many devote so much energy to this cause that it prevents them from getting involved in a meaningful way with clubs or activities in their own locality. They often then conclude that they don't have time to help with teams their own kids are playing with. That's my main gripe with the whole racket.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 24/04/2014 20:20:36    1579669

If anyone really was interested, they'd look it up in the sports section. I don't think anyone in the whole country actually gives a toss, just some people think they do, some have quite convinced themselves they do, up in their barstools

flack (Dublin) - Posts: 1054 - 24/04/2014 21:38:46    1579708