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Wild Geese Hurling Trophy

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Leaving the logic of this fixture aside can anybody tell me how they actually decieded what counties would play in this?

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 2325 - 12/11/2018 19:10:44    2150844

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Replying To Bon:  "Leaving the logic of this fixture aside can anybody tell me how they actually decieded what counties would play in this?"
League and all Ireland champions from previous year I think

oneills09 (Wexford) - Posts: 130 - 12/11/2018 19:53:39    2150849

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Replying To Bon:  "Leaving the logic of this fixture aside can anybody tell me how they actually decieded what counties would play in this?"
2017 All Ireland Winners v 2018 League Winners?

katser (Galway) - Posts: 2573 - 12/11/2018 19:56:34    2150850

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Ah right, thanks.

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 2325 - 12/11/2018 20:42:55    2150860

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Odd that they couldn't find time in the calendar for Railway Cup but can find time for this and Boston games... Could not Leinster have played Connacht for the Railway Cup on Sunday?

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 13/11/2018 18:08:19    2150989

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Any idea of the attendance for the game in Sydney? I'd heard they expected 10,000, but it was hard to tell from the highlights

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 13/11/2018 20:26:55    2151011

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Nice treat for all the Irish in Australia. Good competitive match.

WoodlawnPat (Galway) - Posts: 288 - 13/11/2018 20:51:02    2151018

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Replying To Marlon_JD:  "Any idea of the attendance for the game in Sydney? I'd heard they expected 10,000, but it was hard to tell from the highlights"
I don't know the answer but I see that the capacity of the stadium (Spotless) is 24k. From what I saw it seemed to be about a quarter full so I'd say the attendance was something like 6k.

Presumably there's a lot of corporate sponsorship attached to this and that other GPA inspired thing in Boston. If it's not costing the GAA anything there's no harm in it.. it's a nice little junket for the teams concerned and more luck to them.

PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 2018 - 13/11/2018 20:58:03    2151021

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he attendance the past two years at Fenway Park has been jsut under 28k both years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenway_Hurling_Classic
Interesting point why are these not played as railway cup? The teams participating also have the advantage (if it can be seen as one) of resuming training earlier than those not participating.

TheDigger (USA) - Posts: 84 - 13/11/2018 21:42:50    2151034

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There is some truth in what Paul Coady said about this game. The GAA pay a lot of lip service about improving the game in weaker counties. But that is all it is and the focus is always on the top counties. Is it about improving the level for these counties or just keep them playing to seem inclusive? Keep the money coming maybe. Why could it not be the winners and runner ups in the McDonagh competition that do these exhibitions ? It would still be a good standard for the ozys.
Don't believe for a second that the GAA did not pump money into this adventure. Who paid for the player who were brought home early ? themselves ? their clubs? the county board?
There are more weaker counties in both codes that top counties. Do their representatives at congress etc. get bullied, don't care or are over awed when decisions are made that effect them ? Always a hard one to fathom.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 3046 - 13/11/2018 22:55:51    2151042

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Replying To bennybunny:  "Odd that they couldn't find time in the calendar for Railway Cup but can find time for this and Boston games... Could not Leinster have played Connacht for the Railway Cup on Sunday?"
Spot on boy, but the GAA clearly speak with forked tongue on these things. One of the best hurling matches I ever witnessed was a Connacht and Munster game down in Thurles. The GAA in recent years totally turned on it as a competition/exercise (affording PLAYERS a memorable chance to represent their province!) yet a year or two later support/finance a pointless jolly to the other end of the world.

Roll on the super 8's, tier 2 championship and anything that kills general inclusion and doesn't generate 'revenue'.

Passer_By (Carlow) - Posts: 534 - 14/11/2018 00:22:46    2151055

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Replying To bennybunny:  "Odd that they couldn't find time in the calendar for Railway Cup but can find time for this and Boston games... Could not Leinster have played Connacht for the Railway Cup on Sunday?"
The main issue with the Railway Cup is the lack of interest from the public. If there was enough demand, there would be a fixed spot in the calendar for it.
The fact is, you can have less people attending Railway Cup games than some Intermediate club games.
It comes from an era when people didn't see their players play as regularly and it had a certain prestige.
It just doesn't capture the imagination anymore. The club game has become much more high profile in this time, which I think is a very good development.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2321 - 14/11/2018 02:12:36    2151062

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "The main issue with the Railway Cup is the lack of interest from the public. If there was enough demand, there would be a fixed spot in the calendar for it.
The fact is, you can have less people attending Railway Cup games than some Intermediate club games.
It comes from an era when people didn't see their players play as regularly and it had a certain prestige.
It just doesn't capture the imagination anymore. The club game has become much more high profile in this time, which I think is a very good development."
Yes, but the PLAYERS as ameture participants were generally in favour of it, that should have taken priority to my mind. The top table continually bashing it finished it off.

There weren't too many watching it in Austraila as many have mentioned. Does anyone know how the pairing of Galway and Kilkenny was arrived at? That was one of the original questions.

Passer_By (Carlow) - Posts: 534 - 14/11/2018 09:50:01    2151089

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Replying To TheDigger:  "he attendance the past two years at Fenway Park has been jsut under 28k both years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenway_Hurling_Classic
Interesting point why are these not played as railway cup? The teams participating also have the advantage (if it can be seen as one) of resuming training earlier than those not participating."
The game in Fenway Park is farcical, if you're going to bring four teams out to Boston, at least have it on a proper pitch, and give the ex-pats a proper game of hurling to watch. At least the game in Oz was a proper game, and with no love lost between these two sides, there was always going to be a bit of an edge to it.

gilly1910 (Galway) - Posts: 181 - 14/11/2018 10:33:41    2151095

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The GAA have no interest in promoting competitions which don't bring in revenue, hence the lip service paid to the mcdonagh cup/Christy ring etc. That's the bottom line .

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 2325 - 14/11/2018 10:36:52    2151097

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Replying To Passer_By:  "Yes, but the PLAYERS as ameture participants were generally in favour of it, that should have taken priority to my mind. The top table continually bashing it finished it off.

There weren't too many watching it in Austraila as many have mentioned. Does anyone know how the pairing of Galway and Kilkenny was arrived at? That was one of the original questions."
I'd have to disagree. A lot of top players didn't make themselves available for it, and the fact that they were playing in front of tiny crowds probably wasn't very appealing. For those with club commitments at that time, they were always going to take priority.
Given the existing struggle with club fixture scheduling, another 2 weekends taken from this wouldn't be ideal.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2321 - 14/11/2018 15:42:16    2151138

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "I'd have to disagree. A lot of top players didn't make themselves available for it, and the fact that they were playing in front of tiny crowds probably wasn't very appealing. For those with club commitments at that time, they were always going to take priority.
Given the existing struggle with club fixture scheduling, another 2 weekends taken from this wouldn't be ideal."
Re popularity with the players - Ask Joe Kernan about it and he'd have a different take on it to you. Ditto any of the Ulster players. It was a great opportunity for stand out players from less successful counties to gain some acclaim, when their lot is largely scraps from the top table.
Connacht didn't fulfill a football fixture one year from memory, which was more or less the justification the GAA top brass of the time were looking for, to get rid of it. I took no particular joy in seeing it lapse - alas.

Passer_By (Carlow) - Posts: 534 - 14/11/2018 18:57:13    2151156

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Replying To gilly1910:  "The game in Fenway Park is farcical, if you're going to bring four teams out to Boston, at least have it on a proper pitch, and give the ex-pats a proper game of hurling to watch. At least the game in Oz was a proper game, and with no love lost between these two sides, there was always going to be a bit of an edge to it."
The problem there is, there just aren't any stadiums in the region that have a GAA sized pitch. And the Fenway classic has been getting big crowds.
Playing with 11-a-side teams makes sense given the pitch dimension limitations, especially in Fenway.

But I agree with you re the goals only aspect; when you take away point scoring, you take away a large part of the game. And alot of Americans I know who are into hurling, are attracted to its high scoring nature, which you also lose when you make it goals only. I thought you could maybe have a restriction in this format (points can only be scored from within the layers own half etc).

All that said, the popularity of the Fenway classic has really surprised me, more so than any other attempt to expose hurling outside Ireland, so they must be doing something right. I'd still feel better with normal scoring at least, though.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 14/11/2018 19:32:19    2151158

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Replying To Passer_By:  "Re popularity with the players - Ask Joe Kernan about it and he'd have a different take on it to you. Ditto any of the Ulster players. It was a great opportunity for stand out players from less successful counties to gain some acclaim, when their lot is largely scraps from the top table.
Connacht didn't fulfill a football fixture one year from memory, which was more or less the justification the GAA top brass of the time were looking for, to get rid of it. I took no particular joy in seeing it lapse - alas."
I'm sure Joe Kernan would as a manager, and plenty players too. The facts are that many teams had 40+ of thier best players opt out regularly. Leinster played without any Dubs. Connacht often didn't have Galway or Mayo's best players. Likewise with Munster and Kerry's players. There were lads who weren't even making Kerry's team playing for Munster at times.
It loses almost any credibility when it gets to that stage.
In the hurling, we then basically had Galway playing another game or two after a very long season.
This combined with public apathy are the main reasons for its demise. Blaming the GAA is an easy answer.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2321 - 14/11/2018 20:30:29    2151162

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All these trips are reward to the top teams and players who are given high profile exposure with T.V. coverage. The great Joe Canning is a marquee player with Galway. However Paul Coady is a marquee player with Carlow and there are many more in other counties. He and they train as hard as Joe. However are they rewarded equally even allowing for the level of achievement when it comes to these perks. How many trips in total do you think Joe has got ? How many has Paul got? Nothing but respect for Joe but it illustrates how the GAA is run. Or more correctly been run out of control.
I am thinking there are some good administrators in the GAA hierarchy but I am sure that the real heroes are at grass roots level. Doing it for the love of the games. Witnessed plenty of this in my youth with kids been carried on bicycles or 12 packed in to the old Morris Minor to play or watch games. These people exist today and need to take back the association. They probable won't ( the hierarchy knows this) as they go quietly about doing their thing.
What could be done to lift the boats of these so called weaker counties ? (a terrible description anyway) . For every Munster Championship, Leinster Championship, All Ireland series shown on t.v. one from the J. McDonagh, Christy R. and L. Maher must be shown. Play their games before these top games with discounted tickets for those who come in on time.
Encourage those high profile managers/coaches who work for nothing (nod, nod,wink, wink,) to give some of their time to those other counties. There is plenty that could be done besides sending the elites around the world as their reward. This is where this topic began.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 3046 - 15/11/2018 16:56:56    2151247

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