If Irish people can follow English soccer teams they have no connection with (or an imaginery connection with) surely British people can follow GAA teams? A large proportion of people in Britain actually have Irish roots anyway so it is possible but it would require a lot of good marketing. "Fed up of diving? Then you'll love GAA!!!"

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 27/08/2013 14:20:48    1469302

keeper7

"Fed up of diving? Then you'll love GAA!!!"


Maybe 10 years ago that would work, diving is an important part Gaa these days.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 27/08/2013 14:32:51    1469317

You're right keeper. The attraction of the sports (apart from being enjoyable to watch on the whole) is the amateur ethos. People admire that. Lots of people are sick of professional team sports and there is a market there for it but rather than package deals to come over and watch a match, I think there is room there for the GAA to be played in Britain by British people whether they have Irish connections or not.

hurlinspuds (Cork) - Posts: 1494 - 27/08/2013 14:35:37    1469320

ormondbannerman
County: Clare
Posts: 5533

1/ Can I ask you why you think Gaelic games are so good?

2/ When you gave me your answer did you not think that other people might think like you, or are you different from everyone else?

3/ Or is it that you think Gaelic games are rubbish and people will not like them. So you give them absolutely no credit what so ever and have no faith in them?

An estimated 70 million people with Irish roots live across the globe with 36 mil in the USA and 15 mil in Britain alone. In Ireland currently there are approx 4.5 million people. By my reckoning with just people with Irish roots like myself you have over 3 times your catchment in Britain alone in comparison to the home country…… And wait for this 8 times that figure in the USA…. work it out my friend work it out. 

Now believe this or not but when I coached kids over here some Irish decent kids brought some of their English mates along and your not going to believe this but they thought Gaelic football was a great sport….. I'll leave it there for now.

Mancirish (UK) - Posts: 2200 - 27/08/2013 14:36:10    1469321

27/08/2013 14:20:48
keeper7
If Irish people can follow English soccer teams they have no connection with (or an imaginery connection with) surely British people can follow GAA teams? A large proportion of people in Britain actually have Irish roots anyway so it is possible but it would require a lot of good marketing. "Fed up of diving? Then you'll love GAA!!!"
soccer played here by huge number of people socially and with clubs etc.
There is also a considerable number of irish people playing soccer in Britain. What connection would british people have with GAA? I started following soccer and man utd when I was young because of likes of denis Irwin, roy keane etc.

27/08/2013 14:35:37
hurlinspuds
You're right keeper. The attraction of the sports (apart from being enjoyable to watch on the whole) is the amateur ethos. People admire that. Lots of people are sick of professional team sports and there is a market there for it but rather than package deals to come over and watch a match, I think there is room there for the GAA to be played in Britain by British people whether they have Irish connections or not. "lots of people are sick of professional team sports". not really? What market is there for people to play? Playing Numbers will not increase in anyway to a large number that will impact other sports

27/08/2013 14:36:10 Mancirish
1/ Can I ask you why you think Gaelic games are so good?
2/ When you gave me your answer did you not think that other people might think like you, or are you different from everyone else?
3/ Or is it that you think Gaelic games are rubbish and people will not like them. So you give them absolutely no credit what so ever and have no faith in them?
An estimated 70 million people with Irish roots live across the globe with 36 mil in the USA and 15 mil in Britain alone. In Ireland currently there are approx 4.5 million people. By my reckoning with just people with Irish roots like myself you have over 3 times your catchment in Britain alone in comparison to the home country…… And wait for this 8 times that figure in the USA…. work it out my friend work it out.
Hurling is great as it is such a high speed, high intensity highly skilful game.
No I do not think gaelic games are rubbish. Yes loads of people with irish roots are across the world. there would not be a market for anything in Britain as it would have been tried and done years ago if there was such a demand but there has not been the demand so why would you supply something with no demand. Simple economics 

Now believe this or not but when I coached kids over here some Irish decent kids brought some of their English mates along and your not going to believe this but they thought Gaelic football was a great sport….. I'll leave it there for now.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 27/08/2013 14:53:05    1469338

"I started following soccer and man utd when I was young because of likes of denis Irwin, roy keane etc."

How many Irish on the team now? Grow up & grow out of it, you're not a kid anymore. It's business & brand loyalty sustained by hype these days, just like One Direction.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 27/08/2013 15:40:00    1469399

ormondbannerman
County: Clare
Posts: 5533

So how have you come to the conclusion that the demand is not here in Britain and out of interest have you ever been to England or lived in it?

I am well into my 40's and I have lived in England all my life. During this time I remember black and white TV's and then the world suddenly brightened up with the birth of the coloured TV. We only had ITV then though along with BBC1 and 2. As time progressed a few more channels appeared and then came the explosion of Sky TV and hundreds of channels appeared in front of our eyes. Recently free view has appeared also but only very recently. How do you think all these channels survive?

I have not received a census or any literature from RTE nor any GAA outlets asking me would I be interested in watching GAA games or Irish TV. Can you tell me where you got your info from re there is no demand for the sports, I would be very interested to read it and add my views if at all possible….

I know loads of people who love the games here and would love to have access to the games as you do in Ireland. I know there is a massive market to be tapped into 15 mil minimum in fact and many more in the States. Now I am only talking about people like me at present, now imagine if the game took off here and heaven forbid English people think like you…. Wow what a great sport that is, I wouldn't mind watching that and giving it a go myself…..

Guess what? That's what happened to me when I watched it in Ireland….

You didn't answer question 2 by the way? :)

Mancirish (UK) - Posts: 2200 - 27/08/2013 16:07:48    1469439

for anyone who says that people with no Irish heritage would be interested in GAA is rubbish, you just have to Dulwich Harps and South East London and check out their teams, half the guys are mainly from African descent.My own club has a number of guys who play underage who have no irish connections. They play because they enjoy the game.
Fair play to Premier Sports/Setanta for shoing the games over here, but if the GAA were serious about attarcting a bigger market in the UK they need to get in talks with a larger broadcaster who have a larger audience. There are loads of people I talk to here who said they used to enjoy the GAA when the highlights were shown on Channel 4.

Rosineri1 (UK) - Posts: 2099 - 27/08/2013 16:32:36    1469462

Hopefully this is just a coincidence that this is coming up the week Antrim get to a hurling final...

Emailed Croke Park in 2005 asking them why do they not make hurling and football games available to the diaspora for free via Youtube and Bittorrent. Would cost them nothing to operate it, and they would have got plenty of free publicity at the time for being the first large sporting organisation to make positive use out of those methods.

Got no reply!! Don't think there are too many sports bodies doing that now (though I could be mistaken on that), I know soccer highlights still get pulled from Youtube every now and again.

I'd say that one of the major challenges in marketing hurling is that people can't see good games whenever they want. Can't understand HQ thinking to be honest, not hard to do (see YT link below). Another idea was to record a whole match from pitchside or the spectator's perspective (i.e in the Hill during the Dublin/Cork match a few weeks back), and whack that up for everyone to see. No commentary, just the noise of the ash, leather, and the crowd.

link

Benandonner (Antrim) - Posts: 459 - 27/08/2013 16:35:54    1469467

27/08/2013 16:07:48 Mancirish
ormondbannerman, So how have you come to the conclusion that the demand is not here in Britain and out of interest have you ever been to England or lived in it?
I am well into my 40's and I have lived in England all my life. During this time I remember black and white TV's and then the world suddenly brightened up with the birth of the coloured TV. We only had ITV then though along with BBC1 and 2. As time progressed a few more channels appeared and then came the explosion of Sky TV and hundreds of channels appeared in front of our eyes. Recently free view has appeared also but only very recently. How do you think all these channels survive?
I have not received a census or any literature from RTE nor any GAA outlets asking me would I be interested in watching GAA games or Irish TV. Can you tell me where you got your info from re there is no demand for the sports, I would be very interested to read it and add my views if at all possible….
I know loads of people who love the games here and would love to have access to the games as you do in Ireland. I know there is a massive market to be tapped into 15 mil minimum in fact and many more in the States. Now I am only talking about people like me at present, now imagine if the game took off here and heaven forbid English people think like you…. Wow what a great sport that is, I wouldn't mind watching that and giving it a go myself…..
Guess what? That's what happened to me when I watched it in Ireland….
You didn't answer question 2 by the way? :)
I have been to England plenty of times and also for a short period lived in South London as a kid.
I am going by that there would be no interest as the games have not taken up any real amount participation wise over the years. The numbers watching gaa games is also not that high.
15 million yeah right!!!
There is not enough of a market for games to be shown, enough interest in the GAA in the UK. If there was enough interest games would be shown on English tv to a wide market which will never happen.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 27/08/2013 17:25:20    1469525

27/08/2013 16:32:36
Rosineri1
for anyone who says that people with no Irish heritage would be interested in GAA is rubbish, you just have to Dulwich Harps and South East London and check out their teams, half the guys are mainly from African descent.My own club has a number of guys who play underage who have no irish connections. They play because they enjoy the game.
Fair play to Premier Sports/Setanta for shoing the games over here, but if the GAA were serious about attarcting a bigger market in the UK they need to get in talks with a larger broadcaster who have a larger audience. There are loads of people I talk to here who said they used to enjoy the GAA when the highlights were shown on Channel 4.
I didn't say people with no irish heritage wouldn't be interested in GAA. I said not enough would be.
What larger broadcaster would you have in mind to show hurling/football games? Channel 4/ITV/BBC don't show games to british people at large on their main channels as there isn't enough interest and they will cover sports where more people will watch.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 27/08/2013 17:30:46    1469531

Australian Rules football started in Victoria and has spread/is spreading to other parts of the country where other sports are significant competitors or preferred. The AFL also have significant challenges in promoting their games to the influx of emigrants that Australia needs and will continue to need. The AFL have also successfully exported their games to larger markets around the world with varying degrees of success.

American sports have traveled and there is an increasing and there I say huge following for NFL in London. There is even talk of a London based team taking a franchise (possibly Jacksonville but we are a bit of this).

Many 'global' sports started in the UK but are popular elsewhere.

All of the above comparisons are slightly spurious with the GAA. However, the fact is that sports can gain a foothold in terms of popularity in a country. It takes a lot of time but history shows that it can happen.

Slayer simply mentioned an idea. In theory it is possible. In practice, it is irrelevant as there is no will, it seems, at present from the GAA.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 27/08/2013 17:48:53    1469554

At the moment Channel 4's sports line up consists of such sports as Ironman, surfing yatching and sailing! Ok these are by no means shown at prime time by I too can remember the GAA round up that C4 used to shown on a Saturday morning in the early 90's, can only presume it got too expensive to air, but any exposure must be good and you cant tell me any neutral would prefer to watch yatching over GAA whatever their nationallity!

macattack (UK) - Posts: 584 - 28/08/2013 08:24:27    1469765

Slayer simply mentioned an idea. In theory it is possible. In practice, it is irrelevant as there is no will, it seems, at present from the GAA.

That's pretty much it Bennybunny.

Anyone who has been on a committee knows that ideas are discussed and the one thing you never do is take it personally. There was some good feedback on the thread which was good. Very often a voice in the opposite camp can make a huge amount of sense.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 28/08/2013 09:38:19    1469793

The be all and end all is financial viability. While it's a nice idea to showcase our games as best we can I don't think the GAA should be throwing money at something which would be a speculative venture at best. They'd be far better off in improving infrastructure and coaching at home in my opinion.

Slayer, I'm not aiming this at you personally but there definitely is that lapdog, inferior attitude among a lot of Irish people when it comes to our neighbours across the water. Some people constantly yearn for a pat on the head from them. e.g. this summer alone London GAA was featured on Sky Sports News. Yes it was nice for the London guys to get some exposure and recognition for their efforts but over here it was like, "Christ - the London lads have REALLY made it now! They've been on SSN!!"

If the GAA were to try it out I'd suggest just marketing and broadcasting the quarter-finals onwards to start with and see how it goes from there.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9785 - 28/08/2013 09:56:03    1469807

How about we market it to our own youngsters who are all running around in Liverpool,Man Utd and Celtic jerseys and slabbering about "we" as they talk about these English and Scottish clubs.That would be a better idea than trying to convince Brits to take an interest.I have nothing against soccer by the way,loved playing it when I was younger.Would rather see people support our own domestic soccer teams if they want to follow that sport.

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 28/08/2013 10:14:34    1469827

ormondbannerman
County: Clare
Posts: 5555

1469525
I have been to England plenty of times and also for a short period lived in South London as a kid.
I am going by that there would be no interest as the games have not taken up any real amount participation wise over the years. The numbers watching gaa games is also not that high.
15 million yeah right!!!
There is not enough of a market for games to be shown, enough interest in the GAA in the UK. If there was enough interest games would be shown on English tv to a wide market which will never happen.

......................................................

You must have lived in a part of London where there were either no Irish or very few, or maybe you just didn't mix with them, because I can assure you that in the Manchester Irish community where I come from GAA games are very well supported and generally well thought off. I also know that there are many GAA clubs in London who fly the GAA flag with great pride...it would seem to me you didn't get out very much when you were here...:)

Often when I'd go out to watch a game in the pubs and clubs in Manchester over the years you would often here people saying I wish I could watch this at home…. You'd bump into other people and they would be asking did you know a score in a game etc, why because we are given no access. People want it but it is not available....

Why don't you have a look at the Hoganstand link page to the clubs in the UK, you will see that there are loads of clubs playing and promoting the game. It would seem you are blowing a lot of hot air here Ormond…

Re the 15 million - Researches have estimated that between 20% and 25% of people currently living in Britian have Irish roots. 25% of 60mil = 15 million. Very difficult to put a definite figure on it but that is what the current estimation is. So YEAH RIGHT!!!!

That's a lot of people to tap into wouldn't you say.....

Mancirish (UK) - Posts: 2200 - 28/08/2013 15:39:54    1470224

seanie_boy
County: Tyrone
Posts: 2804
1469827
How about we market it to our own youngsters who are all running around in Liverpool,Man Utd and Celtic jerseys and slabbering about "we" as they talk about these English and Scottish clubs.That would be a better idea than trying to convince Brits to take an interest.I have nothing against soccer by the way,loved playing it when I was younger.Would rather see people support our own domestic soccer teams if they want to follow that sport.

.....................................................

Seanie boy, it is not a sin to like or play another sport…. If people want to get involved in other sports because Gaelic games just doesn't tick their box then let them get on with what they want to do. You can't force people to like it…. It is pushed at schools and from what I have seen it is on TV numerous times a week so it gets more than its fair share of promotions in Ireland… IF the kids don't play it is because they don't want to because they don't like it, not because they don't know about it……

It would seem you have a very narrow view of the 2 sports, but I don't think you are not on your own. I have noticed a lot of Irish people in Ireland are like you. Our friend from Clare would fit perfectly into the category also…. For the games to truly grow Slayer has got exactly the right attitude. Sell the sport and the great sports that they are to the rest of the world. You do both games a massive injustice if think people won't enjoy them and want to try them or watch them. Get them on TV promote the games well and I can assure you people will buy into them. I have done…. On that note my father had no interest in Gaelic football when I was a child. The funny thing is I have brought him round to my way of thinking and now he loves it….:)

If the product is good enough people will buy it, you guys really have so little faith in 2 of the most entertaining sports on this plant… I'll tell you what it baffles me…. It's almost like that playground scenario where you get a kid who says hey you can't play with my ball that's my ball…. I just don't get it…. Do you want the games to grow or not?

Mancirish (UK) - Posts: 2200 - 28/08/2013 15:43:39    1470234

The was an RTE1 radio interview recently about a highly successful Irish businessman who started off his entrepreneurial career by distributing video copies of the Sunday Game each week to the Irish pubs in London. Eventually RTE shut him down & he went into some other line of business.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 28/08/2013 16:31:18    1470304

Mancirish

Did you not hear me say I loved playing soccer? I think its a sad state of affairs that our own people fawn over English and Scottish soccer teams thats all.We have our own domestic leagues on this island so people should support those teams.Promoting and growing our games at home is a bigger priority in my opinion.

seanie_boy (Tyrone) - Posts: 4235 - 28/08/2013 17:36:14    1470386