I don't want to drag this down into a rugby/gaa debate, but compare the media reaction to the borefest in twickenham (two scores from play in 80minutes, both resulting from errors, basically zero attacking play), it was called 'epic', etc. Any Gaelic match played even half as negatively (eg Tyrone, Donegal matches!) has the know alls wailing in the street

flack (Dublin) - Posts: 1054 - 01/03/2014 14:07:28    1552736

I'd have to agree with jimbo's post, it's pretty much as simple as that!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8744 - 01/03/2014 14:08:43    1552739

The only problem with hurling is that Kilkennys utter dominance over the last decade has made the championship stale and predictable. The 2009 hurling championship was considered a success solely by virtue of the fact that someone gave the cats a scare in the all Ireland final.

The debate over which sport is better was put to bed last summer. An open, competitive hurling championship captured the heart of the Irish public (Gaa and non-Gaa people alike )in a way that gaelic football has never done, the only problem is that open, competitive hurling championships have been few and far between of late.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 01/03/2014 15:56:56    1552768

joncarter
County: Galway
Posts: 946

1552768
The only problem with hurling is that Kilkennys utter dominance over the last decade has made the championship stale and predictable. The 2009 hurling championship was considered a success solely by virtue of the fact that someone gave the cats a scare in the all Ireland final.

The debate over which sport is better was put to bed last summer. An open, competitive hurling championship captured the heart of the Irish public (Gaa and non-Gaa people alike )in a way that gaelic football has never done, the only problem is that open, competitive hurling championships have been few and far between of late.

In what way did it capture the heart of the Irish public more than say the Dublin Kerry match or any other major sports event in the country in the last while.The vast majority of people in this country probably only watched about 2 or 3 hurling matches last year if even that.

The baloney above is very much like the "Rugby is the heartbeat of the nation" nonsense that was spouted a few years ago.

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 01/03/2014 18:17:23    1552811

"Football is the most popular and successful of the two codes. Football's superior attendances generate the income that funds development of hurling."

What utter rubbish. The Gaa earned more income from the hurling than the football last year and given that there are far fewer teams involved then that's a fair achievement. I would also argue that with the exception of KK all hurling counties are dual counties but the same cannot be said for a lot of football counties who invest little in hurling.

ZUL10 (Clare) - Posts: 708 - 01/03/2014 18:22:56    1552813

01/03/2014 13:10:17
hill16no1man
uibhfhaili1986, great post!
I feel the main reason rte adopts this attitude is because its head of sport is ryle nugent.
he is the rugby commentator for rte.
just look at the differance in the six nations pre match build up compared to a sunday game build up.
they come on the tv sometimes over an hour before ireland play
where as you get 15 mins sometimes for sunday game warm up.
its clear what his intentions are.
RTEs approach to sport is because of an overall analysis of whole situation.
6 Nations games are much bigger than most games sunday game covers...
Irish games are part of one of the biggest, by tv coverage/interest, competitions in Europe.
Majority of games on Sunday game get 20-25+ minutes pre match coverage

01/03/2014 14:07:28
flack
I don't want to drag this down into a rugby/gaa debate, but compare the media reaction to the borefest in twickenham (two scores from play in 80minutes, both resulting from errors, basically zero attacking play), it was called 'epic', etc. Any Gaelic match played even half as negatively (eg Tyrone, Donegal matches!) has the know alls wailing in the street That's the fault of the GAA analysts who look negatively. Rugby people look at positives and too many football/hurling analysts look too negative at games

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 01/03/2014 18:47:34    1552819

Chill uibhfhaili. take a breath.
I stand by every word I said.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 01/03/2014 18:49:30    1552820

ZUL10
County: Clare
Posts: 147

1552813
"Football is the most popular and successful of the two codes. Football's superior attendances generate the income that funds development of hurling."

What utter rubbish. The Gaa earned more income from the hurling than the football last year and given that there are far fewer teams involved then that's a fair achievement. I would also argue that with the exception of KK all hurling counties are dual counties but the same cannot be said for a lot of football counties who invest little in hurling.

There was replayed all ireland final last year and also remember that those figures only take intercounty matches played in Croke park,not the overall revenue generated in the GAA.

Last year was the first time ever that the GAA took in more money at Croke park from the hurling championship than the football championship.

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 01/03/2014 18:49:48    1552821

Gaelic football is the sporting equivalent of the hunger games.

Games are closer due to the fact it is easier to stop skilfull players as it is a slower paced game.

It is not as good as hurling but when played the right way it is watchable.

Hoover78 (Limerick) - Posts: 865 - 01/03/2014 19:03:16    1552826

Way too many football snobs on this page loving the chance to down hurling because it isnt the most plaeyd sport in the country. if yeer clubs gave a toss about it ye might have young fellas playing the game instead of growin up to be very small minded football only players. And if you look at the counties before you even read the comments you know its either goin to be on the fence(dual) compeltely against football(hurling mostly counties) and completely against hurling (mojority of the country football only) Hurling in my opinion is the only game that even comes near to gettin people from rugby and or other international sports to take a look at our games. Soccer followers will always play football as you use some of the same skills.
play your game and dont be downwing hurling.

Also the fella that said football pays for hurling would want his head examined. we never got a dime off our footballers and wouldnt expect it.

Fishermantom (Limerick) - Posts: 569 - 01/03/2014 19:28:17    1552831

Alot of this is just opinion so I would like to interject with one fact. Total Rugby programming on RTE TV since January 30th amounted to the astounding total of 45 hours and 55 minutes while the total GAA programming on RTE TV which consisted of the weekly League Sunday amounted to 5 hours including today.That is a ratio of almost 10:1.

mod (Mayo) - Posts: 859 - 02/03/2014 19:10:10    1553392

I think the question should be "Does gaelic football deserve the praise it gets?" Which is more correct.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4953 - 02/03/2014 19:20:49    1553400

mod
County: Mayo
Posts: 667

1553392
Alot of this is just opinion so I would like to interject with one fact. Total Rugby programming on RTE TV since January 30th amounted to the astounding total of 45 hours and 55 minutes while the total GAA programming on RTE TV which consisted of the weekly League Sunday amounted to 5 hours including today.That is a ratio of almost 10:1.

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You'd have to include TV3 and TG4 also to make a fair assessement. And the fact that the GAA championships dominate sporting coverage from May to September and obviously haven't startedyet . And compare in soccer coverage, which is overwhelmingly of foreign teams, unlike the GAA and rugby coverage

KeyserSoze (Cork) - Posts: 363 - 02/03/2014 19:39:44    1553422

RTE is funded from the public purse TV3 is not. TG4 unfortunately has a limited appeal to the majority of the population. Would you be happy to see the 6nations Rabo duirect Autumn Internationals etc etc consigned to TG4? Perhaps you might like to record the ratio of GAA to Rugby on those channels. There is alot of Rugby on TV4 too. But even the most committed rugby follower cannot surely stand over this level of bias. 46:5 for a sport that must rank about 4th in terms of support after football hurling and soccer.

mod (Mayo) - Posts: 859 - 02/03/2014 20:00:02    1553445

You seem to have no issue with the coverage that RTE, the station funded by the Irish license payer, gives to the coverage of British soccer busineseses which is telling in itself. RTE makes commercial decisions based on their budget and viewership demand, and this reflects itself in , amognst other things, covering Leinster rugby before they cover the other provinces and showing Man United and Arsenal before they will show an Irish soccer team. That's life. As I have said before, TG4 do an outstanding job. And in that 2 month window you pick out, TG4 has covered far more GAA than rugby though I don't care to go out counting hour ratios like you have done If people have trouble with the Irish language they can still watch the leagues, club championships, U21 championship, colleges, ladies football and camogies etc but just without the benefit of a commentary they can understand. And you are taking a picture of only the first 2 months of the calendar year when we all know that the biggest viewrship and biggest appeal is during the summer months when their is zero rugby coverage and there will limitless coverage of the soccer world cup.

KeyserSoze (Cork) - Posts: 363 - 02/03/2014 20:30:16    1553478

Your dead right mod, it's just an oldboys club

flack (Dublin) - Posts: 1054 - 02/03/2014 21:08:46    1553525

joncarter
The debate over which sport is better was put to bed last summer. An open, competitive hurling championship captured the heart of the Irish public (Gaa and non-Gaa people alike )in a way that gaelic football has never done, the only problem is that open, competitive hurling championships have been few and far between of late.

I have to say, I think that is a bit of a leap of faith. There was definately a novelty factor going on with the teams that were left in the competition, you cant claim it was all down to the hurling, it wasnt. And to say football never has done something similar is again, simply wrong. I think you are talking from your own persuasions and assuming that everyone feels the same way. Personally, I found the football more entertaining last year, but I am sensible enough to realise that this is my view, adn it might not be the same for everyone.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 02/03/2014 21:36:37    1553555

Rugby is an international sport. Gaelic football is not......... that is why rte give rugby such coverage and i for one love it as rugby is a great sport. some of ye are way too stereotypical gaa heads.

Fishermantom (Limerick) - Posts: 569 - 02/03/2014 21:37:21    1553556

02/03/2014 19:10:10
mod
Alot of this is just opinion so I would like to interject with one fact. Total Rugby programming on RTE TV since January 30th amounted to the astounding total of 45 hours and 55 minutes while the total GAA programming on RTE TV which consisted of the weekly League Sunday amounted to 5 hours including today.That is a ratio of almost 10:1.
The rugby RTE has been showing is primarily one of the biggest sporting events around, in the world. 6 Nations is covered in big way worldwide. And what would RTE be showing at this time of the year in hurling/football bearing in mind tg4/setanta have the rights to the league, club championships.
In the summer(May onwards) the ratio of hurling/gaelic to rugby is well more than 10:1

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 02/03/2014 21:54:24    1553584

It's all about viewership figures. That's why Setanta are showing all of Dublin's football home games live on the prime Saturday night spot and the other rights holder for the league, TG4, are showing all of Dublin's football away games live in the Sunday prime spot. Might explain too why neither are bothering showing the Dublin hurlers in their prime spots. And would people imagine that a league match between 2 counties, which would primarily be of interest only to people of those 2 counties, attract a higher viewership than a game involving an entire province, albeit in a different code. I am completely indifferent to Man United, Celtic and all the other British soccer clubs but I won't argue that they don't have significant followings which is why they attract high viewership though personally I'd prefer to watch reruns of Only Fools and Horses (or reruns of the Angelus, or Oireachtas Report, anything else) but I'll accept there are people who are different to me.

KeyserSoze (Cork) - Posts: 363 - 02/03/2014 21:57:28    1553588