I don't bet much on horses these days cued, but still have an interest. Most of betting is on pro team sports which is slightly more predictable!

The trouble with GAA betting is that apart from the serious end of the championships it is a bit of a lottery. You would want to be a bit mad to be betting on the leagues. Even the club competitions are really guess work all through, as there is not much of a basis for comparing say Kilmallock and Shamrocks, Vinnies and Corofin, or Slaughtneil and Stacks. Best avoided in my opinion.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 02/01/2015 12:44:06    1680162

I dont bet on team sports as there are far too many people involved that can change outcomes
plus you cannot determine form and devlopment in a team
the way you can with a horse and a jockey and a trainer.
most people who have no experience tend to bet on lottery races like grand nationals.
maiden hurdles and bumpers are the two best type of races to back in
as you can gauge the grounds and distance the horse requires and as they are young they improve race on race
so they will come on for the run each time, also the bookies tend to do very little research into the horse
and concentrate mainly their prices around the name of the trainers more than the profile of the horse.

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 02/01/2015 14:03:11    1680173

Agree hurling dub,GAA betting in the League is perilous.I do 90% of my betting on football.All the top leagues - Premier,Bundesliga,La Liga,Serie A,French,English Championship etc.I very rarely back any team to win.I bet on teams to score goals.Sometimes to score 1 goal (need approx 3 teams to score for an evens bet),others over 1,over 2 etc.Handicaps - 1,-2 etc.Im betting over 20 years now and for me this is the best way to make a profit.I only do evens money bets.But i put big money on most of my bets.Recording every bet is essential.I like to know exactly how much ive won or lost.Ive said ill knock it on the head if i lose 2 years in a row.Hasnt happened yet thank god.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 02/01/2015 16:38:18    1680190

Friday. 7pm. January 2nd. Less than 24 hours now to the start of another season of football and hurling. Lots of stories this week about retirements, new panels/new faces, hopes for the season ahead and interesting team selections for the first weekend of the competitive year. Some 20 matches spread across the entire country in all four provinces beginning tomorrow in Longford and Monaghan. It's the big annual throw-in. So you'd imagine the RTE Sport website would at least carry a preview or list the panels or even carry the team selections. well you'd imagine wrong. The entire start to the competitive year has been completely ignored by RTE Sport online. However RTE Sport does carry an extensive preview of this weekend's American Football Wild Card games complete with tables. A New Year in RTE but the same old thinking. Fill the RTE site with anything as long as it doesn't promote football or hurling.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 02/01/2015 19:27:41    1680208

02/01/2015 19:27:41 mediaman
Friday. 7pm. January 2nd. Less than 24 hours now to the start of another season of football and hurling. Lots of stories this week about retirements, new panels/new faces, hopes for the season ahead and interesting team selections for the first weekend of the competitive year. Some 20 matches spread across the entire country in all four provinces beginning tomorrow in Longford and Monaghan. It's the big annual throw-in. So you'd imagine the RTE Sport website would at least carry a preview or list the panels or even carry the team selections. well you'd imagine wrong. The entire start to the competitive year has been completely ignored by RTE Sport online. However RTE Sport does carry an extensive preview of this weekend's American Football Wild Card games complete with tables. A New Year in RTE but the same old thinking. Fill the RTE site with anything as long as it doesn't promote football or hurling.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Is their really going to be much interest in that now?
Majority of supporters wont care for these competitions and that can be seen by attendances in the main. RTE Sport will cover some of these games next week and there is 000s who care for the American Football which is at the tail end of its season unlike GAA

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 02/01/2015 20:16:28    1680214

The 'big' annual throw-in???? Cop on to yourself.

For someone who doesn't like RTE's sports coverage you seem to spend a lot of time listening to it!

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8168 - 02/01/2015 20:53:47    1680219

Hillman, I agree that concentrating on particular types of race is more sensible, but surely there are too many horses running for first time in maidens and bumpers? As casual observer, seems to me that market is usually a good guide to bumpers.

It is true regarding teams but in professional sports form tends to be consistent, and you can keep track of team changes. Key is to find value.

Cued, I mostly bet on soccer, rugby and NFL. Usually straight wins in soccer, and win or handicaps in rugby and NFL. One interesting bet in rugby today, which I will mention once I get a bet down :-)

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 03/01/2015 10:41:14    1680229

Interesting to note that while the RTE Sport website continues to ignore the opening weekend of the 2015 competitive year in football, the BBC Sport website is carrying a preview of the McKenna Cup fixtures focusing of course on the meeting of Armagh and Tyrone. While it's unlikely that the attendance will equal the 19,631 who turned up when these two last met in a McKenna Cup semi-final there will still be a great crowd in the Athletic Grounds. Again unlike RTE the BBC is carrying a match report of this afternoon's win for Monaghan. Even Sky Sports makes reference to the McGrath Cup. Isn't it a sad indictment of our national broadcaster that we have to turn to two foreign broadcasters to be kept up to date on our national sports (football/hurling). RTE does however have full details of today's Italian derby between Treviso and Zebre in Rugby Union. Obviously It's only the licence payers in Monaghan and Longford who don't deserve coverage.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 03/01/2015 16:52:12    1680272

Scarlets +4 to beat Ospreys. Was 4/7 earlier but has shortened due to Ospreys injury.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 03/01/2015 17:00:39    1680276

mediaman

It certainly is sad of RTE, the main sports item yesterday evening was a 35 year old leaving Liverpool - I'm sure it wow'ed someone.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4956 - 03/01/2015 17:07:53    1680277

Well done mediaman on highlighting how preposterous it all is - that a GAA fan would need to turn to Sky or BBC for coverage of our national games is just laughable.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 03/01/2015 17:22:44    1680280

6pm. Saturday. It's only 200 words but at least the RTE Sport website has finally acknowledged the existence of a new football season with a brief report on Monaghan's win over UUJ and an even briefer report on DCU's win over Longford. Now there are another 18 games tomorrow and (with no rugby on) surely we can expect regular score updates, a complete scoreboard and more match reports? Why not? What's sauce for the goose.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 03/01/2015 18:52:09    1680293

Ireland has changed a lot since the dancing at the crossroads days. Many nationalities with very varied interests in sports and other media coverage. Someone here said rugby is not being played by many adults these days, that is true. What they didn't state is that rugby is now being coached in primary schools in what were considered non-traditional rugby areas many which are in the GAA heartland. Rugby in Ireland started as a rich mans game but in many towns, Ballyhaunis my hometown, Ballinrobe, Gort, Loughrea, loads more have adult teams but there's rugby played in towns and schools which never had a club. That's because the IRFU have the foresight to try and establish the games amongst the youth but are well aware that, for most, the GAA and Rugby seasons dovetail with each other. For a while around the the they opened Croke Park to soccer and rugby the GAA basked in the glow of natinal popularity, but like with a lot of things failed to capitalise on this. How many GAA clubs do not publicise their Lotto, have pictures in the local paper before and after games and rely on this publicity/marketing to bring in some revenue. Pity that GAA nationally don't do that. It's a fair point that BBC NI have mentioned the McKenna Cup while RTE have little or no coverage of it.More to do with the PROs of respective Ulster counties maybe?

I still maintain that the coverage on media depends a lot on the PR people from the sports concerned. Rugby seem to be streets ahead of the GAA nationally in that regard. You can be certain the Connacht Rugby will milk every drop of feelgood factor from their victory over Munster. More publicity for rugby equals jersies sold and bums on seats which gives them a stronger hand looking for sponsors. How many county PROs would exploit a shock giant-killing victory for their county in one of this weekends games? A lot of comments here seem to be anti-Rugby, which I can understand. Hard for it to shake the D4 image and the image of D4 people being involved in the banking crisis might be prevalent.But maybe they should try seeing there's more to be gained by rugby players playing GAA in their off season and GAA players than seeing it as choosing one or the other. It's only my opinion, but if the national team and the provinces continue to do well if a talented kid has to choose between rugby and GAA then the professional game will win out. They should be let play both and any other sport they want. Surely in these days of playstation, internet, obesity and political correctness it's a great thing to see them have an interest in playing any sport, no matter what it is.

Mediaman. I hear you're a passionate GAA man, to be commended. But don't give yourself an ulcer fretting if RTE don't give GAA enough coverage. Just enjoy the sport and other sports too. Maybe we could start an e-mail, tweeting and texting campaign to RTE radio and TV each time games come up that they don't mention. I'm serious about that. I've often text in to Newstalk and fairly often they'll read them out.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8168 - 03/01/2015 21:11:36    1680314

Green and Red, what has "dancing at the crossroads" to do with anything? Are you implying that we should abandon our culture in order to suit people who have decided to come here? If I moved to their country I would expect to have to adopt myself to them, not vice versa. Besides, we would only be a suburb of England had the GAA and Irish language and political activists asserted our distinctiveness a hundred years ago.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 03/01/2015 21:44:48    1680319

GreenAndRed

I think you make some good points. Your post is well written for the most part.

Like you, I am not too worried about what RTE show or do not GAA. There are many media outlets that give me and many others their fill of GAA. You can understand though why many people are annoyed when RTE's only news story is why some south Tipp match is abandoned or when they are looking for footage to talk about Henry Shefflin (the greatest player in the association history) prior to an All-Ireland final they show him shouldering a Limerick player? Like you I am not bothered whether they show games or not but there is no need to be so negative when they do.

I am not sure what you mean by 'dancing at the crossroads' though or what that has anything to do with this argument. 'Dancing at the crossroads' and other phrases such as 'parish-pump -' (fill in blank) were coined by certain revisionist strands of Irish society to disparage others. Their use serve no purpose only to portray social snobbery. I am sure though that is not your intention here.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 04/01/2015 10:46:27    1680327

Hurlingdub. It's possible to be pro GAA while liking other sports and it doesn't mean you're abandoning your culture. There are are a growing number of non-native people and their children getting involved in GAA. My wife if is Filippina, loves going to Mayo matches, when she's let and in 2013 we brought our daughter to the Tyrone match in Croke Park. My hometown has had kids of Pakistani origins playing football in hurling for more than 20 years while there is still an active soccer, rugbyy and a cricket club. I lived in the US in 2011 and 2012 and was in no way did I adapt to their cultural (or lack of them) ways. I hung out the Tricolour for St. Patrick's Day and the Mayo flag for Championship games, got some funny looks from the Yanks, but there was more curiosity than anything and I was proud to show them hurling and football clips from YouTube. I wasn't being disrepectful to them. At the same time I watched a few NFL games on the Telly, some basketball which bored me to tears, hockey and tried to figure out baseball.

Dancing at the crossroads was associated with a De Valera speech, not sure if he wrote it. Ironically it turns out Dev was a bit of a rugby fan. Is it not a kind of snobbery if your pro one sport and anti most other sports? I think we can learn from other sports and also get more supporters and players into GAA which historically like other sports. Spot on, let them into integrate to the Irish and GAA way of life but we might sample some some Indian food and German beer and be repectful of their culture too.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8168 - 04/01/2015 12:51:39    1680341

only issue most people have greenandred is people want gaa to be treated fairly by rte and not show major preference to 1 sport which is a lot less popular

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 04/01/2015 14:19:00    1680351

Green and Red,in regards American sports,for such a great,powerful nation,they have some of the worst sports going.Baseball has to be the most mind numbingly boring waste of a game ever invented.Basketball is not much better.And NFL is barely watchable.And thats just the Super Bowl.We are blessed with our games this side of the pond.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 04/01/2015 15:20:47    1680356

Over 8000 at tyrone armagh game. A so called meaningless game! Over 3000 at derry donegal. Only 7000 at munster connacht last week. It was deemed important enough for ramming down our throats by rte regardless of the fact that both sides left out international players reinforcing the fact that the pro 12 is a micky mouse competition not taken seriously enough to play full teams in. Lets see if rte devote same time to covering the games today.

sceptical (Cavan) - Posts: 544 - 04/01/2015 15:49:40    1680366

Lads,why the daily comments about RTEs lack of GAA coverage?Some posters,ridiculously,even count the amount of rugby or GAA posts on its website each day.We all know RTE covers a lot of rugby,due to the powers that be in Montrose having a rugby bias.Hasnt it always been this way?It seems to really upset and annoy a lot of posters here.Although i would like more GAA coverage ,unfortunately i cannot see it changing anytime soon,but there are plenty other means of getting our daily GAA fix.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 04/01/2015 16:07:58    1680372