So 7,552 in the Athletic Grounds (thanks for the info Hoganstand) and yet still no RTE live score updates. What makes that all so ridiculous is that last night RTE provided live score updates on a match in Scotland, Inverness Caledonian Thistle v St Johnstone which had an attendance of 3,161. Bizarre.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 21/01/2015 20:23:53    1685308

Ormo
When the top sides face off in November/June Ireland/England/New Zealand etc field as strong a side as possible
The last time New Zealand played Ireland in an Autumn test they made 7 changes from the team that played the previous week against England, 2 of them were injury related. Australias coach spoke at length about using all their Autumn international games this year as an opportunity to experiment with his team selections, tactics etc. It is completely incorrect to say that the strongest sides are selected, if they were there would not be such a marked difference between Autumn international results and results in world cups, when all teams take the games seriously. They are a chance to experiment and gain experience for emerging players in the top sides, though obviously with win bonuses at stake every plater tries to win each time they take the field.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 21/01/2015 20:52:11    1685324

Ormond
When the top sides face off in November/June Ireland/England/New Zealand etc field as strong a side as possibl
21/01/2015 20:52:11 Soma
The last time New Zealand played Ireland in an Autumn test they made 7 changes from the team that played the previous week against England, 2 of them were injury related. Australias coach spoke at length about using all their Autumn international games this year as an opportunity to experiment with his team selections, tactics etc. It is completely incorrect to say that the strongest sides are selected, if they were there would not be such a marked difference between Autumn international results and results in world cups, when all teams take the games seriously. They are a chance to experiment and gain experience for emerging players in the top sides, though obviously with win bonuses at stake every plater tries to win each time they take the field.
When Ireland last played New Zealand in a November test it was New Zealands 7th game in 9 weeks and 14th game of the year so of course they wouldn't have had everybody playing in completely first choice but they were as strong as possible
The strongest sides possible are picked. The games are most certainly taken seriously. If they weren't crowds wouldn't turn up like they do.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 22/01/2015 13:22:28    1685451

To be honest the coverage of GAA is atrocious on the radio. Especially when you listen to the likes of spin1038 and there so called 'football' updates on the premier league every five minutes. It seems like soccer dominates the media in this country all year around whether it be internet, papers or radio. I have no problem with reports on rugby such as Leinster etc, why? Cause Leinster is actually in Ireland. What drives me mad is when during the week we are given constant updates on premier league players and then on Saturdays, detailed reports on all games 24/7 and often then results on English championship and league one games.

PoppinPoints (Meath) - Posts: 225 - 22/01/2015 13:33:26    1685456

21/01/2015 19:48:24
ormondbannerman
County: Clare
Posts: 9111

The November and summer tests played by international rugby sides are very different to the January competitions played by inter county hurling and gaelic football sides. When the top sides face off in November/June Ireland/England/New Zealand etc field as strong a side as possible. Do counties do the same in Gaelic or Hurling? The November and summer tests are the only games Irelands rugby side play in the year outside of the 6 nations and every 4 years the world cup. For counties in hurling/gaelic these games are behind the all Ireland/provincial championships as well as the ;league. to say they are the same is ridiculous

Comprehension wouldn't be your strong point then. I've not mentioned anywhere that one is important and one is not - I am merely pointing out that both the autumn internationals in rugby and the provincial competitions serve their own purposes and are important in their own right. No need to assume that every post on here is a dig at rugby.

As someone else has already said though, the argument that the rugby sides play as strong a team as possible in the autumn games doesn't hold up. Australia's bench was clearly stronger than their back row starting against Ireland last autumn, Ireland obviously rested a lot of players against Georgia, England used a lot of different players to try to figure out how they're going to play the game next year etc. Gatland is already talking about not showing a full hand against England in the 6 Nations so as not to give too much away before the RWC next year - does that devalue the 6 Nations too? Your arguments don't stack up.

jason (Mayo) - Posts: 139 - 22/01/2015 13:36:53    1685459

21/01/2015 20:52:11 Soma
The last time New Zealand played Ireland in an Autumn test they made 7 changes from the team that played the previous week against England, 2 of them were injury related. Australias coach spoke at length about using all their Autumn international games this year as an opportunity to experiment with his team selections, tactics etc. It is completely incorrect to say that the strongest sides are selected, if they were there would not be such a marked difference between Autumn international results and results in world cups, when all teams take the games seriously. They are a chance to experiment and gain experience for emerging players in the top sides, though obviously with win bonuses at stake every plater tries to win each time they take the field. The last time New Zealand played Ireland was the final game of a 14 game year. They were playing their 5th game in 6 weeks so of course there would have been some rotation. The strongest sides possible are selected. The games are taken seriously
22/01/2015 13:36:53 jason
Comprehension wouldn't be your strong point then. I've not mentioned anywhere that one is important and one is not - I am merely pointing out that both the autumn internationals in rugby and the provincial competitions serve their own purposes and are important in their own right. No need to assume that every post on here is a dig at rugby.
As someone else has already said though, the argument that the rugby sides play as strong a team as possible in the autumn games doesn't hold up. Australia's bench was clearly stronger than their back row starting against Ireland last autumn, Ireland obviously rested a lot of players against Georgia, England used a lot of different players to try to figure out how they're going to play the game next year etc. Gatland is already talking about not showing a full hand against England in the 6 Nations so as not to give too much away before the RWC next year - does that devalue the 6 Nations too? Your arguments don't stack up. The autumn internationals are dismissed as friendlies etc here yet have full strength or damn close to full strength sides while the January GAA games are in actual competitions but generally are nowhere close to full strength sides.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 22/01/2015 13:52:46    1685470

ormondbannerman

The autumn internationals are dismissed as friendlies etc here yet have full strength or damn close to full strength sides while the January GAA games are in actual competitions but generally are nowhere close to full strength sides.

Not sure why you're quoting me before that comment, I'm not dismissing the autumn internationals as friendlies at all.

I'm merely taking issue with you dismissing the January GAA games as being worth less than the autumn internationals, when in actual fact they are designed to do the exact same thing, i.e. prepare teams for bigger days. I do acknowledge that there's less experimentation in the rugby games than in the GAA games, but I would argue that a lot of that is to do with the greater emphasis in rugby on set pieces (scrums and line outs in particular) requiring more cohesion amongst regulars, for which the autumn internationals are a useful get-together.

Nobody is crying about losing a GAA game in January, but then again you try walking into the Waterford dressing room this week, or the Leitrim dressing room last year, and tell those lads the games are only friendlies.

jason (Mayo) - Posts: 139 - 22/01/2015 16:09:21    1685547

Poppinpoints,

Totally agree with you. The fact that "Burnley have just scored against Swansea" or whatever is totally irrelevant to me & indeed to most soccer fans in Ireland who only really care about Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Chelsea, yet we're bombarded with this stuff. I know there might be the odd Irish lad playing for these teams but give me a frickin' break!

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 22/01/2015 17:01:01    1685575

All the newspapers are carrying the story so isn't it odd given RTE's saturation coverage of rugby union that RTE Sport seems to have completely missed the fact that a court case involving a senior member of the Irish International team took place yesterday in Dublin. I'm sure it's an oversight that will be corrected as soon as possible given that there are currently 5 rugby union stories in the RTE top 20. Bias? What bias?

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 22/01/2015 19:36:46    1685636

seems tony ward shares the opinion

"Call me a cynic but what I see piling through the turnstiles in good times I suspect will not be replicated going forward. Already Munster folk - the so-called 'brave and faithful' or '16th man' - have been voting with their feet by way of their absence from what they perceive as run-of-the-mill Guinness Pro 12 fixtures.
They may well be the holders of season tickets and therefore feel themselves to be doing their bit when fuelling Munster rugby's spectator attendance returns, sadly they are anything but. Loyal support is unconditional and is even more relevant in bad times than good.
Provincial or club rugby - I still find it really hard to get my head around that term in a professional context - is what Railway Cup football and hurling once was. It is however built on a very fickle base. Take away success and I have my doubts this king has any clothes. It is for that reason more than any I am hugely concerned for Munster rugby going forward."

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 24/01/2015 09:30:00    1685997

Despite (or in spite of) the national side, the Irish provinces could be headed for some lean pickings in the future of the Champions Cup where the top French & English clubs look set to dominate. The Pro 12 is generally undermined by poor Italian, Scottish & Welsh sides who've make no impact on the European stage so potentially the provincial rugby following in Ireland has already peaked.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 24/01/2015 20:02:04    1686086

Brilliant article from Journalist Roy Curtis in the Sunday world today. I would recommend anybody to read it. He backs up this threads point about the lack of GAA coverage in the media. He gives one example on a radio station where the news that Dublin and Kildare will be all tickets was the last update but yet the first sports update was, wait for it.....an update from the Ghana and Senegal Africans cup of Nations tie. So what country do we live in again lads? I hate the way there is such a lack of GAA coverage in this country despite Football and Hurling being the two most played sports. If this keeps up, playing numbers will seriously drop in the future due to there being so little coverage by the media.

PoppinPoints (Meath) - Posts: 225 - 25/01/2015 12:07:39    1686176

I have to agree. I think that even if its subconscious, that this is what people like Ryle Nugent want. Rugby can only gain in popularity by keeping gaa out of the spotlight. It is for that reason that I no longer give any support to eggball. Also, I think it is high time the debate on the daft decision to give a leg up to gaa most dangerous rival, by giving them our stadia for use in world cup is reopened.

sceptical (Cavan) - Posts: 544 - 25/01/2015 13:12:27    1686192

Sceptical,

What's done is done - it WAS the right thing to do at the time. Imagine the utter contempt non-GAA people would have for the GAA if those games had to be played abroad. Let's move forward & improve our games & lobby for fairer media coverage in our own country.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 25/01/2015 17:17:37    1686240

In a Sunday Indo article today soccer columnist Richard Sadlier describes his experience of soccer violence at Millwalll in the following way 'I knew what was happening was pretty shameful ....This was Millwall after all, not the GAA.' Leaving aside the childish jibe at the GAA it's a statement which will leave anyone who knows anything at all about soccer violence scratching their head. For over 100 years Millwall supporters have been among the most violent in all of Europe. Their ground has been closed 5 times as a result of violent incidents such as attacks on opposition supporters and players, referees, general rioting including a famous attack on a policeman (with a concrete block) while he was giving CPR to an already injured colleague. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands, yes thousands of other examples as Eamon Dunphy outlined in his book. So in one sense Richard Sadlier is correct because this (the above) is indeed Millwall and it is most definitely not the GAA. People in glasshouses.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 25/01/2015 18:37:29    1686260

Over 10000 at o byrne final and although goals from west ham game, all tries and a Zebo interview after munster win in a comp their already dumped out of, a tennis comp with no Irish involved there was nothing except a final score from newbridge. I for one think that this is wrong. Roll on a total sky coverage of gaa in Ireland leave eggball to west brit rte.

sceptical (Cavan) - Posts: 544 - 25/01/2015 18:41:45    1686263

Lads be grateful for small mercies. If the national broadcaster put GAA on the same news bulletins as rugby you could end up with the rugby heads going along to GAA matches. Can you imagine settling in to watch a match and some fella like Ormo in beside you talking about the stock exchange or the price of a barrel of oil? Sure your head would be wrecked.

mike03 (Limerick) - Posts: 2000 - 25/01/2015 19:06:00    1686279

O'Byrne Cup Final was on Radio 1.

Mediaman, what does an article about soccer violence in The Sunday Independent have to do with GAA coverage on RTE? .

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8176 - 25/01/2015 19:56:47    1686306

There are only 56 adult rugby clubs in the country

There are more basketball, handball, hockey, cricket clubs

The level of coverage does not reflect the reach of the sport

valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1905 - 25/01/2015 20:25:51    1686320

the GAA isn't doing enough itself to publicize our games, County boards probably need help from HQ in setting up user friendly sites and having updates and tables on competitions like the Hastings cup etc. If we don't push our games others will be happy to ignore us

lillyboy (Kildare) - Posts: 429 - 25/01/2015 20:32:56    1686327