4pm Sunday - Games all over for today but no use going to the RTE Aertel Sports pages for National Football League results because while the fixtures are listed there are no results not even the results of last night's two matches. If however you want all the results + scorers of the English FA Cup for the entire weekend they are all on RTE Aertel and if you also want all the results + scorers of the weekend Pro 12 Rugby Union games you'll find them all on Aertel including live score updates on a Pro 12 match between a team from Wales and a team from Scotland.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 31/01/2016 16:02:20    1820864

30,107 - the attendance at last night's NFL Division 1 match in Croke Park. 14.495 - the total attendance at the 4 Rugby Union Pro 12 matches this weekend involving Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts:280 - 31/01/2016 10:23:58 1820771

Madman - your skills know no bounds - first a stopwatch, now a calculator! Where would we be without you!

jimski (Kildare) - Posts: 381 - 31/01/2016 17:40:53    1820922

Great to see that the average championship attendance for 2015 was 19,211 which now moves us up into 12th place in the world average attendances just ahead of Major League Soccer in the United States. Of course it's also the No.1 average for any Irish sport. Good news.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 02/02/2016 20:46:17    1821759

The total number of professional rugby clubs in the six nations is 58. That's including div two in France and England some of which are mickymouse outfits with average attendances of about 1000. Welsh Italian and Scottish teams are a joke in 'Europe'. Even in ireland about 30000 people MAX regularly attend rugby. YET for the next four weeks we will be bombarded with rubbish about the six nations and it's importance. We have a great sport in gaelic football that even when ignored by Ryle and the blazers and savaged by the media brings in over 100000 fans every league weekend while rugbytv ignores it.

sceptical (Cavan) - Posts: 544 - 02/02/2016 21:49:16    1821780

Going to put sceptical usual anti rugby hatred and bias in bold with my (totally unbiased!!) response below
We have a great sport in gaelic football that even when ignored by Ryle and the blazers
- obviously my watching of last years championship on tv must have been a figment of my imagination

and savaged by the media brings in over 100000 fans every league weekend
- can you give a breakdown please, While the attendances are excellent i didnt know they were that good, i think dublin 31k, cork/mayo 5k, ros v mon 3, and 5k ish donegal. And around 5k ish at tyrone v cavan, that would leave the other 11 games needing an average of around 4500 each, from listening the radio the div 4 games didnt appear to get that, i was at limerick v tipp -there wasnt 4500 at it.

some of which are mickymouse outfits with average attendances of about 1000.
- The irony of your comment is that unless you played at elite level that you are describing yourself as being mickeymouse and indeed the vast majority of gaa clubs, administrators and players who never played at elite level (including me) as being mickeymouse. There are county teams in div 3 and 4 and at ring meagher rackard level who often play in front of crowd of about 1000, would you call them mickeymouse outfits- would you make suck a post on their forums-i certainly would not.

Welsh Italian and Scottish teams are a joke in 'Europe'.
- there are plenty of counties who have similar lack of success levels to those teams, i hope in the interest of consistency you go on to these counties forums and call them a joke and see what reaction you get, lower level pro12 and gaa team are slogging their nuts off in training and preparation and i think it is very insulting the refer to them as a joke,

Even in ireland about 30000 people MAX regularly attend rugby.
- A conservative estimate would be munster around 9k average, leinster and ulster around the 12k mark connacht around 5k . that makes it closer to 35k add in the couple of hundred souls who go to each AIL game, support a junior club etc

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 03/02/2016 09:50:02    1821803

munster hurling alone last year averaged around 29k which would put it in around 6th - gaa attendances are exception bear in mind the small population. we do be harsh on attendances because they are down from the heyday of the nineties ( i remember 18k at limerick v clare nhl game) but still they are amazing --but it does not give anybody the right to mock other sports and their enthusiasts

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 03/02/2016 09:56:49    1821805

The total number of professional rugby clubs in the six nations is 58. That's including div two in France and England some of which are mickymouse outfits with average attendances of about 1000. Welsh Italian and Scottish teams are a joke in 'Europe'. Even in ireland about 30000 people MAX regularly attend rugby. YET for the next four weeks we will be bombarded with rubbish about the six nations and it's importance. We have a great sport in gaelic football that even when ignored by Ryle and the blazers and savaged by the media brings in over 100000 fans every league weekend while rugbytv ignores it.

sceptical (Cavan) - Posts:360 - 02/02/2016 21:49:16 1821780

Ah Sceptical! At least when Madman spouts statistics he has checked them out with stopwatches and calculators - you are just throwing out figures with nothing to back them up which janesboro has pointed out. Indeed your hatred for rugby and your dismissal of lower level players in all sports is particularly sad.

jimski (Kildare) - Posts: 381 - 03/02/2016 10:06:03    1821808

Regardless of who may be right or wrong, I'm embarrassed for the lads mocking mediaman in this thread.

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12476 - 03/02/2016 12:20:14    1821860

Embarrassed but certainly not surprised Breff!

The egg chasers continue to circle their wagons!

Fair play mediaman keep up the good work.

bumpernut (Antrim) - Posts: 1852 - 03/02/2016 12:53:40    1821878

Why are you embarassed Breffni? No doubt he raises some good points about RTE and the media being more favourable to rugby than GAA sports. But if it bothers him so much he'd try and do something about it. Fair play to Soma who did complain to RTE and got a reply from them admitting they were wrong. If Mediaman thinks it's such a big issue there's a Broadcasting Authority he can complain to about fairness in coverage -
http://www.bai.ie/index.php/code-of-fairness-objectivity-and-impartiality-in-news-and-current-affairs/

Allegedly Mediaman is on Twitter. He could use social media to raise this issue that, allegedly, troubles him so much. I say allegedly because, for a GAA man from Dublin, although it says Antrim here, he shows little or no knowledge of GAA sports or indeed any sports. So for me he's trolling or possibly another poster here being more vocal with his/her opinion that GAA is the only sport Irish people should be involved in and other sports are to be frowned upon.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8189 - 03/02/2016 13:12:47    1821886

Janesboro nothing I said was incorrect and maybe that's why it annoyed you. A number of facts for you. I have the upmost respect for small gaa clubs and counties who struggle on without success. Comparing them to professional rugby teams is simply idiocy. I don't hate rugby in fact I watch quite a bit of it. What I hate is the propaganda style rubbish we have to endure about it. A good example is the coverage of women's rugby. This sport is played by less women than play football in cavan! If rte really cared about promoting female sport why do they ignore the sport played by the vast majority of female sports participants.

sceptical (Cavan) - Posts: 544 - 03/02/2016 19:51:46    1822046

I think we're probably looking for something to complain about here lads.

RTE show about 40 live matches a year.

They dedicate 2 hours per match.

They have another 90 minute highlights programme for the 18 or so week that the championship is on.

I think they generally have another 30 minute or so magazine show on a weekly basis.

You're getting at least 115 hours of coverage there. How many hours in the year are given to sport? In some of the more desirable tv spots too. Over 20 minutes a day, who cares if it's getting a bit less recognition on the 6.01 every night. That barely makes a difference in the grand scheme of things. How many hours in the year are given to sport? Gaelic games deserve to be taking up a sizeable chunk of that time given the interest in the sport, but it doesn't feel to me that we're being short-changed.

The GAA is well attended even at this time of year but TV scheduling is not decided upon on a week by week basis. Yes we're a little starved of it at this time of year on TV but come the height of the season when the important matches are being decided we'll be bombarded by it.

Also in the times we live in the news is losing its importance by the day. We've the internet and a sizeable chunk of the RTE sports website is devoted to Gaelic Games.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4611 - 03/02/2016 20:26:20    1822053

Sceptical Janesboro nothing I said was incorrect and maybe that's why it annoyed you.
Ok thenplease provide a breakdown of the following
-NFL games from last week that make up the 100k attendance figure - you claim 100k per week go to league games
-the 30k Max figure you claim regularly watch rugby(as per previous post i make it out to be more)
-- Please give a breakdown of the 58 pro rugby clubs you that are in the 6 nations - i make it out to be 66
(12 pro 12, 24 english premierhip and championship, France has 14 in top 14 and 16 in pro2)

Please advise how you are of the view the rte or rugbytv ignores gaelic football - when it shows live matches every championship weekend. -if it ignored football when surely they would not show it

I don't hate rugby in fact I watch quite a bit of it.
Then why do you question the integrity of lower level teams and resort to insulting them
Why do you use the term eggball snobs in your description of rugby in the thread below

http://m.hoganstand.com/forum/Details/89582?County=National&PageNumber=82&TopicID=89582

SCeptial -you say you dont hate rugby -then why did you make the following comments on the threads below

http://www.hoganstand.com/Forum/MessagePage.aspx?TopicID=95354&Latest=1

No way. Don't care if rugby were to die out because of the rule. Go ask a rugby club president permission to extend their pitch with space for gaa see where you would get.sceptical (Cavan) - Posts:361 - 15/11/2015 20:43:13   1

to which i responded -maybe they will get a response like this 
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/london-gaa-to-play-2016-league-games-at-london-irish-base-1.2179566
as the president is quoted as saying "It is important to acknowledge that there is a close bond and friendship between the London Irish Rugby Club and the GAA in London."
 
Earlier in this thread you posted
It's a sport played by expats and those privileged enough to avail of a university education.sceptical (Cavan) - Posts:361 - 20/09/2015 20:52:23   1789788

How true - i mean you never see any GAA players "priviliged" enough to go university or 3rd level- obviously the fitzgibbon and sigerson cup are a figment of our collective imaginations Obviously the New york and london teams have no irish expats and are made up of new yorkers and cockneys respectively

anyway back to GAA matter coz this is a GAA forum not a rugby haters forum - was glad to have got the draw v tipp - showed good resolve in second half- need to beat longford sunday- best of luck to na piarsaigh on saturday hope ye do it

Just to put that 2015 Championship attendance figure of 19,211 into perspective we need to compare it to the other two most popular field games in Ireland. Difficult to be exact for the League of Ireland soccer competitions but an average match attendance of between 1,800 and 2,000 seems about right. Impossible to get any accurate figures for domestic Rugby Union competitions such as the AIL or Bateman Cup but there are figures for the European Champions Cup. The average attendance for 2014-2015 the last full year of that European wide competition show the average attendance to be 14,710 which makes that 19,211 look all the more impressive. The population of France, Britain, Italy and Ireland, those involved in the Rugby Union Champions Cup, amounts to 197 million. Our potential football and hurling audience is 5 million so our average is nothing short of amazing.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 03/02/2016 21:53:18    1822087

Mediaman, I've had a read through here and the work you've done has been great. I do agree and believe there is an inexplicable favoring of some sports over others. You've been collecting your data for over a year I believe, and if the aim is to show a difference in the approach of the media to the sports in my view that has been done. My question is what next? If you've collected all this just for the sake of shouting from the rafters its a bit futile and as other posters pointed out there will be substantial coverage of the intercounty championships come the summer.

Is the intention to continue trying to prove what you have already demonstrated? Maybe with the swathe of info you have, now would be the time to present on a forum other than hoganstand or present your findings to RTE as we're in danger of going into a circular argument here because depending on your preference for any sport you'll be on one side of the fence or other and the people you have made the accusation against aren't involved in this discussion.

Just curious.

duckula20 (Antrim) - Posts: 175 - 04/02/2016 09:13:38    1822100

MEdiaman Our potential football and hurling audience is 5 million so our average is nothing short of amazing.

Absolutely , at 2015 - u21 hurling Limk v Tipp got 4k v tipp , 14k ish v clare (both wednesday nights) , 8 k for semi finals and around 20k for final - thats pretty amazing with the exception of college sports in america - Limk minors v cork got aroun 4k ish - and probably other counties get similar great support at underage level (im just more familiar with my own) -- bar college US sports (who have populations) i dont know of any underage sport that can get such crowd - even compares well against world cup under 20 soccer.

As i have said before i think its baffling that RTE are considered as being rugby biased over Gaa -live sport is where its at for me - they show championship hurling and football (all the marquee games) --sunday game, thank gaa its friday, league sunday, all stars presentation , live championship draw , -they dont show rugby world cup, european rugby, pro12, super rugby, any draws or award ceremonies, and in few years time they wont be showing 6 nations - if rte was that rugby biased they would show these events and outbid their competitors in order to do so. --and if you dont like the rugby soccer or any other sport they show - then dont watch it

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 04/02/2016 10:25:29    1822115

Latest figures for our National Broadcaster's flagship TV News and Sport programme - the 6.01 News and Sport for January.

Frequency for the 31 days of January.
1. Soccer - featured on 29 of the 31 programmes (94%)
2. Rugby Union - featured on 26 of the 31 programmes (84%)
3. Gaelic Games - featured on 15 of the 31 programmes (48%)

Number 1 in the Running Order for the 31 days of January.
1. Rugby Union - First on 11 of the 31 programmes (35%)
2. Soccer - First on 10 of the 31 programmes (32%)
3. Gaelic Games - First on 3 of the 31 programmes (10%)
4=. Horse Racing and Golf - First on 2 of 31 (6% each)
6=. Athletics, Showjumping and Tennis - First on 1 of 31 (3% each)

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 04/02/2016 21:10:20    1822410

Madman you should make your services available to RTE for the next few weeks with the election on - checking the time allocated to each political party on RTE would be right up your street.

jimski (Kildare) - Posts: 381 - 04/02/2016 21:57:30    1822425

Mediaman you have done huge work collecting stats re six one news and it appears on the programme rugby and soccer get more coverage. (i am not saying the overall coverage is biased) but maybe more canbe done

A big part of the reason is that rugby and soccer get more coverage is because Nearly every week there is a rugby media day be it at provincial or national sides. GAA cant do this as people have to work. Soccer has midweek games nearly every week. Again due to work GAA cant do this. Stuff like media bans dont help either.

So the GAA need to come up with some ideas of their own in order to get GAA on the news. Im sure the GAA has a media department. Some ideas (they may be rubbish but hey worth a shot)

--Press releases with good news stories, look at my club at your club -plenty of them there
e.g. how gaa is helping kids stay fit, the excellent facilities, funding announcements.
--GAA send their own reporters and cameras to events i.e. media days and send them to all the tv stations.
--Maybe do a midweek highlights show (possibly focussing on games not covered by Sunday Game, Ladies football, camogie, underage) -from sunday to saturday there aint any live games to report or talk about. Maybe a second captains style GAA show. If need be GAA could commission it . HAve a referee on it to explain decisions.
Yes it would cost money but it would expose more people /kids to GAA.
--Some sort of kids TV programme with a GAA theme.

So here is an idea for you (this idea could be rubbish) -- IF you havent already done so send your stats to the GAA, send them each update you do. Maybe then let us know what response GAA gives you. And put it too them that the GAA can do some more to promote the games. There are loads of other ideas - maybe other posters will have better promotional ideas than mine that can be put to the GAA. Worth a try I think -certainly better than the anti rugby guff that some posters are putting up

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 05/02/2016 11:56:38    1822518