Maximus Decimus
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Posts posted by Maximus Decimus
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17 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:
Attendance Watch Day 23:
32,021 - Spain v Netherlands, Wellington
43,217 - Japan v Sweden, Auckland
Total attendance: 1,606,863
Avg Attendance (58 games): 27,705
Australia strikes me as being quite like the UK when it comes to big sports events. People will attend anything if it's seen as a big event.
I've really noticed a difference in the UK this time around, to the point where it has been promoted much like a mens tournament. I was disappointed this morning to find it isn't like this in the and neither of this morning's games are on terrestrial. Turns out their channel SBS6 only took up some of the games.
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On 10/08/2023 at 22:33, EggFace said:
Never saw a Wallabies jersey in 1999/2000 in Sydney and they were world champions but maybe it's a British thing with Football tops.
Definitely.
When I think of my local area (Widnes/Liverpool), there is a lot more wrapped up in the simple buying of a football kit.
It is about a desire to be the first to have the new one, but also to show that you can afford to kit your kids out in the full kit lol. I'd also argue that people aren't very patriotic where I'm from, and the substitute for this is often their loyalty to Liverpool/Man U/Everton. You're just as likely to see a flagpole with a Liverpool flag up than a UK one.
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1 hour ago, EggFace said:
Must be a Soccer thing as you said when in Ireland and Australia you hardly see a GAA, AFL or Rugby apart from match day but comes to Football you see a Football top every day. Newcastle they wear them not only for the game but for the pub, club, shops and even meals out and I see more NBA tops then Falcons Rugby tops around me apart from the 6 Nations.
If I was the head of the other codes I be wanting market the games and merchandise to the max like Football, NFL and NBA.
A long time ago, I got in trouble with an Australian on this forum for saying I hadn't noticed many NRL jerseys when staying in the west of Sydney during the off-season.
My point was that we often hear that the NRL is like the Premier League over here and because of the shirts thing, it isn't.
Liverpool kits are like a uniform over here. I was boarding a plane to the IOM the other day and a guy had him and his 4 children decked out in the new green and white Liverpool away kit.
You do usually see quite a lot of GAA kits around, but it's nothing compared to the PL.
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On 08/08/2023 at 22:32, EggFace said:
I like diversity in sport but find Ireland over subscribed just like Australaia and Canada and fear for the likes like Hurling, CFL and even AFL and also Rugby League with the juggarnaut of what Soccer is doing ?
I don't think you need to worry too much about most of those.
The two I know best are Ireland and Australia and in both of those football is arguably the most popular sport already. It is almost certainly the case that if they transplanted a few Premier League clubs into those countries they'd be the biggest show in town by a mile. I've been in Ireland for the last week and haven't seen a GAA shirt that I can remember. I've already commented on the sheer number of Man Utd kits in comparison to previous years.
However, the reality is that their domestic leagues are third-rate at best which IMO will perennially prevent it challenging the more established local sports. They know with GAA, AFL, NRL etc that they are getting the absolute best there is.
I also have a not very well developed theory that in places where they are used to a more physical sport, that football as a sport compares less favourably. In countries like Aus, domestically it had an explosion and then very much plateaued and declined. I put this down to product itself not being that good, whereas the behemoth of the PL or international football doesn't need to be good to be appealing.
The problem is places where smaller sports compete with top-level football nearby, the most obvious example being RL in the North of England.
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On 06/08/2023 at 00:05, The Masked Poster said:
I've just spent a few days in Limerick. It's absolutely insane how the flags and banners are absolutely everywhere regarding the Hurling teams recent success. I don't just mean in big city centres but remote villages and everywhere in between. I'm not sure I've seen anything like it, even in football in England. It genuinely felt like everyone was on board (although obviously I didn't speak to every single person, I'm sure there are people not interested)
Even at the height of the success of clubs like Bradford or Wigan or maybe Leeds, there was nothing to remotely come close, even in those areas.
This is very common in GAA.
In many ways, Ireland is more traditional than the UK. I suspect that when Widnes used to make the final in the 1960s it was similar.
There are elements of GAA I've always been envious of. It still retains that civic pride, because it is local amateurs playing for their county. Professional sport has lost that IMO. People support a team passionately but the connection with the local community is much reduced. It is one of the reasons I don't welcome the Dublin dominance, because it will only see a decline in this traditional sense in the long run.
The one time it does happen in England is big football tournaments and tbh it is a similar experience. The vast majority only follow the big All-Ireland games and have very limited interest in the regular season. If a team goes on a run, the flags come out just like when England start doing well.
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28 minutes ago, DavidM said:
I bought the Spence - Crawford fight even though PPV bugs me and is more and more diluted . I was interested in this though , although it turned into a total beat down . I don’t know if Bud is just unbelievably good ( he is very good ) or Spence was in decline
Yeh it was certainly an unexpected one. It was surprising because fights like that (outside of heavyweight) are so rarely one-sided like that. However, if you watch the prediction videos they are quite one-sided towards Crawford in hindsight.
I wouldn't criticise anyone for getting it, I've caved many times in the past (Bellew-Usyk ffs) and I don't think they're all bad. One good thing is that anyone can get them, but when you already have subscriptions it gets annoying. Other than UFC (which has the same prob IMO), other sports don't use this model.
Sadly, I think fights like Saturdays are why the mega fights don't happen when they should. The fear of being in Spence's position now is every top fighters worst nightmare. Not just losing your zero, but being borderline humiliated and forever having your legacy ruined. They'd rather stay in the shadows and the endless arguments about who'd win and who's ducking who etc.
The only recent comparible example was AJ-Usyk 1, where a fighter's whole legacy was dismantled. Yes he'd lost to Ruiz, but there was always the question of whether he'd just been caught by a lucky punch. But this at the time wasn't a risky mega fight in the same way, AJ and his team thought his size would be enough.
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45 minutes ago, gingerjon said:
At last, a statement performance from the Lionesses. Lauren James showing off and other players stepping up to the mark.
Nigeria in the Round of 16 next Monday ...
I'm infinitely relieved that we've avoided Australia. I felt there was an inevitability there.
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On 30/07/2023 at 09:29, Gerrumonside ref said:
I didn’t stay up for this one due to the time difference and other commitments, but actually think these two boxers and this fight is more deserving of PPV than the vast majority of heavyweight pap that has been served up.
That said with so much illegal streaming and tight budgets then I agree that the PPV’s sold in the U.K. will be tiny despite it’s merits.
Don’t even get me started on the YouTube stars showing the ultimate reward from a society that more and more values style over substance.
I agree that it's more deserving, but I still think the whole PPV model is a scam that I don't know how they ever sold to the public.
Somewhat inevitably, the bar has been lowered and lowered for what is classed as PPV fare.
It went from being mega-fights with mass appeal like Lewis-Bruno, to big world-title fights that appealed to sport fans like Hatton-Mayweather, to standard world title defences for fighters like Haye and AJ, to big domestic fights like Groves and DeGale, to now just any fight that is remotely appealing.
To boxing fans, Spence vs Crawford was the best standard fight for a few years, but the reality is that it had very little appeal here in the UK. Had it been free on the BBC, they would have probably been happy to get 100k staying up for it.
The original justification for PPV seems to have been conveniently forgotten, as there is no way that the probably 25k UK buys helped to make this fight happen.
In the long run, it is boxing that will lose out because the big fights aren't getting seen by anything like a mass audience. The first Mayweather fight I ever saw, was the De la Hoya fight because of the hype I'd heard around it. It was normal on Sky Sports, and I stayed up which started a decade or so of getting up for big American fights like that.
Had it been on PPV, I'd have never even considered it.
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21 hours ago, EggFace said:
So is Dublin a County comp as I still working out whats whats ?
It's a county comp and whilst Dublin is a city it's also a county. One with 1.5 million people on an island of 6.8 million.
When you take away the unionist community of the North who have little to no interest and some southern counties who are almost exclusively into Hurling, it makes it all the more advantageous for them.
On a population level, a lot of counties are a similar size to RL towns/cities but then you double the size of Leeds.
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14 hours ago, EggFace said:
Didn't know that the finals were on as just caught on BBC2 but I always thought it was in the first weekend of September ?
BTW saw loads of different club jerseys at the game which is great to see.
It was in September but I think it changed over Covid and just hasn't gone back.
I see the emergence of Dublin as a bad thing, and they've now won 9 out of the last 13 after only winning 9 in the previous 90 years.
With professionalism and especially the huge influx of money, most sports have seen the emergence of a group of dominant big clubs that use their superior resources to win. This is most notable in football, but we've seen something similar in RL with only 4 different league winners in the last 34 years despite a salary cap. In the 20 years prior, there were 13 winners including Widnes, Fev, Leigh, Fax and Dewsbury.
I always saw the GAA as a last bastion of that old sporting way of life, where a small club (in this case county) can compete with its much bigger neighbours. Therefore, I see the emergence of Dublin as a dominant team, as a reflection of their superior resources (nearly 3 times the population of the next biggest county) and something that is only likely to continue with minor blips here and there.
It might not be a professional sport when it comes to money, but I'm sure the sport has experienced professionalism in improved analysis, technique, scouting etc that has only benefitted the bigger counties.
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It's no wonder boxing is struggling. Biggest American fight of the last couple of years and its £20 on PPV over here.
I'd be surprised if 50k people pay for it.
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Now there's a goal!
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21 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:
Inoue really destroyed him dominating almost every round.
Once he got his man going he really swarmed all over him to force the stoppage.
Thought Fulton’s legwork and stance didn’t help him although he was clearly trying to make his greater reach tell, but Inoue closed the distance easily enough landing lots of scoring shots round after round.
He truly was a monster. Inoue won every round but Fulton looked at one point to be getting more comfortable and having bits of success.
Inoue though is not only heavy-handed, he's very effective with it. The KO was great to top off a good performance.
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Just finished watching the latest series of Traitors from Australia. It might be trash, but it's seriously good TV. I've enjoyed all 3 series shown on BBC.
Spoiler alert!
It proves how poor most people are at telling whether people are lying, despite all thinking they are good at it. I do suspect though, that it's one of those programmes (like Big Brother) where the first season will be best. Players will be far more sceptical next time around.
One thing about the programme bugs me though. When the traitors are low on numbers, they are expected to recruit. It's not bad at first, but when you've only got 6 players left with 1 traitor and they recruit before then killing, you then have 5 players with 2 traitors. Also, the newly recruited traitor becomes almost impossible to read for the other players.
The result is a huge advantage in winning for the traitors.
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Well, watching one of the biggest fights of the year live on a Tuesday lunchtime is certainly a first!
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On 24/07/2023 at 08:09, Wolford6 said:
Nathan Aspinall was absolutely brilliant.
However, being thin, having a very pretty partner and playing darts is thoroughly unsportsmanlike.
Haha, I've actually seem him in real-life and use his darts (although he's upgraded) so he's one of my favoured players.
From memory he was a really good goalkeeper, before being dropped.
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Is it just me or does there seem to be a lot of low scoring games with few really clear chances?
Is this an inevitable consequence of improved standards?
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On 22/07/2023 at 11:51, Bedfordshire Bronco said:
Can't believe it's still 1-0 ..... Thought this one was supposed to be a formality?
I've never seen a more England in a major tournament performance than this one.
In some ways, it indicated that England women have truly arrived as a staple on the sporting landscape.
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Didn't have much of a chance, very dominant performance by Aspinall!
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5 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:
all the top players now OUT of the word matchplay in Blackpool and some really poor quality stuff on show from the remaining contenders
Decent match from Aspinall-Dobey there.
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5 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:
I’ve grappled with my drinking habits for a long time now. I hit the ciggies on the head around 2014/15. I stopped buying, but I would bludge a few. The hardest part was not smoking when having a drink. The two went hand in hand. Now the thought of cigarettes mostly sickens me.
As to the drink. There have been many times I have consumed excessive amounts in a session. It has gotten me into various levels of trouble too at various times, but I am safe with no criminal record and haven’t lost any friendships over it.
Despite the decent outcome, I come to think about the effect drinking has on my health and I certainly could lose a few pounds by drinking less.
What I have really tried to understand is what I enjoy so much about alcohol? Certainly most my friendship circles include alcohol in our gatherings. Could I still enjoy the company in an alcohol free state? Probably not come the back end of a long sesh
But I have learned I actually enjoy being a little heady. I find it relaxing and allows my mind to wander a little.
I think what I really want to challenge in myself is whether I can enjoy myself in social settings without alcohol, when it’s played such an active part in most of my social activities since I was 16.
I have friends who have given up the drink and they have purposefully pushed away from some friendships which I find a great shame.
Another friend has given up the booze but replaced the habit with cocaine. He doesn’t abuse it. Still goes to the pub on a Friday with his mates. Drinks Soda water or lemonade, but gets his buzz out of the narcotic.
Then there is another friend who identifies the same enjoyment of the light headed buzz of a few beers as I get, he only drinks straight vodka in a responsible manner on certain evenings when at home. He finds this an easy way to minimise the calories when at home, leaving beer sessions only when out with the boys.
As someone who is always has to think about the calories, I've often tried other drinks rather than alcohol. I enjoy them all far less than a beer. Most of my friends prefer whisky, but I think this is in part because they like the idea of it. I've been to whisky festivals with them, and they talk some bull as if they've any idea what they're talking about, then end up forking out a ridiculous amount for an expensive whisky they've been talked into.
I've also wondered what I love so much about having a few drinks. I'm reminded of Pavlov's dog, in that I think I associate drinking with the fun crazy times I had as a young man, which obviously isn't going to happen when I'm having a few in the house on a Saturday night.
That said, I do enjoy the taste and where it not addictive and high in calories, would have it regularly with my tea instead of a soft drink. I often liken it to spicy food, there's just a kick to it that even the nicest soft drink can't recreate.
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All 3 tests have been very similar IMO. England look to be in a good position to win and blow it.
Can't help but feel the series is gone here.
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2 minutes ago, tim2 said:
It depends on the parents, I think. Kid are notoriously tricky to persuade to go and run 2K on a Sunday morning.
My grandson has done about 15 but doesn't like it.
There should be a tailwalker.
Maybe I'm just used to having a parent who would have forced me to go every week had I been unfit!
No lie, he used to make me and my brother do 20 laps of the football pitch if he felt like we'd been too lazy in the holidays. You'd be put in care now!
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1 hour ago, tim2 said:
Up to recently, statistics woud show that more slower runners are taking part (Rother Valley parkrun's average time has gone a lot slower since I started in 2013)
This may have changed as more and more regular runners, introduced by parkrun, get quicker. I do a lot od tourist runs and attend briefings for new runners. There seem to be fewer first timers than before Covid, and more tourists.
Having said that, parkrun now actively encourages walkers, with a special volunteer role for parkwalker, to accompany new or solo walkers.
I just took a quick look myself at the Widnes parkrun and it is similar. I took a look at the 75% runner at each one, and the slowest was my most recent two.
That of course doesn't necessarily mean I've misremembered. Maybe what I noticed was fewer casual runners, ie people just throwing on some sports gear but who might still be quite fit. The overwhelming majority seemed to be people in proper running gear with sports watches and the like.
Since I've been going (about 2015?) Widnes has always had a walker at the back. I was really surprised when they didn't have this at the junior one. The first time I took my lad, simply because he stopped a couple of times he was in a race for last. Put it this way, if the people who get 40 minutes plus on Parkrun would come last in the junior one at that pace.
I honestly thought there'd be loads of kids trying to improve their fitness.
GAA
in Any Other Business / Any Other Sports
Posted
Obviously, Ireland is a big place and it will vary.
My experience is obviously just that too, it isn't scientific. In Tyrone GAA is a big deal, but since I came over, I've yet to see a Tyrone GAA top whereas I've seen plenty of football ones. Liverpool is usually quite big here, but I seem to be seeing Man Utd everywhere.
I've just spent a weekend in Amsterdam, and after football, GAA was easily the most popular type of top.
What I would say is that in my experience, you get a lot of young people (student age) wearing the training gear of the local GAA club they play for. This is especially true of women. I'm not sure we have much of an equivalence to this over here.