GAA

[Irish Saint]

I was going to ask why Limerick have no sponsor on their shirts. A little research shows they are sponsored by billionaire and  well known horse racing owner J P McManus who probably donates a lot more to Limerick GAA than what other counties get from the sponsors they wear on their shirts. 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Irish Saint

[EggFace]

3 hours ago, OnStrike said:

Gaelic Football is played throughout Limerick but would only have a big following the west of the county really. Limerick is one of the classic examples of a 'hurling county'.

They'd just won the All Ireland Championship for the 4th time in a row and the 5th time in 6 years. An amazing achievement for Limerick who had last won it in '73 and then before that a couple in the 30s and 40s. It's an amazing story

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 ?

[EggFace]

3 hours ago, OnStrike said:

Gaelic Football is played throughout Limerick but would only have a big following the west of the county really. Limerick is one of the classic examples of a 'hurling county'.

They'd just won the All Ireland Championship for the 4th time in a row and the 5th time in 6 years. An amazing achievement for Limerick who had last won it in '73 and then before that a couple in the 30s and 40s. It's an amazing story

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 ?

[Maximus Decimus]

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. 

[EggFace]

55 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

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. 

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.

 

 

[Maximus Decimus]

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.

[EggFace]

4 hours ago, Maximus Decimus said:

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.

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.

[Maximus Decimus]

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.

[Griff]

On 10/08/2023 at 14:30, Maximus Decimus said:

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. 

They're TV followers though. Soccer games in Ireland are sparsely attended.

[Damien]

On 10/08/2023 at 17:20, Maximus Decimus said:

You do usually see quite a lot of GAA kits around, but it's nothing compared to the PL.

I don't think this is the case at all. You see absolutely loads of GAA jerseys in Ireland and I see far more than PL jerseys. The big current trend amongst younger teens is to go out in them and that never happens with Soccer jerseys.

[gingerjon]

9 hours ago, Griff said:

They're TV followers though. Soccer games in Ireland are sparsely attended.

Or, to put it another way, the league average is ahead of the RL Championship here.

https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/league-ireland-attendance-figures-released-30235851

Not masses but for a lowish quality league that doesn't look too shabby.

[Maximus Decimus]

17 hours ago, Damien said:

I don't think this is the case at all. You see absolutely loads of GAA jerseys in Ireland and I see far more than PL jerseys. The big current trend amongst younger teens is to go out in them and that never happens with Soccer jerseys.

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.

[Damien]

24 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

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.

People wear any GAA jersey, whether county or team and some people wear nothing but O'Neills. It's really not like other sports wear people in Tyrone just wear a Tyrone jersey.  I see plenty of GAA jerseys all over Tyrone, whether that is Omagh, Strabane, Cookstown or Dungannon or the smaller villages where GAA is a religion. They are everywhere. In Tyrone in Omagh and Strabane even have large O'Neills shops, amongst other places.

This is all obviously less so in more strongly Unionist places in the North.

[Irish Saint]

In Belfast, its mostly the local  club GAA tops I see mostly worn  by university students  from outside the city.

Walking past the O'Neills shoo in Belfast yesterday I noticed pride of place went to a Canterbury Ireland Rugby Union shirt..

 

[Damien]

One thing that goes under the radar in Gaelic Football is the amount of dirty play and fighting that goes on at under age and club level. It really is one of those things that is completely ignored and never brought up. I am talking about cheap punches from behind resulting in broken jaws, mass brawls, trouble between fans and players etc. There is some real nasty stuff that happens even with young teens, never mind adults. In club games there is one referee and umpires are normally fans or club officials. As it is a 360 degree game with battles all over the pitch all sorts goes on behind the referees back and sometimes it is 100 metres away. Some of the stuff is disgusting and condoned by clubs and coaches.

Any problems RL has with dirty play pale into insignificance compared to what happens in Gaelic Football on a weekly basis. However it is all completely ignored and its status as a family sport is always unaffected.

[Damien]

On 13/08/2023 at 20:42, Irish Saint said:

In Belfast, its mostly the local  club GAA tops I see mostly worn  by university students  from outside the city.

Absolutely, go anywhere near the Holylands and every other person has one on.

[EggFace]

No one wears NRL tops in Australia apart from game day...must be a English thing.

[Man of Kent]

Enjoyed reading this thread.

I also was in Limerick recently and saw the banners celebrating the county’s All-Ireland hurling championship. 

It’s hard to understand how deeply woven GAA is in Irish society. It puts some of the more rural places on the map and it’s a big part of ordinary Irish life, much like the Catholic Church used to be. 

Whole families and communities get involved, whether playing, watching or making the sandwiches. Kids, parents, grandparents.

It’s simultaneously an expression of parish/county pride, volunteerism, Irishness and sporting vitality, with a sense of belonging, a sporting hierarchy and a legitimate shared dream of club/county success.

It’s also very well run, with much of the money invested in grassroots.

What can also be surprising to newcomers is how large GAA stadia can be relative to population size.

It’s a marvellous thing, really.

[Griff]

19 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

 

What can also be surprising to newcomers is how large GAA stadia can be relative to population size.
 

They need to be big to fit the playing area in.

[EggFace]

On 24/08/2023 at 03:48, Man of Kent said:

Enjoyed reading this thread.

I also was in Limerick recently and saw the banners celebrating the county’s All-Ireland hurling championship. 

It’s hard to understand how deeply woven GAA is in Irish society. It puts some of the more rural places on the map and it’s a big part of ordinary Irish life, much like the Catholic Church used to be. 

Whole families and communities get involved, whether playing, watching or making the sandwiches. Kids, parents, grandparents.

It’s simultaneously an expression of parish/county pride, volunteerism, Irishness and sporting vitality, with a sense of belonging, a sporting hierarchy and a legitimate shared dream of club/county success.

It’s also very well run, with much of the money invested in grassroots.

What can also be surprising to newcomers is how large GAA stadia can be relative to population size.

It’s a marvellous thing, really.

Must be nice to have a sporting code(s) that hasn't lost it's comapred to say the hype of EPL and American sports.