Sportscall on RTE 1

One City fan got onto them and was told he'd be on tonight, so I listened in for the full hour. Torture. they said at the start that they'd have "a Corkman with the UEFA Cup on his mind" on later, but not a bit of it. I always thought that Today FM's Live after 5 phone-in was the worst around, but I got proved wrong tonight. Hillbillys and rednecks was pretty much all it was. Whinging moaning fools giving out- "I went to most Cork games this year and I couldn't get a ticket." Most being how many mate? :rolleyes: Bright spot was two lads who rang up to talk about the cricket, until some yahoo from up a hill somewhere rang up giving out about the time being given to "de cricket and de soccer" on the day after an all-ireland. "Well Des, I've nuttin against it, but the day for discussin de cricket is de 29th of february and de soccer on de 30th of february ha ha ha" Moaning ****ing bigots reminded me exactly why I hate the ****ing GAA. And of course the City fan never got on, much better to leave some inbred cattle-molestor slag off other people's interests :rolleyes: Those people should be shipped off to an island somewhere

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Originally Posted by Éanna

One City fan got onto them and was told he'd be on tonight, so I listened in for the full hour. Torture. they said at the start that they'd have "a Corkman with the UEFA Cup on his mind" on later, but not a bit of it. I always thought that Today FM's Live after 5 phone-in was the worst around, but I got proved wrong tonight. Hillbillys and rednecks was pretty much all it was. Whinging moaning fools giving out- "I went to most Cork games this year and I couldn't get a ticket." Most being how many mate? :rolleyes: Bright spot was two lads who rang up to talk about the cricket, until some yahoo from up a hill somewhere rang up giving out about the time being given to "de cricket and de soccer" on the day after an all-ireland. "Well Des, I've nuttin against it, but the day for discussin de cricket is de 29th of february and de soccer on de 30th of february ha ha ha" Moaning ****ing bigots reminded me exactly why I hate the ****ing GAA. And of course the City fan never got on, much better to leave some inbred cattle-molestor slag off other people's interests :rolleyes: Those people should be shipped off to an island somewhere

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What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?

Agree though, it should be mixed up. Last Saturday was one of the greatest days in the history of Irish basketball and I bet that didn't get a mention either.

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Originally Posted by TheOwl

What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?

Agree though, it should be mixed up. Last Saturday was one of the greatest days in the history of Irish basketball and I bet that didn't get a mention either.

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no, of course it didn't. Now believe me, I've no time for basketball at all, really not my cup of tea, but it was a historic result and should have got a mention. I accept how big the All-Ireland is, and have no problem with that dominating the show, but it was the fact that they let a fellow on to complain about other sports being covered that really got on my wick, when they could have used that time to cover City, or the basketball, or even more on the hurling :rolleyes:

Unfortunately in this country, a worryingly large amount of people, are idiots.

Some follow the GAA, some follow the Eircom League, some vote for the Christian Democratic Party!

They frustrate, they annoy, and they **** you off, but at the end of the day, and as hard as it to do, all you can do is just fvcking ignore them.*








*Oh how I try!

They can be idiots as much as they like, its their constitutional right. I just wish they'd stay out of my ****ing way.

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Originally Posted by TheOwl

Unfortunately in this country, a worryingly large amount of people, are idiots.

Some follow the GAA, some follow the Eircom League, some vote for the Christian Democratic Party!

They frustrate, they annoy, and they **** you off, but at the end of the day, and as hard as it to do, all you can do is just fvcking ignore them.*

*Oh how I try!

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Quality post :D

Sportscall is a phone-in programme, so the content is decided by the people who phone in. No matter what you say Éanna, the All-Ireland Hurling final is one of the top two sporting events in this country, so it's only natural that on the day after the game, it's what people want to talk about.

Calling GAA people bigots while posting "hillbillies...rednecks...Moaning ****ing bigots... reminded me exactly why I hate the ****ing GAA" is a tad ironic is it not?

In Séan Óg O'hÁilpin, we have one of the most eloquent, honest and endearing sportsmen anywhere in the world. He is hardly a red-necked bigot, and neither are any of his teams mates, or any of the players they played against on Sunday, or any other day.
The anti-GAA posters on this site seem to like to use "bigot" as their insult of choice for the GAA, but to quote that great philosopher, Nuttsy Fenlon, they would want to have a look at themselves.....

To be honest I avoid (ahem)"Sports" Call like the plague as it usually has a very pro-GAA bias. For genuine sports news, chat and comment, the nightly show on Newstalk 106 between 7pm and 10pm, Monday through Friday is *far* better. The coverage of the beautiful game is far superior (and far more extensive) to anything that RTE radio ever produce and they also have a regular eircom League hour between 8pm and 9pm every Thursday. While Newstalk is still a Dublin based station, I understand that there is a possibility of them acquiring a national broadcasting license.

Otherwise both BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport offer excellent sports shows with regular phone-in's and, of course, the added bonus of absolutely no GAAH coverage!

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Originally Posted by patsh

No matter what you say Éanna, the All-Ireland Hurling final is one of the top two sporting events in this country, so it's only natural that on the day after the game, it's what people want to talk about.

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Disagree absolutely. How can anyone say that the All-Ireland cup final is bigger than an important Ireland v England Triple Crown decider, a crucial World Cup qualifier v France, or an actual match in the finals of the World Cup? TV audiences for genuine international football or rugby matches regularly exceed those for the GAA. Unfortunately attendances at those games do not exceed those for the GAAH simply because of a lack of a suitable stadium. For instance, the FAI indicated that they could have sold out Croke Park at least twice over for the France game last week.

It's not just about the people who phone in but the people they put on.

If RTE want to have a GAA phone in they should just go ahead.

In general I find the qaulity of the shows very poor mainly due to the ignorance of the participants. Still maybe that is what works for ratings and gets people talking.

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Originally Posted by republic

Disagree absolutely. How can anyone say that the All-Ireland cup final is bigger than an important Ireland v England Triple Crown decider, a crucial World Cup qualifier v France, or an actual match in the finals of the World Cup? TV audiences for genuine international football or rugby matches regularly exceed those for the GAA. Unfortunately attendances at those games do not exceed those for the GAAH simply because of a lack of a suitable stadium. For instance, the FAI indicated that they could have sold out Croke Park at least twice over for the France game last week.

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"Triple Crown"??? "Triple Crown"???
Don't make me laugh. Some imaginary competition, now and again?
Rugger is a minority sport in this country.
How can anyone say that a rugger "game" for some imaginary prize ( the "Triple Crown", WTF???) is of more interest and importance than an All-Ireland final?
Get a grip, it doesn't come remotely near.

Ireland v France:
So because a huge number of event junkies want to go to one big game that happens once in a blue moon, it's bigger than the All-Ireland final? Why did the FAI have to sell the tickets as a bundle with other games? Because so few were interested in the "lesser" games.
IF Ireland get to the WC finals, there will be massive interest for a few weeks, and then it will all die down again for another 4 years. Same as any other time.

The GAA championship gets millions of spectators, and millions of TV viewers EVERY SINGLE YEAR. It seems to annoy some people on here, but whether you like it or not, the GAA is hugely popular in this country and will continue to be. It is the best sporting organisation in this country by a million miles and instead of some peopletaking every opportunity to have a go at it, they should maybe have a good hard look at just why it is so successful and how football in this country could learn so much from it.

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Originally Posted by patsh

"Triple Crown"??? "Triple Crown"???
Don't make me laugh. Some imaginary competition, now and again?
Rugger is a minority sport in this country.
How can anyone say that a rugger "game" for some imaginary prize ( the "Triple Crown", WTF???) is of more interest and importance than an All-Ireland final?
Get a grip, it doesn't come remotely near.

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Maybe in football, but "All Ireland" in hurling is an absolute oxymoron, two-thirds of the country wouldn't know what end is up with a hurley, including anywhere north of a line from Galway to Offally.

Rugby may not be truly representative but its right up there with hurling in that regard. At least the four provinces can field a decent team.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Maybe in football, but "All Ireland" in hurling is an absolute oxymoron, two-thirds of the country wouldn't know what end is up with a hurley, including anywhere north of a line from Galway to Offally.

Rugby may not be truly representative but its right up there with hurling in that regard. At least the four provinces can field a decent team.

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EVERY county in the country enters the All-Ireland championship, and EVERY country in Ireland fields a hurling team. The relative strengths of counties is a different matter entirely.
That is a fact, much as it might not suit the GAA bashers.

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Originally Posted by patsh

EVERY county in the country enters the All-Ireland championship, and EVERY country in Ireland fields a hurling team.

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The latter statement MAY be true (not sure), the former certainly isn't. AFAIK the All-Ireland is now played for by 12 teams (not sure on the exact number).
The rest all play amongst themselves, in the manner of all the nerds at school when the big boys don't pick them for the proper game on the big pitch.

Hurling is a minority sport in most of the country.

The Ireland v France was by far the biggest sporting event in the country this year. It was bigger than all the GAA game sput together.

The GAA does not have an International demension and will never even come close to the appeal or the exposure football gives to this country.

Football is the most played sport in this country. yes more people gop to GAA because football fans tend to focus on Manchesyer United or Liverpool rather than Cork City or Shelbourne.

Every county in the country has teams in the F.A.I. Junior Cup as well.

Don't be fooled by the hype in Cork.

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Originally Posted by Éanna

Those people should be shipped off to an island somewhere

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They were and we got em.
I don't think the caller in question is typical of all GAA fans but there is a minority who can't see past GAA and are stuck in the past.
His reference to the Irish National football team as the England B team said it all for me. Sickened me to the core.

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Originally Posted by patsh

EVERY county in the country enters the All-Ireland championship.

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*cough* Three-tier competition *cough*
*cough* Warwickshire *cough*
*cough* GAA Eliteism *cough*
*cough* London winning an "All-Ireland" competition *cough*
*cough* Bullcrap by the Sombrero-wearing Cork GAH Idiots *cough*

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Originally Posted by patsh

"Triple Crown"??? "Triple Crown"???
.... is of more interest and importance than an All-Ireland final?
Get a grip, it doesn't come remotely near.

Ireland v France:
So because a huge number of event junkies want to go to one big game that happens once in a blue moon, it's bigger than the All-Ireland final? ....

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While I don't have much interest in rugby it is obvious that there is massive interest in the Six Nations Rugby. And yes, the Triple Crown is an integral part of that.

As GSpain correctly points out the GAAH simply cannot offer an international dimension to their own brand of sport (apart from that hybrid 'compromise' rules game) and will never even come close to the appeal or the exposure football gives to this country. The same applies to rugby. The international exposure, publicity and tourism generated by one important Six Nations match is worth 20 All Ireland cup finals. Likewise, a single appearance by our national team in the World Cup finals.

As for 'Event Junkies' they are found at every sport. They were at Lansdowne last Wednesday and I'm sure there were plenty of them there at Croke Park on Sunday. I'm certain that the France game attracted more TV viewers than the All-Irelnad cup final on Sunday in this country alone and *infinitely* more worldwide.

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Originally Posted by patsh

EVERY county in the country enters the All-Ireland championship, and EVERY country in Ireland fields a hurling team. The relative strengths of counties is a different matter entirely.
That is a fact, much as it might not suit the GAA bashers.

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Not true. Kilkenny don't enter the football and a legion of counties don't enter the hurling. There's no connaught championship, so it's only Galway entering there. (Leaves out Mayo, Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon) In Ulster Only Derry, Antrim and Down enter teams, so Donegal, Cavan, Fermanagh, Monaghan, Tyrone and Armagh are out.

London and New York don't enter either the hurling either as far as I know, tho could be corrected here.

And to your point that EVERY county has a hurling team, that means nothing. Any county could have any sort of sports team if they so wanted.

It was stupid to allow that guy on about the English B team.

I like Sportscall, but sometimes it gets boring with all the anti-refferee stuff.

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Originally Posted by republic

To be honest I avoid (ahem)"Sports" Call like the plague as it usually has a very pro-GAA bias. For genuine sports news, chat and comment, the nightly show on Newstalk 106 between 7pm and 10pm, Monday through Friday is *far* better. The coverage of the beautiful game is far superior (and far more extensive) to anything that RTE radio ever produce and they also have a regular eircom League hour between 8pm and 9pm every Thursday. While Newstalk is still a Dublin based station, I understand that there is a possibility of them acquiring a national broadcasting license.

Otherwise both BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport offer excellent sports shows with regular phone-in's and, of course, the added bonus of absolutely no GAAH coverage!

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I must admit, it's the only sports show I listen to on the radio

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Originally Posted by gspain

Every county in the country has teams in the F.A.I. Junior Cup as well.

Don't be fooled by the hype in Cork.

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What hype?
Every county puts a few teams into the FAI Junior Cup.
Every county puts a team into the All-Ireland club championships.
Do they crowds of 50,000 to the games?
What point are you trying to make?

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Originally Posted by patsh

"Triple Crown"??? "Triple Crown"???
Don't make me Ireland v France:
So because a huge number of event junkies want to go to one big game that happens once in a blue moon, it's bigger than the All-Ireland final? Why did the FAI have to sell the tickets as a bundle with other games? Because so few were interested in the "lesser" games.
IF Ireland get to the WC finals, there will be massive interest for a few weeks, and then it will all die down again for another 4 years. Same as any other time.

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What's the difference between that and the event junkies who only goto All Ireland finals/semi finals and never see their team play outside of that?

So few were interested in the "lesser" games, that's why.

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Originally Posted by Réiteoir

*cough* Three-tier competition *cough*
*cough* Warwickshire *cough*
*cough* GAA Eliteism *cough*
*cough* London winning an "All-Ireland" competition *cough*
*cough* Bullcrap by the Sombrero-wearing Cork GAH Idiots *cough*

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Outside of showing your own "bigotry" and showing the international dimension of the GAA (you know the international dimension that does not exist), what is this post about except the need to clear you throat?


It's amazing the way the first post was about "some inbred cattle-molestor slagging off other people's interests ".
And then we get a queue of posters only champing at the bit to have a go at the GAA. Seems so many of you have so much in common with your GAA counterparts after al.

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Originally Posted by patsh

What hype?
Every county puts a few teams into the FAI Junior Cup.
Every county puts a team into the All-Ireland club championships.
Do they crowds of 50,000 to the games?
What point are you trying to make?

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yes but outside of say 6/7 counties how many can even get over 2,000 people to go to a game of hurling - so why mention 50,000?????

hurling is probably the 4th sport in the country after football, gaa football and rugby. if your not from an area that is passionate about it, then you dont care at all about it. there is no hype outside of the munster counties, and kilkenny, wexford & galway.

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

What's the difference between that and the event junkies who only goto All Ireland finals/semi finals and never see their team play outside of that?

So few were interested in the "lesser" games, that's why.

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Of course there are event junkies for GAA games, it's probably the best place to find them. One only has to look at all the Arnotts jersies that suddenly appear on Hill 16 during June and July.
This thread was a moan about the fact that a sports phone-in progreamme the day after the All-Ireland final was about, amazingly enough, the All-Ireland Final which gave the cue to the usual suspects to spewing their hatred of the GAA.
It is laghable for posters on here to be callng the GAA "bigots" when their own posts shown us prime examples of irony.To claim that the All-Ireland finals are not the major sports events in this country each year is ridiculous and wishful thinking on the part of many.

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Originally Posted by Cop on

don't fool yourself into thinking that there isn't massive interest in hurling nationwide.

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Cop On, never lets the facts get in the way of a good wind up opportunity.

As Bohs fans are wont to say, there isn't a massive interest in hurling nationwide. FACT.

Now get back to your slice of buttered turf lunch, that sileage won't cut itself.

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Originally Posted by Cop on

but don't fool yourself into thinking that there isn't massive interest in hurling nationwide.

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Rubbish, just ask Liam Griffin or Ger Loughnane. They'll tell you that hurling is dying. It's not even an all ireland sport. Look at Dublin, great underage set-up but the seniors have to compete with the ultimate event junkie team - the Dublin senior footballers. How many hurling games a year get an attendance of 50,000?

KOH

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Originally Posted by patsh

To claim that the All-Ireland finals are not the major sports events in this country each year is ridiculous and wishful thinking on the part of many.

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That wasn't my problem Pat.
Of course the main discussion last night was going to be about the All Ireland but it is a Sports phone in program and not exclusively a GAA one.
For GAA fans to be ringing in complaining of coverage for other sports is rubbish, say what you have to say about your own sport and get off the airwaves.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Cop On, never lets the facts get in the way of a good wind up opportunity.

As Bohs fans are wont to say, there isn't a massive interest in hurling nationwide. FACT.

Now get back to your slice of buttered turf lunch, that sileage won't cut itself.

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I think there is massive interest in hurling nationwide when it comes to the big games, but like with all sports in Ireland, people will only bother to get off their seats and go to a game if there is a bandwagon to jump on.

I was at every single Dublin home hurling game in both the league and the championship this year (working admittedly), and none of the games attracted a crowd bigger than 3,000.

However, I can guarantee you, that when Dublin finally win a Leinster Championship, 10s of thousands will start supporting them when they go on to play in an All-Ireland semi-final/final.

Irish people are just terrible sports fans, it doesn’t matter what the sport is. Club GAA attendances are massively overstated, EL crowds are pathetic, and rugby crowds at AIL level are worse again.

Irish people aren’t attracted by the sport, they are attracted by the event.

Michelle Smith and Cian O’Connor anyone?

People weren’t following them because they loved swimming or show jumping!

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Originally Posted by patsh

What hype?
Every county puts a few teams into the FAI Junior Cup.
Every county puts a team into the All-Ireland club championships.
Do they crowds of 50,000 to the games?
What point are you trying to make?

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My point is that just because every county enters it doesn't make the final the biggest sporting event in the country. This appeared to be your point re the hurling final.

Outside of Cork and Galway much of the rest of the country couldn't give a damn. The France game was obviously far far more important because it was the whole country represented.

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Originally Posted by Cop on

??????? The whole country except for those six counties who managed to win something that night.

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that was a different country that won. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Cop on

??????? The whole country except for those six counties who managed to win something that night.
In ainm dílis Dé - have you lost all reason ?? The France game had **** all importance . That 'Irish' team didn't represent the whole country - far from it. If they were representing the country, they might have shown a bit of passion & not be so f****in interested in singing karaoke and fannyinG about in Lillies until four in the morning.

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Just wondering what you are doing on a football forum if you consider the France game was of little importance?

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Originally Posted by TheOwl

Irish people are just terrible sports fans, it doesn’t matter what the sport is. Club GAA attendances are massively overstated, EL crowds are pathetic, and rugby crowds at AIL level are worse again.

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To be fair, that's virtually a global trait.
Look at cricket in England.
Tickets for the Oval changing hands for up to £7,000
Everywhere you go you can see the same sort of thing.

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Originally Posted by Peadar

To be fair, that's virtually a global trait.
Look at cricket in England.
Tickets for the Oval changing hands for up to £7,000
Everywhere you go you can see the same sort of thing.

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No it's not, it's an Irish phenomonen. Whatever else about the Brits they follow their sports teams in huge numbers. And in fairness winning the Ashes is huge for them, hence the massive prices for tickets.

What's the 4th best supported league in Europe?...it's the Championship.

The Owl is 100% correct we're an embarrasement of a sports supporting nation - event junkie, day-out, face-painting, passionless goons.

KOH

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Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

No it's not, it's an Irish phenomonen. Whatever else about the Brits they follow their sports teams in huge numbers. And in fairness winning the Ashes is huge for them, hence the massive prices for tickets.

What's the 4th best supported league in Europe?...it's the Championship.

The Owl is 100% correct we're an embarrasement of a sports supporting nation - event junkie, day-out, face-painting, passionless goons.

KOH

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you have to remember than england has a population of around 12 or 13 times the size of ours - proportionally their support is not that great. the only reason that the championship is 4th best supported league is due to (1) dropp in attendances in places like italy for many reasons & (2) teams like leeds and west ham being relegated in recent years which have upped the average, whilst the likes of blackburn and fulham (low average gates) are in the premiership (which has seen a drop in crowds lately)

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Originally Posted by Cop on

I consider European games involving EL clubs to be of huge importance. I considered the Derry-Choker clash in the Brandywell to be of huge importance (as will the last game of the season at the cross, even though I'm not a fan of either team!). I considered our FAI cup match against UCD to be of huge importance (although not as important as our famous two-in-a-row FAI cup final triumph in Landsdowne last season!) I consider our match against the Chokers in the Flansiro at 7 O clock on Sunday evening to be of huge importance.
Losing four points against Israel was hugely important. Not beating France in Stade de France was hugely important.In the light of these results, the France game last week had perhaps assumed greater importance, but not so when you consider that most commentators agreed that a draw would have been an ok result for either team - leaving them & us with a reasonable chance of qualifying. Now, to hold the opinon that a nil-all draw would have been an ok result relegates ANY game to the nether regions of importance. In fact, the only people it probably mattered to were the olé olé brigade, as they would miss out on their German adventure if it went wrong (Do the fat cats in Merrion Square still get an all-expenses trip to the World Cup if we don't qualify ???)
I suppose you think that the Cyprus game is the most important soccer match ever in the history of Irish national football ??
(p.s. Don't forget your bucket & spade - I hear Cyprus has some great beaches!)

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Above games are obviously far more important than any GAA match however the reason the France game was so important was that a win would virutally guarantee us a place in the World Cup.

The Cyprus game is still important but the next potentially really crucial game is a potential playoff.

When the ratings come out you'll see that the France game will have probably single highest figure on irish TV this year & that doesn't account for huge numbers watching in the pub.

There was a gaa match over the weekend?