John delaney on the Last Word last friday re: el

did anyone hear him (around 6.50pm) - I came in near the end and he was talking about trying to create similar success in the el as the greyhound industry through facility improvements and the 65% of budget cap on wages etc etc - i thought he came across quite well, as the presenter Matt Cooper was trying his level best to run dow the league while he tried (poorly) to mask his attacks in the form of questions? ie. surely this league can't survivie with its current attendences etc, how can it compete with the GAA etc etc and Delaney answered all his questions with good answers.

Anyone hear the whole thing? (I know Bohs and Rovers won't have as they were busy :p )

HOw much of a salary cap do they have in the greyhounds now?

The best greyhounds are all gone full time!

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Originally Posted by Dodge

HOw much of a salary cap do they have in the greyhounds now?

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Far too high. Those dogs are paid a fortune. :mad:

I hope the old players dont suffer the same fate as most the greyhounds!

*resists obvious derry joke* :p

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Originally Posted by SeanDrog

did anyone hear him (around 6.50pm) - I can in near the end and he was talking about trying to create simialr success in the el as the greyhound industry through facility improvements and the 65% of budget cap on wages etc etc - i thought he came across quite wellas the presenter Matt Cooper was trying his level best to run doe the league while he tried poorly to his attacks in the form of questions? ie. surely this league can't survivie with its current attendences etc, how can it compete with the GAA etc etc and Delaney answered all his questions with good answers.

Anyone hear the whole thing? (I know Bohs and Rovers won't have as they were busy :p )

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M. Cooper is a Leeds United fan. For the younger among us, they are a team in the English Championship.
I wouldn't put too much store on his asking questions like that: it's standard practice. However, he has written elsewhere that the eL should just give up.
The clip is on the TodayFM site, it's at 48m or so on the 6-7pm segment (http://audio.todayfm.com/lwpodcasting.xml) for ITunes or the mp3 file here.
The greyhound industry was also mentioned recently, in the context of an animal cruelty debate, as receiving €79m in one year in grants. (Can't find a link but would be grateful to anyone who can). That might explain the 'failure' of Irish football to match the success of the dogs.
The Irish Times reported this, in reference to funding of horse racing, on July 31:
State puts €317m on horse racing
By end of 2006 the Government will have allocated more than €317 million to State racing body Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) over the past five years, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue said yesterday.
The Minister was welcoming the 2005 annual report of Horse Racing Ireland, which is due to be published shortly.
"The Government's commitment to funding of the Irish horse racing industry through the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund has enabled Horse Racing Ireland to undertake long-term planning, which will result in the transformation of Irish racecourses in the coming years and has generated significant revenue for the Irish economy," Mr O'Donoghue said.
A statement from his department said there had been significant increases in all key areas of performance in the Irish horse racing industry in 2005.
Last year, attendances at Irish racecourses reached a record 1.43 million and Tote betting turnover rose 3.8 per cent to EUR 49.3 million. Festival meetings at Galway, the Curragh, Listowel, Punchestown and Leopardstown all showed growth.
The year also saw the announcement of a EUR 22 million development plan at Galway racecourse, the approval of Ireland's first all-weather track to be built at Dundalk with support of EUR 10 million from HRI and the approval of EUR 1.7 million grant aid for the re-development of facilities at Killarney racecourse.
Attendance levels for the first half of 2006 are up 2 per cent on the same period last year, according to HRI figures.
How the head of the national football association can go on the radio and not bring this up in a discussionn of the viability of the league is beyond me, and that's even before we get into GAA funding. I'd like to see FAI agitate more aggressively for parity of support. My guess is that they are afraid to bite the hand that feeds them, or, in Delaney's case, afraid to challenge the Minister who vetted his appointment.

I'd imagine the latter.

Cooper is from cork and "supports" leeds?:rolleyes:

KOH

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Originally Posted by NY Hoop

I'd imagine the latter.

Cooper is from cork and "supports" leeds?:rolleyes: KOH

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Believe it or not...
Then again, I am from Dublin, and I too am (a bit of) a Leeds fan. Only more of a Bohs fan. It happens! :p

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Originally Posted by BohDiddley

Believe it or not...
Then again, I am from Dublin, and I too am (a bit of) a Leeds fan. Only more of a Bohs fan. It happens! :p

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IMO nothing wrong with "supporting" a foreign side as long as your EL club comes first though as Dolan rightly pointed out you cant support 2 clubs.

KOH

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Originally Posted by BohDiddley

I'd like to see FAI agitate more aggressively for parity of support. My guess is that they are afraid to bite the hand that feeds them, or, in Delaney's case, afraid to challenge the Minister who vetted his appointment.

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These days the FAI play a very careful PR/Political game & they never ever criticise the governement. They prefer to trade the government with PR opportunities for cash. Its a policy that has worked to an extent to date.

Cooper is just another "who do you really support" media man.

Remember 2 years ago him talking about the league with whatever FAI president we had then and he thought the best thing to do was get a provice system going like rugby:rolleyes:

Ironically greyhound racing is probably the only sport run worse than football in this country.

BNaG are a complete joke and have suceeded (and even thats questionable based on their financials which are "murky" at best) only because of the large amounts of cash thrown at the sport. Not to mention the organisation reputation for infighting makes the FAI look like the Von Trapp family.

Maybe if we levied all the mad Asian gamblers throwing their wedge at EL games these days (truky a sign of either too much money or a gambling problem) we could afford better facilities.

Love the way this has turned into a Cooper bashing thread when the real topic was Delaney and his spin. Listen to the interview and you may find that Cooper's questions weren't tough enough.

Delaney was coming on as if the League was a mess but that the FAI are going to sort it. Is he forgetting the the FAI controlled the league for long enough and it was a mess then!

Cooper didn't say anything that's not true about the league and Delaney got off lightly...

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Originally Posted by Peadar

Love the way this has turned into a Cooper bashing thread when the real topic was Delaney and his spin. Listen to the interview and you may find that Cooper's questions weren't tough enough.

Delaney was coming on as if the League was a mess but that the FAI are going to sort it. Is he forgetting the the FAI controlled the league for long enough and it was a mess then!

Cooper didn't say anything that's not true about the league and Delaney got off lightly...

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Agreed.....and if some of his questions did come across as criticisms, they were well founded. The EL has a long long way to go in many facets of its operation and people deserve to know what the new 'owners' are going to do about it.

As I said, there was noting remarkable in his questioning. However, he has written before in strident terms that the league should be disbanded.

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Originally Posted by BohDiddley

As I said, there was noting remarkable in his questioning. However, he has written before in strident terms that the league should be disbanded.

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His job is to promote debate, not necessarliy express his own opinions.
Still think you're focusing too much on Cooper and not enough on what Delaney said. Or is Delaney a hero now in eL circles? :confused:

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Originally Posted by Peadar

His job is to promote debate, not necessarliy express his own opinions.
Still think you're focusing too much on Cooper and not enough on what Delaney said. Or is Delaney a hero now in eL circles? :confused:

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Well, in the piece to which I am referring, he was most definitely expressing his own opinion (which of course isn't necessarily the opposite to promoting debate).
if you read my original post again, you will see that I am more concerned with what Delaney said or, rather, didn't say.
Slightly mystified by this springing to the defence of Cooper in the absence of an attack. Is this a Cork thing? :p

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Originally Posted by BohDiddley

Is this a Cork thing? :p

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No, I can assure you it's more to do with my utter contempt for Delaney.

Cooper is a terrible interviewer anyway. He only has 1 way of interviewing - arguments. :eek:

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Originally Posted by NY Hoop

I'd imagine the latter.

Cooper is from cork and "supports" leeds?:rolleyes:

KOH

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Cooper is a complete twát, that has been mention here loads of times, and its not just eL fans that think it either. I give up listening to him re:football .... change the station, thats the best way to deal with it.

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Originally Posted by A face

Cooper is a complete twát.

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And with Delaney and Lawro, that particular show probably had more untcs than the Playboy channel.