Connacht Rugby

What is the general feeling here towards Connacht Rugby?

Many of their games clash with Galway United games eventhough both venues are only about 2km apart. When Connacht Rugby nearly foled a few years ago, the Galway public rallied around them including then United boss Tony Mannion who went to public meetings etc. They seem to be getting big crowds (eventhough GUFC always get bigger than them :cool: ) but there are people who go to both and it's terrible when games clash.

Now, I wish them well no more than I do the Galway hurlers, Gaelic footballers and the Galway tiddlywinklers but there should be a comprimise. If the Rugby people persist on Friday nights, then they should negotiate with GUFC on a deal with home fixtures so that there is only one game on in Galway on a Friday thus maximising exposure with the local media and public.

I was at the Ulster game last Friday. The seasons only overlap a little at the beginning and the end anyway. Connacht more or less have a free run at it over the Winter like United do over the Summer.

In fact having done a bit of research I've found out that there are not as many fixture clashes as you'd imagine.

Only one fixture clash towards the end United's season on the 26th of October

GUFC v Derry
Connacht v Edinburgh

Obviously United's fixtures aren't out yet for next season but Connacht will only have three home games left by the beginning of next season and given that GUFC will probably have away games on some of those weekends there might only be one fixture clash there. Two at most. So basically you're looking at two possibly three fixture clashes in a year. Not an enormous problem really but maybe they could sort something out so there could be zero fixture clashes.

season Connacht Rugby asked us to change to Saturday but the club quite rightly refused. I cant understand why they changed from their regular saturday evening slot to friday at 6.30pm.

I'm not a fan of rugby at all. Ive been to one or two games at most in my lifetime. One thing I find strange is the selection of a Friday evening for their home games as surely they, being the team of the province, should facilitate the people in the region? If you were to travel on a Friday from Sligo for a home game for instance it would be a disaster. They should look at a saturday afternoon or something to give those living further away a better chance of catching a game. Just a thought.

Connacht rugby have no choice..their matchdays are decided by Bord na gCon who run the Sportsground. The majority of supporters want a return to the Saturday afternoon kick off or else Saturday night but that's not possible. 18.30 on a Friday evening suits nobody but the dogs...

A pity really. I used to enjoy being able to get both the football and rugby in on a Saturday......

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Originally Posted by Maroon 7

In fact having done a bit of research I've found out that there are not as many fixture clashes as you'd imagine. Only one fixture clash towards the end United's season on the 26th of October

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There was one in April as well, they played Glasgow the same evening we hosted Longford. I think the week before was the same, we had Pats at home and they played Cardiff that weekend too, but have a funny feeling it was a Saturday.
So there are few clashes, but even 2 games emans one or other sporting organisation will suffer. Should be a bit of cooperation, there used to be - we played Lyngby, Man City and some elague matches in the Sportsground, so why not come together and sort something out?
As for the switch to a Friday, I don't think that was entirely down to Bord na gCon, but am open to correction. Staying on for the dogs was offered as part of the Friday night package, which made it a bigger draw for all involved, hence the switch, as far as I know

tbh i used to make it too one or two games a year on the saturday evenings as did a lot of fans from all over the province but changin it too 6.30pm on a friday just made it too awkward to get too and I think the chance of staying on for the dogs was never a great attraction.

Whats wrong with us playing our games on a Saturday?? It would certainly boost the Away numbers at the turnstiles and make for a better athmosphere:confused:

We had switched our games from friday to saturday nights many times but eventually the club did a survey of the different night and times and Friday at 7.45 was the winner by a long way.

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Originally Posted by pixiehead

Whats wrong with us playing our games on a Saturday?? It would certainly boost the Away numbers at the turnstiles and make for a better athmosphere:confused:

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Been there, done that. GUFC tried it for a few seasons at various KO times (7pm and 7.30pm) but in the long run, people prefer Fridays. I reckon that there are too many 'social' things happening on a Saturday night compared to a Friday night.

I took part in the 2001 survey which was conducted on the streets of Galway by NUIG students who wanted to study the relevance of Galway United to the people of Galway. They also interviewed people at Terryland Park in a seperate survey.

In an ideal world, Saturday night is the best night for EL football, if you are a regular away supporter. However, we here in Galway have found that Friday night brings out a bigger "floating" crowd, so we will be continuing on Fridays for the forseeable future.

The league seems to have finally got to a night where Friday night is Eircom League night and I think it's important for the league as a whole that this is the situation.

It was a bit of a joke a few years ago where you'd have Dundalk playing on a Thursday a couple of games at 7.30 on Friday another one at 7.45, one game on Saturday night and then a Sunday afternoon kick-off.

In order for the league to receive proper media coverage it's better to have a dedicated night for the league.

The best way around this would be for Connacht rugby to give United their fixture list for the end of their season and for United to approach the FAI and ask to be given away games on those dates. Then in 2008 United could give Connacht rugby our fixture list and Connacht rugby could ask for the same.

We know the Magners League fixtures up to spring 2008, so asking for away matches on those dates should be possible.

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Originally Posted by JC_GUFC

The league seems to have finally got to a night where Friday night is Eircom League night and I think it's important for the league as a whole that this is the situation.

It was a bit of a joke a few years ago where you'd have Dundalk playing on a Thursday a couple of games at 7.30 on Friday another one at 7.45, one game on Saturday night and then a Sunday afternoon kick-off.
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dont forget when dublin city tried playing their games on monday nights

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Originally Posted by pixiehead

Whats wrong with us playing our games on a Saturday?? It would certainly boost the Away numbers at the turnstiles and make for a better athmosphere:confused:

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Friday night kick-off has always been an inconvenience for me, but I have to say that to move back to Saturday kick-offs again would be foolish. It killed the atmosphere completely...

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Originally Posted by Patrick Dunne

We know the Magners League fixtures up to spring 2008, so asking for away matches on those dates should be possible.

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I wonder does the connacht and united supporter base overlap much. i myself have made it down to 2 matches in the sportsground ever... no real interest in it tbh, although i did enjoy the games it have to say.

Our Club Chairman had an article in the Sunday Independent yesterday on Connacht rugby ...


Money the root of all ills in Connacht
By JOHN FALLON
Sunday December 02 2007

Professional sport, for all its failings, has a simple way of sorting out teams in league tables -- those with the most money are near the top and those with less occupy the basement positions.

...

Connacht will probably have to start looking at an alternative stadium if they are to follow the trend but to do so they will have to get the backing of a sporting public in Galway who don't have a good track record for coming out in numbers.

Galway United have managed to attract an average of around 2,000 per game on their return to the Premier Division but this includes dozens and dozens of children let in free.

The Galway GAA club football final averages three or four thousand at its showpiece event -- despite two All-Ireland wins in the past decade -- with hurling being the exception as huge crowds turn out.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/othe...t-1234769.html

Galway United tried to prevent clashes with Connacht Rugby but their game with Munster clashed with United's game with Rovers. Pity

http://www.galwayunitedfc.ie/fixture...ure-clash.html

GUFC will probably re-fix the game to Saturday.

We should get 50-100 more Rovers fans down, and there won't be a
fixture clash for the couple of hundred neutrals who follow both sports.

On the other hand changing again for the Cardiff Blues is a joke. This was brought up last year and the overwhelming majority of people within the club were against changing to suit Connacht Rugby.First thing anyone found out about this was on Gufc.net which is surely not the way to do things.

Under no circumstances should we change our home fixture because Connacht are playing Cardiff Blues.

Indeed - it should not be United that has to change their fixtures every time. There has to be a bit of give on both sides.

It is good to see though that both Connacht Rugby and Galway United have been pro-active about trying to avoid clashes by making representations at fixture setting time to their respective league bodies.

Ya its good but it was us who made the change:mad:.

Myself and Frainer are heading over for the last game of the season -v- West Brom on sunday 5th May and we might even go to the POTY awards that night.

According to one of my Google Alerts this seems to have become a point of discussion on some of the rugby forums too (See link)!

Rugby Network Forums Discussion on Fixture Clashes

interesting

is it just the 2 matches that are crossing? If so, the right way to do things would be to move one fixture each, we move our rovers match to saturday, and they move their match against cardiff to saturday. Seems fair to me anyway.

That would be using their brains. If there are only two games clashing in a four month overlap of each sports' season surely both could have persuaded a minor tweek to fixture lists??? Fairplay for JF for at least havin the foresight to bring it to FAIs attention.

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Originally Posted by Tir Oilean

Fairplay for JF for at least havin the foresight to bring it to FAIs attention.

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Given that John Fallon is your chairman and handles all of Connacht's media work he's well connected in both camps. He could and should have resolved this weeks ago had he really wanted to.