Sportscall on RTE 1

[harry crumb]

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.

[Cosmo]

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!

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

[patsh]

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.

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?

[Slash/ED]

"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.

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.

[patsh]

*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*

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.

[ColinR]

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?

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.

[patsh]

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.

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.

[OneRedArmy]

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

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.

[WeAreRovers]

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

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

[razor]

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.

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.

[TheOwl]

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.

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!

[gspain]

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?

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.

[ColinR]

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

that was a different country that won.

[gspain]

??????? 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.

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

[Peadar]

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.

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.

[WeAreRovers]

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.

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

[ColinR]

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

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)

[gspain]

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!)

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.

[pete]

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.

[Schumi]

There was a gaa match over the weekend?