Admission prices---the GAA are killing the goose that lays the golden egg

[thewobbler]

I've not much problem with the Championship prices. It is the premier competition and should have a premium.

That said, the prices do tilt a 50:50 decision against, on whether or not to attend.

[brokencrossbar1]

I've not much problem with the Championship prices. It is the premier competition and should have a premium.

That said, the prices do tilt a 50:50 decision against, on whether or not to attend.

I agree wobbler but it will be a factor in 2 weeks time for the Armagh Down game as I have spoken to a fair few lads who would have been going and are not now due to the time of the game and the expected outlay to go. The reality is that for a lad from say the East Down are to go to the match it is likely to cost him minimum £60 with travel grub etc thrown in. Even if they are not a Man Utd fan if they have any interest in soccer they would like to watch the CL final and if they can save a few pound then they will 60 quid will pay for them to go and watch the game have his pints and have change left over. I know this is a slight tangent but it is a factor because lads have told me they are not going for that very reason.

[thewobbler]

BCB, I think you have to factor in the confidence factor as well. Most people would expect Down to get 3-4 games minimum this year. At £50 a pop for the basics (ticket, travel, a couple of pints and a sandwich), there is a prudence involved in picking games.

Speaking personally, a lot of the time it's not so much the cost of going as the effort involved. If I jump both feet on the bandwagon from the outset, that's quite a number of days for which I have to do some bartering with the good lady. We're not used to such quandaries in Down football!

[mylestheslasher]

Nail on the head wobbler. Its not the money thats the problem its the wives. When are the GAA going to get up of their holes and do something about our wives stopping us going to games!!!! Maybe Cooney could drive this one for the ordinary supporter?

[Bingo]

BCB, I think you have to factor in the confidence factor as well. Most people would expect Down to get 3-4 games minimum this year. At £50 a pop for the basics (ticket, travel, a couple of pints and a sandwich), there is a prudence involved in picking games.

Speaking personally, a lot of the time it's not so much the cost of going as the effort involved. If I jump both feet on the bandwagon from the outset, that's quite a number of days for which I have to do some bartering with the good lady. We're not used to such quandaries in Down football!

It should then be a case of the GAA marketing the game, building it up, creating a buzz etc etc so that those falling on the "not going" side are swayed into going on the basis that they will miss something if they don't. Isn't that what marketing is all about?

We can bleat on and on all we like about the Gaa been great value in comparison to other sports and its still good value etc etc but the facts ie attendences aren't supporting this and it will soon be the case were the only sell out is the All-Ireland final itself. Entertainment is far from guarantee'd as yesterday proves, I was at a Junior B game on Saturday that had better scores and football.

[thewobbler]

Bingo, a crowd of 6,000 is more than healthy considering that the home county has about 45 people left in it, and the away county had the choice of rain-soaked two hour trip to get there, or watch it on TV.

[Rossfan]

BCB, I think you have to factor in the confidence factor as well. Most people would expect Down to get 3-4 games minimum this year. At £50 a pop for the basics (ticket, travel, a couple of pints and a sandwich), there is a prudence involved in picking games.

Ye must have been at that prudence last year too !!!
Very small crowds at Down Qualifier games but when it came to August and September 

Official Attendance yesterday in Ballbofey is given as 7,385.
How many seasons would it take Finn Harps to get that many? 

[Bingo]

Bingo, a crowd of 6,000 is more than healthy considering that the home county has about 45 people left in it, and the away county had the choice of rain-soaked two hour trip to get there, or watch it on TV.

But that is basically the whole point of my previous post, should we not be building up the games so that 2 hour journey is worth it? Antrim may only have 2 of those trips to make in a year and should it not be a case of the GAA ensuring that all Antrim men feel obliged to attend to encourage their team to attend.

A few years back we'd have expected 10k plus at that game. Now you are saying 6k is acceptable cause it was wet! By the way Martin McHugh wrote last week that he was at a club game in Donegal a few weeks back that had 2,000 at it and he wondered now many of those would be attending yesterday.

[Canalman]

Have to say that most provincial county grounds are not too pleasing on the eye. Ballybofey in the rain looked awful on tv............... even the lowliest soccer ground in England looks better presented.

Big exception is the pitch in Longford.......... looks great on tv with the wraparound stand on the far side.

Some grounds don't even have the posts painted for the big games or seem to think that those tufts of long grass siding on to the terrace could be strimmed.

[Bingo]

Have to say that most provincial county grounds are not too pleasing on the eye. Ballybofey in the rain looked awful on tv............... even the lowliest soccer ground in England looks better presented.

Big exception is the pitch in Longford.......... looks great on tv with the wraparound stand on the far side.

Some grounds don't even have the posts painted for the big games or seem to think that those tufts of long grass siding on to the terrace could be strimmed.

Yeah, but they hold thousands and thousands of people, thats the main thing. 

[Barney]

The GAA hierarchy are destroying their games/competitions and price is only one factor.

I see on the Connacht Council website that entry for the Sligo v Leitrim game on next Sunday is €30 for the stand or €20 for the Terrace. Compared to other events that might look good value. But this is an amateur association which is supposed to be for the benefit of the community and we are going through very difficulty times in this country currently. How many will be at this match between a team that was relegated to Division 3 and a team that had a mediocre league in Division 4? 5,000 I would say. You could take it that any Connacht Championship game would attract 10,000. The Final anything from about 20,000 to 30,000 depending on how teams are going.

We keep being told the League doesn't matter so the crowds going to that are dwindling.

The Championship used to be do-or-die and now teams seem happy enough to try their chances in the back door. The luke warm supporter now waits for the bigger days and if they don't come so-be-it.

When it does get to the back-door only the really interested supporters know the games are on and will go if they can.

And even for the Quarter Finals the type of crowd that will travel can be uncertain enough.

Is it a generational change? The hard-core support in Mayo is certainly dwindling, I'm not sure about other counties but even the likes of the Ulster counties seem to bring much fewer travelling supporters. Do people see it as a day out, and just entertainment rather than a hunger to succeed?

[thewobbler]

Barney, "the GAA hierarchy" are not destroying games and competitions.

I've blattered on about this on another thread and don't want to go over it word for word, but it's not possible for the GAA to market the games when actually winning a game is treated with such disdain by the main combatants.

Gaelic football is going through a horrible, stone-faced stage of its evolution.

Cork won a National League title with the mother of all comebacks, but with the looks of their faces, you'd swear someone had burned out their villages while they were in Dublin.

Championship victories are no longer celebrated by most teams; it's almost always a case of "the real work starts now". Losing a provincial game is neither here or nor there, for your summer starts again in a few weeks in the qualifiers. Losing a qualifier doesn't matter, as it's only the back door anyway, and if they were any good they wouldn't have needed that system.

Nine out of ten teams who win provincial titles will immeidately harp on about how it's only a stepping stone, and how it'll all be forgotten if they don't win Sam.

Even teams that win the All Ireland make immediate noises about how they won't be happy, and won't be considered a good team, until they've won 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in a row.


It's madness, and it drives me mad. I don't expect to be entertained every time I go to a football match, but I do expect it to feel like it actually matters. You can analyse the way competitions are administered all you like, but it's the competitors who set the tone.



Bingo, just as a side note, I sincerely doubt that save for exceptional circumstances, a Donegal vs Antrim match has ever generated a crowd of 10k+. I think you're looking back with tinted glasses at the days.

[Bingo]

I don't think 10k is much to expect for a game were both teams had expectations to win, Donegal would have alot of support and would be viewed as been on the up/have a good chance of winning the thing out, while not too long back Antrim were in Ulster final and are alot more competitive than ever. We just under sell ourselves and promotions of the game.

I take your point about the attitude of many in the game particularly the competitors themselves. In my eyes, the gaa has sold itself way down the professional route and takes itself all too serious and is actually creating a barrier in the one thing that it always prided itself on ie accessability and players been one of us. In my eyes players are drfiting from clubs more and more and, younger fellas mainly, have a massive chip about been county players now. Not all or even the majority but its there and growing.

I'm sure supporters are feeling and seeing this and are been left behind by the association bar at club level. The GAA expect people to turn up at these championship matches but that is all they seem to be doing. Take the FAI, when an international on in Avivia they are straight onto the two local soccer clubs, both very new, about arranging discounted tickets, trasnport, etc etc, they very active  - they have capacity and will try to fill it. I don't think bar an email about availability of club tickets for the international rules I've ever seen anything similar from the GAA.

[imtommygunn]

I saw Pauric Duffy and his wife at the match today, but he did not have to pay €54.00.  I was at match with my wife and 3 grown up children, 2 of whom are unemployed.I paid €135.00. We have always been a GAA family.
Why is preliminary round so expensive?
Why is a first round game so expensive?
It is time club delegates made their views known,

Why didn't you stand? it is not expensive and it would have cost you only €68 for all five of you to see the match. I think the comments above are correct. If you want to see the game and you are on a tight budget then there is a pricing structure for you - The terrace.  I'm sorry but I do not think the prices are high at all. No other form of entertainment provides as much value for money as the GAA. Just an sample of events from around the same time:

Ireland vs Pakistan (cricket) - £25 (uncovered)

Michael Ball (Waterfront) - £33 - £38

Katherine Jenkins - £55-70

Spamalot (Dublin) - €35 - €50

Rep Ireland vs N. Ireland (Dublin) - €30 - €75

Magners League semi (Leinster vs Ulster) - €25 - €50

I think the GAA offers excellent value for money. I love sport and attend Soccer, Rugby, GAA and Horse racing. I've been to soccer world cup games, rugby world cup games, the Heinekan Cup final, Cheltenham, and quiet a few All-Ireland finals. The GAA is by a mile the cheapest and the entertainment is at least as good and often better.

Every one of those people you mention here have to have their wages and fees paid out of it. This is not to get into a pro/ amateur debate as I don't advocate professionalism at all but those other events you mention have that fee. The GAA does not.

The GAA is our cultural heritage and should be affordable to all. Yes at some level it is also a business but the two things need to be taken into account. Families in particular are being priced out.

[deiseach]

Speaking personally, a lot of the time it's not so much the cost of going as the effort involved. If I jump both feet on the bandwagon from the outset, that's quite a number of days for which I have to do some bartering with the good lady. We're not used to such quandaries in Down football!

I know what you mean. When demand for tickets is high it generates positive feedback by obliging people to book their tickets in advance and you almost feel forced to go come the day no matter how aggravating it might be to lose half your weekend to it. But when demand is low and you can buy on the day and it's on the telly and the price of petrol is outrageous and it's pissing rain and you had one too many on the Saturday night and are up early for work on the Monday . . .