The Aussies can't afford to come to Ireland to tour ??

[clarshack]

The Railway Cups are dead, 7aside tournaments or silly exhibition matches like Dublin v the Rest(of what?) will not bring 80,000 anywhere.
Back in the pre TV days 40 or 50 years ago those things worked because most people couldnt get to see many of the  big names otherwise.
Now every one can see all those names in Championship action at the flick of a button and so dont need to go to luke warm watery games between players who are gone into rest mode after a tough 8 or 9 months.

It seems the Australians are gone off the idea for whatever reason and will only come back to it if players feel they are losing out to their counterparts in Rugby Lge/Union by not being able to represent the Country.

sad but true - i dont think there's anything that will bring 80k into croke park unless its a serious fixture.

[clarshack]

The Railway Cups are dead, 7aside tournaments or silly exhibition matches like Dublin v the Rest(of what?) will not bring 80,000 anywhere.
Back in the pre TV days 40 or 50 years ago those things worked because most people couldnt get to see many of the  big names otherwise.
Now every one can see all those names in Championship action at the flick of a button and so dont need to go to luke warm watery games between players who are gone into rest mode after a tough 8 or 9 months.

The attendances for the Dublin v Tyrone league openers in 2007 & 2009 would suggest otherwise.

these were competitive fixtures with 2 league points at stake.

[INDIANA]

Glad its over. Will free up 2 more weekends for clubs which is badly needed. Hated the game, never saw the point of it, won't miss it.

[stephenite]

Glad its over. Will free up 2 more weekends for clubs which is badly needed. Hated the game, never saw the point of it, won't miss it.

Thought it was going ahead next year?

[INDIANA]

they said that last year too. The aussies are losing interest in it. This economic thing I don't buy at all.

[orangeman]

they said that last year too. The aussies are losing interest in it. This economic thing I don't buy at all.

Looks and sounds like it.

[Rossfan]

The Railway Cups are dead, 7aside tournaments or silly exhibition matches like Dublin v the Rest(of what?) will not bring 80,000 anywhere.
Back in the pre TV days 40 or 50 years ago those things worked because most people couldnt get to see many of the  big names otherwise.
Now every one can see all those names in Championship action at the flick of a button and so dont need to go to luke warm watery games between players who are gone into rest mode after a tough 8 or 9 months.

The attendances for the Dublin v Tyrone league openers in 2007 & 2009 would suggest otherwise.

these were competitive fixtures with 2 league points at stake.

Exactly annd they were at the START of the year.

[fearglasmor]

The Railway Cups are dead, 7aside tournaments or silly exhibition matches like Dublin v the Rest(of what?) will not bring 80,000 anywhere.
Back in the pre TV days 40 or 50 years ago those things worked because most people couldnt get to see many of the  big names otherwise.
Now every one can see all those names in Championship action at the flick of a button and so dont need to go to luke warm watery games between players who are gone into rest mode after a tough 8 or 9 months.

The attendances for the Dublin v Tyrone league openers in 2007 & 2009 would suggest otherwise.

these were competitive fixtures with 2 league points at stake.

I would suggest that it was not 2 league points that drew 80,000 people to these games.
Outside of an All Ireland Final or semi final the only fixtures that draw 80,000 people require Dublin.

[Bogball XV]

Reading earlier on that the travelling team pay all their own expenses and the home team take all the revenue from all sources including tv rights and attendances, apparently the gaa spent €775K last time out there, so the AFL would presumably have had to pay something similar this time around - did coca cola pull their sponsorship this year too?
So maybe, they were actually telling the truth and can't afford it this year.

I like it alright, but would probably agree with fiontanmach and have it every second year.

[WhoAreYaWhoAreYa!]

Im clean rippin they arent coming over. I friggin love the international rules series. Bet mickey harte is happy though.

[020304 Tir Eoghain]

Im clean rippin they arent coming over. I friggin love the international rules series. Bet mickey harte is happy though.

Reading back over the thread, he's not the only one

[orangeman]

Can anyone post Brendan Crossan's piece in yesterday's Irish News on this subject ?


Very well written. And maybe not far off the mark.

[HeaveHo]

Interesting comments from the AFL about the GFC. They are spending 1.2 million euro over three years to recruit a high profile rugby league international (Karmichael Hunt) into the AFL playing ranks. The lad is a huge league identity in Queensland (where rugby league is the premier football code) and he will join the new Gold Coast franchise. The optimism about the code change is referenced to GAA players like Kennelly and Clarke who made successful and quick transitions to the AFL. They won't need to teach Hunt how to tackle but he will need to get a lot fitter and learn how to kick.   

[stephenite]

Karmichael Hunt apparently played AFL in school, from when he was a kid until he was 16, given that he's now only 22 the kicking aspect of his game shouldn't be too hard to rediscover.

[INDIANA]

Can't see it working at all going from a slow, stop start game to one where its constant movement.