Ulster Championship is Muck

[AQMP]

That all being said...the Ulster Championship is muck.

[clarshack]

thought the fermanagh v down game was rubbish too - there was very little skill on offer.

unfortunately the games arent going to get much better.

i know quite a few people who have lost interest in inter-county football and with dwindling attendances it seems that there are a lot of disillusioned supporters out there.

it's obvious that a major revamp to the championship is needed but really what can be done to improve things? reduced ticket prices would maybe help short term but what about long term?

[RadioGAAGAA]

it's obvious that a major revamp to the championship is needed but really what can be done to improve things?

That is simply not true. The last thing needed is yet another "meeja" driven change for change's sake.


There are a number of things affecting attendances, only some of which are inside the GAA's control. A few of the more pertinent ones are:

- Ticket prices.
- Quality of match.
- Price of petrol/diesel.
- Lack of free time for people.

[Hardy]

- relentless negative campaigning by third-rate time servers masquerading as pundits.

[nrico2006]

it's obvious that a major revamp to the championship is needed but really what can be done to improve things?

That is simply not true. The last thing needed is yet another "meeja" driven change for change's sake.


There are a number of things affecting attendances, only some of which are inside the GAA's control. A few of the more pertinent ones are:

- Ticket prices.
- Quality of match.
- Price of petrol/diesel.
- Lack of free time for people.

The cost of going to watch a game of amateurs is unreal.  The price of tickets and fuel alone is leaving people having to spend a serious bit of money to go to games that they can watch for free on TV.

[Jinxy]

Ticket prices do need to be slashed in fairness.
€20 is plenty for a stand ticket in Croke Park.
€15 is plenty for a stand ticket anywhere else.
€15 onto the terrace in Croke Park, a tenner everywhere else.
Then jack up the price for semi-finals and finals.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Can't mind the score but did one of the lower half Ulster teams not take Dublin apart in the league this year?

Scoring heavily against weak & tactically inept outfits like louth can tilt the stats all right.

That's five or six times your criticism and vitriol last year towards Gilroy has been cast up to you and you consistently blank it. I'd have thought a man of your calibre would by now have had the good grace to acknowledge your error and hold your hands up?

you find the vitriol and i'll agree with you. I'll give you a dictionary in case you dont know what vitriol means. As it happens i know Gilroy better then you since i see him every other day.

Just remember where Sam sits. It aint in Ulster and wont be for a long long time. We're long past the stage of league titles in Dublin. You could probably use one in armagh. even a div 2 one.

It would be quite amusing to go back 3 or 4 years to retrieve some of your quotes about Dublin not winning Sam for the foreseeable future.

I'd be fairly immune to "bad football" debate in the early stages of the championship as I invariably tend to be at a club game on a Sunday so don't see that much football on the tv. There's no doubt that what I have seen this year has been poor but I would also suspect the GAA would rank very highly in terms of the percentage of matches it shows featuring teams outside the top quarter in quality (not a criticism by any means).

I'd agree with Hardy that the GAA must surely be alone in having spawned a collection of pundits who are seemingly so utterly intent on highlighting all the negative facets of each and every match to almost the exclusion of anything positive. That said, I do believe the restriction of the amount of players a team can drop behind the ball might be something to look at in future.

[whitegoodman]

Ticket prices do need to be slashed in fairness.
€20 is plenty for a stand ticket in Croke Park.
€15 is plenty for a stand ticket anywhere else.
€15 onto the terrace in Croke Park, a tenner everywhere else.
Then jack up the price for semi-finals and finals.

£20 into a non covered wooden seated stand to watch absolute trip on sunday in Fermanagh.  If thats not turning fans away I dont no what will.

[nrico2006]

Ticket prices do need to be slashed in fairness.
€20 is plenty for a stand ticket in Croke Park.
€15 is plenty for a stand ticket anywhere else.
€15 onto the terrace in Croke Park, a tenner everywhere else.
Then jack up the price for semi-finals and finals.

£20 into a non covered wooden seated stand to watch absolute trip on sunday in Fermanagh.  If thats not turning fans away I dont no what will.

£20 into any Ulster Championship game is a joke.  Why so expensive? 

I even remember going to a Derry v Armagh McKenna Cup game in 2008 and it was £8. 

[snoopdog]

Ticket prices do need to be slashed in fairness.
€20 is plenty for a stand ticket in Croke Park.
€15 is plenty for a stand ticket anywhere else.
€15 onto the terrace in Croke Park, a tenner everywhere else.
Then jack up the price for semi-finals and finals.

i would agree with Jinxy on the above.
Or alternatively if your a regular attender of matches buy a season ticket i got access to 7 league games plus a semi final and league final plus Downs first Championship match for 75 Euro thats 7.50 a game. Plus others used it for Hogan Cup final Club Finals on st Patricks day. Obviously from here on in im charged full whack for games Down are involved in with the option to opt out once but come on thats great value.

Ps. If you dont like the Ulster championship dont watch it, there are 9 counties that love it we dont need anyones approval

[Jinxy]

Season tickets are a great idea but you have to appeal to the casual supporter as well.
Especially in the early rounds.
The only way to do that is reduce the prices.

[Bingo]

Anyone I've talked to has said the price is crazy and puts them off knowing that the fare on offer on the field is likely to be of poor standard. €25 to sit in the McGrane Stand for an opening round game is mad. You are at the mercy of the elements be it sun or rain and then you've to tr**p to either side of stand to visit toilet and get for a shop - normally to be confronted by a queue. Far from ideal if you are taking kids.

Give me a club game any day of the week, €5 in and likely to be more entertaining on the field. And thats just a league match.

[snoopdog]

i totally agree that ticket prices are too high. Croke park is a state of the art stadium that they charge 25 euros into the stands for.
In Enniskillen on sunday they were also charging 25 euro into an open timber seating area. and it was also 25 euro for a seat on the opposite side of the pitch to a stand with a roof. Crazy.
I wouldnt pay it either to be honest. When i didnt have a season ticket Terrace was the way to go.

[AZOffaly]

Can't mind the score but did one of the lower half Ulster teams not take Dublin apart in the league this year?

Scoring heavily against weak & tactically inept outfits like louth can tilt the stats all right.

That's five or six times your criticism and vitriol last year towards Gilroy has been cast up to you and you consistently blank it. I'd have thought a man of your calibre would by now have had the good grace to acknowledge your error and hold your hands up?

you find the vitriol and i'll agree with you. I'll give you a dictionary in case you dont know what vitriol means. As it happens i know Gilroy better then you since i see him every other day.

Just remember where Sam sits. It aint in Ulster and wont be for a long long time. We're long past the stage of league titles in Dublin. You could probably use one in armagh. even a div 2 one.

It would be quite amusing to go back 3 or 4 years to retrieve some of your quotes about Dublin not winning Sam for the foreseeable future.

I'd be fairly immune to "bad football" debate in the early stages of the championship as I invariably tend to be at a club game on a Sunday so don't see that much football on the tv. There's no doubt that what I have seen this year has been poor but I would also suspect the GAA would rank very highly in terms of the percentage of matches it shows featuring teams outside the top quarter in quality (not a criticism by any means).

I'd agree with Hardy that the GAA must surely be alone in having spawned a collection of pundits who are seemingly so utterly intent on highlighting all the negative facets of each and every match to almost the exclusion of anything positive. That said, I do believe the restriction of the amount of players a team can drop behind the ball might be something to look at in future.

I agree with this point, but just a clarification. It's not the GAA that has spawned this, it's football. Hurling pundits seem to feel it is there mission to be evangelists for the game, and even bad games are analysed fairly, with good skills being highlighted. Football pundits are too keen to make/keep a name for themselves, and seem to actually hate the game they should love.

[AZOffaly]

Money's gotta be raised to cover the significant amount of activity the Ulster Council does I guess. I'm sure they're worked out the numbers to bring in the best amount of revenue from the gates comparing ticket prices to expected attendances. Lowering prices may entice a few more people, but if it doesn't generate more revenue otherwise then they'll not likely go for it.

Except that while lowering your gates may be revenue neutral in terms of increasing volume but decreasing margin on a per ticket basis, it is definitely a huge gain in terms of atmosphere and the peripheral spin offs like concessions etc.

I would prefer to see 20k at €10 a head rather than 10k at €20 a head if I were the GAA.