Competitions that have lost / gained prestige

Eamonnca1 · February 28, 2013, 01:21:14 AM

Posting this in the GAA section but I'm thinking of competitions in all of sport. The Railway Cup is a topical one at the minute.

The FA Cup used to be a prestigious affair and very popular because it was so unpredictable. Would I be right in saying the league and later the Premiership has eclipsed it?

By all accounts the FA, SFA, IFA and WFA didn't take the first World Cup terribly seriously, didn't even bother sending teams even though they were invited.

Apparently the football league didn't take the European Cup seriously when it started, they thought it was a Mickey Mouse contest that would fizzle out.

Didn't wrestling used to be a major (and original) Olympic event, but now it's been dumped? Wonder why that is.

GAA National Leagues seem to have lost their lustre.

Any others? McKenna Cup?

ranch · February 28, 2013, 01:36:32 AM

Quote from: Eamonnca1 on February 28, 2013, 01:21:14 AM
Posting this in the GAA section but I'm thinking of competitions in all of sport. The Railway Cup is a topical one at the minute.

The FA Cup used to be a prestigious affair and very popular because it was so unpredictable. Would I be right in saying the league and later the Premiership has eclipsed it?

By all accounts the FA, SFA, IFA and WFA didn't take the first World Cup terribly seriously, didn't even bother sending teams even though they were invited.

Apparently the football league didn't take the European Cup seriously when it started, they thought it was a Mickey Mouse contest that would fizzle out.

Didn't wrestling used to be a major (and original) Olympic event, but now it's been dumped? Wonder why that is.

GAA National Leagues seem to have lost their lustre.

Any others? McKenna Cup?

With the introduction of the 'back door' system in GAA you could make an argument for the provincial championships having lost prestige too.

Eamonnca1 · February 28, 2013, 01:47:12 AM

Yup. Some people insist that the provincial champs are still prestigious, but then some people also insist that the FA Cup is still a big deal. Takes a bit more than insisting to add value to a competition.

Captain Obvious · February 28, 2013, 01:53:10 AM

Thanks to drug cheats the Tour de France has lost it's prestige. Same with Baseball in America i believe. Boxing mainly because of the lack of quality fighters. UFC,MMA has gained prestige.

Captain Obvious · February 28, 2013, 01:57:04 AM

Quote from: Eamonnca1 on February 28, 2013, 01:47:12 AM
Yup. Some people insist that the provincial champs are still prestigious, but then some people also insist that the FA Cup is still a big deal. Takes a bit more than insisting to add value to a competition.

Provincial championships wouldn't be that prestigious to Cork,Mayo,Kerry,Dublin however, it would be more prestigious to teams like Limerick,Sligo,Clare,Longford.

ranch · February 28, 2013, 02:03:48 AM

The Europa League in football is another. Prior to the re branding of the European Cup as the Champions League both the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup had some of the best teams in Europe competing. Now there's even talk of scrapping it altogether in favour of an even bigger Champions League.

ranch · February 28, 2013, 02:06:09 AM

Quote from: Captain Obvious on February 28, 2013, 01:57:04 AM
Quote from: Eamonnca1 on February 28, 2013, 01:47:12 AM
Yup. Some people insist that the provincial champs are still prestigious, but then some people also insist that the FA Cup is still a big deal. Takes a bit more than insisting to add value to a competition.
Provincial championships wouldn't be that prestigious to Cork,Mayo,Kerry,Dublin however, it would be more prestigious to teams like Limerick,Sligo,Clare,Longford.

True, but it still doesn't change the fact that they've lost prestige on the whole since the introduction of the qualifiers.

Eamonnca1 · February 28, 2013, 04:44:59 AM

Quote from: ranch on February 28, 2013, 02:03:48 AM
The Europa League in football is another. Prior to the re branding of the European Cup as the Champions League both the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup had some of the best teams in Europe competing. Now there's even talk of scrapping it altogether in favour of an even bigger Champions League.

Might as well. Champions League has become such a behemoth. Damned if I know what the difference was between the old UEFA Cup and the European Cup anyway. Instead of merging the Cup Winner's Cup into the UEFA Cup I'd have merged the UEFA Cup into the Champions League and left the CWC alone, it might have lent a bit of credibility to the national cup competitions.

Bingo · February 28, 2013, 09:42:36 AM

Rather than the Provincals losing prestige, I'd argue that the qualifiers have rapidly gone downhill and lost their appeal bar for a county that had realistic chances of winning an All-Ireland in the first place. Now as soon as the majority of teams are knocked out of their own championship alot of the younger players are heading for the airport or throwing their hat into the club football.

Canalman · February 28, 2013, 09:49:11 AM

Quote from: ranch on February 28, 2013, 02:03:48 AM
The Europa League in football is another. Prior to the re branding of the European Cup as the Champions League both the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup had some of the best teams in Europe competing. Now there's even talk of scrapping it altogether in favour of an even bigger Champions League.

Spot on there. Alot of clubs in Europe still very proud of their UEFA cup/ Cup Winners Cup trophies won .
They were cracking competitions back in the day and watched all the finals every year. RTE used to show them iirc.

Can't warm to this Europa league at all. A straight knockout all the way might improve it with a place in the Champions League next year for the winner.

ziggy90 · February 28, 2013, 10:28:24 AM

Quote from: Canalman on February 28, 2013, 09:49:11 AM
Quote from: ranch on February 28, 2013, 02:03:48 AM
The Europa League in football is another. Prior to the re branding of the European Cup as the Champions League both the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup had some of the best teams in Europe competing. Now there's even talk of scrapping it altogether in favour of an even bigger Champions League.

Spot on there. Alot of clubs in Europe still very proud of their UEFA cup/ Cup Winners Cup trophies won .
They were cracking competitions back in the day and watched all the finals every year. RTE used to show them iirc.

Can't warm to this Europa league at all. A straight knockout all the way might improve it with a place in the Champions League next year for the winner.

Very good post. Televised football is at saturation point now. "Back in the day" a lot of the clubs who played in these competitions (Inter Cities/UEFA/Cup Winners Cup) carried a bit of mystery about them and there would be a lot of neutrals who would go and watch these games out of a sense of curiosity. Birmingham played in the early league stages of the Europa cup a couple of years ago, and you only had to see the enthusiasm of the fans (and the numbers of them who followed the team abroad) to appreciate what European football can mean to teams/fans who don't usually aspire to it.

Btw, we wuz robbed!!!!

rosnarun · February 28, 2013, 03:08:38 PM

i think it was the intertoto cup that ruined eoropean soccer . they let just about any one in to that as many decent sides have refused the invite .
it waters down the brand

ranch · February 28, 2013, 05:07:05 PM

The BDO world darts champoonship is another that has surely lost prestige. Since the PDC and Sky TV revolutionised the sport all the best players continue to leave and follow the £ signs.

Eamonnca1 · February 28, 2013, 06:08:53 PM

I always thought the Olympics were a big deal (and to a certain extent still do) but nowadays it's always at the back of my mind that the winners might not be winning by healthy diet and training alone.

From the Bunker · February 28, 2013, 10:53:12 PM

Show jumping, remember the days of Paul Darragh, Eddie Macken, Harvey Smith?