GAA doing a deal with SkySports

[BennyHarp]

It's very simple lads - commercially the GAA need a rival to RTE to maintain the rights price, let alone improve it. TV3 and Setanta are not capable of doing that. They don't have the money and TV3's coverage after a good start, had severely degraded production values by the end of their tenure - so even if they could afford the rights, it looked like they couldn't afford to televise them.

Without some form of TV money and an international dimension, a lot of things that are taken for granted in the GAA would no longer be available. People seem to forget that there was no live coverage beyond semis pre 95 - I remember it well.

There are good arguments on both sides, but overall the GAA (and by that I mean us as well as Croke Park) came out well in this.

I'd agree with this. Plus if 400,000 plus are watching in Britain, it can't be a bad negotiating point for sponsorship money.

[Eamonnca1]

So if I offer Sky in the UK access to all televised games (restricted to mainland UK), would they take it? Yes, I'd guess. Again, I don't believe that the "price" of sharing our games in America, Australia and elsewhere, is the restriction of some of the biggest games of the year in Ireland.

But since Sky is available in Britain and Ireland, RTE wouldn't have the exclusive rights and wouldn't be so quick to put up EU10 million for them. Would Sky be willing to pay EU12 million for exclusive rights? I doubt it.

[johnneycool]

It's very simple lads - commercially the GAA need a rival to RTE to maintain the rights price, let alone improve it. TV3 and Setanta are not capable of doing that. They don't have the money and TV3's coverage after a good start, had severely degraded production values by the end of their tenure - so even if they could afford the rights, it looked like they couldn't afford to televise them.

Without some form of TV money and an international dimension, a lot of things that are taken for granted in the GAA would no longer be available. People seem to forget that there was no live coverage beyond semis pre 95 - I remember it well.

There are good arguments on both sides, but overall the GAA (and by that I mean us as well as Croke Park) came out well in this.

I'd agree with this. Plus if 400,000 plus are watching in Britain, it can't be a bad negotiating point for sponsorship money.

Correct, County boards now have a bigger bargaining chip when going out looking for sponsors.

[BennyCake]

I wouldn't have thought there was too many tweets from the Brits about thon spectacle today.

[Eamonnca1]

At the risk of saying I told you so...

2015 ... The year that the GAA conquered the British sporting public?

By Nick Bramhill, Irish Examiner

IT'S been the year the British forged a surprising love affair with GAA sports from the safe distance of their TV screens, writes Nick Bramhill

Sky Sports ventured into unchartered, and risky, waters earlier in the summer when the broadcaster started covering Ireland's indigenous sports for the first time.

But TV viewers' overwhelmingly positive, if somewhat bemused reaction, to action-packed games such as the two hurling finals between Kilkenny and Tipperary and the football showdown between Donegal and Kerry, seems to have paid off.

Now GAA clubs in Britain say they are reaping the benefits in the form of a hike in interest from people wanting to take up the sports.

Club chiefs across England have noted how the exposure to GAA sports has encouraged young English kids to start playing hurling and Gaelic football.

And following the coverage of last month's nail-biting All-Ireland hurling finals across the water, GAA representatives in Britain said they are expecting hundreds of new converts to flock to their clubs.

Sean Hopkins, chairman of Lancashire GAA County Board, said: "It's phenomenal what's happening at the moment. A few teachers in Manchester I know told me English-born kids, with no background or knowledge at all of GAA, are coming into school the whole time talking about hurling rather than the Premiership.

"There's great potential now at underage level, because youngsters have seen the game and they want to play it and that's the key to the future of the sports.

"The first of the two hurling finals was the best possible advert for the game and there's a feeling here Sky are going to bring things to another level. It's the best thing that's happened to the game in a long time."

When Sky signed a €10m three-year deal with the GAA earlier in the summer, many seasoned observers and so-called 'experts' scoffed at the prospect of gaelic games proving a hit across the water, particularly as a large period of the season clashed with the World Cup.

Initial doubts about the audience's appetite for the sports seemed to be confirmed when Sky's TV figures for several of the season's opening televised games pulled in little more than 10,000 viewers. But social media, not least an increasingly frenzied reaction on Twitter to more high-profile televised matches, raised the GAA's profile and gave a massive boost to viewership figures.

The well-documented Twitter reaction, particularly to hurling, played a key part in drawing in a hugely-impressive 427,000 viewers in Britain to the epic first final between Kilkenny and Tipperary, deemed by some experts as the best game of hurling ever played.

Now there is evidence the legion of converts are joining GAA clubs across Britain.

Chairman of London-based Sean Treacy's hurling club, Martin Carroll, said the Sky exposure will enable him to launch an underage team.

"There are English lads, who haven't played before, getting in contact. Sky has given the games a lot of exposure and it bodes well for the future," says Carroll.

Underage coach at London's St. Brendan's GAA Football Club, Paul Hughes, says "I've been coaching here for 15 years and I've never seen such interest as there's been in the past few months. We've one underage team at the moment, but we'll be able to double that number by next year because of the Sky coverage."

All-Britain competitions chairman John Gormley, added: "In the last six to seven years, we've doubled the number of underage clubs in Britain from 30 to 60 and that's happened through getting funds from the Irish government and Croke Park, and having a full-time development officer.

"But if Sky keeps covering the games, the popularity of the GAA over here will take off like never before."

Meanwhile, tourist chiefs in Ireland have predicted a further spin-off from the coverage in the form of increased visitor numbers from across the water.

Tourism Ireland spokeswoman Sinead Grace said: "The Sky deal certainly is proving positive because it's showcasing our national games in our largest overseas market - Britain.

"Hurling has been drawing a lot of interest in particular because it is such an exciting game to watch on TV.

[AZOffaly]

At the risk of saying I told you so...

2015 ... The year that the GAA conquered the British sporting public?

By Nick Bramhill, Irish Examiner

IT'S been the year the British forged a surprising love affair with GAA sports from the safe distance of their TV screens, writes Nick Bramhill

Sky Sports ventured into unchartered, and risky, waters earlier in the summer when the broadcaster started covering Ireland's indigenous sports for the first time.

But TV viewers' overwhelmingly positive, if somewhat bemused reaction, to action-packed games such as the two hurling finals between Kilkenny and Tipperary and the football showdown between Donegal and Kerry, seems to have paid off.

Now GAA clubs in Britain say they are reaping the benefits in the form of a hike in interest from people wanting to take up the sports.

Club chiefs across England have noted how the exposure to GAA sports has encouraged young English kids to start playing hurling and Gaelic football.

And following the coverage of last month's nail-biting All-Ireland hurling finals across the water, GAA representatives in Britain said they are expecting hundreds of new converts to flock to their clubs.

Sean Hopkins, chairman of Lancashire GAA County Board, said: "It's phenomenal what's happening at the moment. A few teachers in Manchester I know told me English-born kids, with no background or knowledge at all of GAA, are coming into school the whole time talking about hurling rather than the Premiership.

"There's great potential now at underage level, because youngsters have seen the game and they want to play it and that's the key to the future of the sports.

"The first of the two hurling finals was the best possible advert for the game and there's a feeling here Sky are going to bring things to another level. It's the best thing that's happened to the game in a long time."

When Sky signed a €10m three-year deal with the GAA earlier in the summer, many seasoned observers and so-called 'experts' scoffed at the prospect of gaelic games proving a hit across the water, particularly as a large period of the season clashed with the World Cup.

Initial doubts about the audience's appetite for the sports seemed to be confirmed when Sky's TV figures for several of the season's opening televised games pulled in little more than 10,000 viewers. But social media, not least an increasingly frenzied reaction on Twitter to more high-profile televised matches, raised the GAA's profile and gave a massive boost to viewership figures.

The well-documented Twitter reaction, particularly to hurling, played a key part in drawing in a hugely-impressive 427,000 viewers in Britain to the epic first final between Kilkenny and Tipperary, deemed by some experts as the best game of hurling ever played.

Now there is evidence the legion of converts are joining GAA clubs across Britain.

Chairman of London-based Sean Treacy's hurling club, Martin Carroll, said the Sky exposure will enable him to launch an underage team.

"There are English lads, who haven't played before, getting in contact. Sky has given the games a lot of exposure and it bodes well for the future," says Carroll.

Underage coach at London's St. Brendan's GAA Football Club, Paul Hughes, says "I've been coaching here for 15 years and I've never seen such interest as there's been in the past few months. We've one underage team at the moment, but we'll be able to double that number by next year because of the Sky coverage."

All-Britain competitions chairman John Gormley, added: "In the last six to seven years, we've doubled the number of underage clubs in Britain from 30 to 60 and that's happened through getting funds from the Irish government and Croke Park, and having a full-time development officer.

"But if Sky keeps covering the games, the popularity of the GAA over here will take off like never before."

Meanwhile, tourist chiefs in Ireland have predicted a further spin-off from the coverage in the form of increased visitor numbers from across the water.

Tourism Ireland spokeswoman Sinead Grace said: "The Sky deal certainly is proving positive because it's showcasing our national games in our largest overseas market - Britain.

"Hurling has been drawing a lot of interest in particular because it is such an exciting game to watch on TV.

I don't think it was just you eamonn.

[Kidder81]

Aye where would we be without your wisdom Eamonn, and you can't measure the true extent of success or otherwise for a year or two. Let's see if all these underage teams that they are going to be able to field now "because of Sky" are still there in five years time.

[armaghniac]

If London field a team they trained themselves rather than a load of blow ins who learned their football elsewhere, then we'll see.

[BennyHarp]

If London field a team they trained themselves rather than a load of blow ins who learned their football elsewhere, then we'll see.

So Billy Joe Padden - explain?

[PAULD123]

If the interest really does pick up in the UK London will potentially have access to a city of young athletes with a bigger catchment than the whole of Ireland. As Armaghniac pointed out if they start to develop their own team in ten years or so they could become a major force.

Equally the whole thing could just fall flat if we get a season of poor football and SKY decide not to renew.

But just as SKY have shown that there is a huge untapped potential in viewers, the untapped potential in London for participants is also huge

[armaghniac]

If London field a team they trained themselves rather than a load of blow ins who learned their football elsewhere, then we'll see.

So Billy Joe Padden - explain?

Billy Joe is one player, hardly a load. Any county or club that has >50% of blow ins is is not in the spirit of the GAA.

[BennyHarp]

If London field a team they trained themselves rather than a load of blow ins who learned their football elsewhere, then we'll see.

So Billy Joe Padden - explain?

Billy Joe is one player, hardly a load. Any county or club that has >50% of blow ins is is not in the spirit of the GAA.

Surely any county with as many to pick from as Armagh shouldn't have had any blow ins - it's not in the spirit of the game. The number is irrelevant. I wouldn't throw stones at London when your own county is quite willing to do the same!

[armaghniac]

People move and are entitled to be considered for teams elsewhere, especially like Billy Joe when he marries locally, but they should have to fight for their place with locals. The number involved is entirely relevant, it indicates whether a team is relying on blow ins or not.

[BennyHarp]

People move and are entitled to be considered for teams elsewhere, especially like Billy Joe when he marries locally, but they should have to fight for their place with locals. The number involved is entirely relevant, it indicates whether a team is relying on blow ins or not.

Exactly!

[Zulu]

I can't say my experience is the same as those quoted in that article, none of our clubs referenced Sky as the reason their underage players togged out. In saying that, it will undoubtedly help clubs recruit and keep players over time in my opinion.

Clubs in Britain are doing a lot of work underage but there are challenges and realities here that make developing underage structures like there are in Ireland extremely difficult. The first ever adult homegrown championship is underway with 18 clubs across Britain from London to Scotland competing. In Scotland we are at county final stage in the first ever Scottish U12 championship, the All Britain underage championships are into their third year and attract well over 1000 kids for football and hurling from across Britain. And all this is being done by many of the same people who ensure Irish men and women who leave Ireland can still play GAA in most cities in Britain. Is that in the spirit of the GAA?