Falling attendances and a reduced level of competitiveness

[seafoid]

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gpa-deal-shows-heavy-burden-on-gaa-players-1.2735307

GPA deal shows heavy burden on GAA players

Increased professionalism is creating a world where competitiveness is dying

We were all intrigued to receive news on Sunday that a "significant joint-announcement" by the GAA and GPA was to take place the following day. Would it be one of those popular commercial partnerships through which, say, Zip firelighters would be declared the intercounty player's method of choice to fend off the chill of winter's onset?
As it turned out, the news was the slow-burning framework agreement on relations between the players' body and Croke Park.
All in all, it was more of a housekeeping document than a revolutionary manifesto but it had taken a long time to thrash it out after the previous and original five-year agreement had expired last year.
It doesn't appear to be particularly controversial. Central Council was supportive last weekend and players have indicated their approval.
Times change. The fractiousness, which was generated when the GPA set up nearly 17 years ago, has all but dissipated and the decision six years ago by Congress to grant official recognition to the organisation as the representatives of intercounty players largely signalled the end of hostilities.
There remains a certain level of resentment directed at the players' group but it's difficult to grumble about the provisions of the agreement. The money sounds like it's spectacularly up on the original agreement – €18.6 million over three years compared with €8.75 million over five years – but the actual funding for the GPA, as opposed to various other initiatives, hasn't changed as dramatically.
Mileage rates
Of the accepted €6.2 million per annum, €2.7 million is for vouched expenses incurred observing whatever dietary prescriptions are handed down by management and includes a top-up for mileage rates, which haven't been increased since 2003.
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Another million comes from joint-commercial ventures with the GAA as part of the Le Chéile initiative (which was part of the previous agreement but is generally agreed to have greater potential than it has so far demonstrated) and from a fund for former players who require surgery as a result of career injuries.
That leaves €2.5 million, which is 20 per cent up on the last year of the old agreement.
Controversy may yet arise over the guarantee of that figure or 15 per cent of commercial revenue, whichever is greater (on last year's figures it's €200,000 greater), because it's the first time that Croke Park has conceded a percentage share of its revenues and there will be concerns that this could increase or, more alarmingly, be spread to encompass gate receipts, which is the GAA's main revenue source.
There was, after all, a time when talk of the GPA getting a slice of the media rights was considered pie in the sky but that revenue comes under the 'commercial' heading.
For all of the launch formalities of this event, there was an unsettling presence.
Director general Páraic Duffy said that the association wouldn't panic just yet over the relentless drop in match attendances. Whereas he's right to take the long view and factor in things like the vagaries of the draw and the impact of Euro 2016 in June, the trend is not encouraging.
Duffy also referenced Dublin's domination of Leinster football as a factor but that is no passing phenomenon.
Small increase
The number of people attending the Leinster final has dropped by 30,000 in four years. Connacht registered a small increase this year but the other three provinces were all down.
It might make an unconvincing call to arms on the question of amateurism, especially as the GPA signed on the dotted line in that respect when accepting the first deal.
Unfortunately, though, the increased professionalism of participants is creating a world where competitiveness is dying. It's not the GPA's fault; they're simply representing players who are burdened by intense demands.


And it's not the fault of managers. Counties demand success and they react accordingly; but the going rate now for an intercounty player is total commitment to a project that eats your time and isolates you socially.
That's fine if you have realistic September or late August expectations but it can be seen how players with less successful counties are deciding there is no incentive to embrace such asceticism.
The GPA and GAA are proactive in trying to remedy this but unless there is some way of throttling back expectation levels and unwinding the restrictions on what players can be asked to do, this becomes an arms race and this week's protocol is an unwitting reflection of that world.

[ck]

Falling attendances have been blamed on the weather and the Euros by the GAA president.
Usual burying of head in sand by GAA official. The stark reality is that people are staying away due to the defensive tripe being served up on the pitch by most teams.

[seafoid]

It's hard to watch and apart from Galway and maybe Tipp and Clare it's the same old stuff. Not much worth watching before August. 

[From the Bunker]

It's hard to watch and apart from Galway and maybe Tipp and Clare it's the same old stuff. Not much worth watching before August. 

😉

[Rossfan]

Put the foot back into FOOTball and get rid of/restrict that fcukn abomination that is tossball.
Don't increase Qualifier prices by 100%
Make sensible fixtures in sensible venues

[From the Bunker]

Put the foot back into FOOTball and get rid of/restrict that fcukn abomination that is tossball.
Don't increase Qualifier prices by 100%
Make sensible fixtures in sensible venues

Venues are for corporate boxes an tv. Fans are secondary - if that. The Gas care about nothing but getting the money in. Charging kids in proves this!

[Cunny Funt]

25€ for the qualifers on Saturday and 30€ for the quarter finals on Sunday is it any wonder for falling attendances with overpriced tickets like that.

[ONeill]

Falling attendances from where? Are attendances far better than they were in the 80s? 90s? Was there a peak?

[sid waddell]

Falling attendances from where? Are attendances far better than they were in the 80s? 90s? Was there a peak?

Attendances before about 1991 weren't that great. All-Ireland semi-finals were routinely played in front of very poor crowds. Even Dublin-Meath Leinster finals struggled to break 50k. Cork-Tipp Munster finals were the only guaranteed full house draw before the All-Ireland finals. 1991 was the year when things really started to take off, I think, as the four Dublin-Meath matches proved a landmark in terms of public interest, and the GAA began to discover live TV.

Attendances kept gradually improving between '91 and about '95. Without looking at the figures, the second half of the 90s and first half of the 2000s was the peak in terms of consistent high attendances across the board and just a general air of enthusiasm for the championships, I think.

The second half of the 90s was a time when both the hurling and football championships were still knockout, bar the provincial hurling finals. The economy was really picking up and both championships were massively competitive - Ulster teams had been strong since '91 and that was later followed by a Connacht resurgence, Kildare also brought big support, Clare had won Munster in '92. In hurling Clare, Wexford, Offaly and Limerick usurped the dominance of the big three. Both championships felt genuinely democratic in terms of success.

The introduction of the back door system meant a fall-off in attendances for some provincial games, but the economy was booming even more by then and the completion of the new Croke Park created a novelty factor for the first few years post-completion in 2002. The championship, in football at least, was still competitive, and Dublin's lack of success if anything heightened attendances at matches involving them.

The downturn started to set in around 2007, I think. The economy crashed, the back door system began to become stale, the football championship was becoming less competitive by the year as the likes of traditionally big crowd pullers Meath, Armagh and Galway fell away, Dublin dominated Leinster, and Kilkenny dominated the hurling championship year on year.

Attendances have fallen off at different rates in different competitions since around a decade ago.

The Ulster final appears to be immune to a fall off in attendance as do semi-finals involving Dublin. But Ulster matches before the final no longer attract big crowds.

The Munster hurling final was immune for a long time but that's also changed, and attendances at matches before the final are now paltry by comparison to 10 or 15 years ago.

While attendances at Dublin games held reasonably steady until three or four years ago, there's now little point in attending Leinster championship games involving them at the moment due to their total dominance, and that air of negativity has spread to all matches throughout the province.

Even at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage in both codes there is now a familiarity that breeds contempt.

And the negative tactics that pervade in both football and hurling now are the cherry on the cake of it all.

Competitive matches will always bring the crowds back, however. It's the competitiveness that matters above all else.

[ONeill]

So are we comparing it to Celtic Tiger figures?

The Ulster final appears to be immune to a fall off in attendance as do semi-finals involving Dublin. But Ulster matches before the final no longer attract big crowds.

20'000 at Tyrone/Cavan semi final. Not sure of the other game.

[ashman]

To be honest it is surprising that attendances are not less given the 5hite being served up.

Both hurling and football .

[BennyCake]

Tickets far too expensive and the matches shite.

I rarely even watch any live games either. The highlights does me. I'd rarely have missed going or watching on tv. Football ain't what it was.

[sid waddell]

So are we comparing it to Celtic Tiger figures?

The Ulster final appears to be immune to a fall off in attendance as do semi-finals involving Dublin. But Ulster matches before the final no longer attract big crowds.

20'000 at Tyrone/Cavan semi final. Not sure of the other game.

Tyrone and Cavan are two counties who were perceived to be on the up before this championship. Still think the same fixture even 10-12 years ago would have attracted a bigger crowd. Not sure how many attended the corresponding 2005 games.

The Donegal-Monaghan games attracted 16 and 17k respectively. Reasonable figures but such games in the 90s and first half of the 2000s would have attracted more.

Maybe the best comparison vis a vis the Celtic Tiger era is in attitudes. There is a real air of negativity surrounding so many county teams and supporters' attitudes to both them and the game in general that wasn't there 10-15 years ago. 

For instance the Galway-Roscommon replay attendance of just 15k was really poor, especially given that neither team had won a provincial title within the last six years.

[Ohtoohtobe]

It's really striking, watching on TV from abroad, the empty stands and terraces at most championship games. It makes the whole thing look Mickey Mouse.

If the GAA was serious about addressing this, if the game was about what they say it's about, they'd cut admission prices and let kids in free to most championship games. They'd broadcast live games free to air.

But it's not about what they say it's about. It's about money.

People aren't stupid. They are being milked in the same fashion as fans of professional sports, they know it, and they choose to stay away.

In my case I've gone from getting the GAA Go season pass to only paying for three or four live matches this year and catching the rest on YouTube. It's sad, because I really love football, but I just can't justify being fleeced any more.

[seafoid]

Falling attendances from where? Are attendances far better than they were in the 80s? 90s? Was there a peak?

Attendances before about 1991 weren't that great. All-Ireland semi-finals were routinely played in front of very poor crowds. Even Dublin-Meath Leinster finals struggled to break 50k. Cork-Tipp Munster finals were the only guaranteed full house draw before the All-Ireland finals. 1991 was the year when things really started to take off, I think, as the four Dublin-Meath matches proved a landmark in terms of public interest, and the GAA began to discover live TV.

Attendances kept gradually improving between '91 and about '95. Without looking at the figures, the second half of the 90s and first half of the 2000s was the peak in terms of consistent high attendances across the board and just a general air of enthusiasm for the championships, I think.

The second half of the 90s was a time when both the hurling and football championships were still knockout, bar the provincial hurling finals. The economy was really picking up and both championships were massively competitive - Ulster teams had been strong since '91 and that was later followed by a Connacht resurgence, Kildare also brought big support, Clare had won Munster in '92. In hurling Clare, Wexford, Offaly and Limerick usurped the dominance of the big three. Both championships felt genuinely democratic in terms of success.

The introduction of the back door system meant a fall-off in attendances for some provincial games, but the economy was booming even more by then and the completion of the new Croke Park created a novelty factor for the first few years post-completion in 2002. The championship, in football at least, was still competitive, and Dublin's lack of success if anything heightened attendances at matches involving them.

The downturn started to set in around 2007, I think. The economy crashed, the back door system began to become stale, the football championship was becoming less competitive by the year as the likes of traditionally big crowd pullers Meath, Armagh and Galway fell away, Dublin dominated Leinster, and Kilkenny dominated the hurling championship year on year.

Attendances have fallen off at different rates in different competitions since around a decade ago.

The Ulster final appears to be immune to a fall off in attendance as do semi-finals involving Dublin. But Ulster matches before the final no longer attract big crowds.

The Munster hurling final was immune for a long time but that's also changed, and attendances at matches before the final are now paltry by comparison to 10 or 15 years ago.

While attendances at Dublin games held reasonably steady until three or four years ago, there's now little point in attending Leinster championship games involving them at the moment due to their total dominance, and that air of negativity has spread to all matches throughout the province.

Even at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage in both codes there is now a familiarity that breeds contempt.

And the negative tactics that pervade in both football and hurling now are the cherry on the cake of it all.

Competitive matches will always bring the crowds back, however. It's the competitiveness that matters above all else.

Great post Sid

I remember years ago when Shamrock Rovers won everything relentlessly. There were unbeatable. And it was so boring
Watching the Kilkenny stickwork as they reel in another team in the second half of the hurling final is technically beautiful but emotionally dull. And  the football isn't much better.

91 to 08 had Down, Derry, Donegal, Wexford, Clare , Offaly, Galway, Armagh and Tyrone winning outside the old firm of the hurling big 3, Kerry and Dublin.   

Only Donegal have repeated this recently.