Gaelic Life

[maxpower]

agreed bottle of stout, good read, nice sharp lay out but very little hurling content,

[Scrub]

I have been looking forward to this for quite a while but having read almost half of it (still at work) I have to say that I am a little bit disappointed. Too many similar articles with predictable views from the predictable columnists.

Not sure that I can stomach so many articles on the McKenna Cup until Tyrone win it again but am looking forward to the fantasy football cometition.

I will continue to purchase it for another few weeks so that the guys can review things and hopefully task all their staff with different topics.

So much potential but first edition could have been better (Might edit this when I get the paper finished this evening)

[ziggysego]

Well to be fair Scrub, there isn't much football on at the moment. Wait to the Gaelic Life Dr. McKenna Cup starts properly and they National League comes around. There'll be more to the paper then.

[tieroan]

Not bad at all i must say. Why do egotistic journalists put their photo on top of their articles. The editor is perfectably acceptable but i cant hack thon we Woods upstart stuck in another newspaper. Can no one else write about Ladies football. He knows nothing about it in the first place. I recall him not picking my sister on the Tyrone U16 a few years back because she missed a training because it happened to be the day of my wedding. Jumped up wee fart. I remember Lynette Hughes writing in Team Talk, completly tearing shreds of Errigal Ciaran, won her no friends but i bet you everyone read her stuff. Thats what you need instead of, and no disrespect, Maebh Mo injury crisis

[ziggysego]

who are you?

[Captain Scarlet]

fairly brave launching at this time of year as was said not much to write about.
as a leinster man it would be good if they had a bit from other provinces, likle a little round up.
i havent seen it but at least they are advertising. the gaa seem to presume things will just promote itself. its kind of poxy to walk in to easons and see loads of specialist sports mags and only one or two gaa ones, none up till now were weekly.
but if it goes well surely they would look at a leinster market where there is more hype and revenue available.

well done, as i said i havent seen it but its about time that a weekly mag came out.

[The Bottom Brick]

They're launching this time of year so that they'll have a readership built up when the real action starts, and even that's only three weeks away...

Design is very professional, I liked it a lot...

As someone said though, they will have to break stories. Where The Game failed was it didn't tell you anything you didn't already know by Friday.

I think there's too much emphasis on big names in a lot of papers. Ex players are exactly that - I'd rather give the 250/300 euros a week to a top writer rather than givibng a washed up mouthpiec e a soapbox to stand on.

Brolly's like a new version of Spillane I'm afraid, and as for Jarlath - designs on the presidency maybe?

[Colonel Cool]

I haven't seen a copy of it yet but I will give it a go if I can get a copy. Being more of a hurling man I suspect it's not aimed at the likes of me. You're right about the internet. You can get most breaking GAA news on the web or on a site like this. A newpaper has to work hard to stay relevant. I reckon 20k is a bit on the high side.

[ClosetotheHarte]

What I like about a site like the gaa board is that you get opinions, from all over Ireland, from what mostly appear to be real GAA fans, many of whom seem to be in the know in their respective areas. There have been some great debates on here and it's good to hear other views and argue a bit with people from other counties. And as for news, if there is something about to break in a newspaper you can nearly be certain that someone on here has mentioned it first. I just find that I get more out of my daily read of the GAA board than I do out of any of the papers. If there's a big story breaking I'm more interested in reading the debate about it on here than I am about getting the paper (the next day) to read some journalist's take on it.
In saying that I still hope Gaelic Life survives but they will really have to stir things up to attract the sort of readership they're looking for. A series of bland articles just won't do.

[ziggysego]

I'm the same as you ClosetotheHarte. In many cases, I often hear the news here a week before it makes it to the papers or becomes public knowledge.

[ClosetotheHarte]

A good example, Ziggy, is the management news in Tyrone. You'd be waiting a long, long time to find out who's in charge of each club in the county if you were waiting to read about it in the papers. But you should find each new appointment breaking here on a daily basis (hopefully!) over the coming weeks. I've heard a few strong rumours going about but wouldn't mention them on here yet until I know more. Also heard about a major player transfer that is taking place. Wonder how long the papers will take to find out about that one?
By the way how are the Greencastle preparations going - and when/where exactly does the All Ireland assault begin?

[ziggysego]

Training starts again properly next week, also they have been ticking along over Christmas. Our next game is Sunday 18th February. It was supposed to be against Connacht winner or Fulham London, but that appears to be indoubt.

[never kickt a ball]

CTTH and Ziggy I have to agree with you. Take the Tyrone County Convention. The annual report was posted here but the papers took about two weeks to drip feed items from it. In Gaelic Life today three articles looked at the revival of the McKenna Cup and two of them used the same joke that at one time even the McKenna's didn't turn up. (rehashed from last year's articles). All three referred to the TY V Armagh game in Casement.

[Donagh]

CTTH and Ziggy I have to agree with you. Take the Tyrone County Convention. The annual report was posted here but the papers took about two weeks to drip feed items from it. In Gaelic Life today three articles looked at the revival of the McKenna Cup and two of them used the same joke that at one time even the McKenna's didn't turn up. (rehashed from last year's articles). All three referred to the TY V Armagh game in Casement.

Jez, sometimes the Board even has the news before 'people in the know'. I was talking to a Tyrone panellist the other day and was able to tell him about Mickey Harte calling up the three university players for the McKenna. 

[ONeill]

Excellent points, ClosetotheHarte. The internet age has hit many of the old dependables, be it newspapers, mags, even shopping! A newspaper like Gaelic Life needs a Unique Selling Point. At the minute, the Irish News covers all counties in Ulster comprehensively. GL needs to offer something different.

When I worked on Gael Sports Ulster, their sales figures were surprisingly high. They identified their audiences - colleges, schools, British Universities, club features, Ladies and London GAA. The targeted those areas to the extent that after subscriptions, there were very few prints left for the shops. They are still churning out every month - 5 years on the trot - so they're making a profit from somewhere. I'd put their monthly sales figures somewhere in the middle-four-figure bracket, with many subscribers from overseas - that's where the Irish News and local papers aren't readily available.

So what can GL do that's different to what is available? A very difficult question to answer. Match reports are a no-no, unless they're unique and hard-hitting! Hard to beat player/manager focus and nostalgia.

As for the pics of the journalists, they get on my goat. Why do I want to see your face? I remember a fine editor from Fermanagh who used to put faces of obscure aliens on his articles, taking the piss out of egotistical hacks.