Gaelic Life

[realredhandfan]

A Publication of this size and magnitude should have a competition every week giving away a set of jerseys to clubs for a competition. Evry club would subscibe.  Next idea save 1000 coupons per club to get a free set of youth jerseys. 1 set per club.  A club with 100 odd memmbers would be getting all on board to buy it for 10 weeks.  It would be great for the club, get readers on to the magazine, many will stay if its good enough.  It would also boost printed sales (advertising rates) by several 100 percent.

[ziggysego]

I'm sure once the paper becomes more established and the readship grows, there will be competitions of that sort. The website seems to be setting itself up for it anyway.

[Tony Fearon]

Indeed. Even I entered this week's competition to win an Antrim jersey. Mind you I note it wasn't the goalkeeper's jersey up for grabs, as they only have one goalkeeper's jesey in the whole county, as John Finucane will verify

[ziggysego]

No doubt you'll win it Tony

[Cloc Mor]

Must be going well - couldn't get a copy in several shops in Newry today.

[lawnseed 2]

the brother bought it i read it and liked alot if he doesnt buy it next time i will

[Redhandfan]

An excellent debut last week and, apart from one very poor article, a very good second edition.....it is all going well for Gaelic Life so far. 

Let me get my gripe out of the way first.  The 'Head To Head' analysis on the attacking half backs was a complete joke and this weekly feature may have to be scrapped altogether before it does Gaelic Life harm. How long has Donegal's Barry Dunnion been playing inter-county football that he can be deemed a much superior half back than the likes of Philip Jordan?  Don't get me wrong...Dunnion is a super footballer.  However, he was given a rating of 9/10 for both his consistency and temperament based on what the wing-nut of a writer saw of him last season.  Dunnion was something of a 'surprise packet' for Donegal in 2006.  It will be interesting to see if he can maintain his high level of consistency and excellent temperament in the next few seasons now that he will be a 'marked man' and 'one to watch'.  How can he be accurately rated in a head to head with a half back like Philip Jordan who has been a regular on the Tyrone senior team since 2002?  And, just for the record, the Tyrone player has been one of his county's most consistent players for the past five seasons - more than can be said for Armagh's Aaron Kernan who also received a higer rating.

That aside, Gaelic Life once again proved to be a good read. Fair play to the editor for pointing out a few of their mistakes from the previous week, while Brolly continues to outshine Burns in the battle of the two big hitting columnists.  Ronan Scott's article 'Into the Light' was particularly good, and I do like the 'Around the Grounds' section.  It was also interesting to learn about John Morrison's latest managerial move and David Ervine's interest in the GAA - could these be classed as 'exclusives'?  Even Red Knight Rodgers bucked his ideas up a bit this week, although his reference "about how nobody from the Moy cares as long as Armagh don't win the All-Ireland" was way off the mark.  We in the Moy took great delight in Armagh's sole All-Ireland victory in 2002 and took no pleasure whatsoever in taking Sam off their hands in 2003 (snigger).

I was a bit surprised that there was not some kind of review of last week's McKenna Cup games and that one of the writers deemed Paddy O'Rourke's decision to take off a left footed free-taker against Donegal in 2005 as a "Top Ten moment which changed the course of GAA history".  And, as for the Orange bigot in 'FanSpake', the less said about him the better.  Armagh Harps GFC should be ashamed to have him among their members. 

[tyroneman]

The paper is in danger of becoming a laughing stock alright - not so much the head to head guff (and being able to count would be a plus for that journo)

rather that following on the heels of All IReland Champions Derry appearing in last years MCKenna final we now have the lead question in the big interview asking Joe Kernan why Armagh havn't appeared in the final since they won the AI in 2003?

Surely this is the type of misatke a 7 yr old wouldn't make - basic stuff that shouldn't even need research from any jouno with an interest in Northern GAA??

[ONeill]

Nowhere near being a laughing stock. Every paper has typos. A fine publication.

[ClosetotheHarte]

For me the paper gets pass marks this week, which couldn't be said about the first one. It still has a bit to go but I'd imagine the people involved realise that themselves. It will gradually have to move on from being readable to being essential reading.
I'd agree though about the ratings of the half backs - for the second week in a row I've been scratching my head on reading the 'head to head' bit. How Philip Jordan hasn't done enough to finish ahead of Barry Dunnion is a puzzling one all right.
I wouldn't worry too much about the errors so far because that is bound to happen early on. I'd also like to be reading better pieces from Burns and Brolly but that should come when the season builds some momentum.
Redhandfan the Morrison one could be an exclusive for a paper but it was on here a good bit before that.

[ONeill]

I simply cannot see what more this weekly GAA Ulster newspaper could be doing in the first two weeks in January that it already is. As with bar-room wannabes, it's easy for punters to claim 'it could be better' without actually stating (knowing) what it is they want to see.

[ClosetotheHarte]

O'Neill, as I've pointed out, I expect to get better reading out of it when the season builds more momentum. There's probably only so much you can do in it at this time of year so it is doing all right for January.
I'm not a hundred per cent sure what I want to read every week but I know when I've read a good article and for me a good article is usually something that digs deep and goes beneath the surface and I don't want it to end because I'm reading something insightful that I've never come across before. To be fair there aren't many like that in any of the papers apart from some of the Sundays.
I also like past players going deep into things that happened in their experiences as a player. Plus I like good columns from big personalities and as I've already said I'd like to be getting more from Burns and Brolly as time goes on. I'm not into scandal or controversy by the way.
You seem to be one hundred per cent happy with GL as it is now!

[ONeill]

I know when I've read a good article and for me a good article is usually something that digs deep and goes beneath the surface and I don't want it to end because I'm reading something insightful that I've never come across before. To be fair there aren't many like that in any of the papers apart from some of the Sundays.
I also like past players going deep into things that happened in their experiences as a player. Plus I like good columns from big personalities and as I've already said I'd like to be getting more from Burns and Brolly as time goes on.

That's a fine template.

My earlier post highlighted areas that I found needed addressing, but I'm acutely aware of what it takes to churn out such a publication. Unless GL has a never ending supply of cash, you'll not attract the 'big personalities' in the same way an English broadsheet/berliner would. I wouldn't be surprised The Game went under as it couldn't sustain the 'big name' approach it commenced with. Burns' articles will not improve, going by his Daily Ireland spell. Brolly has churned out two highly amusing articles for this stage of the year and i couldn't expect much more with the action still lukewarm until February.

Instead of the ex-player approach (many of whom will still keep their powder dry for various reasons), I'd rather see the emergence of a northern Humphries.

[never kickt a ball]

Maybe O'Neill's looking for a job?

Either way lads/ladies GL couldn't get better feedback than here on the discussion board. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's comments on this board and then reading the articles refered to. For example I hadn't read Joe Kernan's interview until I read your critique O'Neill. Then I read it and my enjoyment was enhanced considerably trying to identify the areas you pointed out about big Joe. .
I wasn't really motivated to read the "Head to Head" article until people started disagreeing with it on this board so then I decided to scan it tonight. I then explained it to my eight year old and even he had a laugh about Dunnion being rated above Jordan.

[ClosetotheHarte]

Instead of the ex-player approach (many of whom will still keep their powder dry for various reasons), I'd rather see the emergence of a northern Humphries.

I couldn't agree more. There is nobody up here in the same League as Humphries but even the 2nd class writer in the more Southern papers is well ahead. Paddy Heaney is probably as good as anything we have but even Heaney can occasionally follow up a great piece with a mediocre one.
Because of that the ex-player is perhaps the better option because he is bound to have a lot more things to say than any of our journalists, the problem with that being that few of them are probably able to put their experiences into words.
As you also say O'Neill, I remember The Game having a lot of personalities in the early days but they soon began to disappear before the paper followed suit. Knowing what some ex-playing managers charge for taking a club team I'd say a lot of the big names in papers are also on the expensive side.
As for Brolly's "highly amusing articles" I was wondering if he had started taking drugs when he talked about crowds of half-naked fanatical Tyrone people beating their chests and chanting Canavan's name across town centres in Tyrone every Saturday and holding posters of Art in the air!!!
I know he can be amusing all right but that was strange, very strange.
never kickt a ball, you're spot on, this site must be great feedback for the GL people. Its good for all of us too to hear others views on GL and the press generally because we are all hungry for good GAA reading.