Apart from the pathetic response from the GAA PR department that the Ring Cup could not be staged on Sat/Sun 2/3 (as fixed last November in the original draw!) they rub it in by withdrawing RTE's commitment to televise both games. We're back to the same lowly status as the old All ireland B and Junior championships.
Its pretty obvious that the GAA took the decision to fix all four football qualifiers in Croker to the detriment of the Ring and lesser extent Rackard Cups. They weren't forced to play the football qualifiers there this weekend and do so to please counties that have had many opportunities to play there recently.
The Ring and Rackard Cup FINALS (not qualifiers) should take precedence over backdoor qualifiers and should have been fixed for the 10th and 17th August before the hurling semis rather than be treated in such a shabby fashion.
The sudden withdrawal of television coverage is a means of further demeaning the value of these championships and sullying the good name of Christy Ring and Nickey Rackard just to prove a point. This point seems to be that the R and R teams should agree to move the Final at a week's notice to a support slot to the Dubs game. Why didn't they do this with the Tommy Murphy Cup as the winners of this competition have no promotion play-off the following week.
Nicky Brennan and co. have stated the current GAA policy very clearly. They now agree with the promotion of 2nd class citizen status that often applies to hurling in the "weaker counties" and this attitude is basically discriminatory and contrary to GAA and EU equality policy. The apologies (quite rightly) to the abhorrent racial attack on a young footballer contrasts to the sniggering, demeaning attitude of GAA top brass to the 2nd and 3rd tier hurling competitions.
All Ring and Rackard counties should boycott next year's competitions unless the bungling, incompetent GAA administrators and laughable HDC come up with assurances that the original purpose of the Ring and Rackard Competitions is maintained, i.e., proper media coverage , with the final staged before a hurling semifinal. Not too much to ask?!
Its pretty obvious that the GAA took the decision to fix all four football qualifiers in Croker to the detriment of the Ring and lesser extent Rackard Cups. They weren't forced to play the football qualifiers there this weekend and do so to please counties that have had many opportunities to play there recently.
The Ring and Rackard Cup FINALS (not qualifiers) should take precedence over backdoor qualifiers and should have been fixed for the 10th and 17th August before the hurling semis rather than be treated in such a shabby fashion.
The sudden withdrawal of television coverage is a means of further demeaning the value of these championships and sullying the good name of Christy Ring and Nickey Rackard just to prove a point. This point seems to be that the R and R teams should agree to move the Final at a week's notice to a support slot to the Dubs game. Why didn't they do this with the Tommy Murphy Cup as the winners of this competition have no promotion play-off the following week.
Nicky Brennan and co. have stated the current GAA policy very clearly. They now agree with the promotion of 2nd class citizen status that often applies to hurling in the "weaker counties" and this attitude is basically discriminatory and contrary to GAA and EU equality policy. The apologies (quite rightly) to the abhorrent racial attack on a young footballer contrasts to the sniggering, demeaning attitude of GAA top brass to the 2nd and 3rd tier hurling competitions.
All Ring and Rackard counties should boycott next year's competitions unless the bungling, incompetent GAA administrators and laughable HDC come up with assurances that the original purpose of the Ring and Rackard Competitions is maintained, i.e., proper media coverage , with the final staged before a hurling semifinal. Not too much to ask?!