GAA moneybags and Sean Cavanagh

[RedHand88]

The condensed season with all the extra matches in a shorter period of time is the real problem. It's hard to keep up with what is happening and not everything can be televised. GAA people have developed expectations about what will be available. And the football product isn't what it used to be either.

Agree with everything here. People's expectations need to be reined in. It is ridiculous to expect every single game to be free to air all of the time, but that seems to be the hill that some are dying on.

[AustinPowers]

"Besides not liking Sean what did he say that's incorrect?"

First of all I'm completely biased here and i know it. Cavanagh is quite probably the worst pundit in history. His lack of research is appalling, on a par with Spillane and Brolly, but he's just no loquacious enough to cover it up. He has an odd sense of humour. And his sense of place - I.e. talking about grassroots - always seems based on what he reads on Twitter rather than what's happening in an actual club.

So what did he say that's incorrect? From my perspective he's taking swipes and he doesn't have the foggiest what it is he's swiping at. He's just throwing out irrelevances. Joining in on conversation that he doesn't care much about, and accidentally taking it off on a new angle that nobody needs.

Worse than Tony Davis?

Paul "and your just thinking to yourself" Flynn would like a word.

My God, but Flynn is  dull. I seem to just  zone out  any time  he  speaks

Cavanagh can be a bit of a tithead but I'd  rather have him than Flynn

[Armagh18]

The condensed season with all the extra matches in a shorter period of time is the real problem. It's hard to keep up with what is happening and not everything can be televised. GAA people have developed expectations about what will be available. And the football product isn't what it used to be either.

Agree with everything here. People's expectations need to be reined in. It is ridiculous to expect every single game to be free to air all of the time, but that seems to be the hill that some are dying on.

With technology these days I don't think it'd be that difficult to be honest. Or at least the vast majority

[Truthsayer]

You mean not providing free entertainment to casual armchair followers of gaelic games ?

No I mean there's elderly people, gave their life to GAA, not well enough to go to games that can't afford to pay and families can't afford it or to take crowd kids to a local pub.

What size do you think that very specific demographic is?

I don't known. Even a few is too many.

[tbrick18]

Worse than anyone.

I'd have to toss a coin between him and Cora.

[thewobbler]

Really not a fan of the "elderly person with no broadband" argument. This demographic got through 80% of their lives with knockout championships and minimal tv coverage. They're not losing out on something if they never really had it. And even if they did have it, their parents didn't, so why should they? It's a futile, nonsense attempt to tug on heartstrings, most commonly chorused by stay at home supporters who like to watch soccer and whatever is on YouTube at the same time.

I'll always say that GAA Go went about things arse faced. Had they done the Netflix / Now TV route and made the software easy to use and access first, then more secure later, it would now only be a year or two from being a staple purchase that just floats out of almost every bank account in Ireland every month.

But they've invested all their tech time to date in making it difficult to steal. Which means they're picking up customers only because they're forced into it, rather than because they're curious. Which is not the right way to start up, and is the fundamental driver of the current angst.

[AustinPowers]

The condensed season with all the extra matches in a shorter period of time is the real problem. It's hard to keep up with what is happening and not everything can be televised. GAA people have developed expectations about what will be available. And the football product isn't what it used to be either.

Agree with everything here. People's expectations need to be reined in. It is ridiculous to expect every single game to be free to air all of the time, but that seems to be the hill that some are dying on.

Personally I think  there's too much  football on TV.  The quality of football  is much better on the radio

[imtommygunn]

Worse than anyone.

I'd have to toss a coin between him and Cora.

At least she comes across as a genuine sort though.

This is being overplayed just because a good match wasn't live on RTE. There were a goo few other ones - e.g. when Wexford beat Galway which was massive and was on GAA GO no one was saying much. There is a load on tv. My da falls into the older person bracket who doesn't get GAA GO (I could get him it but he would torture me on it) and my Ma says he does nothing but watch football or hurling all weekend and that's without GAA GO so just shows you. There is GAA flat out.

[RedHand88]

You mean not providing free entertainment to casual armchair followers of gaelic games ?

No I mean there's elderly people, gave their life to GAA, not well enough to go to games that can't afford to pay and families can't afford it or to take crowd kids to a local pub.

What size do you think that very specific demographic is?

I don't known. Even a few is too many.

Is it really though?

[armaghniac]

Really not a fan of the "elderly person with no broadband" argument. This demographic got through 80% of their lives with knockout championships and minimal tv coverage. They're not losing out on something if they never really had it. And even if they did have it, their parents didn't, so why should they? It's a futile, nonsense attempt to tug on heartstrings, most commonly chorused by stay at home supporters who like to watch soccer and whatever is on YouTube at the same time.

I'll always say that GAA Go went about things arse faced. Had they done the Netflix / Now TV route and made the software easy to use and access first, then more secure later, it would now only be a year or two from being a staple purchase that just floats out of almost every bank account in Ireland every month.

But they've invested all their tech time to date in making it difficult to steal. Which means they're picking up customers only because they're forced into it, rather than because they're curious. Which is not the right way to start up, and is the fundamental driver of the current angst.

Absolutely. Say they provided an easy to use setup and showed free games midweek that had been on the previous week, then people would use it and then perhaps pay the required fee to upgrade to see the games live. Say they had a game of the week free from Tuesday, that could be Cork v Limerick this week.

A bit of care with the app should ensure that pretty much anyone can use it and there is a suggestion that clubs might have a few techie volunteers to help club stalwarts.

Also the GAA should better integrate the different streaming options, so that if you get it working then it all works, so that you don't have different issues with ArmaghTV, UlsterGAATV and GAAGo. You need a technical platform that different providers can feed into. Then you have the ridiculous situation in the autumn that TG4 shows the club games, but are prohibited from showing these outside Ireland, but GAAGo don't bother their arse showing them outside Ireland although the video feed is already available.

Somebody needs to have good look at the whole thing.

[Truthsayer]

You mean not providing free entertainment to casual armchair followers of gaelic games ?

No I mean there's elderly people, gave their life to GAA, not well enough to go to games that can't afford to pay and families can't afford it or to take crowd kids to a local pub.

What size do you think that very specific demographic is?

I don't known. Even a few is too many.

Is it really though?

Not to you obviously

[RedHand88]

You mean not providing free entertainment to casual armchair followers of gaelic games ?

No I mean there's elderly people, gave their life to GAA, not well enough to go to games that can't afford to pay and families can't afford it or to take crowd kids to a local pub.

What size do you think that very specific demographic is?

I don't known. Even a few is too many.

Is it really though?

Not to you obviously

I don't believe there is a significant cohort who as you say:

1) Are elderly
2) Gave their life to the GAA
3) Are too sick to go to games
4) Cannot afford to go to a game
5) Family cannot afford to buy them a ticket
6) Family will not take them to the pub to see it.

This is the sentimental nonsense Jarlath Burns was talking about.

[seafoid]

You mean not providing free entertainment to casual armchair followers of gaelic games ?

No I mean there's elderly people, gave their life to GAA, not well enough to go to games that can't afford to pay and families can't afford it or to take crowd kids to a local pub.

What size do you think that very specific demographic is?

I don't known. Even a few is too many.

Is it really though?

Not to you obviously

I don't believe there is a significant cohort who as you say:

1) Are elderly
2) Gave their life to the GAA
3) Are too sick to go to games
4) Cannot afford to go to a game
5) Family cannot afford to buy them a ticket
6) Family will not take them to the pub to see it.

This is the sentimental nonsense Jarlath Burns was talking about.

The GAA isn't very good at dealing with constructive criticism. This goes back at least as far as the Sky deal. You will eat it and you will like it.  Older people should be able to pay cash at turnstiles.
The issue of older people and technology is regularly aired in the media with reference to phone queues and customer service. Not everyone has a mobile phone or knows their way around apps.

The GAA is part of the national conversation. It is more than sport. People are living longer and not necessarily in good health as well .  People in nursing homes might want to watch hurling instead of another Dublin procession   Why can't the GAA have a rational system instead of fixing everything at the start and never deviating from it? 

[armaghniac]

I don't believe there is a significant cohort who as you say:

1) Are elderly
2) Gave their life to the GAA
3) Are too sick to go to games
4) Cannot afford to go to a game
5) Family cannot afford to buy them a ticket
6) Family will not take them to the pub to see it.

This is the sentimental nonsense Jarlath Burns was talking about.

This is rather callous, not everyone has family or is up to travelling several hours to games, walking to the ground and standing for 2 hours. They are not the only people, but there should be efforts made to facilitate as many people as possible.

[seafoid]

"I haven't pulled out the recent accounts but I remember seeing a couple of years ago 40, 50, 60million of cash reserves and a balance sheet of €100million. I'm an accountant, I know this stuff.

"For an amateur organisation owned by the members, owned by the people that are lining pitches, by people in every club up and down the country, for me that looks like a very healthy position."

"I previously worked with a lot of soccer organisations, a lot of them go bust all the time and haven't got 2p to rub together. For me, the GAA is in a very healthy financial position, they're acquiring lots of strategic assets all over the country.

All of these comments are still not consistent with his initial statement in which he said, "the GAA is one of the richest organisations in the world."

Furthermore, Burns' comments - if I recall correctly - talked about a turnover in the region of 140 million Euro, and a context in which the GAA will be expected to contribute somewhere in the region of 500 million Euro in the coming years to a range of major GAA projects across the country.

I don't think Cavanagh's response does much to justify his initial comments, nor rebuff Burns' criticism.

He left out "amateur".
Any idea what the €500 million refers to? Every Euro invested will have to be funded by patrons via tickets , cf Supervalu PuC. Ireland has 3 economies- the North, the multinational south and the domestic economy of the South and only one of these economies is working . GAA fans come from the 2 dysfunctional economies.