McHale park worst ground I ever played on- Marty Clarke

[RMDrive]

Maybe, but the attendance was very disappointing. Feel free to differ but I think it shows that there is a small enough core number that goes to games in the county of Mayo. As regards the pitch. There is a lot of sand. That would have given the only biteen of bounce in it. Without the sand that pitch would not be playable from Oct. to March. Instead of no bounce there would have been a splash.  People on the east coast should know we have to deal with at least twice the amount of rainfall as they have to deal with.

13 euros to go to the match was too steep. The Dubs are charging 40 odd euros for 8 games and some entertainment. I know they have to pay for the stand and lights but a bit of imagination is needed mow to get people in, the GAA in Mayo has to wake up to this fact.

Prices are set nationally by the GAA

Dublin seem to have been able to amend the pices for their home games.

They have offered a package deal all right but AFAIK if you turn up on the night you'll pay the same as someone heading into McHale park.

[Maguire01]

Maybe, but the attendance was very disappointing. Feel free to differ but I think it shows that there is a small enough core number that goes to games in the county of Mayo. As regards the pitch. There is a lot of sand. That would have given the only biteen of bounce in it. Without the sand that pitch would not be playable from Oct. to March. Instead of no bounce there would have been a splash.  People on the east coast should know we have to deal with at least twice the amount of rainfall as they have to deal with.

13 euros to go to the match was too steep. The Dubs are charging 40 odd euros for 8 games and some entertainment. I know they have to pay for the stand and lights but a bit of imagination is needed mow to get people in, the GAA in Mayo has to wake up to this fact.

Prices are set nationally by the GAA

Dublin seem to have been able to amend the pices for their home games.

They have offered a package deal all right but AFAIK if you turn up on the night you'll pay the same as someone heading into McHale park.

Yes, but the 'package' is the imagination that was mentioned by the previous poster.

[Don Johnson]

They conveniently left out the end of the article where he says a merry fella in Newry asked him did he want to go back to Oz and he immediately said "No".

[rosnarun]

They conveniently left out the end of the article where he says a merry fella in Newry asked him did he want to go back to Oz and he immediately said "No".

then he better get used playing in front of these sort of crowds and quit his bitching.
maybe he got too much good publicity last year and is beginning to believe it

[Don Johnson]

The point of the article was him listing all the reasons he COULD want to go back to Oz but at the end he is asked if he wants to go back and says no.

He also says how much he is looking forward to the rest of the league and especially the championship against Armagh.

[Tubberman]

The point of the article was him listing all the reasons he COULD want to go back to Oz but at the end he is asked if he wants to go back and says no.

He also says how much he is looking forward to the rest of the league and especially the championship against Armagh.

Well if that was the reason for his comments, he comes across as petulant and a bit arrogant.
Basically he's saying that people should make more of an effort to come out and see him play and should improve the pitches across the country, or he'll up sticks and head back to Oz?

[RMDrive]

Maybe, but the attendance was very disappointing. Feel free to differ but I think it shows that there is a small enough core number that goes to games in the county of Mayo. As regards the pitch. There is a lot of sand. That would have given the only biteen of bounce in it. Without the sand that pitch would not be playable from Oct. to March. Instead of no bounce there would have been a splash.  People on the east coast should know we have to deal with at least twice the amount of rainfall as they have to deal with.

13 euros to go to the match was too steep. The Dubs are charging 40 odd euros for 8 games and some entertainment. I know they have to pay for the stand and lights but a bit of imagination is needed mow to get people in, the GAA in Mayo has to wake up to this fact.

Prices are set nationally by the GAA

Dublin seem to have been able to amend the pices for their home games.

They have offered a package deal all right but AFAIK if you turn up on the night you'll pay the same as someone heading into McHale park.

Yes, but the 'package' is the imagination that was mentioned by the previous poster.

True, I was addressing the "the GAA in Mayo has to wake up to this fact" bit.

[Maiden1]

If he is getting paid to write a column for a newspaper then unless he is going to say everything was great every week he is bound to say something which some people could take offensive to.  I bet most people on this board have had a pre season match in mid February in the pissing rain on a plowed field and thought what the f*&k am I doing here.  I think he was just trying to say it's not as glamorous as it may seem to be a county footballer sometimes.

[HeaveHo]

If Clarke does go back to the AFL it won't be to Collingwood - they wouldn't be able to fit him in either the squad of 35 or the salary cap of $8,225,000 AUD (or about 6,088,000 Euro) - since Clarke left the list has improved sharply.

Collingwood have over 52,000 paid up members and hope to have 70,000 by the start of the AFL season. They get 6,000 to watch training - some 29,000 turned out to watch their only NAB Cup game of 2011.

[Jinxy]

Sure Kilkenny get 30,000 up to watch training....

[IolarCoisCuain]

You can't be relying on The Star for news. Some guy phones Clarke, they talk for five minutes, the guy stretches it as much as he can and Clarke gets a cheque next week in the post. Chances are Clarke hasn't even read the damn thing. It's less than nothing.

I thought €13 was great value for that game on Saturday, actually. I can't think of one single thing that I could have been doing on Saturday night that would have been better value than the €13 I spent on that game. And while the crowd might have been disappointing, hats off to everyone who travelled from Down. Great football people.

[PAULD123]

I agree about the value €13 for a match is fantastic. I don't want to hear about other sports being professional and so you expect to pay more. These lads are athletes, they give 100% and train every day. Just because they have other jobs doesn't mean their performance is less worth watching or less entertaining than rugby or soccer. And you don't get to top class rugby or soccer for €13.

I have a season ticket and I intend to go to every match except one that's 7 matches (including the first championship game) for €75 or €11 per match. Simply great value fro what was really top class GAA.

[Premier Emperor]

Sure Kilkenny get 30,000 up to watch training....

The Kilkenny subs are the 2nd best team in Ireland and the greatest games you'll ever see in your life are the Kilkenny practice games.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Sure Kilkenny get 30,000 up to watch training....

The Kilkenny subs are the 2nd best team in Ireland and the greatest games you'll ever see in your life are the Kilkenny practice games.

Just before the All-Ireland Final, going for the 5 in-a-row, puts it in persepective.

[rosnarun]

I agree about the value €13 for a match is fantastic. I don't want to hear about other sports being professional and so you expect to pay more. These lads are athletes, they give 100% and train every day. Just because they have other jobs doesn't mean their performance is less worth watching or less entertaining than rugby or soccer. And you don't get to top class rugby or soccer for €13.

I have a season ticket and I intend to go to every match except one that's 7 matches (including the first championship game) for €75 or €11 per match. Simply great value fro what was really top class GAA.

certainly beats 150 quid for a rugby friendly
do people here really pay money in watch a great game to feel let down and disappointed because they're were not more people at the match? if you do i think you've got some severe  confidence issues