Railway Cup Final to be played in Dallas

Eamonnca1 · March 01, 2013, 04:38:30 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mdHsS82sE

Excellent promotional video by Fionn McCumhails GAA club, Dallas on the Railway Cup final coming to Texas. They're going to host it in the Cotton Bowl!

Syferus · March 01, 2013, 07:05:06 AM

Quote from: Eamonnca1 on March 01, 2013, 04:38:30 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mdHsS82sE

Excellent promotional video by Fionn McCumhails GAA club, Dallas on the Railway Cup final coming to Texas. They're going to host it in the Cotton Bowl!

How much does it cost to rent out a stadium the size of the Cotton Bowl? It seems like an incredible waste of the GAA's money when you'd be lucky if a thousand people turn up.

I used to be behind the Railway Cup as a concept but the GAA are trying their damnedest to ensure it becomes such a waste of time and money that not even our childrens' children will want to revive it the next time. You're able to rent out a 92,100 capacity stadium in the Deep South of the United States but you can't even get television to cover the games when they're played here? No offense to this club but it seems very much like the left hand hasn't a clue what the right hand is doing when it comes to the Railway Cup. There's so many mixed signals the tournament is downright bipolar.

It's a good video but unless they plan on pouring money into advertisements and having a free gate then it sounds very much like a Gaelic Park style vanity project.

What's so wrong with obvious options, Boston, NY and SF? It's not like the GAA is so huge in those markets we can go on tour to other parts safe in the knowledge we've established the sport elsewhere in the country.

Eamonnca1 · March 01, 2013, 07:38:46 AM

I'd reserve judgment until we see what kind of crowds do show up. From what I've seen so far this crew seems to have its sh!t together and they know what they're doing. They put together their proposal, gave it to the top brass when they were in New York, and got to host the event at a time when Liam O'Neil was just saying that we need more high profile games in the states for promotional purposes. Even the North American Board didn't see that coming.

As for San Fran, NY etc. yeah, you'd get a thousand or so people to show up without trying too hard. The problem with cities like that is a lot of GAA people don't think outside the box* and only advertise the event to the established GAA community. Clubs in cities with smaller Irish communities tend to market more to the general public outside the Irish community, which is a considerably bigger market. The biggest hurling clubs in America at the minute are the ones with the fewest Irish people and the least connection to the traditional GAA way of doing things. There's a lesson there.

What this club is doing is a little riskier than the bird-in-hand of a guaranteed 1,000 crowd that you'd get in Boston, but the potential rewards are massive if they pull it off. Might even be the saviour of the Railway Cup.

Personally I think they're going to advertise the living daylights out of this and rake in a big crowd, but like I said we'll wait and see before we decide if it's a waste of money or not.

*Apologies for the jargon cliché

Hardy · March 01, 2013, 10:14:11 AM

Fair play to Dallas. If the interprovincial series has a future, this may be it - an annual touring exhibition series. It seems a good fit:
- the players seem to like the interprovincial series, so they should like it even more if it's a kind of extended All-Stars series with an attractive trip as the prize.
- the fans here don't care about it, so sell it to fans abroad who won't know or care that it's not the flagship competition in the GAA calendar.

Eamonnca1 · March 01, 2013, 10:55:35 AM

Exactly. If people in Ireland aren't going to appreciate it, maybe people elsewhere will.

We've had the All Stars in San Fran twice in the last six years and while it was nice to have them, the games themselves were a bit of an anti-climax. They lacked a competitive bite, so you don't actually see the game played at full intensity, which really defeats the purpose of a touring game. There wasn't even a side to cheer for.

Railway Cup on the other hand, that means something to the players and they're going to fight for it.

heffo · March 01, 2013, 11:00:43 AM

Martin Donnelly has put some amount of money into it over the years for very little return - great idea having it in Dallas if he can afford it.

Rossfan · March 01, 2013, 11:12:57 AM

Today is 1st March ..

not 1st April as I thought when I first saw the title of this thread.

Zulu · March 01, 2013, 11:13:23 AM

Great video and the only way forward for the RC.

Zulu · March 01, 2013, 03:50:32 PM

Nope, I've no problem with any single game/competition/tournament/code/age group/event, the problem I have is with the structure of the season. We need to cut, modify, restrict, expand different competitions so that the overall year works for the majority and makes sense to any reasoned person. We don't have that now and the RC is part of a nonsensical season. If it fits into a sensible season and serves a purpose other than as a kick around for a few lads then I'm all for it, if it doesn't they scrap it. Plenty of competitive, meaningful games for all players is what I want and there are no sacred cows that can't be binned in search of that.

fearbrags · March 01, 2013, 04:11:27 PM

Dallas is a excellent city for hosting events
Ck this out
http://www.theirelandfunds.org/past-events/id.385/title.Inaugural-Dallas-Emerald-Ball-2013nts

The Idea would be that the Railway cup would be held in conjunction with the North Texas Irish Festival which is held ever year and attracts 60,000 people
This Festival is held in the grounds adjoining the Cotton Bowl

Eamonnca1 · March 01, 2013, 06:57:34 PM

Dunno why people are so sceptical about this. High profile GAA games have been held outside of Ireland before. RC final and Ulster Hurling final were held in Boston on the same weekend about 7 years ago. There used to be the Whit at Wembley games in front of large crowds of ex-pats.

Puckoon · March 01, 2013, 07:22:43 PM

Quote from: Eamonnca1 on March 01, 2013, 10:55:35 AM
Exactly. If people in Ireland aren't going to appreciate it, maybe people elsewhere will.

We've had the All Stars in San Fran twice in the last six years and while it was nice to have them, the games themselves were a bit of an anti-climax. They lacked a competitive bite, so you don't actually see the game played at full intensity, which really defeats the purpose of a touring game. There wasn't even a side to cheer for.

Railway Cup on the other hand, that means something to the players and they're going to fight for it.

Agree fully. I would try to go and watch the railway cup in a relatively close by American City, but I wouldn't waste the petrol money on a 4 hour drive to watch the All-star game again.

fearbrags · March 04, 2013, 05:12:28 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9R8fOrl0UM

Video up and running again after resolving a few issues

Orchardman · March 04, 2013, 05:52:04 PM

I havn't seen this announced anywhere else but on here, what's the story? The gaa said the railway cup was confirmed for another 3 years and the idea was to promote it more next year with the final hopefully back in croke park and profits going to crumlin again.

Was one of the 200 people at the final, great game, would prefer too see it as a proper game with big crowds at home rather than a junket. But if these dallas guys can get the crowds in then great stuff. Ulster will win anyway no matter where it is played:)

SUFTUM

Eamonnca1 · March 04, 2013, 06:00:20 PM

Every time I see the word "junket" I wonder if the person using it has actually had to endure air travel lately.