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Fenway Hurling Classic 2018

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Replying To NarrowBack914: "Was at the matches on Sunday in Fenway, there was no way in hell there were 12,000 people there. Talking to the ticket agents, they said only 8000 tickets were sold, and of that amount, less then 4000 people showed. It is a great idea to play matches when all the season is over, but to play on half a field with no point scoring, 11 a side is a bad promotion of the fastest field game in the world. They should do this right, meaning find a park/stadium that will let for full match to happen. The ref was blowing his whistle every 2 mins, making the match completely unbearable. And just think, the New England Patriots were off that day, so if they were playing football, you wouldn't have anyone in Fenway. Great idea and concept, piss poor execution though. Just my 2 cents." You are 100% correct. It a sign of weakness and lack of confidence in your own product when you resort to play a hybrid game. Asking people what they think? The goaltenders would not stop a beach ball. This we know is not true as I believe hurling goaltenders are the best in the world and most would make a career in ice hockey. However this hybrid game shows them up in a bad light because of no defending in front of them. I was in the Skydome in Toronto in 1990 when Tipp played the all-stars in front of 38,000. The pitch shorter but they played hurling and also the footballers played football. Teams received standing ovations after both games. Ger Cunningham (goalie) of Cork went head to head with Kelly Gruber Blue Gays slugger hitting with the bat and hurley as a side show. Ger out slugged him with both. Wendel Clarke the great Maple Leaf player told us afterwards he never witnessed anything like it and if living in Ireland this would be his game. If you are going to have reward trips (not a big fan) play the games as played in Ireland if the intent is to promote the sport. Again don't think this should take precedent over promotion in Ireland. We have people people on here telling us it is just reward for the big names. What should be the reward for the winners of the McDonagh Cup, Christy Ring and L. Meagher who train every bit as hard and have to excel also to win ? No trips. Is that balance and fairness and telling us we would love these teams to come up ? No it is condescending and telling them keep at lads, ye'll make the break through some day. However not at the expense of us or the perks, trips etc of our elites. Hypocrisy. Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 21/11/2018 18:30:28 2152028 Link
Replying To Kurt_Angle: "I just can't see the issue with this. If you don't like the format - don't watch it. If you think its a waste of resources - doesn't it pay for itself via sponsorships, admittance fees etc.? If you think its a junket for the lads - don't the hurlers of Cork, Clare, Wexford and Limerick (this year) deserve this for all their efforts? If you think its a waste of time as it doesn't promote the sport in the US - i) its on the tv here so I'd imagine its promoting the sport locally, ii) hurling will never replace the big four in the US but its a nice change of scene, iii) there's a lot of diaspora in the north east of the US and the attendance was higher than a lot of senior hurling games in the league and championship this year so, while modest enough, it showed a degree of interest and iv) I'd be very surprised if the marketing department in the GAA didn't do a cost benefit analysis of the increase in brand awareness as a result of holding this tournament and established that it was a worthwhile endeavour. Over several different threads, posters have said that the GAA are not good at promoting the games (which I would largely agree with). Now they try something to promote it and they have it thrown back in their faces - damned if you do, damned if you don't." Are you making the point that it pays for itself or are you questioning it, when your questioning those who say it's a waste of resources ? Problem is nobody knows who is paying what & whether it pays for itself. An attendance figure is quoted by the GAA & GPA, yet some one on here who was at the game states that wasn't near the figure at all. As for your point about being " very surprised if the marketing Dept in the GAA didn't do a cost benefit analysis of the increase in brand awareness as a result of holding this tournament & established that it was a worthwhile endeavour", statement of fact or just something you think happens ? Uimhir.a.3. (Galway) - Posts: 409 - 21/11/2018 18:58:13 2152034 Link
As a game in itself I liked it, but it's not hurling. Scoring a point over the bar is one of the key parts of our game, why not just make the goals a bit smaller that way it doesn't make scoring a point as easy, it's dishonest to promote hurling by playing a different game and calling it hurling. Barrowsider (Carlow) - Posts: 1591 - 21/11/2018 20:10:35 2152046 Link
Organisers will take note that Galway draw a big crowd in the Boston area and the series will not go ahead next year without them. Galway had Wild Geese game this year but will more than likely not have that next year. maroondiesel (Mayo) - Posts: 1196 - 21/11/2018 21:24:58 2152052 Link
Replying To Uimhir.a.3.: "Are you making the point that it pays for itself or are you questioning it, when your questioning those who say it's a waste of resources ? Problem is nobody knows who is paying what & whether it pays for itself. An attendance figure is quoted by the GAA & GPA, yet some one on here who was at the game states that wasn't near the figure at all. As for your point about being " very surprised if the marketing Dept in the GAA didn't do a cost benefit analysis of the increase in brand awareness as a result of holding this tournament & established that it was a worthwhile endeavour", statement of fact or just something you think happens ?" Can't answer the question is it, lol. Uimhir.a.3. (Galway) - Posts: 409 - 21/11/2018 22:10:33 2152058 Link
In general I would have no issue with this type of promotion however it does seem odd that we promote the game abroad when more than half our own country wouldn't know a hurley if it hit them on the head! I suppose that is a bigger discussion and it shouldn't be either/or. Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1826 - 22/11/2018 09:08:37 2152071 Link
Two issues, first the object is to promote the game and make it a spectacle in a nice comfy stadium with the infrastructure to book. Asking top Inter-county teams to say play a game in say Wolftones GAA is NOT a spectacle nor an experience nor will it attract the wider audience you are looking for including TV. So you have to use the local stadiums, an ANFL/Soccer grounds are considerably smaller than a GAA pitch by a ratio of approx 1 to 3. So something has to give. So you fit the game to suit, hire portable Rugby goals (approx 5.5 metres wide still smaller), play 11 a side game on NFL/Soccer pitch and that is that. I can't see the problem at all. Every sport alters their game to enable the game to be played using existing infrastructure, this is no exception. Go for it. arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4895 - 22/11/2018 13:40:50 2152111 Link
Replying To Uimhir.a.3.: "Are you making the point that it pays for itself or are you questioning it, when your questioning those who say it's a waste of resources ? Problem is nobody knows who is paying what & whether it pays for itself. An attendance figure is quoted by the GAA & GPA, yet some one on here who was at the game states that wasn't near the figure at all. As for your point about being " very surprised if the marketing Dept in the GAA didn't do a cost benefit analysis of the increase in brand awareness as a result of holding this tournament & established that it was a worthwhile endeavour", statement of fact or just something you think happens ?" I don't know whether it pays for itself. Marlon had previously posted that it did. I don't know how much the Aer Lingus sponsorship was, how much TG4 paid for the rights, what % of the gates went to the GAA, any other revenues were generated by this etc. versus the expenses incurred. I also don't know the monetary value of the promotion of the sport generated by this. I'd imagine that this is closely monitored by the GAA, but I don't know if these figures are made public or are shared with any relevant stakeholder. Re the second part, again, I don't know this. I said I'd be surprised if they didn't. For example, for the leagues I know 100% that Allianz perform this on a regular basis to see whether the return on the amount of sponsorship paid makes the endeavour worthwhile. I would assume that no marketing department could get such an outlay passed by their Financial department / senior management without performing such an analysis. Kurt_Angle (Dublin) - Posts: 567 - 22/11/2018 14:33:23 2152120 Link
The attacking players in this thing seem to have all the advantage; they can apparently take as many steps as they like and barge past opponents. On the other hand if a defender as much as stands in their way, a free is given against him. I think this ugly hybrid is beyond rubbish. Why not play 7-a-side with the proper rules? If they want everyone on all the panels to get a game, then each game could be two hours long, with four quarters, putting on seven new players every quarter. Midleton (Cork) - Posts: 643 - 22/11/2018 22:33:22 2152177 Link
The best thing about these rules was that players can take a free to themselves. The ref blew frees but the action did not stop. This is borrowed from hockey. Every sport should copy it. shaneShankill (Dublin) - Posts: 42 - 24/11/2018 21:14:56 2152323 Link
Replying To shaneShankill: "The best thing about these rules was that players can take a free to themselves. The ref blew frees but the action did not stop. This is borrowed from hockey. Every sport should copy it." What are you serious ? Next thing is we will have frees and side lines hit from the hand that led to the demise of football. I cringe. The inmates are now making the prison rules. Those 24" t.v.'s must be replaced with 48". Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 24/11/2018 21:58:30 2152329 Link
the best thing about an absolutely awful spectacle was how quickly frees were taken.instead of waiting a minute or more for most free takers to come out,put the ball down,go through their ever increasingly slow routine zzzzzz..... the game just continued. i think it should be an option for players,especially in their own half.anything that speeds up the game should be encouraged.fouling up the field just gives opposition defenders a chance to get back,it might lead to more scores if there was space inside due to a defender being up the field. spoke to one of the players though,said it was right craic of a weekend and all in good spirit.pity about damien reck getting his jaw broke mind,but i doubt there was malice in it to be fair to the limerick player! perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 26/11/2018 12:47:35 2152465 Link

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