National Forum

The Decline Of The GAA In Cork

(Oldest Posts First)

The GAA has hit a all time low in Cork in the last four or five years and the interest and passion from both the payers and the supporters in the football and hurling is all but a thing of the past what is the reason for this .

I remember in the past before an All Ireland football or hurling final or semi final Cork used to be a sea of red flags and the demand for tickets was unreal . The last time Cork reached a final was in 2013 in the hurling against Clare and there was hardly a Cork flag to be seen in Cork in the week before the final .

Is the GAA in Cork as it was in the past a thing of the past ?

Redhot (Cork) - Posts: 739 - 16/07/2016 10:31:57    1884158

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Only Cork people can answer that I am afraid. You gotta stick with your team's in good and bad times. One thing I could never understand about your football team is the lack of support.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11666 - 16/07/2016 10:54:15    1884163

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Replying To yew_tree:  "Only Cork people can answer that I am afraid. You gotta stick with your team's in good and bad times. One thing I could never understand about your football team is the lack of support."
'' Lack of support for our football team ''

Think back to the last time Cork played in a All Ireland football final in 2010 against Down Croke Park was a sea of red that day

Redhot (Cork) - Posts: 739 - 16/07/2016 11:08:24    1884166

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... and you'll soon have a €80 million white elephant to showcase all that in!

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 16/07/2016 11:09:24    1884168

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Cork GAA has never recovered from the players strikes. A whole generation were left disillusioned & disenchanted with the GAA.
We have always had a Stalinist County Board who acted as if it was all about them and the players didn't matter. Maybe that worked in times past but not in today's world.
We were well behind the curve in appointing specialised Development coaches and are still way behind the top Counties in providing designated training facilities. The Management of the various Cork teams have still to go around cap in hand to individual Clubs seeking a loan of pitches or facilities for training sessions.
In the meantime the County Board is spending millions on a white elephant mausoleum of a stadium whose only chance of being filled is by Beyoncé. In hurling which is my interest Cork have won one Munster title in 10 years, last Under21 Title was 2007 & last Minor Title was 2008. In the vast majority of the past 10 years we didn't even come runners up in any of the grades and all that in a Competition involving just 5 Counties.
I agree with Yew Tree we can't give up and I have been lucky enough to witness many an All Ireland victory in my life, I will follow on regardless but until the present old guard of the County Board are finally hounded out, I see no hope of a renaissance.

corkcelt (Cork) - Posts: 4388 - 16/07/2016 11:45:50    1884179

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Replying To corkcelt:  "Cork GAA has never recovered from the players strikes. A whole generation were left disillusioned & disenchanted with the GAA.
We have always had a Stalinist County Board who acted as if it was all about them and the players didn't matter. Maybe that worked in times past but not in today's world.
We were well behind the curve in appointing specialised Development coaches and are still way behind the top Counties in providing designated training facilities. The Management of the various Cork teams have still to go around cap in hand to individual Clubs seeking a loan of pitches or facilities for training sessions.
In the meantime the County Board is spending millions on a white elephant mausoleum of a stadium whose only chance of being filled is by Beyoncé. In hurling which is my interest Cork have won one Munster title in 10 years, last Under21 Title was 2007 & last Minor Title was 2008. In the vast majority of the past 10 years we didn't even come runners up in any of the grades and all that in a Competition involving just 5 Counties.
I agree with Yew Tree we can't give up and I have been lucky enough to witness many an All Ireland victory in my life, I will follow on regardless but until the present old guard of the County Board are finally hounded out, I see no hope of a renaissance."
That's some about of money being pumped into that stadium..

Serious interest rate loan repayments await.. for a long aul time! Money that should be going into games development

Look at what Mayo did to themselves!

I wouldn't be too happy being a Cork GAA man!!

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20763 - 16/07/2016 11:59:38    1884184

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Replying To Redhot:  "The GAA has hit a all time low in Cork in the last four or five years and the interest and passion from both the payers and the supporters in the football and hurling is all but a thing of the past what is the reason for this .

I remember in the past before an All Ireland football or hurling final or semi final Cork used to be a sea of red flags and the demand for tickets was unreal . The last time Cork reached a final was in 2013 in the hurling against Clare and there was hardly a Cork flag to be seen in Cork in the week before the final .

Is the GAA in Cork as it was in the past a thing of the past ?"
Please not another thread on the state of Cork GAA! The championship is still in session, and in case you hadn't noticed, Cork footballers are still in contention today versus Longford. I'm sure reader's are sick to death of being subjected to the ongoing sagas Cork woe's. Let it off until after the championship when interesting GAA subjects are thin on the ground. A word of optimism....don't lose heart.....not the first time Cork GAA was at a low ebb. We've had a terrible time in the last week or two but Cork will rise again, of that you can be certain! Patience!

eaglehaslanded (Cork) - Posts: 135 - 16/07/2016 12:05:50    1884185

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Replying To Redhot:  "'' Lack of support for our football team ''

Think back to the last time Cork played in a All Ireland football final in 2010 against Down Croke Park was a sea of red that day"
Ah here come on man...every county in Ireland could sell out Croke Park for an All Ireland final...how many red jerseys will be in Longford today? I am not having a pop I am interested. Traditionally Cork hurlers het a huge following. I've been to league games in Crok where we have the same if not slowly more supporters than the home cork team.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11666 - 16/07/2016 12:27:15    1884191

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Replying To Redhot:  "The GAA has hit a all time low in Cork in the last four or five years and the interest and passion from both the payers and the supporters in the football and hurling is all but a thing of the past what is the reason for this .

I remember in the past before an All Ireland football or hurling final or semi final Cork used to be a sea of red flags and the demand for tickets was unreal . The last time Cork reached a final was in 2013 in the hurling against Clare and there was hardly a Cork flag to be seen in Cork in the week before the final .

Is the GAA in Cork as it was in the past a thing of the past ?"
Speaking personally, from a Kilkenny point of view it is sad to see Cork hurling in the doldrums. There has always been a great rivalry between the two counties down the years. The sides have met 27 times in the hurling championship including meeting 24 times at the All Ireland final stage, more than any other All Ireland hurling final fixture, (Kilkenny have won 13 of these finals compared to Cork's 9 final wins with 2 draw's).

There's a Wikipedia page all about it (Cork-Kilkenny hurling rivalry) here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cork%E2%80%93Kilkenny_hurling_rivalry#1999-2006:_Cork_and_Kilkenny_dominate

These things tend to go in cycles, and I'd like to think there's enough dedicated people in Cork who will bring hurling glory back to the county again.

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2857 - 16/07/2016 13:24:04    1884212

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Replying To yew_tree:  "Ah here come on man...every county in Ireland could sell out Croke Park for an All Ireland final...how many red jerseys will be in Longford today? I am not having a pop I am interested. Traditionally Cork hurlers het a huge following. I've been to league games in Crok where we have the same if not slowly more supporters than the home cork team."
It's not that difficult to understand. Cork is the home of Christy Ring. Hurling is the main GAA sport in the county. Lots of people for whom hurling is the main sport have little or no interest in Gaelic football. I would be in that category myself. Presumably the same applies in reverse (football people who have no interest in hurling) There's no obligation on people to support their county in both GAA codes. Personally I'd nearly have to be paid to go and watch my county play Gaelic football until it gets to the bandwagon stage and presumably that's the way lots of people in Cork feel towards supporting their county in football too.

PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 2045 - 16/07/2016 13:53:51    1884219

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Anecdotal evidence I know but last time I was down by Leeside for every Cork GAA top I saw ten Munster rugby tops.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 16/07/2016 14:25:37    1884227

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Replying To PoolSturgeon:  "It's not that difficult to understand. Cork is the home of Christy Ring. Hurling is the main GAA sport in the county. Lots of people for whom hurling is the main sport have little or no interest in Gaelic football. I would be in that category myself. Presumably the same applies in reverse (football people who have no interest in hurling) There's no obligation on people to support their county in both GAA codes. Personally I'd nearly have to be paid to go and watch my county play Gaelic football until it gets to the bandwagon stage and presumably that's the way lots of people in Cork feel towards supporting their county in football too."
PoolSturgeon the population of cork should mean they have a decent football traveling support home of christy ring or not. I am sure you were celebrating in 98 and 01. Are you going to castlebar tomorrow ;) ?

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11666 - 16/07/2016 15:20:54    1884242

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Replying To PoolSturgeon:  "It's not that difficult to understand. Cork is the home of Christy Ring. Hurling is the main GAA sport in the county. Lots of people for whom hurling is the main sport have little or no interest in Gaelic football. I would be in that category myself. Presumably the same applies in reverse (football people who have no interest in hurling) There's no obligation on people to support their county in both GAA codes. Personally I'd nearly have to be paid to go and watch my county play Gaelic football until it gets to the bandwagon stage and presumably that's the way lots of people in Cork feel towards supporting their county in football too."
Is football/hurling not 50/50 in cork? There hurlers have poor support as well

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 16/07/2016 15:34:19    1884249

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Hurling was always best supported in Cork. However the support for the hurlers has gone down aswell recently dur poor form. Their football support was always poor in comparison.

ZUL10 (Clare) - Posts: 708 - 16/07/2016 15:52:34    1884255

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Cork back on track on today. Play losers of Galway/Roscommon?

themastermind (UK) - Posts: 10 - 16/07/2016 16:54:40    1884269

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Traditionally if you drew a line from Charleville to Cork City, East of that line was almost exclusively hurling. Christy Ring described Football as a game for bad hurlers, even though he played it himself for St. Nicholas which was the sister team of Glen Rovers.
Christy also famously said if he had his way he would get a knife & puncture every football east of that "line" from Charleville to Cork.
Cork City was almost exclusively hurling and that is where the main volume of Supporters come from. The areas in West Cork bordering Kerry is the heartland of Football. The population is smaller there and they have a long way to go to attend matches.

corkcelt (Cork) - Posts: 4388 - 16/07/2016 17:04:55    1884274

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Replying To themastermind:  "Cork back on track on today. Play losers of Galway/Roscommon?"
No the play one of the losers of leinster/ulster final

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 16/07/2016 20:23:06    1884359

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Hopefully just a lull, if a county like Cork disappears off the radar, it's bad news going forward for the GAA full stop, as if it can happen there it can happen anywhere!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8808 - 16/07/2016 20:45:09    1884380

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A county in decline; clubs struggling; internal factional fighting; disinterest rife and other sports taking advantage; 10's of millions being pumped into a stadium that will lie empty most of the year.........thank the Good Lord we don't have those problems in Antrim........NOT!

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9822 - 17/07/2016 00:54:46    1884502

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