DCM on TV?

--amadeus-- · 27-10-2010 9:34pm

04072511 wrote: »

So why the huge viewing figures every 4 years for the athletics at the Olympic Games then if the general public are not bothered. Why the public obsession with Sonia O'Sullivan in the 90's (when RTE showed Golden League by the way) if nobody gave a toss. Why the amount of general sports fans who develop an interest every year when the big championship comes around? Why the huge interest in Usain Bolt last year from people who usually just watch football? No offence but your lack of knowledge of elite athletics puts you in no real position to analyse how intersted the Irish Public are in such a thing. It would be like me stating that Irish Women dont like Gucci perfume. I don't give a toss therefore I would have no idea.

I am surrounded by sports nuts in my clients and in my social life. They follow anything and everything and most take part as well. GAA, soccer, rugby, boxing, horses, golf, dogs - you name it. And a lot of them run. But I have *never* heard anyone mention athletics.

Big viewing figures for the Olympics? Well it's the olympics - same thing as people watching Wimbeldon once a year or the Ryder Cup or whatever. Casual interest in a high profile event, single swallows don't make summers!

What huge interest in Bolt? Huge interest is the rolling live blogs on teh Guardian and the Telegraph during the Liverpool takeover or the Rooney saga. He has a high profile but no way is he on the level of Roger Federer or Tiger Woods.

And I am a member of the Irish public as are my friends, family and people I work with. By definition what we are interested in is what teh Irish Public are interested in. And running in this country is overwhelmingly a participation not a viewing sport.

shels4ever · 27-10-2010 9:36pm

I'm sure someone can dig up the viewing figures for the Marathon from the past. I remember watching it as a kid (unless i've got some crazy memories). So I guess it was canceled for a reason, The Den on bank holidays must get more kids .....

Pisco Sour · 27-10-2010 9:42pm

--amadeus-- wrote: »

I am surrounded by sports nuts in my clients and in my social life. They follow anything and everything and most take part as well. GAA, soccer, rugby, boxing, horses, golf, dogs - you name it. And a lot of them run. But I have *never* heard anyone mention athletics.

Well I can only speak for myself, and in my experience at work, and with friends plenty of people talk about it, when a major championship is on (Euro Outdoors, World Outdoors and Olympics). One friend of mine told me he watched Derval's race this year in a GAA pub full of GAA fans after Dublin beat Tyrone and he said the place went nuts when she got her silver.

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Big viewing figures for the Olympics? Well it's the olympics - same thing as people watching Wimbeldon once a year or the Ryder Cup or whatever. Casual interest in a high profile event, single swallows don't make summers!

Ever heard of the World and European Championships, the latter being something RTE actually deamed worthy of full live coverage for the duration of the competition.

--amadeus-- wrote: »

What huge interest in Bolt? Huge interest is the rolling live blogs on teh Guardian and the Telegraph during the Liverpool takeover or the Rooney saga. He has a high profile but no way is he on the level of Roger Federer or Tiger Woods.

Oh dear god, are you kidding me! The Kerry team arranged to meet him on their team holiday last year in Jamaica for the love of god!!

--amadeus-- wrote: »

And I am a member of the Irish public as are my friends, family and people I work with. By definition what we are interested in is what teh Irish Public are interested in. And running in this country is overwhelmingly a participation not a viewing sport.

Hmmm, wonder why tickets to the Weltklasse are like golddust so :rolleyes: If Ireland had such a meet with all the worlds best I guarantee you there would be a high attendance aswell! I was at the World Cross Country in Leopardstown in 2002 and the crowds were fairly hefty!

robinph · 27-10-2010 9:43pm

Google isn't being particularly helpful on the matter. But New Yorks Facebook page claims 315 million.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25632339864

robinph · 27-10-2010 9:50pm

Found some number for London 2009, but it's only listing the BBC2 highlights show not the main one on BBC1:

http://www.free-satellite-tv.co.uk/tv-ratings/uk-tv-ratings-260409.htm

Also that is combined numbers for the whole week, for the Sunday in question it was the third and fourth highest viewing on Beeb2 that day, only beaten by 350,000 by MoTD and then a special about George Best.

Pisco Sour · 27-10-2010 9:57pm

Facebook fans of:

Tiger Woods: 1,453,047
Roger Federer: 4,902,044
Wayne Rooney: 1,530,572
Usain Bolt: 2,549,354

misty floyd · 27-10-2010 10:00pm

I love sport and I watch any kind. I'm crap at remembering names etc especially all of those African names. They don't mean anything to me. What I'm interested in is a good race and I don't care who is in it. That could be watching the Dublin novice XC or the cupid dash in Phoenix or the recent Chicago marathon.

Quoting such and such a runner with such a time blah blah top 10....load of boll0x. Who cares lads, this is silly.

Pisco Sour · 27-10-2010 10:03pm

misty floyd wrote: »

Quoting such and such a runner with such a time blah blah top 10....load of boll0x. Who cares lads, this is silly.

So who cares what football match is on so, as long as its a good game? Woking V Torquoy United take your fancy? :rolleyes: I didnt think so.

To dismiss the importance of top class athletics is an insult to the sport IMO. Seeing Bolt v Gay is just as important to our sport as Man Yoo V Chelsea is to football.

shels4ever · 27-10-2010 10:04pm

One good thing about Dublin Marathon is that its actually a race, I have gone off watching London in the past few years with the 20 pace makers for every 2 min pace band. give me a propper race anyday.

--amadeus-- · 27-10-2010 10:05pm

04072511 wrote: »

Well I can only speak for myself, and in my experience at work, and with friends plenty of people talk about it, when a major championship is on (Euro Outdoors, World Outdoors and Olympics). One friend of mine told me he watched Derval's race this year in a GAA pub full of GAA fans after Dublin beat Tyrone and he said the place went nuts when she got her silver.

Ever heard of the World and European Championships, the latter being something RTE actually deamed worthy of full live coverage for the duration of the competition.

Oh dear god, are you kidding me! The Kerry team arranged to meet him on their team holiday last year in Jamaica for the love of god!!

Hmmm, wonder why tickets to the Weltklasse are like golddust so :rolleyes: If Ireland had such a meet with all the worlds best I guarantee you there would be a high attendance aswell! I was at the World Cross Country in Leopardstown in 2002 and the crowds were fairly hefty!

Well people talk to people about what people are interested in. The receptionist at one of my clients is a huge golf fan. So - even though I have no interest in it - I chat to her about it and she asks me about running (though her interest in running maybe as great as mine in golf!). No doubt if you and I worked together we'd talk about elite athletics.

I've never heard of a Weltklasse but I assume it's an event. Sure if you had a top class athletics meet you'll get crowds but that goes for any sport (they had a big tennis tournament in the RDS a few years ago that sold really well for example). The national ploughing champs had 70,000 people a day going, I hope you won't try and tell me competitive ploughing is as big as GAA!

Anyway this is all a tangent and - as XKCD says:

(on your other point about Woking vs Torquay I've seen some cranking matches at lower league level, Barnet vs the Orient can be very tasty

)

Pisco Sour · 27-10-2010 10:10pm

--amadeus-- wrote: »

I've never heard of a Weltklasse but I assume it's an event.

A former mod of an athletics site doesnt know what the most famous and historic T&F meet is. That is bizzare to say the very very least. I'd be very surprised if the like of that was found on any other sports forum on boards.ie

I'll say no more on that.

robinph · 27-10-2010 10:11pm

shels4ever wrote: »

One good thing about Dublin Marathon is that its actually a race, I have gone off watching London in the past few years with the 20 pace makers for every 2 min pace band. give me a propper race anyday.

The reason for that is that anyone finishing ahead of certain times is guaranteed some prize money, regardless of place. They only have position prize money for the first 12 in the mens race, but finish 13th with a time of sub 2:11 and you'll still get some cash.

http://www.marathonguide.com/news/exclusives/LondonMarathon_2010/LondonMarathonPrizeMoneyAndStarterList.cfm

--amadeus-- · 27-10-2010 10:13pm

04072511 wrote: »

A former mod of an athletics site doesnt know what the most famous and historic T&F meet is. That is bizzare to say the very very least. I'd be very surprised if the like of that was found on any other sports forum on boards.ie

I'll say no more on that.

Objection your honour!

I was modded to look after what was then the "Marathon & Triathlon" forum. The fact we merged with the guys who run around in circles afterwards was just one of those things

You will note from over there <--- that I am back in my rightful place once again!

shels4ever · 27-10-2010 10:13pm

04072511 wrote: »

A former mod of an athletics site doesnt know what the most famous and historic T&F meet is. That is bizzare to say the very very least. I'd be very surprised if the like of that was found on any other sports forum on boards.ie

I'll say no more on that.

Ah now thats a little unfair there really most people wouldnt call it that...

robinph · 27-10-2010 10:13pm

04072511 wrote: »

A former mod of an athletics site doesnt know what the most famous and historic T&F meet is. That is bizzare to say the very very least. I'd be very surprised if the like of that was found on any other sports forum on boards.ie

I'll say no more on that.

Try me on snowboarding...

Brianderunner · 27-10-2010 10:15pm

04072511 wrote: »

So who cares what football match is on so, as long as its a good game? Woking V Torquoy United take your fancy? :rolleyes: I didnt think so.

To dismiss the importance of top class athletics is an insult to the sport IMO. Seeing Bolt v Gay is just as important to our sport as Man Yoo V Chelsea is to football.

Exactly, the attitude to top class athletics on this forum really disappoints me and i can't understand it. Its streets ahead of the premier league and every other sport if you get into it, but different strokes i guess.

shels4ever · 27-10-2010 10:16pm

robinph wrote: »

The reason for that is that anyone finishing ahead of certain times is guaranteed some prize money, regardless of place. They only have position prize money for the first 12 in the mens race, but finish 13th with a time of sub 2:11 and you'll still get some cash.

http://www.marathonguide.com/news/exclusives/LondonMarathon_2010/LondonMarathonPrizeMoneyAndStarterList.cfm

Yep but doenst make it a true race, i'd day a 2:09 marathon running alone is more impressive then a 2:08 with 20 pacemakers, Just feel that it becomes a 20 mile run with a race at the end. But thats off topic..... and i still do watch it ever year.

Woddle · 27-10-2010 10:18pm

robinph wrote: »

Try me on snowboarding...

Which character was the most rad in the original ssx tricky

robinph · 27-10-2010 10:19pm

Not a clue.

fiddy3 · 27-10-2010 10:20pm

--amadeus-- wrote: »

I am surrounded by sports nuts in my clients and in my social life. They follow anything and everything and most take part as well. GAA, soccer, rugby, boxing, horses, golf, dogs - you name it. And a lot of them run. But I have *never* heard anyone mention athletics.

Big viewing figures for the Olympics? Well it's the olympics - same thing as people watching Wimbeldon once a year or the Ryder Cup or whatever. Casual interest in a high profile event, single swallows don't make summers!

What huge interest in Bolt? Huge interest is the rolling live blogs on teh Guardian and the Telegraph during the Liverpool takeover or the Rooney saga. He has a high profile but no way is he on the level of Roger Federer or Tiger Woods.

And I am a member of the Irish public as are my friends, family and people I work with. By definition what we are interested in is what teh Irish Public are interested in. And running in this country is overwhelmingly a participation not a viewing sport.

Well he is, he really is, and he's the first athlete ever to be that widely known across the world. Have you really never heard any mention of athletics? Really? No conversations about derval during barcelona, when she was, you know, on the front pages of newspapers and sports sections, or gillick during euro indoors or sonia back in the day? And the level of athletics certainly matters in terms of its entertainment value, I know people with shag all interest in athletics, but they know that watching a 9.80-sec 100m is much much more entertaining than a 10.3 race on tv because they know just enough to know whether they're watching the top brass or not. The soccer reference is spot on, if the teams are average the game would want to be tremendous to make up for it. London is a fantastic race and there's good reason it's the world's best. Haile v Tergat v Khannouchi a few years back, Lel v Wanjiru v Ryan Hall more recently, they were some fantastic races and it's simply on a different level to what Dublin offers up annually in all fairness.

misty floyd · 27-10-2010 10:23pm

04072511 wrote: »

So who cares what football match is on so, as long as its a good game? Woking V Torquoy United take your fancy? :rolleyes: I didnt think so.

To dismiss the importance of top class athletics is an insult to the sport IMO. Seeing Bolt v Gay is just as important to our sport as Man Yoo V Chelsea is to football.

I would watch Woking V Torquoy. I also pop down to my local GAA club and watch them play against some team from south Kildare or wherever.

Seeing bolt v Gay is pretty cool but I won't apologise for not knowing every last detail about athletics. Thats just the way it goes man, its not all over the tv or papers. Its a pity, I agree, but stop slatting the Irish people because they follow the premiership to the T or don't know Mark Kennealy (sorry if thats spelt wrong :rolleyes:) is racing whatever.

--amadeus-- · 27-10-2010 10:26pm

fiddy3 wrote: »

Well he is, he really is, and he's the first athlete ever to be that widely known across the world. Have you really never heard any mention of athletics? Really? No conversations about derval during barcelona, when she was, you know, on the front pages of newspapers and sports sections, or gillick during euro indoors or sonia back in the day? And the level of athletics certainly matters in terms of its entertainment value, I know people with shag all interest in athletics, but they know that watching a 9.80-sec 100m is much much more entertaining than a 10.3 race on tv because they know just enough to know whether they're watching the top brass or not. The soccer reference is spot on, if the teams are average the game would want to be tremendous to make up for it. London is a fantastic race and there's good reason it's the world's best. Haile v Tergat v Khannouchi a few years back, Lel v Wanjiru v Ryan Hall more recently, they were some fantastic races and it's simply on a different level to what Dublin offers up annually in all fairness.

Genuinely hand on heart I have never heard it discussed. But two or three times a week I'll talk running with someone else doing a marathon.

And yea I know what you mean - even an uneducated slogger like me can see the talent when the elites go by on the other side of the road in a marathon. FWIW I don't know why elite T&F gets so little attention on here either and I suggested a while back that breaking it out to a dedicated area might give it room to grow.

(topic --->
<--- us btw!)

EDIT:

Google results for Tiger Woods - 31,600,000
Google results for Roger Federer - 13,800,000
Google results for Usain Bolt - 7,880,000

Yes he's hugely popular but nowhere near the very top of the global tree

Pisco Sour · 27-10-2010 10:30pm

Brianderunner wrote: »

Exactly, the attitude to top class athletics on this forum really disappoints me and i can't understand it. Its streets ahead of the premier league and every other sport if you get into it, but different strokes i guess.

Absolutely. People seem to forget that this is an ATHLETICS forum. To suggest that the standard of an elite race doesnt matter is like going onto the soccer forum and saying the World Cup doesnt matter.

shels4ever · 27-10-2010 10:33pm

04072511 wrote: »

Absolutely. People seem to forget that this is an ATHLETICS forum. To suggest that the standard of an elite race doesnt matter is like going onto the soccer forum and saying the World Cup doesnt matter.

Yes but it is Triathlon and Running (what is running anyway is it not part of Athletics

) also .

Woddle · 27-10-2010 10:35pm

04072511 wrote: »

Absolutely. People seem to forget that this is an ATHLETICS forum. To suggest that the standard of an elite race doesnt matter is like going onto the soccer forum and saying the World Cup doesnt matter.

To be honest I'm not too sure what you've been trying to convey other than your obvious knowledge of the sport.

Does your above comment mean that you ignore the likes of the national T&F championships as there are a few events there were the standard is not very favourable when compared to the rest of the world.

I could be picking you up wrong

ct_roy · 27-10-2010 10:35pm

04072511 wrote: »

I really hope the motivation behind getting the DCM live on TV is not so one can see him/herself on the tele. That would be pretty sad in my opinion.

well if someone wants to see themselves on TV they can pretty much do that this year anyway with the video footage that tagged every runner who took part - it's all linked to from tds

Pisco Sour · 27-10-2010 10:37pm

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Genuinely hand on heart I have never heard it discussed. But two or three times a week I'll talk running with someone else doing a marathon.

And yea I know what you mean - even an uneducated slogger like me can see the talent when the elites go by on the other side of the road in a marathon. FWIW I don't know why elite T&F gets so little attention on here either and I suggested a while back that breaking it out to a dedicated area might give it room to grow.

(topic --->
<--- us btw!)

EDIT:

Google results for Tiger Woods - 31,600,000
Google results for Roger Federer - 13,800,000
Google results for Usain Bolt - 7,880,000

Yes he's hugely popular but nowhere near the very top of the global tree

Maybe because Roger and Tiger have been around much longer :rolleyes:

I actually agree about the idea of splitting the threads into Athletics and Recreational Running, because it seems like a lot of the posts on this SPORT's forum are related to people taking up running to shed a few pounds. Thats fantastic that people are doing that, and the more the better, but that is not sport. That is exercise, so perhaps a seperate forum for real athletics and for recreational running has some merits (this coming from somebody who is in no way a real athlete).

On the flip side I supposed if 1 in every 100 new visitors to the forum started reading about elite athletics and Track and Field then I guess it would be worth it and the sport will have gained a new fan.

Pisco Sour · 27-10-2010 10:40pm

Woddle wrote: »

To be honest I'm not too sure what you've been trying to convey other than your obvious knowledge of the sport.

Does your above comment mean that you ignore the likes of the national T&F championships as there are a few events there were the standard is not very favourable when compared to the rest of the world.

I could be picking you up wrong

Of course not, I have a big interest in athletics at lower levels. My point is that is DOES matter about whether the field at a certain event is good. You would never see anybody on a golf forum saying who cares about whether its the Open or the Irish Amateur as long as its a good event. To suggest that watching Bolt V Gay is the same as watching National 100m final as long as its entertaining is an insult to the sport UNLESS that is your view of every sport and that you would enjoy a League 2 game as much as a Champions League final, in that case fair enough.

--amadeus-- · 27-10-2010 10:44pm

04072511 wrote: »

Maybe because Roger and Tiger have been around much longer :rolleyes:

I actually agree about the idea of splitting the threads into Athletics and Recreational Running, because it seems like a lot of the posts on this SPORT's forum are related to people taking up running to shed a few pounds. Thats fantastic that people are doing that, and the more the better, but that is not sport. That is exercise, so perhaps a seperate forum for real athletics and for recreational running has some merits (this coming from somebody who is in no way a real athlete).

On the flip side I supposed if 1 in every 100 new visitors to the forum started reading about elite athletics and Track and Field then I guess it would be worth it and the sport will have gained a new fan.

As soon as someone pins on a number its a sport, no matter the level. Some people do, some watch. I won't judge which is better.

ThisRegard · 27-10-2010 10:46pm

When does exercise become a sport ? In the variety of athletic events I take part in I have little chance of winning, am I therefore just exercising ?

There's a sense of elitism creeping into this thread.

DCM on TV?

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