Inter-Provincial Series Dead?

cruiserweight

Not looking good for the inter pros according to RTE

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2009/0325/interpro.html

rte.ie wrote:

The inter-provincial series may be on its last legs after GAA Director-General Páraic Duffy revealed that the lack of interest in the matches means they are now irrelevant.

The competitions, which attracted huge crowds in the 1950s and 1960s, have failed to capture the imagination of the public in recent times and Duffy believes that scrapping them may be the only option.

'We have played games at home and abroad in recent years, but the harsh reality remains that the competitions now attract little public interest and generate little enthusiasm in TV companies to broadcast the games,' he said.

'I am even more convinced today that the competitions have no future.'

This year's inter-provincial hurling final was held in Abu-Dhabi to little fanfare.

Daysha

Maybe its for the best. Give it a few years off, then resurrect it somewhere down the line and hopefully public interest will rise again.

Btw, did anyone find the decision to move it to Abu-Dhabi a little....baffling? They're meant to be trying to promote it and raise interest of the competition in Ireland, so what good will moving it half way around the world do?

cruiserweight

Daysha wrote: »

Btw, did anyone find the decision to move it to Abu-Dhabi a little....baffling? They're meant to be trying to promote it and raise interest of the competition in Ireland, so what good will moving it half way around the world do?

Might be something to do with Etihad being sponsors of the hurling championship

zenmonk

This competition should have been binned 10 years ago. No interest from the players or supporters. The club C'ships have taken over from it completely.

Pride Fighter

zenmonk wrote: »

This competition should have been binned 10 years ago. No interest from the players or supporters. The club C'ships have taken over from it completely.

I fully disagree. The interpros were always a great chance to see dream teams play each other. It should be kept going.

Stevecw

Pride Fighter wrote: »

I fully disagree. The interpros were always a great chance to see dream teams play each other. It should be kept going.

Problem is hardly anybody pays to see these "dream teams" play each other.
Its a pity because to be selected for your province still means a lot to players, especially from weaker counties.

But hard to see how it can be kept going at this stage.

blackbelt

I think a better approach to keeping these games is basic marketing and advertising.They should really be added to the lineup of matches on St Patricks Day before the club finals.

yahoo_moe

blackbelt wrote: »

I think a better approach to keeping these games is basic marketing and advertising.They should really be added to the lineup of matches on St Patricks Day before the club finals.

That's the thing - it's not that people just aren't interested in these games at all... they're just not interested enough in them as standalone fixtures (myself included).

Having said that, I'm not sure there's enough interest in the series as a whole, even if you stage the finals on St. Patrick's Day. I personally wouldn't miss them.

EDIT: Another possible format would be to have them as a season-ender, around the time there's traditionally a lot of talk about strongest provinces, etc. anyway. Maybe a one-day or weekend mini-league type scenario in the final week of September/first week of October...

IIMII

Or St Stephen's Day, or New Years day? How about as a one day event, 20 minutes a half?