Fickle Irish sports supporters

Slideshowbob

They turned out in their masses for the predictable Katie to get a medal in a sport that didn't even exist in the last Olympics.

Billy Walsh wondered where they disappeared to last night for John Joe.

Journalists tout that Katie will be worth 6m as a pro - will people really pay to see her to that extent? Time will tell but I suspect not.

The meeja rush to ascertain how sport funding can be best spent ....

gene_tunney

Slideshowbob wrote: »

They turned out in their masses for the predictable Katie to get a medal in a sport that didn't even exist in the last Olympics.

Billy Walsh wondered where they disappeared to last night for John Joe.

Journalists tout that Katie will be worth 6m as a pro - will people really pay to see her to that extent? Time will tell but I suspect not.

The meeja rush to ascertain how sport funding can be best spent ....

Those tickets were bought months in advance because most fans supposed Katie would make the final and JJN would not. That explains it, it has nothing to do with any of that other rubbish you were spouting.

Maire2009

Seems a bit of an anti-Katie Taylor rant to be honest.

Yeah, she got a lot more coverage than the men, but she is 5 times European Champions and 4 times World Champion and she did all that in relative obscurity so good luck to her.

How many of the boxing matches did you travel over too?

Syferus

There's always someone who thinks it's the most original thought in the world to be contrary when it's the most predictable thing of all.

cowzerp

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Journalists tout that Katie will be worth 6m as a pro - will people really pay to see her to that extent? Time will tell but I suspect..

1st off I don't think she'll go pro, secondly I have no doubt she could fill Bernard Dunne role of filling the point and make lots of money, outside Ireland would be a different story altogether.

CIARAN_BOYLE

cowzerp wrote: »

1st off I don't think she'll go pro, secondly I have no doubt she could fill Bernard Dunne role of filling the point and make lots of money, outside Ireland would be a different story altogether.

If she only wants to keep fighting for a year or two I reckon she could do very well as a pro. Fighting most of her fights in the O2 and I think she would get a world title fight pretty quickly in some where like the Aviva or Corke Park.

However within a couple of years the hype would fade a little and her drawing power would drop.

Maybe she should wait to find out if the Amateur Boxing body will bring in some professional structures for women like they are for men.

fryup

do pro-women boxers fight without head gaurds??

cowzerp

fryup wrote: »

do pro-women boxers fight without head gaurds??

Yes

Danye

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

If she only wants to keep fighting for a year or two I reckon she could do very well as a pro. Fighting most of her fights in the O2 and I think she would get a world title fight pretty quickly in some where like the Aviva or Corke Park.

However within a couple of years the hype would fade a little and her drawing power would drop.

Maybe she should wait to find out if the Amateur Boxing body will bring in some professional structures for women like they are for men.

I would like to see her stay around in the amateur ranks. I think if she could stay around for Rio and go over and claim another medal it would be brilliant.

I think a fight in the Aviva or Croke park is a little far fetched though.

cowzerp

Danye wrote: »

I would like to see her stay around in the amateur ranks. I think if she could stay around for Rio and go over and claim another medal it would be brilliant.

I think a fight in the Aviva or Croke park is a little far fetched though.

Depends how strong the whole card was, If you got Lee v Duddy, and a few Irish Fights like that on it could be huge

They really should have tried this during Dunne's heyday-get a really strong card and filled landsowne or something

Danye

cowzerp wrote: »

Depends how strong the whole card was, If you got Lee v Duddy, and a few Irish Fights like that on it could be huge

They really should have tried this during Dunne's heyday-get a really strong card and filled landsowne or something

Ah yea if that was the case maybe so. I thought what they meant was Katie being the only healine act.

A Lee v Duddy bout wouldn't hold any real attraction for me personally at the minute though. A couple of years ago I would of loved to see it but as it currently stands I wouldn't be too pushed.

cowzerp

Danye wrote: »

Ah yea if that was the case maybe so. I thought what they meant was Katie being the only healine act.

A Lee v Duddy bout wouldn't hold any real attraction for me personally at the minute though. A couple of years ago I would of loved to see it but as it currently stands I wouldn't be too pushed.

Macklin whatever, just random to be honest, Could be Frankie Gavin v Dean Byrne too-this sort of card you would aim to have Byrne, Casey, Lee, Macklin, Duddy-everyone on, I know i left out loads by the way!!

Danye

cowzerp wrote: »

Macklin whatever, just random to be honest, Could be Frankie Gavin v Dean Byrne too-this sort of card you would aim to have Byrne, Casey, Lee, Macklin, Duddy-everyone on, I know i left out loads by the way!!

Would you think any promoter would be interested?? I would imagine it wouldn't be cheap to get some of the lads mentioned above in the ring.

Maybe financially it wouldn't be a runner? What dya think?

cowzerp

Danye wrote: »

Would you think any promoter would be interested?? I would imagine it wouldn't be cheap to get some of the lads mentioned above in the ring.

Maybe financially it wouldn't be a runner? What dya think?

if ya could fill croker you could get Ali in there with Vitali!!

tayto lover

About a month ago Katie fought in her local club and about 150 turned out to watch her.
It's the public that's fickle. Nothing wrong with Katie.

Danye

cowzerp wrote: »

if ya could fill croker you could get Ali in there with Vitali!!

Exactlly. I don't think any of the fighters even all on the one card could pull in a big enough crowd to fill Croker

Syferus

And what exactly does that prove? Half the attendees would be coming from aboard for that crazily imaginary scenario.

Marketed right you could fill up a stadium with an Irish card. Bad pricing is more a problem than apathy.

Danye

Syferus wrote: »

And what exactly does that prove? Half the attendees would be coming from aboard for that crazily imaginary scenario.

Reading back I don't seem to be making my point clearly.

What I was trying to say was that I don't think Katie has the pull for such a big venue like the Aviva or Croker.

Cowzer than said maybe if the card was strong enough you might have a chance. I still don't think it would get anywhere near sold out.

It would sell out if there was a magic fight like the fantasy fight he mentioned which but with the earlier suggested card I don't believe it would sell out.

Hopefully that makes my point a little bit better to understand?

Danye

Syferus wrote: »

Marketed right you could fill up a stadium with an Irish card. Bad pricing is more a problem than apathy.

I tend to agree with you on this, It's just the actuall size of the stadium I would question.

DB10

Its true to an extent, the ole ole brigade really latched onto to the bandwagon with Katie. It didn't really happen with the rest of the fighters for some reason.

Just watching the homecoming now, its cringeworthy stuff.

Syferus

The metrics were pointed out before. The other boxers had great support as well. Cringe-worthy stuff that someone is begrudging a homecoming for our most successful Olympic team of all-time.

AllGunsBlazing

When you consider the amount Irish (and people who consider themselves Irish) living abroad I'd imagine she'd attract a decent following if she fought professionally in the UK, Australia and of course the USA.

Her profile is through the roof thanks to that gold medal. I doubt there are many Irish people, where ever they might be in the world, that don't know the name of Katie Taylor right now.

But we are definitely fickle, and if she were to trip up in the pro ranks all but the hardcore Irish boxing fans would soon forget her.

Big Ears

Danye wrote: »

Exactlly. I don't think any of the fighters even all on the one card could pull in a big enough crowd to fill Croker

It's all down to marketing and advertising, with the right marketing and advertising you could sell someone's own **** back to them !, but promoting something that well is not an easy thing to do.

Irish people have a great reputation for being huge sports fans, and while we're we're decent supporters of various sports the truth is we're not that great. What we are is event junkies !, if anything is made up to be this major big spectacle, then everyone wants to go.
For instance, let's say Cork had beaten Galway in the hurling a few days ago, and Tipp beat Kilkenny next weekend (please god ), you'll have over 100,000 with a desire to be at that game, and ~82,000 people will make good on that desire. Now only a couple of months ago these teams met and 34,000 people showed up. That's nothing to be sniffed at, but only ~40% of the people who will go to the All-Ireland final

So what's the difference ?
The location ?, well not really, even for most people in North Tipperary Cork is equidistant from Dublin.
The quality ?, well the teams will have improved somewhat, but not by that huge an amount.
The significance of the event ?, bingo. The people who say 'I wouldn't bother my hole going down for that', would be begging for tickets. They want to be part of this magnificent event, this occasion which means so much to them. The only reason why is everyone is making such a big deal over it, and if you make an event seem like such a big deal people will follow it.

Westlife were able to sell out Croke Park for 2 nights in a row as their 'last ever gig', preying on gullible people who'll inevitably be first in line to buy tickets for their reunion gig should it ever occur. But it's another example of when an event if deemed significant enough by the population, they will not only flock to it, supply won't be able to meet demand.
So I say with the right people involved even Croke Park could be sold out for a major boxing event, and with the wrong people involved the same event wouldn't do 8,000. Promotion really is a funny thing.

A card like:
Katie Taylor vs Champion- version of Female Lightweight World title.

Tyson Fury vs top 10 ranked Heavyweight-European Heavyweight title

Andy Lee vs Matthew Macklin*

Carl Frampton vs ?????- version of Super-Bantamweight World title

Martin Lindsay vs Patrick Hyland British/Irish/Commonwealth/European/lesser World title

Henry Coyle vs Gary O'Sullivan -WBF/Irish Light-Middleweight title

Eamon O'Kane vs Anthony Fitzgerald- Irish+EU title Middleweight title

John Joe Nevin vs Willie Casey EU Super-Bantamweight title

Jamie Kavanagh vs ???? 'International' ABC Lightweight title

Stephen Ormond vs ?????

Dean Byrne vs ??????

Dee Walsh vs ?????

Now that card with the right promoter could certainly do from 40,000 all the way up to 80,000 if the Katie Taylor bandwagon had been built up by a few big nights in The Point (as it shall still be known). But it's all hypothetical anyway as no one would ever be willing to take the risk with the potential failure that could occur being so catastrophic.





*I actually asked Andy was there a decent chance of him fighting Barker or Murray and his reply was there's a good chance of a fight with Macklin happening.

Danye

Syferus wrote: »

The metrics were pointed out before. The other boxers had great support as well. Cringe-worthy stuff that someone is begrudging a homecoming for our most successful Olympic team of all-time.

Who's begrudging them a homecoming??

Big Ears wrote: »

It's all down to marketing and advertising, with the right marketing and advertising you could sell someone's own **** back to them !, but promoting something that well is not an easy thing to do.

Irish people have a great reputation for being huge sports fans, and while we're we're decent supporters of various sports the truth is we're not that great. What we are is event junkies !, if anything is made up to be this major big spectacle, then everyone wants to go.
For instance, let's say Cork had beaten Galway in the hurling a few days ago, and Tipp beat Kilkenny next weekend (please god ), you'll have over 100,000 with a desire to be at that game, and ~82,000 people will make good on that desire. Now only a couple of months ago these teams met and 34,000 people showed up. That's nothing to be sniffed at, but only ~40% of the people who will go to the All-Ireland final

So what's the difference ?
The location ?, well not really, even for most people in North Tipperary Cork is equidistant from Dublin.
The quality ?, well the teams will have improved somewhat, but not by that huge an amount.
The significance of the event ?, bingo. The people who say 'I wouldn't bother my hole going down for that', would be begging for tickets. They want to be part of this magnificent event, this occasion which means so much to them. The only reason why is everyone is making such a big deal over it, and if you make an event seem like such a big deal people will follow it.

Westlife were able to sell out Croke Park for 2 nights in a row as their 'last ever gig', preying on gullible people who'll inevitably be first in line to buy tickets for their reunion gig should it ever occur. But it's another example of when an event if deemed significant enough by the population, they will not only flock to it, supply won't be able to meet demand.
So I say with the right people involved even Croke Park could be sold out for a major boxing event, and with the wrong people involved the same event wouldn't do 8,000. Promotion really is a funny thing.

A card like:
Katie Taylor vs Champion- version of Female Lightweight World title.

Tyson Fury vs top 10 ranked Heavyweight-European Heavyweight title

Andy Lee vs Matthew Macklin*

Carl Frampton vs ?????- version of Super-Bantamweight World title

Martin Lindsay vs Patrick Hyland British/Irish/Commonwealth/European/lesser World title

Henry Coyle vs Gary O'Sullivan -WBF/Irish Light-Middleweight title

Eamon O'Kane vs Anthony Fitzgerald- Irish+EU title Middleweight title

John Joe Nevin vs Willie Casey EU Super-Bantamweight title

Jamie Kavanagh vs ???? 'International' ABC Lightweight title

Stephen Ormond vs ?????

Dean Byrne vs ??????

Dee Walsh vs ?????

Now that card with the right promoter could certainly do from 40,000 all the way up to 80,000 if the Katie Taylor bandwagon had been built up by a few big nights in The Point (as it shall still be known). But it's all hypothetical anyway as no one would ever be willing to take the risk with the potential failure that could occur being so catastrophic.





*I actually asked Andy was there a decent chance of him fighting Barker or Murray and his reply was there's a good chance of a fight with Macklin happening.

Excellent post.

I just don't feel even a card like that would still even guarantee a sell out. For genuine boxing fans it would appeal to them but for the "event junkies" (which to be fair I could be classed as this at times myself in regards to other sports) It has no real major draw IMO.

In anyway it's never going to happen in anyway so nobody can be proved right or not.