Is Hurling the greatest game ever?

Stojkovic

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

The FAI count social soccer, indoor soccer, womens soccer, 5 a side soccer, off season GAA and rugby players, national school leagues etc, etc in their massaged figures. They even counted me once because I played in a charity indoor competition. GAA and rugby only count adult males playing in structured competitive leagues in their playing figures. Plus the guy who spouts this nonsense is used car salesman John Delaney:pac:

No.
Registered players with registered clubs with registered leagues.

Agree about Donkey Delaney.

The Aussie

Mal-Adjusted wrote: »

ffs, people really seem to have a bee in their bonnet about the whole international aspect. Many other countries have very healthy GAA scenes (though football more-so than hurling).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gaelic_games_clubs_outside_Ireland

Last year, there was a successful hurling festival with teams brought in from all corners.

http://www.aerlingushurling.com/

Sorry I forgot about Shinty against Scotland....

The question asked was "is Hurling the greatest game ever" to be that it would need to be a Global Game, so like it or lump it some "little domestic game" does not qualify, soooo LOL

Yeh there was also a Father Ted Festival a few years ago in Oz..... Festivals = Fun, great fact there Bro.

major bill

K-9 wrote: »

But attracts poor attendances barring internationals, and even friendlies and unattractive competitive matches don't get huge crowds.
GAA is the supporters favourite.

How many Irish people travel abroad to watch PL teams each week? compare that to National League games in GAA.

Duckworth contradicted himself.....The GAA has the biggest bandwagon following in the country

Duckworth_Luas

The Aussie wrote: »

Sorry I forgot about Shinty against Scotland....

The question asked was "is Hurling the greatest game ever" to be that it would need to be a Global Game, so like it or lump it some "little domestic game" does not qualify, soooo LOL

So Australia's top sports, AFL and NRL, are $hit? We didn't need clarification but thanks anyway.

purplepanda

The GAA is largely run with a pre Gaelic Football bias, as many county setups are, Hurling is the poor relation & many in the GAA want to keep it that way. :mad:

The idea that Hurling could become a popular worldwide sport under the GAA is laughable, Hurling needs to break away from the GAA which is holding it's potential future back. Recent growth in people playing Hurling in the USA appears to have happened without much help from Croke Park. :rolleyes:

Introducing Hurling to people from overseas often gets their interest, Gaelic Football doesn't get the same reaction in my experience. The latter is too similar to other forms of football to be really noticed.

The GAA won't even give TV rights to overseas free to view national broadcasters, not even recorded highlights. They'd rather limit the overseas audiences to Irish pubs & venues. :pac:

So much for promoting their games overseas :rolleyes:

major bill

For all the debate on Hurling been the greatest sport in the world surely it could be argued that Gaelic Football is the ****est.

losthorizon

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

The FAI count social soccer, indoor soccer, womens soccer, 5 a side soccer, off season GAA and rugby players, national school leagues etc, etc in their massaged figures. They even counted me once because I played in a charity indoor competition. GAA and rugby only count adult males playing in structured competitive leagues in their playing figures. Plus the guy who spouts this nonsense is used car salesman John Delaney:pac:

source

The Aussie

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

So Australia's top sports, AFL and NRL, are $hit? We didn't need clarification but thanks anyway.

You need some Aloe Vera there champ :rolleyes:

The question is (the hint is in the thread title ) "is Hurling the greatest game ever" and there is a clear answer, you don't like it go get yourself a Klenex.
But by look of it you need clarification of what real crap looks and smells like LOL...

purplepanda

major bill wrote: »

For all the debate on Hurling been the greatest sport in the world surely it could be argued that Gaelic Football is the ****est.

With all the different forms of football worldwide, including all the Rugby codes & American & Australian versions it could well be a valid debate!. :pac:

I'll leave it to somebody else to start the debate, perhaps a new thread?

So which is the worst type of football played in the world? :pac::pac:

Duckworth_Luas

The Aussie wrote: »

But by look of it you need clarification of what real crap looks and smells like LOL...

It's an AFL game surrounded by Australian bogans?

Duckworth_Luas

purplepanda wrote: »

So which is the worst type of football played in the world?

It's an AFL game surrounded by Australian bogans

The Aussie

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

It's an AFL game surrounded by Australian bogans

LOL... So good you posted it twice.

Or a little domestic game that is not even played all over one little rock, yeh greatest game ever.

You find your Aloe avera yet champ....

losthorizon

Downhill skiing at Wengen and Kitzbuhel. Even Arnie comes over every year for Kitzbuhel surrounde by 60,000 fanatical of his fellow countrymen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzJxt7G4ACY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjnboNgyI5Y

Mal-Adjusted

The Aussie wrote: »

Sorry I forgot about Shinty against Scotland....

I never even considered that, my thoughts were more on the club game ant the club competitions outside Ireland

The Aussie wrote: »

The question asked was "is Hurling the greatest game ever" to be that it would need to be a Global Game, so like it or lump it some "little domestic game" does not qualify, soooo LOL

I never claimed it was. The nature of the question is so subjective and un-quantifiable, it's laughable, and that goes for all sports. There really is no such thing as "greatest game ever". I'm pointing out that Hurling (and Football) have a healthy global spread. But please, don't let that get in the way of your little rant.

The Aussie wrote: »

Yeh there was also a Father Ted Festival a few years ago in Oz..... Festivals = Fun, great fact there Bro.

You seem to be confused. This was in Galway last September. It was a structured competition, not an arts & crafts fair. You really don't need to be so aggressive in your comments.

The Aussie

Mal-Adjusted wrote: »

You really don't need to be so aggressive in your comments.

You seem to be confusing Aggression with Comical, Mocking Laughter.

The mere suggestion that a game that is in all honesty only played properly in 5/6 Counties to a decent level is the greatest game ever is one of the best laughs I've had on Boards.ie

Duckworth_Luas

The Aussie wrote: »

LOL... So good you posted it twice.

Or a little domestic game that is not even played all over one little rock, yeh greatest game ever.

You find your Aloe avera yet champ....

Thanks for your input. We'll take it on board along with other recent Australian contributions such as neknominations, king-hits and John Hopoate's finger!

K-9

major bill wrote: »

How many Irish people travel abroad to watch PL teams each week? compare that to National League games in GAA.

Duckworth contradicted himself.....The GAA has the biggest bandwagon following in the country

If you look at attendance figures from 20 years ago the only one of the big 4 that has bandwagon support is rugby. When Ulster dominated the interprovincials then you'd have been lucky to get a couple of thousand at a Munster Leinster match. Club rugby is dying, people much prefer the huge events like European Cup rugby.

GAA has held its own in that time, you still have the diehards who go to McKenna/O'Byrne etc. Cup matches, turn up at Division 3/4 dead rubbers. Same with the LoI which had seen its heydey then, no 20/30,000 regular attendances then. I was at a McKenna Cup final in January in 2004 that attracted 15,000 or so to see Donegal play Tyrone, the All Ireland champions. They aren't bandwagon supporters.

So if you want to talk bandwagon support, soccer and GAA will always have that if your club/county does well but has a steady hard core support. Rugby has to hope the provinces keep doing well, because club rugby is dying a death. Rugby internationals will always attract the prawn sandwich brigade.

major bill wrote: »

For all the debate on Hurling been the greatest sport in the world surely it could be argued that Gaelic Football is the ****est.

irish bloke

No, GAA is crap. It's for famers and guards...

The Aussie

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

Thanks for your input. We'll take it on board along with other recent Australian contributions such as neknominations, king-hits and John Hopoate's finger!

What no Klenex yet, use Loo Roll. LOLOLOL

You obsessed by Hopper are you, I would never have guessed :rolleyes: LOL

K-9

major bill wrote: »

For all the debate on Hurling been the greatest sport in the world surely it could be argued that Gaelic Football is the ****est.

I'd say rugby league, don't see the attraction or skill in it.

Watching a midfielder rise up to catch a kick out is a great site, defending is an art in Gaelic as the odds are very much stacked against the defender.

ArmaniJeanss

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

RoI Vs World Champions Spain at the last European championship had less people watching than Ireland Vs Wales in the 2012 Six Nations. The country did not come to a standstill for the rugby!

What about the Ireland v Croatia game, would seem fairer to compare the figures for two weekend games?

Duckworth_Luas

The Aussie wrote: »

What no Klenex yet, use Loo Roll. LOLOLOL

You obsessed by Hopper are you, I would never have guessed :rolleyes: LOL

Hopper? You have a pet name for him? LOLOLOLOL:rolleyes:

wicklowstevo

having played rugby Gaa English football american football and Aussie rules hurling is the most skillful and fastest although i enjoy rugby more

Duckworth_Luas

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

What about the Ireland v Croatia game, would seem fairer to compare the figures for two weekend games?

I actually didn't want to bring that up as the drop in viewers after only one loss is quite embarrassing and gives an overly distorted view of the soccer bandwagon. 6 Nations figures go from 1m (England) to 1/2m (Italy) consistently year after year.

Mal-Adjusted

The Aussie wrote: »

You seem to be confusing Aggression with Comical, Mocking Laughter.

:rolleyes:

The Aussie wrote: »

The mere suggestion that a game that rant...rant...rant... is the greatest game ever is one of the best laughs I've had on Boards.ie

I never said that it was. I told you before, it's an unanswerable question.

ArmaniJeanss

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

RoI Vs World Champions Spain at the last European championship had less people watching than Ireland Vs Wales in the 2012 Six Nations. The country did not come to a standstill for the rugby!

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

I actually didn't want to bring that up as the drop in viewers after only one loss is quite embarrassing and gives an overly distorted view of the soccer bandwagon. 6 Nations figures go from 1m (England) to 1/2m (Italy) consistently year after year.

Why are you just making these figures and rankings up, its actually rather sad behaviour?

RTE's own end of year figures put the Croatia and Spain games (with little 'embarassing drop off') as No 1 and No 2 for the year, with the dead rubber Italy game number 4.
All ahead of the rugby matches.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/other-sport/2013/0117/363267-rte-sport-scores-well-in-2012-viewing-figures/

Sports are great, watch whichever of them you want, theres no real need to make up the figures.

ThirdMan

Tommy Dillon wrote: »

so what sports do you like? can you do me a favor and just watch the 2 all Ireland finals last year?

Relax Tommy, good man.

major bill

major bill wrote: »

Actually Surprised it never took off in America, has everything the Yanks love about sport

Big hits
Fierce competitors
High scoring games
End to end action

Actually there was a division of the US Army stopping over in Shannon while their plane was being re-fuelled on the way back from Iraq.

They were in the departure lounge watching a hurling match on TV and loved it so much that when they got back to the States they set up their own hurling club (think it was in Milwaukee).

And as far as I can remember none of them had any Irish roots worth speaking of.

Pretty cool story I thought,

Duckworth_Luas

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Why are you just making these figures and rankings up, its actually rather sad behaviour?

RTE's own end of year figures put the Croatia and Spain games (with little 'embarassing drop off') as No 1 and No 2 for the year, with the dead rubber Italy game number 4.
All ahead of the rugby matches.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/other-sport/2013/0117/363267-rte-sport-scores-well-in-2012-viewing-figures/

Sports are great, watch whichever of them you want, theres no real need to make up the figures.

http://www.thejournal.ie/toys-sport-and-lovehate-top-the-20-most-watched-list-for-2012-749853-Jan2013/

Mountainlad

Akrasia wrote: »

There are a few reasons why hurling is not more popular

1. It's too skillful. With soccer and gaelic football anyone can go outside for a kick around even if you've never played before. This creates a massive imbalance between 'hurling counties' where children are trained in the art of hurling from the age of 5 and play at a high level in their schools and clubs, and 'non hurling counties' where the underage infrastructure is not there to train the kids to a competitive level.

2. The GAA are not international. To develop a sport internationally takes years of very concentrated effort to achieve a balance between bring in new players and providing competitive tournaments for those at the top.
Rugby for all it's hard work has managed to maintain competition at the highest level in 9 countries (the teams in the 6 nations and the tri nations) They're slowly introducing new nations and expanding it's base, but this takes time and effort, something the GAA aren't really doing.

3. It needs a lot of space to play. You need a big pitch, you can't really play 5 a side hurling or play properly on a green area in an estate

3. You need to be really fit to play it. This one puts a lot of people off.

4. It hurts when you get hit with the hurley.

5. it hurts when you get hit with the sliotar

6. it hurts when you get hit by the other hurling players

7. The GAA screwed it up for generations by insisting that if you play any other (non gaa) sports, you're not allowed to play hurling

Think this is basically it to be honest.

Always irks me though when people use "not enough people play it" as a stick to beat it with. I'm not going to claim that it's outright the best in the world, I don't have that authority, though it is my favourite by a distance.

But is it any wonder that say sports like American Football for example would have a much bigger fanbase. The population was about 40 million people when the first official game is recorded as being played in 1869. The GAA started in 1884, so hurling would have been starting in a country with a population of 4 million.

Up to the middle of the next decade (after the NFL started in 1920), America's population rapidly increased to 150 million or so, with Ireland's actually decreasing by a quarter (which when you put it like that is pretty significant).

There would be contrasting approaches to how the game was promoted too. American football, as it grew, became a flagship for the captalist machine becoming prominent in sport (just take a look at what those Superbowl adveritising slots are going for!)

We were very protective of our indigenous sports though, largely I think because they were partially a defiance of British rule and outlawed. We wanted to protect what was ours, similar to Rule 42 and Croke Park. It was never the intention of the association to have the sport played outside Ireland.

...until now...

With a lot of people emmigrating, and the GAA starting to see the opportunities in developing the games abroad their is definitely a shift towards promoting the game internationally. We are seeing things like the opening of GAA grounds to other sports, international public figures being used to promote it , the new wave of immigration meaning more clubs abroad and more reason to reach out to the world.

It's hard to predict the future, but I definitely see an increase in the internationa audience the GAA holds in the future.

This is something I've thought about just on account of getting annoyed when a Canadian friend of mine argued against me saying "What amateur sport can attract 82,000 people for the marquee event?" and he talked abotu college football getting 100,000...but these lads are basically professionals on an apprenticship. Personally, I think the viewership and participation Gaelic Games get in a Country this small is remarkable and though we have an affinity to it I still think it's strength is a sign that those on foreign shores could certainly take it to their hearts.



P.S. To the person arguing about the nature of upsets, I think this is very much relative to the number of games played in a season. But even at that, look at Man City's home record in the premier league and talk to me about upsets again. And while I know it was an extraordinary year, in 2013 there was 12/27 or 44% of games that were not priced as 50/50 ended in an upset. That's not far off 50% of games (can you imagine a sport involving two teams where every second game was unpredictable?), and that doesn't factor in games like Offaly v Waterford, Wexford v Carlow, Galway v Laois etc were there wasn't much too choose between the teams.

My two cents anyway.