Cúl Heroes GAA card collecting, computer games, etc for kids?

gaiscioch · 31-01-2024 07:36PM #1

My young son wants to know if there are any GAA equivalent of the MatchAttack soccer cards which kids in his class trade or whatever they do.

From a google, it seems the GAA equivalent is Cúl Heroes, and here's the official website: https://culheroes.ie/

How does all this work? Is there a target or aim or sequence in which we are supposed to collect them? Which ones should I buy him? Are there county specific cards that one can collect? Where is the best place to buy them? I see Aldi is selling them also: https://www.aldi.ie/gaa-cul-cards-7-pack-mix/p/729476724815600

Are there collectors shows or events I could bring him to? General advice on all the GAA stuff he could get into aside from playing all the games would be absolutely great. Are there interactive GAA computer/video/whatever games I could get him rather than getting him soccer equivalents? Grma.

callaway92 · 31-01-2024 09:11PM

The lack of anything half decent comes down to rights.

For years, Panini produced the Premier League stuff with Opta providing the data to them. It’s all at an insane cost. Not sure who’s producing them now.

GAA are horrible, absolutely horrible at any licensing stuff. They genuinely don’t get it and don’t have the brain power for anything decent.

Uncle Pierre · 01-02-2024 03:54PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121702591#Comment_121702591

In fairness, a lot of it is down to market size and economy of scale. There's a far bigger market for Premier League soccer cards, for example, than for a GAA equivalent.

OP - my own young lad (age 10) collects Cúl Cards. Am not aware of any collector fairs or anything similar. And while you can buy a binder from that website, it's really just a folder of blank compartments - i.e. it doesn't have a dedicated page for Dublin football, Kilkenny hurling, etc.

Having said that, seems that's all that's available for Match Attax Premier League cards these days too - my young lad also collects those, and I haven't been able to find any other 'proper' binder.

There are no GAA video games, etc. - again it comes down to size of the market. There as both a gaelic football and hurling game available back in the Playstation 2 days (think my younger brother might still even have them!), but they were really just adaptations of an Aussie Rules Football game that already existed, and they weren't great. It simply wouldn't pay any game developers to go building them from scratch to the standards expected, for such a small potential marketplace.

Overall, GAA-related offerings in this space are as few as the poster above says. I'm just not as cynical as he seems to be about the reasons why!

Tombo2001 · 02-02-2024 09:02AM

MatchAttax can be a really big deal for boys aged between about 7 and 9; and thereafter are completely forgotten. Very unusual product - those 100 club cards, the kids go mad for them, parents paying big bucks on donedeal, all that. And then as soon as the season is over, they become worthless. You can spend hundreds on this stuff, and then 6 months later its obsolete.

Anyways - Cul Heroes was a 'thing' when my kids were doing MatchAttax - no idea if it still is - it was a bit quirkier; they didnt do the 'special cards' as well. They had a wider range of players to choose from -32 counties/ 4 codes - so it meant lots of cards where you'd no idea who the player was. I would highly doubt there are any collectors clubs.

And yeah - I'd agree with above, I wouldnt think its down to rights - I just think there is a limit to the amount of kids in the country that are looking to collect GAA cards. And much less celebrity about the players themselves, we know the players from Kerry or Dublin - but realistically 90% of GAA county panellists would not be familiar names even to GAA fans. Especially bearing in mind that its coming on 6 months since there has been any sort of fuss over a GAA match on the TV.

Cúl Heroes GAA card collecting, computer games, etc for kids?

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