2019 All Ireland Senior Football Championship *Mod note: Post #1*

On a lighter note


https://www.thesun.ie/sport/gaa-football/4431221/marty-morrissey-rte-box-sunday-game-interview/

gaffer91 wrote: »

Why do you keep churning this old chestnut out? It's been debunked time and again on the other thread.

Is that the sticky thread where everyone goes to rant, a sorta GAA After Hours thread?

ClanofLams wrote: »

Attendances is falling at matches involving all counties including Dublin. Claiming otherwise is burying head in the sand stuff. All Ireland semi final last year with Dublin had 45k, look at Leinster championship games that were once sellout and now the ground is half full for the final.

Seriously you should approach the discussion with a degree of realism at least.

Attendances are indeed falling at games.

However, attendances not involving Dublin are diabolical. That attendance at the semi final on Sunday was an embarrassment. There was minor game involving the same county playing in the senior game on before it.

I saw you quoting TV figures earlier and making a wild stab about why that is.

TV viewing figures are falling in general, not just in GAA.

However the figures are still healthy.

For example the Top 5 programmes watched in June were all sport, 4 of them GAA. The Top 10 programmes watched on RTE2 are all Sport, 8 of them GAA related.

What is the point you are trying to make just as a matter of interest ?

Gachla wrote: »

What's going on with Dublin supporters? We all know the truth, the attendances are all there for everybody to see, why are you denying fact?

Rather than extract one sentence and quote me and ignore the rest, you better spell out what you are talking about.

ClanofLams wrote: »

Attendances for Dublin games are terrible too. Leinster finals 2005-2008 all got 80k attendances, it’s a struggle to get half that now. Let’s not forget it’s considerably cheaper and more convenient for Dublin followers to go to Croke Park.

Tv viewing figures are falling generally but not to the extent that there should be a three hundred k fall off between the ‘17 and ‘18 all Ireland football final or a three hundred k difference in viewing figures for semi final from ‘17 to ‘18.

The point, quite obviously, is that total dominance dramatically reduces interest and that is extremely unhealthy for the future of a sport.

Lets get one thing straight. Attendance figures outside of finals are possibly never going to see full houses. Those years (2005-2008) you quoted are pre recession. The GAA as an organisation simply never recovered. They'd like to but they went about it completely the wrong way.

Long before the Dubs went on a run, the figures were going one way. Down.

So what did the GAA do ?

• They sold some of the game to a paywall company in Sky, ensuring a fragmented championship with viewing figures that matched the smallest ground attendance figures in Ireland.
  
• They raised the price of tickets.
  
• They introduced the Super 8's, the thinking being more games = more bums on seats.

The quality of fare on display is also an influencing factor. Perhaps many don't regard their county as worthy of following. Only the "fans" from those counties can answer the question why.

Regarding TV figures I suggest you do an comparison with the hurling figures for the same years. They also went down. TV viewing habits have changed. But just because the figures are going down, does not mean that these are still not the most watched programmes. They are.

I have read you previous posts so I had a fair idea the link you might be attempting to make. The truth is that dominance is not a key factor, but it is a factor (and it was in the past when Kerry where dominant in the 80s). There are however many moving parts.

I suppose if one looked at the attendances per County overall, you might put everything into context.