The GAA, Sky Deal

The GAA has just signed a three year TV deal with Sky Sports to show a number of games over the next three years. Is this a good deal for the ordinary GAA supporter or is this a deal for the big wigs in GAA HQ. It has been an interesting week we have heard from both sides of the argument for and against. The first year of the deal will see some of the top Provincial games go from free to air to paid TV.

 Can this deal really be all that bad for the GAA , who could argue with the exposure that the GAA will get from this deal , it will tap into already established markets and put the GAA into millions of homes every Saturday and Sunday for at least the next three years. It will also raise the profile of some of the GAA’s biggest names like Bernard Brogan of Dublin and Henry Shefflin of Kilkenny.

This won’t be a bad thing, look at the opportunities for the GAA‘s commercial department, In the last 12 months we have seen Dublin go from Vodafone to AIG in sponsorship and who knows after another 12 months maybe another county be they an established county or an up and coming county could make the same move and  gain a major sponsor. I know the GAA will say this was not a motivation for the move but it could very well happen that a small county could gain big from this.

The GPA will be of course aware that this move will also impact some of their members to push for pay for play, it may not happen in the first 12 months but 2 years into this deal mark my words players will want a slice of cake and they may return to strike mode to force the GAA top brass into negotiations for better entitlements. Can the GAA handle this if it were to come to pass!!

The ordinary GAA supporter will feel hard done by but they have to look beyond the negative and see the positive of this move, not many amateur organisations get this sort of an offer now I do understand that at elite level the GAA is far from amateur but still 90% of the GAA is amateur from volunteers right through to players.

The GAA has always been slow to change right up to the 70s the Ban was enforced and that changed some people said “foreign sports” would never be played at Croke Park and that changed back in 2007. So for those of you that see this move to Sky as a bad thing I implore you to reserve judgement until after 2017.

Hand on heart how many of those people that have said in the last week that the GAA have left the ordinary fan down have Sky in their own homes with or without the sports package??

 

By

Cian Mc Gibney

08/04/2014.

Linda Holland Cork’s flying Angel

When Linda Holland left West Cork back in 2009, little did she know that 4 years later her sporting prowess would bring her to the attention of friends and family at home in Glengariff and in her adopted home of Perth. She did what most young Irish people do when they leave these shores and she went off and joined a GAA club.

She works with Neptune Diving Services and it was her colleagues that pushed her to go forward for the trials, she has gone through all the trials and made through to a 35 strong squad that started playing games in December 2013.

The Australian LFL is an extension of the American LFL and is getting bigger day by day. It is a 7 on 7 contest played under american football league rules.

Linda is from a very sporty family, she has played GAA with CIT and Nemo Rangers , rugby with Ballincollig and also hockey and golf.

She is playing with the Western Australia Angels, a club based in Perth , they are the top ranked team in the Australian LFL. She plays in the Angels defensive line.

Having watched some of the footage of this sport, it is most defiantly not for the easily offended. It is great to see a woman from this little Island of ours making waves down in Western Australia.

Linda really is Cork’s flying angel.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

28-01-2014.

Women In Sport

Women in sport , what is the first thing that comes into people’s heads , Well in Ireland it would be the names of Olympic hero Katie Taylor and also the names of some of the Grand Slam winners from 2013. But you also have some fine talent in other sporting fields like Nina Carberry in horse racing , Emma Byrne in football and of course the likes of Mary O Connor and Katrina Parrock in the GAA.

Having interviewed a number of these talented people in the last 18 months , I think it is about time that more of these people get given air time and also that their stories be told. In the last few weeks I have been in contact with Linda Holland from Glengariff  Co Cork , she has blazed a trail in a new sport called LFL down in Australia. It has its origins in American football. She plays with a team based in Perth called The Western Australia Angels. She is the defensive captain with them.

Also Non Evans an ex Welsh International full back with 82 caps and a record 64 tries only matched by Aussie legend David Campese. She has also represented Wales at the Commonwealth games in both Judo and wrestling. She has also appeared in the TV programme Gladiators.

Katie Taylor of course is the golden girl of Irish female sport with her win at London 2012. She has done a lot for her chosen sport campaigning and lobbying for its inclusion at the Olympics. She has won several national and world titles over the last 10 years. Katie has trained on her own and also with the men’s squad ahead of each of her appearances at a major championship. She really is a true role model for all young budding sports stars.

So women do have a role to play in becoming role models for the next generation , so lets hope in the next few years when you ask a youngster who their sporting role model is lets hope that some of these names come up.

By

Cian Mc Gibney

22-02-2014.

 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Fitness Expo

 

If you are free on October 20th, get yourself down to the Wright venue in Swords for a fitness competition, the only one in Ireland. It is run by a former Mr and Ms Ireland Nicoleta Chiorean and her husband Giani. It runs from 12pm until late. What you will see is a range of classes from Bikini classes to figure, fitness model and physique for women and for men they will have fitness model, athletic and body building.

 

It is a big fitness expo with supplement’s and cloths. Everyone that is in the business in Ireland will be there to promote their business and enjoy the show. The MC for the show will be Dave Behan from Tallafornia.

 

There will be some special guests at the show, Ms Bikini Olympia and Ms Universe Fitness from the USA. It is the only show in Ireland with Prize money, €500 cash for the overall winner and also €500 worth of supplements from NX Sport Nutrition sponsor of both Nicoleta and Giani. The winner will also receive a 1 year sponsorship from Kinetica and a 1 year contract from Assets Model Agency.

 

 

 

By

 

Cian Mc Gibney. 11/09/13.