Filling the stadiums could cost the sports organisations as much as the fans

Attendances are down at all the GAA championship games. And it is not just the GAA either. It is the same in English soccer, cricket and rugby where there is a far greater population base to support the games. If the NFL is suffering a drop in attendance you can be sure it is the same for every sport across the world.

The fear of success

Then one day, I decided to see what would happen if I stopped.
As I approached the gate the dog appeared and got into the ready position. Once I was passed the gate it took off after me, barking and snapping as usual. I led it on for 30 metres. Then I stopped the car and turned off the engine.

The dog stopped running. It stopped barking too.

Frank O’Farrell: The interview

Leicester just missed out on promotion in the 1969-70 season when they finished third. The following season they finished in first place and won back their place at the top table. Promotion coincided with the end of Frank’s contract. Negotiations on the new contract were slow and during the summer of 1971 he received a phone call from Matt Gillis, whom he had succeeded as Leicester manager, telling him that Sir Matt Busby wanted to talk to him.

The game is never over until it’s over…but it’s not always easy to get a result

One of the last big games to be decided by the flip of a coin was a second round European Cup tie between Glasgow Celtic and Benfica in 1969…
Americans do not like replays, so the general rule is keep playing until someone wins.

Death of Teofilio Stevenson. Arguably the Greatest Olympic Boxer of All TIme

…by staying loyal to Cuba and its communist ideals, Stevenson snubbed the USA. Uncle Sam does not forgive such insolence. Cuba has survived a USA led economic embargo for 50 years. The success of Teófilo Stevenson in boxing is an example of Cuban defiance of this embargo.

Dropping a player is relatively easy compared to picking up a team after a heavy defeat

June 13th 2012. THIS is not a great week for Giovanni Trapattoni, Declan Kidney, Jack O’Connor, Glenn Ryan (Longford football manager) and a whole host of other managers whose teams took a beating over the last five days. All these managers now face the task of picking up the pieces before their next outing. That […]

Cork 0 – 17 Tipperary 0 – 18. A few thoughts on last nights Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship game between Cork and Tipperary.

For most of the game Cork looked as if they could hold Tipperary at arms length. The longer the game went on however, the stronger Tipperary became. I think that the individual hurling skill of the Tipperary players was a major contributor to this.

The Dublin Football Team and the Art of Physical Preparation

I watched Dublin and Laois playing in the Leinster Senior Football Championship last Sunday. It was a non-event. As they say in West Cork, “Louth could hardly keep the ball kicked out to Dublin.” In fact, the only real point of interest in the game was enormous gap between the physical condition of Dublin and […]

Will the crowds ever come back to the Cork County Hurling Championships

Last Sunday’s attendance was paltry. A little more than 2,500 I would suggest. This made for a surreal atmosphere. There was never going to be the sight of a Glen and a Barrs supporter rolling on the ground like they used to during the Eucharistic Cup games at the Mardyke. But then the crowd last Sunday did not spend the interregnum between the end of the Eucharistic Procession and the beginning of the game at the Mardyke in various hostelries between the Grand Parade and the Western Road.

Green is the Colour – An RTE Documentary on the History of Soccer in Ireland

I was fearful that the storyline might get the Sky Sports treatment; everything is brilliant, it always has been and it is only going to get much better. What I saw was a very insightful account, warts and all, of the formative years of Irish soccer.