Dublin GAA CCO Marcus Ó Buachalla: 'We are competing for the hearts and minds of young people'
Dublin's new Chief Commercial Officer Marcus Ó Buachalla. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
Marcus Ó Buachalla is adapting well to life as Dublin's new Chief Commercial Officer, even if he's juggling several sliotars and footballs, and says he is hungry to explore the endless potential of Dublin GAA on and off the pitch.
A qualified solicitor, Ó Buachalla was Head of Communications & Media with Leinster Rugby for twelve years prior to joining Dublin.
Since taking up his new post in December, Ó Buachalla has been hell bent on engaging more with the grassroots side of operations. He has highlighted the importance of communications and coaching in spreading the influence of GAA to the next generation of footballers and hurlers, especially with such stiff competition from other sports.
"There are over 47,000 kids involved in Go Games in any given week and ideally we want them to have an O’Neill’s size 4 in their hands or a sliotar as much as possible," he said. “We are competing against other sports such as rugby, soccer, athletics and even Playstation! We are competing for the hearts and minds of these young people.
"The coaching and games side are doing fantastic work and then it falls back on the comms side of the house to raise awareness and to celebrate the great work that the GPOs, games development officers and volunteers are doing on a weekly basis.”
Ó Buachalla has also been heavily involved the continuing development of Dublin GAA's sports streaming service DubsTV which he claims broadcast an impressive 37 club games to supporters last year.
"That literally opens our games up to a global audience", Ó Buachalla told Dublin GAA's website. "It also gives those who can’t attend the game the opportunity to see the brilliant action that’s going on in our championships."
"We want to inspire the next generation of players to pick up a hurl or a football and go down to their local club nursery on a Saturday morning.”
Dealing with the commercial side of Dublin GAA, the marketing side and also the communications side will no doubt ensure a pretty full in-tray for Ó Buachalla, but he is confident that with everybody pulling in the same direction, much can be achieved.
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"As we look at the broader landscape in terms of my remit it’s about what we can do to facilitate our clubs to grow and to develop and to flourish. That’s not easy within Dublin for a number of reasons but then every county has their own issues.
“The cost of running Dublin GAA across the board is up by around 9%, whether that be the preparation of our teams or games and coaching development.
"What we need to do is be able to support our development officers, our coaches on the ground, as best we can, so that they can put their best foot forward in terms of Gaelic games promotion in their own communities.
"What allows us to do that? It's about that alignment between our team in Parnell Park, with the teams on the pitch and then with the sponsors, partners and suppliers supporting us and our clubs in our endeavours. If we all get something from this, then we are doing something right.”
As helter skelter as it has been since his introduction to the new position at Dublin GAA, there is no sign of his pace slackening off anytime soon.
“My door is always open. I look forward to building on the tremendous success that Dublin GAA has enjoyed in recent years under Tomás Quinn, John Costello and now Finbarr O’Mahony.
"I want to explore the endless potential that is out there and build even more successful and sustainable partnerships that will benefit all parties and ensure that Dublin GAA goes from strength to strength both on and off the field.”
