No need for GAA compromise on Rules marketing

A FULL-HOUSE tomorrow for the second test in the International Rules Series will see almost 11,000 more spectators to Croke Park than the record crowd of 71,521 for the corresponding game four years ago.

It’s indicative of the huge interest in the hybrid game, not just among GAA followers but across a wide spectrum of sports followers and testifies to its successful marketing.

The question has been asked why the Association doesn’t devote the same energy and financial resources to promoting the Interprovincial series in hurling and football, in danger of dying away until Martin Donnelly helped revive interest with his sponsorship.

“The first thing to be said is that this is an international event and when you go to the market with the rights — be it sponsorship rights or media rights — there’s a lot of interest in it,” explains GAA Marketing Manager Dermot Power.

“The market is dictating the value of the International Rules, it’s telling us that there is a huge interest in this series. We run a major campaign with Coca-Cola to promote it and the TV advertising is ours. An international GAA event is very attractive to GAA and non-GAA supporters.

“You’d have to say that the Interprovincial series is coming from a long way back. You’d like to think that if it was packaged properly — in such a way that it had its own slot in a regular calendar — the crowds might come back. “Personally I think floodlights are the way forward. There would be potential to build it that way. But, it would take a serious investment to get it to the same level of interest as there is for the International Rules.”

While a few hundred stand tickets became available yesterday, Power estimated that they would be gone in minutes once they were put up for sale on the website.

Initially, ticket sales for the games ran parallel for the first couple of weeks. But, as Galway ‘neared sell-out’ there was an acceleration of interest in the second test in Croke Park.

“The fact that it was in Galway and you had it sold out was certainly a major plus in selling Croke Park. For the first time instead of having two matches to go to, people realised that they needed to get a ticket if they wanted to see this game at all. That was what gave it such momentum. Normally we wouldn’t have this until after the first test.

“Galway was sold out with three weeks to go and Dublin was sold out before the Galway match started.” Power explained that only a small percentage of tickets are sold through county boards, with the vast majority obtained through Ticketmaster and the GAA website.

“We attract a lot of our own supporters obviously but you also attract people who wouldn’t be regulars to Croke Park. Having seen this, you would hope that they would come along for ‘real thing,’ the championship.

*Radio and TV advertising was based on a ‘play hard’ theme, emphasising the fact that it’s a physical game. “The original ad was ‘there’s no compromise in international rules.’ We toned that a bit and came up with ‘play hard’ this year. Nobody is suggesting foul play — hard but fair,” he added.

SEEING RED

* Any Irish player get red card 11/2.

* Any Aussie player to get red card 10/3.

* Any Player to get red card 5/4.

* Graham Geragthy to get a red card 8/1.

* Graham Geraghty to be first Irishman to get a red card 12/1.

* Lindsay Gilbee to get red card 7/1.

* Lindsay Gilbee to be first Aussie to get a red card 12/1.

* Both Gilbee and Geraghty to get a red card in same incident or separately 20/1.

* Both Gilbee and Geraghty to get a red card before game starts 50/1.

* Odds: Boylesports.