TV figures boost for GAA despite competition from World Cup

GAA chiefs yesterday announced television viewer figures have increased for the first three months of this year’s All-Ireland championships, despite the competing attraction of the World Cup during June and July.

Recorded figures for the months of May, June and July show a year on year increase of 44%, 1% and 9% respectively. The aggregate viewer figures for the 2010 campaign show an increase of 29%, up from 8,466,000 for 37 games to 10,947,000 for 43 games. The average figure game by game showed an 11% rise.

Meanwhile, the Mayo County Board have requested that clubs send in their nominations for the vacant senior manager’s post by August 20, deferring the closing date until after a review into the future of football in the county has been completed.

The westerners are on the look-out for a new manager following the resignation of John O’Mahony, after a disappointing campaign that saw the county eliminated from the championship by Longford.

Clubs have been requested to nominate candidates that have an interest in taking on the position, and they will then be interviewed by a special committee assembled.

Mayo GAA secretary Sean Feeney said: “With the review subject to take place in the coming weeks, it has been decided to defer the appointment of the next senior football manager until after this process has been finalised.

“We feel that to do otherwise would take some focus and direction away from the matter at hand — namely the overall welfare of the game in our county.”

Elsewhere, Kildare’s GAA chiefs have offered to run a knockout competition to keep clubs active while the domestic championships are held up by the county team’s progression to the All-Ireland semi-final.

Two rounds of the club championships have been played, with the last action taking place on May 9, but to fill the gap caused by Kieran McGeeney’s team’s progression, all clubs in the county have been invited into a separate competition to give them meaningful games.