What are they smoking in Birr?

[greenairfield]

So there was a massive crowd in Birr today.

I persume Lone Shark you done a head count and there was 500 more in OCP yesterday???

[Lone Shark]

So there was a massive crowd in Birr today.

I persume Lone Shark you done a head count and there was 500 more in OCP yesterday???

I'll ignore the fact that you seem to be presuming bias on my part when all I've ever done is asked questions about the actual numbers that are likely to attend games, which is hardly unreasonable - particularly given some of the historic returns that have been made from SBP down the years.


However as I pointed out above, there is a new committee in Birr now, a new approach to things and I'm delighted to say that there were very decent crowds at both double headers. A bit over 1500 was reported in OCP on Saturday (I can't remember the exact number, but it was in that ball park anyway) while 1812 was the number given to me by Birr club for yesterday's games. As I've said above, I would consider the two double headers to be broadly similar in appeal, and while a sample size of one weekend is hardly sufficient to draw massive conclusions, a 20% boost is still significant. If that trend continues in the Walsh Cup, then we at long last will have some actual evidence to suggest that there may actually be some basis for the idea that bigger crowds will come to games in Birr.

Issues like the delay between games will have to be ironed out of course, the 30+ minute gap between games is not something that can happen every time, but I'm sure there were good reasons for the request yesterday and that it won't be an ongoing problem.

[ryot]

What was the Adm Prices in Tulla & Birr

If a tenner,,,,, 15,G's from OCP & 18 from Birr,,,, a welcome boast but I await the figures !!!!!!

[Plain of the Herbs]

€12 for the double header quarter-finals. I think the concession price was €6 but wouldn't be sure.

What was the Adm Prices in Tulla & Birr

If a tenner,,,,, 15,G's from OCP & 18 from Birr,,,, a welcome boast but I await the figures !!!!!!

[kingscounty]

The announcer in OCP said that the attendance for Junior A hurling final and the intermediate final in Tullamore yesterday was 2600 , at €12 a head that was a nice little earner !

[Offalys Future]

its a pity that this discussion has turned into a birr vs O'Connor debate.
If you park that for the moment and look that if Birr don't win any county title this year then it will be 7 full years (2009 - 2015) since they have won a county championship title at any level. In the 7 years previous to this (2002 - 2008) they won 18 county titles.
Birr GAA have allot more pressing things to worry about rather than will they get to host a Walsh cup game In Jan/Feb!
Get your priorities right for God's sake.

[greenairfield]

offalys future you spoke to soon.

Birr are in the semi final of senior,minor and U14 as we speak and earlier in the year we reached the u 21 semi final also.

Yes there was years of no success but the wheel is slowly turning since our club got a total clear out early this year, and there is a new plan gone in on the underage, it will take time but im confident we will be rewarded in years to come.

Stop been jealous of such a great club that is having a super year off the field and not a bad one on it!!!

[Offalys Future]

Stop been jealous of such a great club that is having a super year off the field and not a bad one on it!!!

this statement doesn't make any sense.
The last time I checked success was measured on what you win not what semi finals you get to.

[greenairfield]

It makes perfect sense.

The club has turned things around and are in 3 semi finals so they are not too far away.

Senior champions and minor I predict.

We will be club of the year then.

[ah lethimoutwithit]

Jaysus, Bill O Herlihy was a great man for asking questions, but on the ground what did he ever do for the soccer fraternity?

OF.....I don't know what to make of you. You go to ground for months, you appear to have no involvement at club level, and re emerge even angrier.

The turnaround in our fortunes will come from a variety of area's,

Schools, clubs, development squads, training pitches, coaching etc. County board put on coaching courses but club uptake is one of the worst in Leinster, I try to inform lads in my club, but chid minding to bringing the wife to Kildare village for her 47th birthday are some of the excuses, (God be with the days of the cow calving, or mastitis outbreak, not the wife, the cow!!).
But there is work being done ,and I think its fierce easy to continually knock things.

Why the fook don't you write an open letter to a local paper and seek out the answers to your questions from them via the county board.

Pose your questions here and maybe LS will try to get an interview with the chairman or others to get the answers and publish.

Fair play LS for maintaining composure with some of the numb nuts in the Birr v OCP debate.

I would like to see an agreement on some of the hurling returning to Birr as loved heading over for the matches years ago, but the gate returns speak for themselves as does the whole fact that our county ground is Tullamore. However if the gates are done right then best of luck to Birr, and would love to see the County final rotate year on year between Tullamore and Birr, (hurling only of course as South Offaly folk would shoot any football on site), bar Lusmagh of course where successful Junior C campaign paved the way for the all conquering Intermediate hurlers!!

[greenairfield]

You always back lone shark

A lot of people on this website have serious issues with birr, I can understand if it was the old committee but the club has a total new look to it, so why bring up stuff about gate receipts when new trusted business people are doing the gates? I tink it's a cheap dig.

Alot of the talk down this end is the figures giving for Sundays finals were nowhere near what was at the matches any truth in this if so things must be bad if u have to make up figures!!!

[kingscounty]

You always back lone shark

A lot of people on this website have serious issues with birr, I can understand if it was the old committee but the club has a total new look to it, so why bring up stuff about gate receipts when new trusted business people are doing the gates? I tink it's a cheap dig.

Alot of the talk down this end is the figures giving for Sundays finals were nowhere near what was at the matches any truth in this if so things must be bad if u have to make up figures!!!

Well I was at the junior and inter games and there was a great crowd so I'd have to say the 2600 was at it , didn't do a head count as I'd still be there ....

[Lone Shark]

You always back lone shark

A lot of people on this website have serious issues with birr, I can understand if it was the old committee but the club has a total new look to it, so why bring up stuff about gate receipts when new trusted business people are doing the gates? I tink it's a cheap dig.

I'd say a lot of people mightn't be aware that there is a new committee in place, for one thing. I'm a GAA journalist writing for one of the local papers and I could count on one hand the number of clubs where I'd be confident of knowing who all their key officials are at any given time. You're from Birr, of course you know the committee, and about the change in leadership, but the vast majority of people out there would do well to know the chair, secretary and treasurer from any club other than their own - without the help of google of course.

Secondly, those backing the cause of SBP are treating it like an irrefutable fact that attendances will increase if games are moved there, despite the fact that the only actual facts we have to go on (actual gate receipts over the past decade and more) say otherwise. It's hardly unreasonable to ask for some evidence to back up this notion rather than simply accepting it on blind faith, surely?

[greenairfield]

To be honest I'm more interested in hurling coming back to Birr because I think it will benefit Offaly hurling , I am all for having hurlers from all over the county on county panels but since it's gone to ocp I tink offaly hurling as suffered as a result of this. Yes I know it's not the the only reason but I do think it's a factor.

[Lone Shark]

To be honest I'm more interested in hurling coming back to Birr because I think it will benefit Offaly hurling , I am all for having hurlers from all over the county on county panels but since it's gone to ocp I tink offaly hurling as suffered as a result of this. Yes I know it's not the the only reason but I do think it's a factor.

Okay, so it's not about crowds and atmosphere any more. Grand. I'll play.

Again, other than you think, what is the factual basis for this belief? It's true to say that games aren't on the doorstep of some of the south clubs any more, but they are on the doorstep of other clubs, many of which have come on in leaps and bounds. Why exactly do Birr have the divine right to this advantage for ever, that I don't see?

As you pointed out yourself, Birr have actually improved their underage results considerably - and unlike Offaly's future, I have no issue with marking down the reaching of semi-finals as progress, since progress must be taken one step at a time. You can't win championships without first getting to the business end of them. However if Birr have done this by themselves, without the clear promotional value of games on the doorstep, then surely that proves that it wasn't games on the doorstep that laid the foundations for their years of dominance?

Basically, is there anything you can give me other than "you think" which is why Offaly teams (not south Offaly teams, but Offaly county teams) will benefit?