Railway Cup

Now we have a chance to make this something that can work this year how do we propose we market it?

What if we change the look of it for a start, ditch the railway cup name or the provincial championship tag, we should make the provincial all star cup.

The teams should be picked by a panel of provincial specific sports journalists from each provincial championship not qualifiers or anything else. A manager of the championship in each province should be picked also with this person bringing there back room team to pick work with the all stars they are given.

The teams should be rebranded as Uladh - Northern All Stars for example.

The cup should be played over one weekend at rotational venues with the semis being played on the friday night and the finals at lunch time sunday.

Say we have it during the last weekend in october for hurling in Belfast then the football last weekend in January for the football in Dublin Parnell pk. The GAA should hire an outside marketing company to promote the the new all star championship with free tickets being made available to every school in the country. With individual counties having a responsibility to sell 100 tickets minimum so theres 3200 people straight away if promoted in the schools you should have 5/6k kids then with proper promotion around 5k people showing up, this should be between 15 and 20 k people in the likes of Casement or Parnell this would be a good crowd and a good atmosphere. This should make it more prestigous and a privilidge to play in.

What yous think?

North Side, the GAA have absolutely no interest in the Railway Cup.

It will be played on a Thursday night, late night shopping night, at venues like Portlaois to ensure no one goes.

Sad, but true.

I think they should definitely make a go of it this year to celebrate the 125th anniversary.
A few years ago they played one semi final and the final in Parnell Park on consecutive Saturday nights and it was packed on both occasions and there were 2 cracking matches.

If they actually bothered to market it an do it right, people would sit up and take notice!

Pat I agree with you sometimes but I have to say that the gratest pile of bullshit I have heard in a long time. If the Gaa wanted to kill the comps off no problem they would just forhet about them.
The reasoon is that people/punters etc are not going to them due to the excess GAA we have now.
go back to when the inter pros where at the height of there powers/status, pre tv pre qualifiers and nearly all county champs where knockout.
go to the 70's when they started to slide but still had big crowds - talking to former players and looking a records tv had come in. if you missed it you got to see the highlights if nothing else.
80's more gaa on the telly, most counties start abandoning straight knockout and go to league champs the club all ireland competion gets the status it deserves but in the process surpasses the inter pros/railway cup rather than enhancing it.
90's and 00's pure lack of promotion and also look at what people have available to them remember the national league is only gone to the one calender year 5/6 years now.
also you have to take into account all the other **** floating around nowadays sky **** to name but one, total saturation so people do not have to leave the armchair.
that is the problem peoples indifference and attitude.
NSG agree with yourf post massive promotional drive required and you really need to start it off in the big urban areas with a good population to get the show back on the road.

This and the Lions Tour are two of the biggest waste of times in sport. No Gaelic Footballer or Hurler has any interest in representing their province. It is mostly played second tier players.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:This and the Lions Tour are two of the biggest waste of times in sport. No Gaelic Footballer or Hurler has any interest in representing their province. It is mostly played second tier players.

Grow up

JimWexford wrote:

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:This and the Lions Tour are two of the biggest waste of times in sport. No Gaelic Footballer or Hurler has any interest in representing their province. It is mostly played second tier players.

Grow up

Jim it didnt even merit a response - give me the Railway Cup any day over the Tour de France

Bocerty, I am not like a lot of the people on this site. For me, there is no comparision between something like the Tour and the Railway Cup. I could spend days on end watching the Tour de France or Group One racing on the flat or even the World Championships (Swimming and Athletics), if the Railway Cup was on outside my door, I would struggle to go out and watch it (especially if no Meath players were playing). I'm sorry if my comment wasn't worthy or a response from you but you are codding yourself if the Railway Cup means anything. The top county players don't even bother with it.

JimWexford wrote:

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:This and the Lions Tour are two of the biggest waste of times in sport. No Gaelic Footballer or Hurler has any interest in representing their province. It is mostly played second tier players.

Grow up

What do you mean Jim? You would want to get with it, the Railway Cup has not being taken seriously by any top county player for as long as I have been alive. I'm only saying what is out there, I'm sorry if you are too proud to see otherwise.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:

JimWexford wrote:

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:This and the Lions Tour are two of the biggest waste of times in sport. No Gaelic Footballer or Hurler has any interest in representing their province. It is mostly played second tier players.

Grow up

What do you mean Jim? You would want to get with it, the Railway Cup has not being taken seriously by any top county player for as long as I have been alive. I'm only saying what is out there, I'm sorry if you are too proud to see otherwise.

Loyal most players take it seriously if you look at most teams it is only those players whose clubs are still involved opt out

Maybe some rule changes should be made for the inter provincials, for example make it eleven a side.

Lads/Lasses,

In the 1960s the Railway Cup was MASSIVE. It was the only chance for players from "weaker" counties to shine.

It has now been replaced by the club championship in that respect, and the ONLY reason the gAA haven't done away with it is because somehow it attracts a sponsor.