Interprovincials - dying a slow death

the fact that we have not had a thread about the Interprovincials yet perhaps shows the apathy with which the competition is treated by many of us. I can honestly say its not a competition which i have paid much heed to over the years though at the same time i think there is perhaps more the GAA could do to promote it.

Martin Donnelly the sponsor aims to revisit his sponsorship deal when this years competition is over and i have to say i cant really blame the man. The powers that be have done little more than pay lip service to this competition, you get the impression it is more of an annoyance to them than anything else and if it disappeared of the radar many would be happy.

I know in Ulster the guys appear to take it quite seriously, it appears our Munster counterparts and in particular the Kerry boys dont seem to give two damns about it this year.

I was fully intending heading to Crossmaglen today to see the Ulster v Leinster game but as usual there are crossed wires somewhere. My own clubs senior ladies are playing in an Ulster final in Clones at 4pm so i cant go to both. Which is a pity, but then this seems to happen almost every year. I'm sure we are not alone and that other counties have fixtures on today as well which could take away from the potential attendance at the Ulster match.

Why they cant find a free weekend and stage the competition then i dont know. I also think they GAA could market the whole thing a bit better. In recent years we have had finals in Dubai Paris and this years are in London, i would have though this was an opportunity for the marketing guys within HQ to come up with some sort of a package which included flights and hotel accommodation at a discounted rate so that fans might be encouraged to go.

Years ago the Irish News organised a similar package for an NFL game between Tyrone and Kerry in Killarney for £99 you got flights from Belfast to Shannon and 2 nights hotel accomodation, and it was one of the best weekends craic i ever had.

The thread title is slightly erroneous here, the Inter-pros are not dying, they are dead.!!

They went into terminal decline with the arrival of television in the 60's and have endured a long and painful death.
H.Q. then opted for the club finals on Paddy's day and this, to be fair, took off. The club competition has been a success and when you have the prospect of Ballyhale and Portumna allied to Cross V Nemo or whatever clubs emerge going at it full tilt then that's what I appreciate. An A/I with your club is appreciated more by players than anything else I'd imagine.

The alternative is already over-used players going through the motions for the sake of it.

Someone sound "the last post" there.

2-3k in Cross today in terrible conditions. Not too bad I'd say. Shame the wind dominated things - Leinster only scored 1 point in the second half.

RMDrive wrote:2-3k in Cross today in terrible conditions. Not too bad I'd say. Shame the wind dominated things - Leinster only scored 1 point in the second half.

our senior ladies team played in the game after it too RMD and i dont think the opposition scored in the second half at all, though they did score enough in the first half to win the game.

RMDrive wrote:2-3k in Cross today in terrible conditions. Not too bad I'd say. Shame the wind dominated things - Leinster only scored 1 point in the second half.

The make-up of the Leinster team shows the contempt they have for this once proud competion. Jokers.
Without researching it, I remember crowds in excess of 40k in Croke Park for the finals.*

*That was of course when Leitrim had 4 or 5 on great Connacht teams in the 50's to make Purcell, Stockwell and Gerry O'Malley look good.