With some echoes, the 50th episode special of the GAA Zone podcast is here. The GAA Zone podcast editor Patrick Sharkey welcomes back two regulars of the GAA Zone podcast in the form of the Mayo-based journalist Chloe Lynch, better known as the girl who writes about Mayo GAA, and Cork-based journalist Matthew Hurley better known as the GAA Statsman. Our journey starts at the first meeting of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) all the way back on November 1, 1884, when three of the seven men in attendance at the establishment of the GAA in Hayes Hotel in Thurles, County Tipperary in 1884 was those in the newspaper industry reporting on an organisation that was set to govern Gaelic games. This came about because of a massive boom in the sales of local newspapers in the second half of the 19th century throughout the island of Ireland. This would have been a massive help to Michael Cusack. Then three years later in 1887, different media outlets throughout the island of Ireland were able to gain a glimpse of Gaelic football at the highest level for the first time in the first All-Ireland final in either hurling or football. It was the first of two All-Ireland football titles for Limerick. In 2005, a gold medal won by the final's man-of-the-match Malachi O'Brien fetched €26,500 (three times its guide price). Shortly after the national newspapers got given a glimpse of hurling at the highest level as the 1887 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was the first staging of the All-Ireland hurling championship. Then eight years later in 1885, the newspapers reported on a game that divided the island of Ireland, with that famous Cork and Dublin clash. Come the spring of 2022, the GAA scaled back on its streaming service GAA GO as crowd restrictions got lifted as fans flocked to the grounds for the 2022 league season after a two-year absence. The only league games available to watch from home for GAA fans would have been the game selected for a televised audience and TG4 did select some games for their online player service. The Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) did however have games from all four divisions able to be broadcasted live on their website and different camogie county boards streamed games. Come to the 2022 championship, GAA Go did come back to showcase different exclusive games, but it was a far cry from the two years before. . The LGFA streamed games on their website for free that did not be shown on TG4 for all three championships and different camogie county boards had rights to show games that RTÉ did not show. For hurling championships below the Liam McCarthy cup, licensing laws weren’t as strict for broadcast, so some county boards did have their inter-county games streamed such as Down GAA who streamed their home Joe McDonagh cup games for €7. On July 25, 2022, the GAA Zone podcast reached the 50 episodes milestone. It's fair to say media coverage has evolved for Gaelic games. Over two years into the pandemic, the GAA is mulling over some welcome findings in a report analysing the association’s appeal to various audiences. The two most striking are the extent to which the general sports follower is interested in Gaelic games and the comparatively high proportion of women included in those numbers. With the second winter of Covid accelerated – GAA recognition came.
