Donegal GAA PRO reports that it was a challenging year - Fiona Shiels

In her report to Donegal GAA Convention, which takes place on Wednesday night next, December 13, in Jackson's Hotel, Ballybofey, outgoing PRO, Fiona Shiels said it was a difficult year to be PRO as Donegal GAA went through a turbulent year.

In her report, which covers all aspects of public relations, she says that the PRO post has a heavy workload. Fiona Shiels has intimated that she will not be going forward for re-election.

"The demand for news is becoming increasingly popular, and with most media outlets now having their own online presence, internet has become the top place to get our news," said the report.

"It’s no lie that bad news always makes the headlines and in a year that was a turbulent one for Donegal GAA, I found it challenging that the traditional media was aware of a story, a lot of times before I or the executive committee were.

"Nonetheless, I agree that the media has a job to do and we are very lucky that the local press are putting the best of Donegal GAA to the fore, allowing us to continue the healthy relationship, that has been built between them and Donegal PRO’s , past and present.

"The lines of communication remain open and I believe that with the good days, will come the good news stories. Sports journalists were always ready to help with articles for our match day publications," the PRO says in her resport.

There is an interesting part of her report about broadcasting and streaming, going forward, and how the county have an agreement with a Cork-based company.

"Operating on a ad hoc basis Donegal GAA streamed the hurling semi final and finals in the summer. Wiistream, a Cork based company came on board with a couple of proposals for a collaboration going forward. Before the knockout stages of the club championship, we decided to try it out, under the umbrella of Donegal GAA TV, streaming a number of games in the football championship on a trial basis," the report says.

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"The Wiistream proposal that we went with for 2023 was as follows:Our own platform –Donegal GAA TV. Wiistream would develop Donegal GAA their very own branded OTT platform for Free at no cost to Donegal GAA as part of this proposal.

"They thought that robust OTT platform could be created for Donegal GAA within a imeframe of 3 weeks. The platform would have its own unique independent URL (i.e Donegalgaatv.com) and would be fully branded with Donegal GAA logos, colour schemes, content etc. Everything in the backend was sitting on the Wiistream software infrastructure which would respect the best practices in the field regarding the software architecture, user experience, security, and reliability.

"They would fully support Donegal GAA TV in the backend with technical support, customer support and any further development enhancements.

"This proposal was for the 2022 Donegal Club Championships, but Wiistream is extremely agile and flexible and would be interested in partnering with Donegal GAA as their long-term Broadcast, Streaming and Technological partner.

"Although we only broadcast on this platform since the beginning of October, Donegal GAA TV has proved to be a popular option. There is already nearly 2000 registered subscribers on the platform. The table below shows the games we covered and the subscribers for each event," says the report, which outlines the number of subscribers for the different games which were streamed.

Naomh Conaill vs St Eunan's 392
Sean Mac Cumhaill's v Gaoth Dobhair 241
Na Rossa v Moville 167
Downings v Malin 274

"To make this partnership successful for all, I feel that a specialised team needs to analyse what is possible within our remit, both on a technical basis and within the confines of our Donegal Club Championship, going forward," says the report, which adds that there are definite opportunities for sponsorship and Coiste Chontae Dhún na nGall C.L.G.