Latest news with #Clubber
Irish Independent
11-08-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Mediahuis Ireland buys stake in Clubber
Clubber is best known for live-streaming club GAA games, offering a subscription service for fans and coaches. Mediahuis Ireland will acquire a minority stake in the business, understood to be around 25pc, in return for investment to support Clubber's plans for further expansion – not only in the GAA but across a broad range of Irish and international sports. As part of the tie-up, Mediahuis Ireland titles and their readers, including those of the Irish Independent and local news titles across the country, will have access to video content, including highlight reels. The chief operating officer of Mediahuis Ireland, Ian Keogh, will join the Clubber board as part of the agreement. Clubber was founded by Microsoft veteran Jimmy Doyle in 2020 and has quickly established itself as a streaming platform for live sports in Ireland, with a strong focus on GAA. It delivered 1,000 live and on-demand sports events in 2024. Its model includes agreeing multi-year streaming rights deals with GAA county boards for access to club matches, which traditionally have not been available for broadcast on any live service. Currently, games from 14 counties are being streamed. These include the Tipperary, Cork and Kilkenny hurling championships, the club football championships from Kerry, Kildare and Meath, plus the Camogie Club Championships. The model is built on combining scalable, tech-driven infrastructure with acquiring rights to a large volume of live sports in order to provide a comprehensive offering to fans of under-served competitions. The model is now being expanded into the UK, and into sports other than the GAA. David Courtney, Head of Sport at Mediahuis Ireland, said Clubber is transforming sports streaming. 'We are thrilled to partner with Clubber as it revolutionises the way Irish and international sport is streamed,' he said. 'This partnership underscores our commitment to supporting local sporting communities and providing unrivalled access to sporting stories that matter.'
The 42
10-08-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Con and Clifford the scoring stars as Kerry and Tipperary All-Ireland winners return to club duty
REIGNING ALL-IRELAND CLUB football champions Cuala opened their Dublin senior title defence with a dominant, 14-point win over Raheny at Parnell Park yesterday. The Dalkey side powered to victory on a scoreline of 4-16 to 0-14. Con O'Callaghan led the way with 3-6. Newly-appointed Dublin manager Ger Brennan was present in Donnycarney, where his club, St Vincent's, fell to a 1-23 to 1-11 defeat to Ballinteer St John's earlier in the day. While O'Callaghan lit up Parnell Park, Kerry All-Ireland winner David Clifford also made a stunning scoring return to club duty. Clifford kicked 1-8 (1 free), 1-7 in the first half, as Fossa got their Kerry intermediate football championship bid underway with a 2-19 to 1-11 win over John Mitchels. David Clifford doing David Clifford things😮💨 Just the 1-5 from Clifford in the opening 18 minutes... 📺 — Clubber (@clubber) August 9, 2025 Advertisement Paudie Clifford didn't feature for Fossa, with his brother confirming 'a bit of a knock' afterwards. "That's the beauty of the Intermediate, every game is basically 50/50"🗣️ David Clifford was the #ClubberMOTM as @FossaGaa started their 2025 Championship campaign with a win 👏 Looks like the @Kerry_Official Superstar has a few fans in the Kingdom 🙌 📺 — Clubber (@clubber) August 9, 2025 In the Kerry senior club championship, 2024 champions Dr Crokes opened their campaign with a 2-14 to 0-13 triumph over Killarney rivals Spa on Friday night. All-Ireland winning captain Gavin White, Mark O'Shea, Shane Murphy, Evan Looney, Micheál Burns and Tony Brosnan were on the winning Crokes side, while Dara Moynihan is Spa's main county figure. Yesterday, Austin Stacks powered to a 1-18 to 1-5 victory over Templenoe. Dylan Casey, Joe O'Connor and Armin Heinrich (Austin Stacks), Tadhg Morley and Killian Spillane (Templenoe) were the All-Ireland winners involved. Tipperary's All-Ireland hurling champions were also in county senior championship action yesterday. Defending champions Loughmore-Castleiney beat Drom & Inch by the minimum in Templemore, 2-18 to 1-20. The McGrath brothers, John, Noel and Brian, were instrumental for the holders, the trio linking up for the opening goal as All-Ireland final brace hero John hit the net. John McGrath just can't stop scoring😮💨 Noel, Liam and John McGrath link up to grab the games first goal👏 📺 — Clubber (@clubber) August 9, 2025 Last year's beaten finalists Toomevara fell to defeat in their opener, 2-25 to 0-28 against Holycross-Ballycahill. Darragh McCarthy led the Toomevara scoring charge with 0-15 (13 frees, 1 '65), while Bryan O'Mara and Joe Caesar were his Tipperary team mates on the winning side. Elsewhere, Nenagh Éire Óg beat Thurles Sarsfields 3-15 to 1-26 at The Ragg. Sam O'Farrell excelled for Nenagh outfit that also includes Jake Morris. Liam MacCarthy winning captain Ronan Maher scored an early penalty for Thurles, while Darragh Stakelum also raised a green flag. Conor Stakelum was also in action. Early GOAL for @thurlessars 🔵 Ronan Maher uses the hard ground to his advantage firing his penalty to the net 🔥 Watch the @TipperaryGAA SHC only on — Clubber (@clubber) August 9, 2025 And Premier goalkeeper Rhys Shelley was on the winning side as Moycarkey-Borris overcame a Roscrea side featuring Alan Tynan 1-24 to 1-18. ***** Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here - Updated 12.10pm
Irish Daily Mirror
08-08-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
Clubber GAA's a perfect mix of tech and David Clifford's GAA 'magic'
It's been some week for popular GAA streaming platform 'Clubber' and their CEO and founder, Jimmy Doyle. After five years of steady growth - or "blood sweat and tears" as Doyle terms it - they signed a high-profile sponsorship deal with insurance giant Aviva. And this weekend Clubber will show a record-breaking 81 live GAA club championship games from eight different counties. Doyle now has 14 County Boards on his books and he can't fully understand why more don't sign up. Viewership goes along expected lines with one massive outlier to it all. Clubber's highest viewership ever was for a Kerry Intermediate Championship Final two years ago. 'There's a valid reason,' says Doyle. 'You can probably guess why that was. You know who plays for Fossa?' Yes we do. 'It helps when David Clifford is on the pitch - he's good for numbers,' continues Doyle. 'He's great. In the semi-final of that competition they (Fossa) were down a point going into injury time and he scored a point for the ages on the sideline. It was just magic. 'He went on to have an unbelievable performance in that game to get his club into the final. I think they (Fossa) are still our top gun.' Surprisingly, just 10percent of Clubber's audience is outside Ireland. At €150 for an annual subscription, fans can literally view hundreds of games live or watch them back again. They're a slick operation now and a tight one, with 10 full time staff and a small but growing army of camera operators and commentators across the country, with most games a two person job. The Aviva sponsorship deal is another string to their bow. 'It's a really nice validation for us,' said Doyle - a hurling fanatic from Tipperary. 'It's a big brand in the industry. You put years into something and it's moments like this that show you're on the right track. 'It's a big moment for us. The team in the background makes it all possible — I probably just get in the way at this point. 'I'm still fairly active on it all - don't get me wrong. So I'm not able to let it go. I suppose it's more maybe I'm getting in their way now at this stage. "And they're like, 'Stop interfering and let us at it - we know what we're doing.'" Doyle has big plans to branch into ladies sport and other sports as subscriber numbers increase. Clubber is still a child, very much a covid baby. While the world stood still, Doyle saw an opportunity in the sudden shift towards live-streamed sporting events with costs a fraction of the satellite technology used for TV. The former Moyne-Templetuohy hurler, who spent over two decades at Microsoft - where he led engineering teams and worked across global markets - had found a way to combine his passion and his profession. 'The whole streaming space kicked off during Covid and became a necessity,' he explains. 'Everybody started to just figure it out and it really just started to come to me in terms of 'Wow, there's real potential here,' and I started going at it then. 'It's (GAA) a key part of your identity and then the marrying with tech. It became a really, really passionate project for me. It taught me the right and wrong ways to build software. Fossa's David and Paudie Clifford celebrate after their All-Ireland junior final win in 2023 (Image: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane) 'Clubber, for me, is a tech company. It's built from the ground up and that's really where my experience has lent itself so well to it.' It certainly wasn't all smooth sailing. Doyle still remembers the early days vividly - especially the turmoil around a McGrath Cup match in January 2021, with Kerry facing Limerick. "It's still fairly etched on my brain," he says. Clubber suddenly went from small club games to a big inter-county news story. 'Jack O'Connor was just back in with Kerry," says Doyle. "Kerry supporters just went crazy to watch it relative to what we would have seen before. 'And suddenly I'm like, 'Jesus Christ, there's just that much more people coming in here relative to what we were used to.' 'Suddenly the site does not behave too well and you're getting calls. I had the naivety of having my phone number up there at the point in time so my phone is hopping. It was a crazy day. 'That gave us a really harsh lesson. We've never forgotten that moment and we spent probably the next six months fine-tuning all the software and really protecting ourselves for such an eventuality. "Thankfully we've moved on since then. But the mistakes you make, the harsh lessons, they're the best lessons.' Clubber's audience skews towards young male fans, but Doyle says they're seeing significant engagement across the full range of demographics, including older people, females and families, all tuning in. 'We're seeing decent growth year on year on the subscriber base and that's the thing that we're trying to grow and that's the thing that I think will ultimately be the long-term value for people," he says. 'I'm sure you've seen our pricing versus even counties who are just doing their own games and they're really pushing to €200, €250 to just watch an individual county. 'Whereas we're €150 to watch 14 counties. We put up a 20percent promotion (discount) there for about two weeks and it definitely took off more than we were expecting. That was nice. 'We think we're really well priced. We've had strong growth year on year, and we're trying to keep delivering value — whether that's for a die-hard fan in their 70s or a young player watching their own highlights on socials.'
Sunday World
22-06-2025
- Sunday World
Sky Ireland issues warning of ‘consequences' for 400,000 dodgy-box users
Warning comes as the broadcaster is set to appear in the High Court after injunction and search order was issued against suspected dodgy-box operator Sky Ireland is warning up to 400,000 dodgy-box users of 'consequences' if caught streaming Sky Ireland is warning up to 400,000 dodgy-box users of 'consequences' if caught streaming sport or films using the illegal devices. The warning comes as the broadcaster, along with other industry bodies, is set to appear in the High Court after an injunction and search order was issued against a suspected operator of a dodgy-box streaming service in Wexford. The alleged operation includes piracy of Sky, Premier Sports, GAA+, LOITV and Clubber, among others, accessed by thousands of Irish dodgy-box owners and multiple resellers. Two additional people associated with the dodgy box operation were also served with cease-and-desist notices by the industry anti-piracy body, Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact). The notices warned them to stop their 'illicit streaming activities' or face criminal prosecution. An Ireland Thinks poll last year indicated that one in five people in Ireland use dodgy boxes or illegal streaming services. We evolve our investigative strategies to crack down on illegal streaming The devices, sometimes accessed from Amazon Fire Sticks or Android set-top boxes, often involve monthly subscriptions to resellers of the services of between €5 and €15 for illegal access to premium sport and movies. 'This action marks an important step in our ongoing efforts to combat illegal streaming in Ireland,' said Sky Ireland CEO JD Buckley. Sky Ireland CEO JD Buckley. Photo: Sportsfile 'We continuously evolve our investigative strategies to crack down on illegal streaming and protect consumers from risks including malware, fraud and identity theft. Further action will follow with consequences for those identified as operating illegal services and for those who watch them.' Asked about 'consequences', a spokesperson for Sky said it was 'exploring various options', including 'ongoing engagement with the DPC (Data Protection Commissioner)'. Authorities are cracking down on 'dodgy-box' operators An Garda Síochána previously said it did not pursue individual users of dodgy boxes, but it sometimes assisted in action against commercial operators of the services. Earlier this year, Jimmy Doyle, the founder and CEO of Clubber, which shows club and under-age GAA matches from 14 counties, estimated that dodgy boxes were taking up to 40pc of his firm's revenue away. He said the company wants to expand, including covering more female events, but that the use of dodgy boxes is threatening his plans. 'We have a network of local commentators and videographers who rely on Clubber's business to support them and their families,' Mr Doyle said. 'As people use illegal streaming to steal from Clubber, they are putting this entire eco-system at risk.' A survey from Sapir Research this year showed more than two in five people who use dodgy boxes recommend them to friends and family, even though users are more liable to online scams than those who do not use the devices. Illegal streaming directly impacts the investment going into Irish sport Last summer, a 42-year-old Kildare man was jailed for 16 months after making €900,000 from King Kong Media, a dodgy-box operation that sold codes to access pay-TV channels to 5,000 customers. 'We strongly support this decisive action,' Mickey O'Rourke of Premier Sports said about the current High Court action against the Wexford dodgy-box operator. 'Illegal streaming undermines the sustainability of sports broadcasting, directly impacting the investment going into Irish sport, from grassroots to elite level. It also puts consumers at real risk. 'This collaboration between broadcasters, rights holders and authorities is essential to protecting the value of Irish content and ensuring that fans can enjoy their favourite sports through safe and legal channels.' The head of GAA+, Noel Quinn, said pirating of its content hits its grassroots investment levels. 'The GAA reinvests 82 cents of every euro generated directly into schools, clubs, counties and provinces,' he said.
Times
22-05-2025
- Times
Alleged ‘serial cat killer' arrested in California
An alleged serial cat killer has been arrested in California over claims that he abducted and slaughtered more than a dozen cats. Alejandro Acosta Oliveros, 45, was taken into custody on Wednesday by police in the city of Santa Ana, 30 miles south of Los Angeles. He has been charged with felony animal cruelty. Oliveros was identified as a suspect after an investigation into more than a dozen reports of neighbourhood cats going missing. Police claim he abducted the animals or lured them to his home in the neighbourhood of Wilshire Square, where he allegedly tortured and killed them. Last month the abduction of a ten-month-old Bengal lynx cat, Clubber, was captured on surveillance video and posted to Facebook by its owner, Eva Corlew. The
