Well it’s been approximately 36 days since my last post so apologies for the slow start to zero nine.  And a belated happy New Year to any hurlingstats readers out there.

Just before Christmas the GAA made an interesting announcement about a new “relationship” they established with Internet search behemoth Google and Baker Security Networks.  As someone who is quite interested in the communication of accurate statistical information about hurling, I was quite excited to hear about this.  Google after all have produced some of the most useful applications on the web and they are renowed for the core functionality - allowing users to find what they are looking for.  Google’s applications tend to be ultra-functional rather pretty which is fine by me.

I didn’t realise that Google did consulting work like this.  I presumed they just wrote their own apps in house.

So what are the GAA and Google (Gaagle?) going to give us? Well according to the press release, the goals are to:

• provision of access to email, calendars and online tools which will encourage greater communication and sharing of information between different GAA groups
• the creation of an intranet site to enable club, county and provincial officers, as well as staff, to communicate more effectively with Croke Park and each other
• the redevelopment of the GAA web site using the latest technologies from Google to enable our Association to deliver current and relevant information to all our members and the public in a modern and user friendly manner

The first 2 items are a bit dull imo.  Yes an good intranet site is important and efficient communication is needed but, for the GAA enthusiast out there on ye olde web, this is not too exciting.

The third item is where the meat is.  The current GAA web site ain’t all that it might be.  As a stats head, the dearth of easily accessible and complete information is depressing.  My wishlist for the new site includes:

• Complete stats for every inter-county match at all grades going back as far as the year dot.
• Complete player profiles for all inter-county players going back as far as is possible.
• Every roll of honour for all grades.
• Up to date list of club, colleges and schools results for every county and every grade.
• Everything presented in a nice easy to use, intuitive, modern site.

I don’t ask for much, do I?

At the end of the day, if Google deliver what I hope, there will be no need for hurlingstats.com.  And that would be a good thing (I think).