It’s 2017 and the digital age of sports content is well and truly upon us.
You can stream every sporting event in the world with relative ease, playing whack-a-mole with incessant ads. You can go to social media for instantaneous reaction to the latest news and sporting incidents. There’s live shows on your Facebook feeds, live NFL matches on Twitter, every single newspaper and magazine has a digital equivalent. There’s daily podcasts on nearly every sport. There’s live radio programmes. It’s on TV, on the online players, there’s blogs, vlogs and podcasts. Our mouths, ears and eyes are overwhelmed with sport, getting hammered left, right and centre with content.
Consumption is at an all time high and the rat race for clicks, views, listens and traffic is getting faster and uglier. There’s so much to consume there conceivably isn’t enough time in the day to get through everything.
The last thing the realm of Irish sports content needs is another website. But here we are.
The goal with The Con is to deliver something different. You won’t find any click-mongering here. If you want to find out what Conor McGregor had for breakfast, go elsewhere. If you want to find out why what he’s having for breakfast is actually what’s fueling his rampage through the world of MMA and beyond; then you might feel more at home here.
We plan to deliver unique, enjoyable, interesting and most importantly high quality content on the world of sport. There’s no limit to the range of sports we want to feature on the site, from Ireland and beyond. You’re just as likely to find something on the Slaughtneil GAA club as you are Irish Rugby, doping in cycling or an investigation into the disappearance of Shergar.
And then we had a think — why stop at sport? There’s so many facets to the modern day sports fan. They love music and film and TV just as much their county. They know about politics. They care about health and fashion and travel. So at The Con you’re going to find a massive breadth of content. But there’s one common denominator and that’s our focus and intent to deliver a high standard of writing.
So why not follow us on our journey? You can sign up to our mailbox below. Follow us on Twitter. Add us on Facebook. We’re even on Instagram!
And if you’re thinking hey, this is something I’d like to be a part of then we are happily accepting all sorts of questions, critiques, suggestions and submissions. Just DM us on Twitter or shoot us a message on Facebook.
We’ve published a handful of articles for you to enjoy. Take a look at the problems facing the Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cups. Read about Sizing John’s win at Cheltenham. Enjoy an account of Meath’s two day excursion to win the Christy Ring Cup. We had a conversation with Drogheda’s Gareth McCaffrey. There’s even something on Tom Brady.
There’s loads really, just browse around. We really hope you like what you see and you might be enticed back.
Questions & Answers
Why “The Con”? We named the site after the legendary Con Houlihan, probably Ireland’s greatest ever sports writer. He loved good writing and he too reached beyond just the four white lines of sport.
Can I write for The Con? You sure can! Just send us a message on whatever social media you use or email us on editor@thecon.ie.
Will I get paid? No. NOT YET. This is a labour of love and we’re making it clear with everyone that all work is sadly voluntary.
Not yet? Yes, not yet. We’re working hard behind the scenes to make this is a viable business that pays writers. We know writers don’t want to create click bait for a living, but without it it’s hard to monetize a website like this. So we need an actual website and a brand with loads of content to show off to people. So bear with us.
What’s this Medium thing? Medium is like a social network, you can sign up and begin writing articles in two minutes. You can even submit your content to The Con. You’ll need a Medium profile if you want to write for us.
Are you fecking crazy to even attempt this? Yes. But it’s worth a shot.
