Well I Never! - It’s ‘The Back Page

from Irish Country Sports and Country Life - Winter 2020

Review of Autumn Pointer and Setter Trials - By Hugh Brady

The Back Page

Our response to the virus has been to ‘up our game’ and adopt a global focus hence the launch of this new ‘Back Page’ to support our main magazine editorial and the Country News section of the virtual game fair. We thank Derek Fanning for doing an excellent job taking over from Philip Lawton as ROI editor, and he will continue being a contributor. This ‘Back Page’ will feature guest editors from all over the world, including Ireland. We can confirm there are no plans to invite Chris Packham to be one of our guests!

There are many reasons why the Great Game Fairs of Ireland has been such a successful and long lasting brand over 41 years for the Game Fairs and 35 years for the magazine but arguably the two major ones are the commitment of the team and the ability to innovate and move with the times.

It was the Great Game Fairs of Ireland team who brought Ireland the first sustainable Game Fair and the most read ever and arguably the best quality ever Irish Country Sports magazine. And of course the team also took the magazine to a massive online audience through the FREE to READ online version at www.countrysportsandcountrylife.com.

However when Covid 19 restrictions caused the postponement of the Game Fair until 26/27 June 2021, the GGF team launched possibly their most innovative project yet, THE VIRTUAL GAME FAIR www.thevirtualgamefair.com. This was designed not simply to be a short term fix to replace the postponed fair at Shanes Castle, but a new innovative resource for country sports enthusiasts and hard pressed companies supplying the country sports market.

It is often said that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ and others have followed us into the ‘virtual’ promotion of the country sports market. We wish them well but as usual the GGF of Ireland team consider they offer the premium package for visitors and exhibitors.

Since most of our trade customers had their businesses adversely affected by Covid we decided that THE VIRTUALGAME FAIR should be used to help them through the crisis and thus we decided to subsidise the trade exhibitors at the event by making the cost of exhibiting a nominal amount redeemable against their stand at the 2021 Game Fair or advertising in the magazine.

We also decided that not only ‘entry’ to the Virtual Game Fair be free to country sports enthusiasts but that entry to the wide range of competitions would also be FREE or for club funds or good causes. We, ourselves, invested in several of the prizes and we are grateful to those exhibitors and advertisers who supported us with other valuable prizes. As can be seen from the competition reports, those that have taken place have been very well supported and there are many more scheduled throughout the year. If your company would like to sponsor an event we have several reciprocal promotional offers.

Apart from virtual competitions and attractions the team will hopefully be covering more live events either in person or by featuring submitted videos e.g. Living History Ireland put on a couple of 2021 preview events covered by Mike Lindsay https://www.thevirtualgamefair.com/livi ng-history-at-the-great-game-fairs-ofireland/

The VIRTUAL GAME FAIR exhibitors area is a market place brimming with country sports and living products and many of the exhibitors have special seasonal offers plus in our bargain basement area we highlight just some of these bargains that ‘caught our eye’. There are many more throughout the site.

So far THE VIRTUAL GAME FAIR has been a success being featured in mainstream and country sports media including the BBC’s ‘Your Place and Mine’ & Fieldsports Channel etc It has and is attracting a huge number of visitors from all over the world including serious traffic from the UK, US, Germany, Russia, Australia and Canada. It is well on target to surpass our original target of 150,000 visitors.

Now we, at the Great Game Fairs of Ireland, consider we have ‘gone the extra mile’ in providing Irish country sports enthusiasts and increasingly thousands of fellow enthusiasts throughout the world TWO UNIQUE FREE resources in www.countrysportsandcountrylife.com and www.thevirtualgamefair.com. This has only been made possible through the support or our magazine advertisers, most of the main country sports organisations and game fair exhibitors. When you are purchasing Christmas presents or looking for a staycation or break why not ‘give them a shout’. By helping them survive and prosper, you will help us continue to provide these important FREE countryside resources and to promote and protect the sports we all love.