Group Soccer Correspondent RTE????

FlutterinBantam

WTF!!!:eek:

The Flutt was out on the deck,sucking on a Pabst Blue Ribbon longneck,and wiring in to a rather greasy crubeen,enjoying the excellent RTE1 commentary from Brian Carthy,splitting the consonants, and Pete McGrath, 'aitching the "rs" and "y ing" the vowels with unerring accuracy:mad:.

As the Flutt got to grips with the recalcitrant trotter an interview with Tony O'Donoghue,Group Soccer Correspondent came up.

The fcuk!!! Group Soccer Correspondent, like who is the Soccer Correspondent??

Group Soccer Correspondent!!!

Now the Flutt is a high ranking exec in a private company,and when titles like this rear up,only one conclusion, made up job for someone you can't get rid of??

Nice little made up number,in my opinion.

My only memory of Tony is a bottle shouldered, thick set dude in short sleeved shirts,doing bit parts in Athletics and such.

What gives.????

Bondvillain

Less "Cant get rid of" and more likely "Shouldn't get rid of".

TO'D is a long standing sports correspondent with Rté, covering in the past not only athletics (a subject close to his heart, which he has published books about) but has also dabbled in the horsies and GAA, as well as holding his long standing posts as chief football correspondent & sports editor.

O Donoghue was at the forefront of media reporting during the last 2 Ireland qualifying campaigns, and was a fixture on TV & Radio when broadcasting sometimes from Abbotstown itself, where he attempted to translate into English for us the FAI's rambling obfuscations during the protracted and sometimes comical occurrences during the appointments of both Staunton and Trapattoni.

While he may not be overly familiar to listeners who don't immerse themselves in the "hands-free" version of football in Ireland, he is quite highly regarded both by tv Football viewers (who don't necessarily always agree with his opinions) and by those of us who travel away with the Irish teams for our sins, and is knowledgeable, approachable, and somewhat the 'decent skin' towards normal fans when on away trips.

He's also got a good working relationship with both the chancers in the FAI boardroom and the men on the front line of the Eircom LOI, meaning he's trusted, not to mention seemingly having a free pass to chat to Alex Ferguson and the normally recitent Rafa Benitez et al at will when in the UK.

Sometimes it's not a conspiracy. Sometimes people just have jobs because they're good at them...


(and no, I'm not him. Neither do I work nor have sex with the man. I Met him once in San Marino, where I and about 30 others shared a few pints and an ould give out about the match we'd just watched. Sin é. )

Slidey

Hi tony...

FlutterinBantam

Bondvillain wrote: »

Less "Cant get rid of" and more likely "Shouldn't get rid of".

TO'D is a long standing sports correspondent with Rté, covering in the past not only athletics (a subject close to his heart, which he has published books about) but has also dabbled in the horsies and GAA, as well as holding his long standing posts as chief football correspondent & sports editor.

O Donoghue was at the forefront of media reporting during the last 2 Ireland qualifying campaigns, and was a fixture on TV & Radio when broadcasting sometimes from Abbotstown itself, where he attempted to translate into English for us the FAI's rambling obfuscations during the protracted and sometimes comical occurrences during the appointments of both Staunton and Trapattoni.

While he may not be overly familiar to listeners who don't immerse themselves in the "hands-free" version of football in Ireland, he is quite highly regarded both by tv Football viewers (who don't necessarily always agree with his opinions) and by those of us who travel away with the Irish teams for our sins, and is knowledgeable, approachable, and somewhat the 'decent skin' towards normal fans when on away trips.

He's also got a good working relationship with both the chancers in the FAI boardroom and the men on the front line of the Eircom LOI, meaning he's trusted, not to mention seemingly having a free pass to chat to Alex Ferguson and the normally recitent Rafa Benitez et al at will when in the UK.

Sometimes it's not a conspiracy. Sometimes people just have jobs because they're good at them...


(and no, I'm not him. Neither do I work nor have sex with the man. I Met him once in San Marino, where I and about 30 others shared a few pints and an ould give out about the match we'd just watched. Sin é. )

Meanwhile back on topic, "Group Soccer Correspondent" what the **** does that mean.??

Is there a "Soccer Correspondent"?
Is there a soccer correspondent for each arm of the national broadcaster?
Does a "Group Soccer Correspondent" have a higher status than a "Soccer correspondent"
Where does a "Group Soccer Correspondent" stand in the pecking order in the RTE Sports dept.?

Seems to me this is a new position and title form the emphasis on the word"Group" by Saturdays sports commentators on RTE.

:eek:Is there an RTE "Group Sports Commentator"

Very confusing !!!

Bondvillain

I would think that Rte Radio, Rte.ie, Rte television and the Rte guide etc. would probably all count as part of the same group. As Tony is the main face of football on all of these media, that would probably make him Group football correspondent.

Im not sure as to whether the use of the word group insinuates that there is some sort of sinister politburo hierarchy involved in the sporting dept, so maybe your gut feeling is correct - We should march on the capital until this sinister cover-up is exposed.

I'm with you brother! Transparency in the classification of the broadcaster's use of a questionable word in their soccer chain of command or death!

We shall meet outside Cleary's at 3p.m. to begin our protest! (or the jersey section of Champion sports on O Connell street if it's raining.)

FlutterinBantam

Heh he, as Sherlock Holmes said to his trusty aide Dr Watson, "It was the dog barking that cracked the case" Cue Dr Watson "But the dog didn't bark Holmes"

And Holmes with a knowing look on his face says:

"Elementary my dear Watson,the dog didn't bark"

.Thats the point.

So, as our friend says, if Tony is the main soccer correspondent on all the channels,why the fcuk has nobody seen him or heard him on radio and TV.

Thats the point!!!!

Bondvillain

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Heh he, as Sherlock Holmes said to his trusty aide Dr Watson, "It was the dog barking that cracked the case" Cue Dr Watson "But the dog didn't bark Holmes"

And Holmes with a knowing look on his face says"Elimentary my dear Watson,the dog didn't bark".Thats the point.

So, as our friend says, if Tony is the main soccer correspondent on all the channels,why the fcuk has nobody seen him or heard him on radio and TV.

Thats the point!!!!

.

Y'know, in saying nobody has seen him or heard him, what you actually mean is you havent seen him or heard him. That's fair enough, but fictional barking red herrings aside, football fans know who he is, and know he's been at his job for quite a while.

I reckon I first heard him being referred to as group soccer cspdt for Rte by a newsreader back around January 2007, and he gets an odd mention on the football websites here. He exists, people (who aren't you) know who he is and what he does, and I reckon if he knew his title pyssed you off so much, he'd get it printed on 8 foot long business cards, because your anger at it is most amusing.

FlutterinBantam

Anger is a little strong,I would suggest.

Perplexity is probably a more accurate description.

Always gets my eyebrows up when I hear the Dunphyesque comments like"Those of us who know soccer,who love the game"

To me anyway ,TOD was a bottle shouldered dude in a check shirt,doing fillers in some obscure sports.

I bow to your superior knowledge if you say so,but I have certainly not associated him with soccer in the last two years.Certainly not the main man ,as it would appear by the title he holds.

I hold no grudge, just that I like my license money spent properly on substance and not beaurocracy,and semantics.

More Music

I can vouch for Tony's existence. He's been part of the RTE furniture for a long time. I remember him covering World Cups/Euro (when we qualified) for TV news.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/features/tonyod.html

The last line should confirm his status!

Seems like a nice guy, knows his stuff and doesn't seem to have any annoying on-air habits.

Leaderbored

Im fairly well familiar with him. He does all the big football stories on six one news, and has done for ages. He does some of the post match interviews on the Premiership programme , and I think he does the Monday night soccer one too. He might also still have a regular blog on the Rté website, like he did during the qualifiers.

He was on the news on telly today in fact, covering Dynamo Kiev's visit to play Drogheda.

I think you're safe leaving your eyebrows in the "down" position though...I dont think anyone here is claiming to "know football" on a Dunphyesque level (I certainly dont) and I do think what Bond Villain said is true : I have only a passing interest in football (hey! pun!) and I know who he is from watching sports headlines and the odd sports programme on telly, so it stands to reason that more serious Football fans would know who he is, what with them obviously seeing him more regularly than people with no interest at all.

Anyway, being that your argument is seemingly a beaurocratic/ semantic one, couldn't it be argued that it's better that Rté have a "group" correspondent, rather than seperate telly ones, radio ones and interwebby ones?

Surely one face/wage is less beaurocratic (and less of a strain on the licence fee) than 3 or more?

Fulton Crown

Thread seems to have focussed on O'Donoghue rather than on his Title which I surmised was the the reason the Bantam's eyebrows were "up".

In fairness the Guy does a competent job despite his very obvious charisma deficit and alarming hairstyle changes.

The Crown's eybrows also shift to the vertical when hearing some of the RTE Titles

Chief News Corrospondent - C.Bird
Southern Editor - P.Sheehy.
Midlands Corrospondent - C.Mullooly

Various other "corrospondents" - J.Little, S.Libreri, J.Kilraine (where did he get his accent)

If they all do more or less the same jobs why the different titles..I share the Bantams suspiscions about wastage of our License fee money.

2fivers

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Thread seems to have focussed on O'Donoghue rather than on his Title which I surmised was the the reason the Bantam's eyebrows were "up".

In fairness the Guy does a competent job despite his very obvious charisma deficit and alarming hairstyle changes.

The Crown's eybrows also shift to the vertical when hearing some of the RTE Titles

Chief News Corrospondent - C.Bird
Southern Editor - P.Sheehy.
Midlands Corrospondent - C.Mullooly

Various other "corrospondents" - J.Little, S.Libreri, J.Kilraine (where did he get his accent)

If they all do more or less the same jobs why the different titles..I share the Bantams suspiscions about wastage of our License fee money.

Reading through all this, I think "The Flutt" made it fairly clear that his "Eyebrows were up" because he thought a poster was claiming to be an Eamon Dunphy style "true" football fan because he had heard of TOD. I don't personally think that was the case.
I think "The Flutt" simply underestimated the visibility of Mr O'Donoghue in his capacity as group soccer corr, and perhaps wrongly assumed his own non-recognition of the man & position was representative of the knowledge of the public in it's entirety.

and if "The Crown" really thinks that the Midlands corr and the southern editor do 'more or less the same job', then, perhaps, as they're all journalists, an equation to newspapers would help :

Correspondents don't necessarily do the same jobs as section editors. Chief corrs, as well as being responsible for their own output, would also have responsibility for collating the work of local corrs since a chief has seniority (evident in C Bird's long tenure as the public face of various news depts) and if Rupert Murdoch employed a "Group soccer corr" for News international, I'm sure he could use him in the Sun, the Times and even the Wall St Journal without having to pay extra corrs because this one is the soccer correspondent for the group, much like Tony O'Donoghue is the group corr for Rté tv, radio & web.
This point was made in a post above (a group corr is better value to the licence payer than 3 separate corrs for each of Rté's media) . It's a good point, but one that has not yet been addressed by anyone claiming licence fee wastage.

Still, I suppose no amount of common sense will quell the underlying "Rté are a big bloated, hateful oligarchy, who steal my money to feast on banquets of swans and super noodles" mood that some people persist with. In many cases this sentiment has an element of truth, but sometimes it's completely wrong.

On an unrelated note, I'm personally intrigued at the regularity that certain people refer to themselves in the third person in print. (Just intrigued. My eyebrows remain unaffected)

The only other people I've found doing that (apart from the Rté licence fee correspondents here) are Cliff Richard, Bob Dole, Charles Manson, and former 'wrestler' The Rock.

I'm not suggesting (as certain sociologists & psychiatrists have done) that this is evidence of any kind of superiority or Narcissistic complex, just saying that it seems to be a trait held by people I wouldn't necessarily like to be stuck in a lift with.

FlutterinBantam

You forgot Mr Pighead, a cardinal error for a boardsie.

Rather convoluted and obtuse bit of amateur psychology their son.

I sometimes refer to myself in the third person,merely because I find it easier to articulate my views,nothing more sinister.

My reason for starting the thread was that the sports team on RTE last weekend seemed to me ,an enthusiastic and appreciative listener,seemed to emphasise the "Group" bit of TOD's title, as if they were suggesting it was a new position.

Nothing more sinister than that I can assure you.

Analyse that!!

2fivers

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Analyse that!!

No, but thanks all the same for the invite.

Narcissism aside, any comment on the whole "one corr being cheaper than three corrs" argument in response to your suggestion that his title was simply a by-product of beurocracy and a waste of licence fee funds?

FlutterinBantam

Can't quite get to the nub of your response there poster,but a tad off topic,there seems to be an attitude out there that those of us who pay taxes and license fees should never critisise RTE.

As a person who can tick both those boxes, I feel perfectly entitled to articulate my opinion on the goings on in "the Cattery" as Crown refers to it as,and I certainly won't be blinded with science by vested interests.

I think I would be not unfair if I articulated my opinion that there is quite a bit of "fat"in Montrose,and my thread about TOD was probably an extension of this fact.
TOD per se may be a good reporter,though,as Crown said, a tad charismatically deficient,and certainly not someone I would dash home to see.

Seems at home with the away Irish supporters,and to use your own analogy,not a coterie of folk I would be too anxious to share a lift with either.

2fivers

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Can't quite get to the nub of your response there poster,but a tad off topic,there seems to be an attitude out there that those of us who pay taxes and license fees should never critisise RTE.

No such attitude from me. In fact I said somewhat the opposite. Regarding criticising rté's alleged wasteful spending of the licence fee i said :

The Fivers wrote:

In many cases this sentiment has an element of truth, but sometimes it's completely wrong.

Nothing there about never criticising, just a hope that the criticism would be based on genuine acts of wastefulness, instead of just the very mention of rté starting off the same carnival of bile every time.

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

As a person who can tick both those boxes, I feel perfectly entitled to articulate my opinion on the goings on in "the Cattery" as Crown refers to it as,and I certainly won't be blinded with science by vested interests.

If that last line's an insinuation that I'm Derek Mooney or Anne Doyle or Gay Byrne or whoever,rallying to the defence of the valiant employer, it's slightly off the mark; there's nothing 'vested' about me in the slightest.
In fact, unless the national broadcaster suddenly need a presenter for a show called "guys who fix your DVD player", I shan't be troubling them on the employment front any time in the near future. (And they wont. To be honest, that'd be more of a "Discovery Real Time" programme)

But then, that seems to be a trend here :

Poster A makes a relatively harmless comment such as : "Isnt' XXX XXXX doing well on that new programme XXXX XXX on Rté 2?"
Poster B says "Rté is wasting my licence money on pogs and tamagotchis! Boo! Down with rté!
Poster A says "Are you sure? That doesn't really sound right..."
And Poster B, backed up with rabid support from fresh-out-of-the-asylum Poster C launch a joint attack along the lines of :
"YOU OBVIOUSLY WORK FOR RTE!"
"HI THERE, DG OF RTE. YOU BIG FAT CAT WASTER!"
"OUTED!"
"BURN THE WITCH!"
"ITS MY LICENCE FEE! HOW DARE YOU TELL ME HOW IT SHOULD BE SPENT!"
"DOWN WITH TAMAGOTCHIS!"
"YOU ARE GAY!"
"EVERYONE IN RTE IS GAY!"
"ESPECIALLY YOU!"
"AND YOU'RE STUPID!"
"AND A COMMUNIST!"
"THEY'RE ALL COMMUNISTS!"

It's just gotten a little tiresome & predictable now. Any mention of rté, good or bad, will inevitably be followed by references to fatness and catteries and licence fees and jesus I cant go on. Even typing it is draining my will to live...

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

I think I would be not unfair if I articulated my opinion that there is quite a bit of "fat"in Montrose,and my thread about TOD was probably an extension of this fact.
TOD per se may be a good reporter,though,as Crown said, a tad charismatically deficient,and certainly not someone I would dash home to see.

Seems at home with the away Irish supporters,and to use your own analogy,not a coterie of folk I would be too anxious to share a lift with either.

That's certainly fair enough.

Regarding the seemingly elusive Nub of my response, it referred to this earlier post :

Leaderbored wrote: »

Anyway, being that your argument is seemingly a beaurocratic/ semantic one, couldn't it be argued that it's better that Rté have a "group" correspondent, rather than separate telly ones, radio ones and interwebby ones?

Surely one face/wage is less beaurocratic (and less of a strain on the licence fee) than 3 or more?

- There's still no comment from the anti-rté posters who've visited the thread as to whether 1 group corr is less strain on the old licence fee than three separate ones.

Is it possible that the anti cattery foundation are either hoping nobody notices the common sense contained in it & just continue to focus on the silly titles they give their staff, or they are considering that sometimes, just sometimes, the powers that be at rté make economically effective decisions and maybe the rants aren't entirely necessary every single time those three little letters (and a fada) are typed here?

Just wondering.

tbh

you certainly seem to have a handle on this forum after 8 posts, fair play

2fivers

Eservice forum veteran.

Html is my bitch.

Fulton Crown

2fivers wrote: »

N

Regarding the seemingly elusive Nub of my response, it referred to this earlier post :
- There's still no comment from the anti-rté posters who've visited the thread as to whether 1 group corr is less strain on the old licence fee than three separate ones.
QUOTE]

Some good points there I will agree - and obviously I agree that 1 Group corr is more effective than three separate ones.....

.......Can't help the old niggling feeling though (around the eyebrows)that in the case of RTE you will have the 1 Group Corr AND the three separate ones...but that might be down to The Crowns sorry my essentialy cynical nature.

Or ..perhaps by reports that RTE will have one of the biggest reporting teams at the Bejing Olympics in proportion to the number of athletes competing.