RTE bashed over GAA coverage

civis_liberalis

Am I the only one who thinks this is nonsense?

RTE bashed over GAA coverage

By Martin Breheny
Tuesday December 07 2010

RTE is in for a December bashing at GAA county conventions arising from the reduction in the number of games to be screened next year.
The national station will show 31 championship games live in 2011, with TV3 screening a further nine.
That's an overall drop of 10 in a move brought about by the GAA, who felt that the amount of live coverage in recent years had a negative impact on attendances at some games and on club fixtures.
While there's general acceptance that the championships are well covered by TV, complaints have arisen over RTE's approach to Gaelic games other than in the summer-autumn period.
Dublin CEO John Costello is the latest to attack RTE, claiming that hurling and football are "slipping down the decision-makers' list of priorities when it comes to scheduling".
Costello claims that, by 2013, RTE will show more live League of Ireland soccer action than Gaelic games.
"RTE screened 18 domestic soccer games this year, a figure that is set to increase to 33 by 2013. Likewise, rugby will eclipse Gaelic games in terms of live coverage, with our national broadcaster contracted to show Six Nations, autumn Tests as well as All-Ireland and Magners League," writes Costello in his annual report.
"The attitude towards Gaelic games in Montrose seems to be that our national games are only played during the months of June, July, August and September."
Costello is particularly critical of RTE's failure to carry a preview-style programme throughout the season.
He accepts that it was a Croke Park decision to cut back on live championship coverage, but argues that RTE is not giving Gaelic games due attention for the rest of the year.
"I am aware of recent comments by the Ard Stiurthoir (Paraic Duffy) that the GAA were overdoing the live coverage. However, it's my contention that GAA supporters are not getting a fair deal from the national broadcaster."
RTE's live GAA coverage is confined to the championships, which they share (on a majority basis) with TV3. TG4 and Setanta share National League coverage, while TG4 also have the club championships and the International Rules series.
- Martin Breheny
Irish Independent

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/rte-bashed-over-gaa-coverage-2450456.html

Feel free to take the following opinions apart if they are based on incorrect assumptions.

The numbers of games dropping is the doing of the association itself and quoting RTÉ figures on their own is absolute nonsense since they have allowed TV3 to also screen matches, along with Setanta and TG4.

I'm actually quite sceptical of there having been any drop at all, but I can't back that up.

The association were worried that too many games being televised was affecting attendances, but now they are moaning about not having enough? The selective use of figures is quite annoying also.

The League of Ireland was never a priority for RTÉ, and certaintly isn't now either. They quoted the LOI having 33 games a season shown by 2013. There must be at least 50 games shown a year on Irish TV at all levels. Maybe a good bit more, but I don't want to throw mad figures out there I can't back up.

I have very little love for our national broadcaster when it comes to sport, but it's some cheek for the anyone in the GAA to give out to RTÉ about a lack of coverage.

c_man

I'd agree totally with you.

Costello is particularly critical of RTE's failure to carry a preview-style programme throughout the season.

I do miss Road to Croker (and Breaking Ball before it). I assumed that wasn't on last championship owing to the World Cup coverage and associated costs.

keane2097

Having a ton of games on the TV - many of which have been appalling from a quality/entertainment point of view - does very little for the GAA IMO.

megadodge

keane2097 wrote: »

Having a ton of games on the TV - many of which have been appalling from a quality/entertainment point of view - does very little for the GAA IMO.

Well it works for the Premiership!

keane2097

megadodge wrote: »

Well it works for the Premiership!

Bad football is worse than bad soccer from an aesthetic point of view imo.

Also, numbers travelling to matches would not be anywhere near as badly affected by games being on TV for the EPL compared to the GAA.

blackbelt

Swings and roundabouts,the GAA are making cuts in one revenue avenue in order to try and boost gate receipts.The turnover in gate receipts doesn't compare to tv rights and packages especially when it comes to qualifiers and I for one would much rather see a boring match between Fermanagh and Westmeath as opposed to a bad boring soccer match between United and West Brom.

Also there are many GAA fans and those in particular who play/ref the game at club level throughout the country who love nothing more than to relax on a Saturday/Sunday afternoon after playing a game in the morning and catch up on whats happening in the Championship.

It seems that the GAA are not communicating with county boards and issues like these have to be brought up at congress.I don't get the idea of how tv matches are affecting attendance.People will support and attend their counties matches if they want and can afford to.Whether a particular match is televised or not,all it does is alienate certain counties who may have had little or no coverage all year.

Longford and Sligo are classic examples of this when they nearly beat or indeed beat big teams like Kerry,Galway and Mayo.

Orizio

The GAA told RTE to cut the amount of games, RTE did, so what's the problem?

blackbelt

Orizio wrote: »

The GAA told RTE to cut the amount of games, RTE did, so what's the problem?

The problem is that the view of the GAA is not reflected by the view or input of a lot of county boards.

super_furry

Orizio wrote: »

The GAA told RTE to cut the amount of games, RTE did, so what's the problem?

The problem is that RTE replaced those GAA games with the Devil's foreign game! The GAA don't want their games on television but they certainly don't want anyone elses, it's a very Catholic Church approach.

Clareman

I think it's a typical fluff piece that is trawled out at least once a year. I would think that between all the broadcasters (TV and Radio) that the GAA is by far the most broadcast sport on the airwaves, there are no facts or figures in that piece.

I have always advocated a preview show that should be on for the GAA matches the coming weekend, I don't think half an hour would be good enough (with ads taken into account) for all sports, half an hour show for hurling and football with 5 minutes given to the other sports would be a great addition.

I also think that the FAI and IRFU contribute towards the production costs of a lot of the programs that are on TV.

I don't know what you mean Super Furry by likening the GAA to the Catholic Church, in fact I don't know what you mean about saying they don't want their games on TV, there are more matches on TV now that there ever was, they have said that they would prefer more people attend matches than watch it on TV.

Finally, RTE didn't replace those games with other games, they are just showing other games, there were never GAA matches shown on winter Friday nights, November Saturday's or February weekends.

Ian_K

The way i see it; more games = good, less games = bad

Dont care what the game is, if it's championship, i'll watch it

civis_liberalis

super_furry wrote: »

The problem is that RTE replaced those GAA games with the Devil's foreign game! The GAA don't want their games on television but they certainly don't want anyone elses, it's a very Catholic Church approach.

That is my opinion, but I didn't want to sound like I was coming onto the GAA forum to give out about it because I have no interest in seeing it myself. As our national games, they have as much right as any other to be shown.

How this nonsense is phrased, you'd swear soccer was only played by foreigners in this country. There were 250 odd players in squads of League Of Ireland Premier teams last season and only around 35 of them are "foreign", mostly from across the water.

Domestic soccer was badly neglected for years in this country. There are four broadcasters in this country covering Gaelic games. I'm sure I've seen TV3 doing preview type shows for the GAA.

The only reason RTÉ are paying any heed to the League Of Ireland is because they were forced into it by the FAI.

I'm all for the GAA wanting the best for its games, but the stench of entitlement that wafts from some of them is sickening.

civis_liberalis

Ian_K wrote: »

The way i see it; more games = good, less games = bad

Dont care what the game is, if it's championship, i'll watch it

I think you are in the minority though. I'm a huge soccer fan, but I won't watch any aul shíte [insert domestic football joke here]. The bulk of potential TV audiences will be put off my two lesser counties being less than entertaining.

Orizio

The problem is that RTE replaced those GAA games with the Devil's foreign game!

Hyperbole much?

The GAA don't want their games on television

...the GAA doesn't want any of their games on the television! :eek:

but they certainly don't want anyone elses, it's a very Catholic Church approach.

You are going to have to elaborate as the what the **** the above gibberish means, because it just seems like you are linking the GAA and the RCC in an entirely fallacious and borderline trolling manner.

civis_liberalis

Orizio wrote: »

You are going to have to elaborate as the what the **** the above gibberish means, because it just seems like you are linking the GAA and the RCC in an entirely fallacious and borderline trolling manner.

My reading of it was that he meant that they are displaying a very parochial attitude towards anybody else.

Orizio

civis_liberalis wrote: »

My reading of it was that he meant that they are displaying a very parochial attitude towards anybody else.

I think you are being generous - he seemed to be conflating the RCC and the GAA in an attempt to damage the altter by assocaition. Plus I'm not really sure the RCC is parochial, I mean its a lot of awful things included small-minded but its not local.

Finally, he is still conflating the views of one GAA member with the views of the organisation as a whole, which is inaccurate.

keane2097

Think it was a fair enough analogy tbh.

megadodge

keane2097 wrote: »

Bad football is worse than bad soccer from an aesthetic point of view imo.

Also, numbers travelling to matches would not be anywhere near as badly affected by games being on TV for the EPL compared to the GAA.

Well in my opinion (and I'm not saying this to start a row), there is nothing on the planet more unappealing than a bad game of soccer. But then again even a so-called good game is poor entertainment value in my eyes, so I'm obviously biased.

However, the blanket coverage Sky have given the Premiership (including the weaker teams) over the last 15 years or so has done remarkable things for the profile of the game in England (and the world). It's self-perpetuating - 'no publicity is bad publicity' type of thing. And it has to be said the profile of GAA games and players has never been higher than at present and this is directly as a result of the higher number of games being covered on TV over the last 10 years or so.

I'm too lazy to search but I would suspect that if you look at the attendance figures from before heavy TV coverage of GAA and attendance figures since, they would have increased. Attendance figures showing a drop in the last year or two can be put directly down to the economic situation, where the costs involved are hitting people hard.

keane2097

Yeah I suppose I didn't say exactly what I meant there.

I think - by and large - EPL games between mediocre teams tend to be less turgid, soul-destroying affairs than football games between mediocre teams.

Bad point kicking, stop-start games with a tonne of frees seem to happen an awful lot, and they're really really terrible to watch.

I feel like soccer games between bad teams can be exciting more often than football games between bad teams.

A soccer game between a top team and a bad team (e.g. United vs Rangers in the CL recently) is more likely to be unwatchable than a game between two bad teams willing to have a go at each other IMO.

When it's two bad football teams I think the majority of the time the skill level is so poor that the games are aesthetically awful, despite the fact that our appreciation for the sport as a whole makes them more compelling viewing than run of the mill soccer games.

I'm aware that this is a bit rambly, I hope my point is some bit understandable

shockframe

keane2097 wrote: »

Yeah I suppose I didn't say exactly what I meant there.

I think - by and large - EPL games between mediocre teams tend to be less turgid, soul-destroying affairs than football games between mediocre teams.

Bad point kicking, stop-start games with a tonne of frees seem to happen an awful lot, and they're really really terrible to watch.

I feel like soccer games between bad teams can be exciting more often than football games between bad teams.

A soccer game between a top team and a bad team (e.g. United vs Rangers in the CL recently) is more likely to be unwatchable than a game between two bad teams willing to have a go at each other IMO.

When it's two bad football teams I think the majority of the time the skill level is so poor that the games are aesthetically awful, despite the fact that our appreciation for the sport as a whole makes them more compelling viewing than run of the mill soccer games.

I'm aware that this is a bit rambly, I hope my point is some bit understandable

I would take a bad game of gaelic football over a bad game of soccer any day.

Even as bad as games like derry and armagh were last year they were still better than most other soccer matches.

Go back to the world cup and you had some absolutely awful games.it was a relief to see a game like limerick and kerry in the munster final after it.not so much the quarter finals that took place the same weekend but the paraguay and japan type match would be a good comparison.

Not that im against soccer.i like watching almost as much as gaa when its played well.

one interesting point I would like to make.If rte started showing leagues other than the premiership i would say interest would decline fairly rapidly.

aDeener

keane2097 wrote: »

Bad football is worse than bad soccer from an aesthetic point of view imo.

Also, numbers travelling to matches would not be anywhere near as badly affected by games being on TV for the EPL compared to the GAA.

jeez i don't know about that. i've seen nothing worse than the world cup and even more recently the manchester derby. pure pain to watch.

breaking ball was excellent, what a shame that was got rid of

megadodge

keane2097 wrote: »

Yeah I suppose I didn't say exactly what I meant there.

I think - by and large - EPL games between mediocre teams tend to be less turgid, soul-destroying affairs than football games between mediocre teams.

Bad point kicking, stop-start games with a tonne of frees seem to happen an awful lot, and they're really really terrible to watch.

I feel like soccer games between bad teams can be exciting more often than football games between bad teams.

A soccer game between a top team and a bad team (e.g. United vs Rangers in the CL recently) is more likely to be unwatchable than a game between two bad teams willing to have a go at each other IMO.

When it's two bad football teams I think the majority of the time the skill level is so poor that the games are aesthetically awful, despite the fact that our appreciation for the sport as a whole makes them more compelling viewing than run of the mill soccer games.

I'm aware that this is a bit rambly, I hope my point is some bit understandable

You explained yourself fine. It's just that my opinion is the complete opposite. I find all soccer dull.

Magi11

I think it's common knowledge that the GAA is not valued highly by those in RTE. I think the lack of a preview show every week is indicative of this. But I think the best example was the short-lived "Fans Forum" on the Sunday Game at the start of the 2007 season. This basically had supporters giving their thoughts on the match. Not a bad idea but if course the idiots in Montrose who are more likely to know which county Kevin Peterson plays for than Kevin Walsh manages. So after the Galway v Mayo first round game that year they had one guy shouting Up Mayo, one shouting Up Galway and some foreign bird on saying how she liked ze Irish men!!! Surely someone came up with better analysis than that but it seems that the powers that be think that its all us bog warriors want so they can foist any old crap onto us and we will love it.
Thankfully this forum died a death soon after (Eamonn Sweeney tore it to shreds in an article around the time) but Rugby or Soccer viewers would never have been subjected to this rubbish.