https://www.independent.ie/sport/ga...n-terrestial-television/a191971432.htmlEamonn Sweeney: GAA shooting itself in foot by depriving fans of seeing big games like Cork v Clare on terrestrial television.
The GAA and RTÉ should stop exploiting Munster hurling fans. Supporters shouldn’t be treated as cash cows and milked to finance GAAGO.
Cork’s meeting with Clare was always going to matter more than Galway’s clash with Kilkenny. The competitiveness of the Munster championship means every game matters.
Yesterday’s encounter between the Rebels and the Banner with its sudden-death feel was the highlight of the GAA weekend, yet was virtually sidelined.
This isn’t hindsight. Kilkenny-Galway was never going to be that important because both sides are virtually guaranteed a Leinster final rematch.
Their meeting in Pearse Stadium was immensely entertaining but felt like a high-class challenge game. Defeat would not have greatly inconvenienced either side.
Whereas in Cork everything seemed to be at stake. The tension and excitement of genuine big-time championship hurling match were present in spades. They weren’t in Galway.
No doubt GAAGO’s apologists will say it can’t be all Munster hurling on TV and the other province needs a look-in.
But neutrals would have overwhelmingly preferred to see the game from Cork. A crowd of under 10,000 in Galway showed even Leinster hurling fans aren’t that pushed about their provincial competition right now.
Quite a few people in Pearse Stadium were checking their phones to see what was happening down south. RTE’s decision to give top billing to Clare-Cork on the nine o’clock news was an implicit admission of the real pecking order and also of their own hypocrisy.
The Munster hurling championship is effectively the only game in town at the moment given the structure of both hurling and football competitions. But that simple fact appears to be ignored by RTÉ.
Next Saturday Waterford host Tipperary in Walsh Park. The GAA’s most controversial manager could practically clinch a remarkable surprise qualification.
Is it on television? No. It’s on GAAGO.
The following Saturday Cork host Limerick in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The Rebels might have one final chance to avoid elimination. The stadium will be packed, the joint will be jumping. The opposition will be the outstanding team in Irish sport, a once in a lifetime outfit who should be shown as often as possible to the widest audience. Is it on television? No. It’s on GAAGO.
Those games are box office. But broadcasting decisions seem, to the outside observer, unduly influenced by the potential for screwing money out of the public.
Attractive fixtures are apparently being hived off to get people into the habit of paying to watch big championship games on TV. This cynical sleevenism is, for all the short term profits generated, probably self-defeating for the GAA.
This year’s hurling quarter-finals, for example, will be switched to Saturday afternoon with the first game at 1.15. Why? RTÉ want to show the United Rugby Championship (URC) final the same evening.
URC games will also hog the TV coverage on the Saturdays when big Munster hurling matches are demoted to GAAGO.
The URC is a competition where the Irish provinces often field understrength teams. Yet the GAA seem happy for the All-Ireland championship to be treated as inferior to a second tier rugby competition.
Diminishing the importance of All-Ireland quarter-finals by sticking them on a Saturday lunchtime is, like restricting the audience for big games, a poor way to promote football and hurling.
Hunger for immediate financial gains has blinded the GAA to the possible implications for longterm public interest. The wisdom of being hand in glove with a national broadcaster widely distrusted by the general public seems questionable.
The impression is of a conspiracy against the viewer. Take the nonsensical situation whereby Sunday, June 15 is set aside for live broadcasts of the Tailteann Cup semi-finals.
There is little interest in the Tailteann Cup with last year’s semi-finals drawing 17,500 fans. Yet with just over a month left in a season where matches people actually wanted to watch were consigned to GAAGO, it will take prime position on a Sunday afternoon.
Is it on television? No. It’s on GAAGO.
The following Saturday Cork host Limerick in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The Rebels might have one final chance to avoid elimination. The stadium will be packed, the joint will be jumping. The opposition will be the outstanding team in Irish sport, a once in a lifetime outfit who should be shown as often as possible to the widest audience. Is it on television? No. It’s on GAAGO.
Those games are box office. But broadcasting decisions seem, to the outside observer, unduly influenced by the potential for screwing money out of the public.
Attractive fixtures are apparently being hived off to get people into the habit of paying to watch big championship games on TV. This cynical sleevenism is, for all the short term profits generated, probably self-defeating for the GAA.
This year’s hurling quarter-finals, for example, will be switched to Saturday afternoon with the first game at 1.15. Why? RTÉ want to show the United Rugby Championship (URC) final the same evening.
URC games will also hog the TV coverage on the Saturdays when big Munster hurling matches are demoted to GAAGO.
The URC is a competition where the Irish provinces often field understrength teams. Yet the GAA seem happy for the All-Ireland championship to be treated as inferior to a second tier rugby competition.
Diminishing the importance of All-Ireland quarter-finals by sticking them on a Saturday lunchtime is, like restricting the audience for big games, a poor way to promote football and hurling.
Hunger for immediate financial gains has blinded the GAA to the possible implications for longterm public interest. The wisdom of being hand in glove with a national broadcaster widely distrusted by the general public seems questionable.
The impression is of a conspiracy against the viewer. Take the nonsensical situation whereby Sunday, June 15 is set aside for live broadcasts of the Tailteann Cup semi-finals.
There is little interest in the Tailteann Cup with last year’s semi-finals drawing 17,500 fans. Yet with just over a month left in a season where matches people actually wanted to watch were consigned to GAAGO, it will take prime position on a Sunday afternoon.
Yesterday in Salthill I sat next to a long-time Galway season ticket-holder. She told me she’s thinking of giving it up because “it just feels like you’re on the go all the time. Week in week out, there’s no rest.”
Fans like this will support Jarlath Burns if he makes good on his promise to look at returning the championships to a more sensible calendar, with All-Ireland finals in August at the earliest. The new president will face opposition from those for whom the overcrowded schedule is not a problem but a marketing opportunity.
Cram too many games into too small a space and people will have no option but to stump up and watch them online.
It doesn’t have to be that way. There are many people around the country who like to travel and see big games even when their own county isn’t involved. They’d have liked to see both Cork-Clare and Limerick-Tipperary for example.
That’s become impossible because the championship is being hurried through to conform with a ludicrous experiment.
RTÉ are full of cant about changing their ways. But GAAGO is a classic ethically challenged Montrose arrangement. When they start serving the GAA fan rather than the GAA hierarchy, you’ll know they’ve really changed.
Don’t hold your breath. They still think you’re an eejit who’ll put up with anything.
