breakingnews.ie

[A face]

Sent a mail breakingnews.ie asking why in a two day eroid there were 40 articles on footie and only one of them was eircom league news related.
Just look at his signature and IMO ... it is a total fob off. Pathetic to be honest.

here is the reply ....

********************************************

Hi A face,

In response to your query regarding eircom League, we do endeavor to give the Irish domestic league its due coverage. We have always provided Premier Division match reports and First Division results. Then, a few months ago we commissioned a freelance journalist to provide news on transfers, managerial changes, suspensions, gossip etc on a daily basis. You may have noticed we were running about 20 eircom League stories a week, on top of match coverage during the season. This agreement ran until the end of November, admittedly leaving a noticeable gap in our service.

Budgetary constraints dictate that we cannot provide this level of service in the close season. However, we now have a freelance in place to make sure that we do not miss the major eircom stories during the close season, as happened two weeks ago. Our full eircom news service will resume at the beginning of March.

Hope this answers your query. Please contact me if you have any other questions.

Best regards,

----------------------------
Fergal Barry-Murphy
Sports Editor
Thomas Crosbie Media

Tel: 021-230 4013
www.rugby.ie
www.breakingnews.ie

[monutdfc]

Sounds like a fair enough reply to me. There's not much happening in the close season.
I'd say there won't be much more tansfer activity until January now.

[A face]

This was before the close season.

[pineapple stu]

Just look at his signature...

What's up with the signature?

Sounds fair to me - he says that they're reducing the service during the close season only and it'll be back in full in March. Can't complain about that surely?

[A face]

What's up with the signature?

It was the rugger and no mention of any other sport that p1ssed me off ... stupid i know but hey. Why not the TCM site and let people get to rugger one from there and promote everything else aswell .... again .. just me being small minded.


Sounds fair to me - he says that they're reducing the service during the close season only and it'll be back in full in March. Can't complain about that surely?

Lads ... it was during the season, not right now. Fair enough cutting back but when did it start ... there is not a whole lot to cut back on.

[atfconline]

They have always been fine to me with any press releases I have sent them. Always put online fairly promptly, as do everyone else once they receive the news. eL clubs just don't sent out enough releases.

[pineapple stu]

Lads ... it was during the season, not right now. Fair enough cutting back but when did it start ... there is not a whole lot to cut back on.

You mean you've been brooding over this for the last three or four weeks?! :D

How long between the e-mail and the reply?

Nice to see they've actually got someone working specially on the eL, and that they've expanded the coverage during the year though...

[dahamsta]

I had a few pints with the TCM gang not so long ago and proceeded to lart both the general editor and Fergal on the subjects of "lack of coverage of IrelandOffline and comms issues in general" and "lack of eL coverage" respectively, the latter at the prompting of you lot. They larted me right back, and won by a country mile.

At it's most basic, the problem is that of demand: The majority of people want Premiership news, and majority rules in news. They're not a charity and it's not up to them to set an agenda like "support your local team". That task is the FAI's, the club's, and yours.

It's up to the FAI to stop bickering and fighting like drunken hoors scrapping over a €10 john. It's up to the clubs to excel on the pitch and innovate off the pitch, to draw in the premiership traitors. And it's up to the fans to scream their little brains out at the match, and more importantly drag strangers off the street into matches.

I mean, jesus, if ye can only get me to two matches a year, what hope have ye? :)

I promise to go to at least four next year. It's a progressive thing.

BTW, I though the rugby.ie thing was a real nitpick, like it made me think "jaysus, is that the best you could come up with to complain about?" It's just advertising and marketing, it's unlikely he's expressing a personal preference. Struck me as a big premiership fan tbh, maybe ye should drag him along to a few matches and the pub afterwards for free. It's the oirish way after all. :)

adam

[A face]

You mean you've been brooding over this for the last three or four weeks?! :D

Yup ... i know .. sad


How long between the e-mail and the reply? a bit ... i didn't get round to it either though.



Nice to see they've actually got someone working specially on the eL, and that they've expanded the coverage during the year though...

I suppose !!

[A face]

BTW, I though the rugby.ie thing was a real nitpick,

It was !! :mad: :p


like it made me think "jaysus, is that the best you could come up with to complain about?"

For now ... yes !! :D


It's just advertising and marketing, it's unlikely he's expressing a personal preference. Struck me as a big premiership fan tbh, maybe ye should drag him along to a few matches and the pub afterwards for free. It's the oirish way after all. :)

adam


No a bad idea !! .... and good points made there too !!

[patsh]

At it's most basic, the problem is that of demand: The majority of people want Premiership news, and majority rules in news. They're not a charity and it's not up to them to set an agenda like "support your local team". That task is the FAI's, the club's, and yours.
Chicken and egg scenario.
There is a whole question there about who created this demand. When SKY took over soccer first, the demand was minisicule compared to now. By spending BILLIONS they have created huge hype and the idea that the Premiership is a must see, got to be involved, experience. The rest of the media in this country, newspapers, TV and radio, is on the one hand simply responding to the demand that was created, but on the other hand, contributing to the ongoing hype, thus creating more demand etc. etc.
SKY promote every match like itsa major event, and slowly but surely, this overkill is lessening the interest and making people jaded.

[dahamsta]

Sky and BreakingNews.ie are totally different chickens and eggs. Sky is the only media platform - because it's a platform - that could achieve what they achieved. But yes, the rest of the media contributes, and that's why fans must continue to do what face did. With a mite less of the righteous indignation.

adam

[Sheridan]

Chicken and egg scenario.
There is a whole question there about who created this demand. When SKY took over soccer first, the demand was minisicule compared to now. By spending BILLIONS they have created huge hype and the idea that the Premiership is a must see, got to be involved, experience. The rest of the media in this country, newspapers, TV and radio, is on the one hand simply responding to the demand that was created, but on the other hand, contributing to the ongoing hype, thus creating more demand etc. etc.

Indeed. If ever you get cornered by this non-logic again, Adam, produce the infallible trump card. Ask your opponent to name another country, particularly another country with first-world pretensions and a national team ranked in the world's top 20, where a situation analogous or identical to the one that governs the relationship between Premiership and the Irish media exists. The question is both rhetorical and unanswerable, but the only remotely valid comparison is with Hong Kong. Hong. Kong. That's the level of sporting and cultural sophistication we're dealing with here.

Also, this that's-what-the-market-dictates line is bullsh*t. If anyone has to be told by now that the media brings its own values to the table, they haven't been listening for the past fifty years. Remember, an Irish sports journalist is a just a barstool buffoon with a spellchecker.

[patsh]

Sky and BreakingNews.ie are totally different chickens and eggs.
adamI wasn't comparing Sky to Breakingnews. Sky "created" the interest, Breakingnews is responding to it, but also no adding to the interest.
The chicken and egg I referred to was which came first: The public demand for Premiership coverage, or the Premiership hype which created this public demand?
I also think that more and more eL fans do inquire/demand coverage from various media outlets, and I personally think eL coverage has increased in the last few years, from a period of few years when it became almost non-existent.

[dahamsta]

Sheridan, are you seriously trying to suggest that there's a bigger market for domestic league football than the premiership? Are you seriously trying to tell me that the media holds a majority of blame for this situation?

As I said in a previous post, I take the point that the media holds a small amount of blame. So your response is redundant.

adam

[Jim Smith]

The truely sad thing about this is that, compared with the rest of the media, about 20 eL stories a week is quite a high degree of coverage :(

I wonder how proactive the clubs are when it comes to supplying news?

[dahamsta]

The truely sad thing about this is that, compared with the rest of the media, about 20 eL stories a week is quite a high degree of coverageThe thing to remember about BreakingNews.ie, though, is that they have enormous story turnover because they're sitting there ploughing news into the system constantly. You'd wonder how visible those stories are.


I wonder how proactive the clubs are when it comes to supplying news?If they're anything like City used to be, not very, and extremely ineffectively. And that's another thing about BN.ie: If they get a press release, a story is almost guaranteed, so not sending the release is just plain idiotic.

adam

[Sheridan]

Sheridan, are you seriously trying to suggest that there's a bigger market for domestic league football than the premiership?
Well, I'm inclined to answer "no", but the viewing figures for TV coverage of domestic football won't let me do so without certain nagging reservations.


Are you seriously trying to tell me that the media holds a majority of blame for this situation?
Yes and no. When confronted with a situation which is unique in the whole of Europe (outside the British Isles anyway) -- namely, widespread ignorance and outright denigration of the domestic national league --it makes sense to examine factors which set that situation apart from all others. Lack of media coverage is the obvious starting point.

Unless you want to go down the post-colonial route, it's the only interpretation that makes sense. I certainly wasn't born with any inherent antipathy towards domestic football. As a football-mad kid, I took my cues from the media, and the message I picked up was that League of Ireland football might possibly exist, but that if it did, that it wasn't worth bothering with.

I'd apportion the blame as follows - 60% media, 20% national team, 20% public at large.

[Jim Smith]

I'd apportion the blame as follows - 60% media, 20% national team, 20% public at large.
Do you not think that the clubs and the FAI are in anyway to blame?

[joey B]

Every single media outlet in Ireland dont have adequate eircom league coverage,why single out this one?

[Sheridan]

Do you not think that the clubs and the FAI are in anyway to blame?
Well yeah, but that's a separate issue, innit? The English FA is almost as bad, and it doesn't seem to affect the popularity of the game there. The difference is media-driven promotion (and the fact that England is actually a football/sporting country.)

[Jim Smith]

Well yeah, but that's a separate issue, innit? The English FA is almost as bad, and it doesn't seem to affect the popularity of the game there. The difference is media-driven promotion (and the fact that England is actually a football/sporting country.)
It not that separate an issue. Most smaller football clubs just haven't moved with the times. I'm not sure about England's premireship but the SPL is distinct from the SFA and does what's best for the SPL rather than what's best for Scottish football. Most of the smaller clubs are just desperate to survive.

Isn't football the most popular participation sport in Ireland which would make Ireland a football/sporting country too?

[dahamsta]

Do you not think that the clubs and the FAI are in anyway to blame?Precisely. I'd attribute a very large majority of the blame to the clubs and the FAI. As to the media, if I was a sports editor I think I'd find it very hard indeed to justify resources to eL coverage given the quality of league as compared to it's primary opponent over here. I won't get into the quality of the game because I'd be painting myself into a corner, but the professionalism of both the league managers and the club managers leaves an awful lot to be desired. The Premier League section of the FAI website alone is an embarassment.

adam

[pete]

Isn't football the most popular participation sport in Ireland which would make Ireland a football/sporting country too?

I believe that is true. GAA may claim more members of clubs but football would have a lot of 5-aside people 'n stuff...

I also heard Dublin has most football clubs per european city & that may not even be on per capita basis. Probably helped by lot of small clubs with few facilities.

[Schumi]

I believe that is true. GAA may claim more members of clubs but football would have a lot of 5-aside people 'n stuff...

I also heard Dublin has most football clubs per european city & that may not even be on per capita basis. Probably helped by lot of small clubs with few facilities.
There was something in the Herald a while back saying that there was 13,000 people playing football in Dublin compared to 4,000 playing GAA.

[gspain]

The GAA have more members than the F.A.I. (don't really have the concept but players really) because

1) They cover 2 sports

2) Allow for clubhouse drinking members who don't play.

3) Cover the whole island - IFA cover football in Northern Ireland

However football is far and away the most popular participant sport in this country. This has been the case since before 1986. Take a look at the Herald and all the leagues and games played every weekend at adult and schoolboy level.

Unfortunately most football players go the pub to watch Sky Sports rather than to our domestic league. Hence GAA is by far the biggest spectator sport in the country.

Even in NI where the GAA excludes almost 60% of the population they still get better attendance figures than football or rugby.

Ask anybody here what team they support and you will get Man Utd Liverpool et al in most cases - not Shelbourne or Cork City or Munster or Kerry gaelic team or even Clonliffe Harriers or Muckross.

[Bluesky]

With regard to EL coverage it might be useful to compare with the GAA (a purely local product) rather than the global media phenomenon of the premiership.

Very noticeable in recent years the increasing number of GAA jerseys on the streets compared to EL. Possibly my imagination but I would link this to the increasing number of live GAA championship matches.

The big difference I see between the codes is marketing. The GAA has proper sponsors who have been able to market the games as heroic events of epic proportions-in comparison the eircom mouse is literallly a pantomime joke.

In short I blame the Merrion Squares and their sponsors for the general lack of interest in the league

[Sheridan]

As to the media, if I was a sports editor I think I'd find it very hard indeed to justify resources to eL coverage given the quality of league as compared to it's primary opponent over here. I won't get into the quality of the game because I'd be painting myself into a corner, but the professionalism of both the league managers and the club managers leaves an awful lot to be desired. The Premier League section of the FAI website alone is an embarassment.

Well, I've said my piece, but I just wanted to jump in here for a sec. The quality of football on offer has nothing to do with its popularity in any given constituency. If it did, Irish viewers wouldn't be so fixated with the Premiership, a league manifestly inferior to those in Spain and Italy. If anyone seriously doubts that quality/stature is not the primary criterion by which football is judged amongst casual supporters, all they need do is reflect on TV3's broadcasting of a meaningless Champions League fixture between Manchester United and Macabbi Haifa several years ago, on a night when half-a-dozen more intriguing games were taking place across Europe, and the fact that uproar would have resulted had they decided to screen one of the latter.

Additionally, bear in mind that many non-league clubs in England play to larger attendances than clubs of a higher (or equivalent, if you want to take the barstool line) footballing standard in this country. The quality of football has nothing to do with it. It's about, to use the hideous Americanism, brand loyalty. And brand loyalty, in football as in marketing, is a by-product of media-driven promotion.

[dahamsta]

I never said anything about the quality of the game, in fact if you read my post you'll see that I specifically set it aside to cover the business aspect of the game. I think we'll leave it at that, I'm an old man with very little energy for tangential debate these days.

adam

[Éanna]

Well, I've said my piece, but I just wanted to jump in here for a sec. The quality of football on offer has nothing to do with its popularity in any given constituency. If it did, Irish viewers wouldn't be so fixated with the Premiership, a league manifestly inferior to those in Spain and Italy. If anyone seriously doubts that quality/stature is not the primary criterion by which football is judged amongst casual supporters, all they need do is reflect on TV3's broadcasting of a meaningless Champions League fixture between Manchester United and Macabbi Haifa several years ago, on a night when half-a-dozen more intriguing games were taking place across Europe, and the fact that uproar would have resulted had they decided to screen one of the latter.

Additionally, bear in mind that many non-league clubs in England play to larger attendances than clubs of a higher (or equivalent, if you want to take the barstool line) footballing standard in this country. The quality of football has nothing to do with it. It's about, to use the hideous Americanism, brand loyalty. And brand loyalty, in football as in marketing, is a by-product of media-driven promotion.
I knew I'd agree with you on something eventually sheridan :) very well said

[A face]

* Conclusion : Breaking News dont cover enough eL football



Now




Someon else point another media body/group .... and we'll see what result we get !!

Or maybe .... if we pick a club aswell !!

[Jim Smith]

It's about, to use the hideous Americanism, brand loyalty. And brand loyalty, in football as in marketing, is a by-product of media-driven promotion.
While brand loyalty is a part of it there is more. I grew up in Ayr and to me its unthinkable that I'd support another Scottish team. Now Ayr United are not well marketed and, although it pains me to say it, they aren't quite the force they used to be. Now, I rarely get to see them play but they are a part of me and if they were ever playing CCFC I'd have no doubt who I'd be cheering on :eek:

Its tribalism based on being born into a tribe rather than choosing a tribe and this is what is strangley absent in the greater Irish football watching public. The GAA have this 'locality loyalty' (OK now I'm making up phrases) in spades and, from what I can gather, always have. How many Kerry people would follow Kilkenny in a hurling match (the gluf between the eL and the Premireship is about the same, isn't it?)....

I must admit I find this particularly strange in Cork as Corkonians get very defensive about everything and anything to do with Cork with the exception of domestic football.

I suppose what we should be asking is what broke the most basic of brand loyalties where domestic football is concerned and I feel that it must have taken more than just a slick marketing campaign on the part of Sky. Having said that the only people who can win back the loyalty are the clubs and the FAI - and at least some of the clubs seem to be getting there act together. I actually think things are getting better, certainly over the last 10 years that I'e been watching football here.