Cheers RTE

[sfc red]

Watching the Arsenal and Sunderland game on RTE today when the commentator (name eludes me at the moment) comments on Daryl Murphy...
"Scored 20 goals for Waterford Utd last season...Helped them to an FAI Cup Final...BUT PLAYING IN THE BIG LEAGUE NOW".
Thanks again lads, good to know that you can always rely on your national broadcaster to promote your national league. Any takers on when Murphy will be called into the Irish squad, seeing that he too has suddenly dramatically transformed from an average LOI player to a Premiership superstar??? :rolleyes:

[sligoman]

Watching the Arsenal and Sunderland game on RTE today when the commentator (name eludes me at the moment) comments on Daryl Murphy...
"Scored 20 goals for Waterford Utd last season...Helped them to an FAI Cup Final...BUT PLAYING IN THE BIG LEAGUE NOW".Heard that alright. Darragh Maloney I think is his name:mad:

[Soko]

Are we honestly comparing ourselves to the premiership?


He mentioned he was a former LOI standout and we should be happy he's playing in the premeirship. Next we'll be giving out about people rating the CL above our competitions:rolleyes:

[sfc red]

There's always one :rolleyes:

[hynzy]

ya there is always one. he didn't compare, he was just correctly pointing out that our national broadcaster should support our national league. in this country the BIG LEAGUE is the eircom premier. the sooner people start realising this the quicker the league will develop.

[town73]

Watching the Arsenal and Sunderland game on RTE today when the commentator (name eludes me at the moment)

Stephen Alkin was the commentator, with Jim "I don't think Henry is playing well tonight" Beglin.

[Anto McC]

Stephen Alkin was the commentator, with Jim "I don't think Henry is playing well tonight" Beglin.

I'd have thought so because i think Darragh Moloney is a fairly decent and competent commentator

[The Stars]

we should all e-mail rte with our views on this

[CollegeTillIDie]

Stephen Alkin is incompetent.

Michael O'Donnell has been playing for UCD since 1995. Tony McDonnell has been playing for UCD since 1993.

Alko refers to them as Michael McDonnell and Tony O'Donnell.
Michael McDonald used to be lead singer with the Doobie Brothers whose biggest US #1 hit was " What A Fool Believes" appropriate for Mr. Alkopop

[CollegeTillIDie]

I'd have thought so because i think Darragh Moloney is a fairly decent and competent commentator
Darragh hosted the Premiership highlights show last night.

[Cosmo]

Watching the Arsenal and Sunderland game on RTE today when the commentator (name eludes me at the moment) comments on Daryl Murphy...
"Scored 20 goals for Waterford Utd last season...Helped them to an FAI Cup Final...BUT PLAYING IN THE BIG LEAGUE NOW".
Thanks again lads, good to know that you can always rely on your national broadcaster to promote your national league. Any takers on when Murphy will be called into the Irish squad, seeing that he too has suddenly dramatically transformed from an average LOI player to a Premiership superstar??? :rolleyes:

In fairness, the Premiership is a so called 'Big League' when compared to the Eircom League :rolleyes:

[Copa Mundial]

In fairness, the Premiership is a so called 'Big League' when compared to the Eircom League :rolleyes:

Exactly.Some people are way too touchy. I take peoples point about promoting the EL as 'the big league'. Think the commentator was merely pointing out that Murphy has stepped up a level in class. Surely we cant deny that thats true. Maybe he should have thrown in a little EL praise at the same time though:ball:

[A face]

It really doesn't matter how it compares to any other league ... the national broadcaster should not be undermining the domestic league, end of .... no argument.

Make a complaint (http://www.rte.ie/about/organisation/complaints.html) if you want it to change, cos it sure as hell wont change if you do nothing about it.

[A face]

Maybe he should have thrown in a little EL praise at the same time though:ball:

What you mean instead of completely undermining it ... yeah ... maybe you are right .... ffs !! :rolleyes: :mad:

[Conor H]

The premiership is the biggest league in the world..
:D :D

[A face]

The premiership is the biggest league in the world.


tee hee !! :p :D

[EireBadBoy]

The premiership is the biggest league in the world..

:D Haaa,haaaa!! Oooh, that's good.
RTE are in the bad books with me at the minute anywy - showed a handful of EL games all season and suddenly they can dictate to clubs when they should play ?!?!?!! Shower of ballax!

[Cosmo]

It really doesn't matter how it compares to any other league ... the national broadcaster should not be undermining the domestic league

A face, I know you're not a muppet but if I wasn't an Eircom League supporter and saw that comment over what was said, I would just automatically think Eircom League fans wre complete muppets.

They said Murphy moved up to one of the biggest and best Leagues in the world - how is that undermining in the league?

Would you have preferred them to say?, oh look there's Daryl Murphy, he once played with the great Waterford United in the world famous Eircom League - how his career has gone backwards moving to the Premiership :eek:

[ThatGuy]

Watching the Arsenal and Sunderland game on RTE today when the commentator (name eludes me at the moment) comments on Daryl Murphy...
"Scored 20 goals for Waterford Utd last season...Helped them to an FAI Cup Final...BUT PLAYING IN THE BIG LEAGUE NOW".
Thanks again lads, good to know that you can always rely on your national broadcaster to promote your national league. Any takers on when Murphy will be called into the Irish squad, seeing that he too has suddenly dramatically transformed from an average LOI player to a Premiership superstar??? :rolleyes:
FFS cop on. The Premiership is one of the best leagues in the world and the Eircom League is one of the worst leagues in Europe. Would you like him to pretend otherwise?

[Copa Mundial]

What you mean instead of completely undermining it ... yeah ... maybe you are right .... ffs !! :rolleyes: :mad:

ffs will you relax before you do yourself an injury. I meant while the opportunity was there to do so!:mad: Dont be so narrow minded, the fact is that the Premier League IS a so called 'big league' and he merely stated that Darryl Murphy had moved from an eircom league club to a premiership club. Im merely stating that i dont believe his intention was to undermine OUR league.

[A face]

ffs will you relax before you do yourself an injury.

:p


I meant while the opportunity was there to do so!:mad: Dont be so narrow minded, the fact is that the Premier League IS a so called 'big league' and he merely stated that Darryl Murphy had moved from an eircom league club to a premiership club. Im merely stating that i dont believe his intention was to undermine OUR league.

Maybe so but it is indirectly.

Cosmo, i know what you're saying but ..... imo .... i think that RTE are out of order devoting some much air time to a league in a different country. They are a national broadcaster and they should be covering national leagues, i am not saying totally give up on the premiershi* but proportionate ... our league is suffering as a result, and i aint a bit happy with it.
And that comment that he made, i know wasn't intended to undermine the league but it did, indirectly .... it wasn't a jibe, i'll give you that but its a comment like that, made so casually that makes RTE giving preference to the English league seem more acceptable ..... and it is FÚCKING NOT.
They are not fulfilling the role of a national broadcaster and i think they should be pulled up on it every time .... every single time.

[gustavo]

i dont like the phrase though "THE big league" as if it was something we should all be aspiring to . i of course acknowlege he is playing in a bigger league

[joeraki]

I was watching Seria A highlights on Satanta today. Some Irish bloke was going on about how good a league Seria A is. Quick people get e-mailing !!!!

Thank god Mike Murphys Mailbag is off the air a few years now. Some of you nerds (oops sorry I mean sensitive types) would of had a field days

[A face]

I was watching Seria A highlights on Satanta today. Some Irish bloke was going on about how good a league Seria A is. Quick people get e-mailing !!!!

Thank god Mike Murphys Mailbag is off the air a few years now. Some of you nerds (oops sorry I mean sensitive types) would of had a field days

joeraki .... Setanta are not a national broadcaster so it would make no odds whatever the fúck they say or show on it .... Its on Bravo aswell on Tuesdays .... great show, i love it .... cant beat it, it is a great league.

But back to the point that I was actually making ..... RTE are out of order, there is actually no debate on this for me, no matter what is posted here or any fúcking where will change my mind.

Mailbag ..... was that from a time when the licence fee payer had a say ??
Licence fee = Money i am paying out of my fúcking pocket for that sh!te service. Yeah .... i dont have a right to show how discontent i am, we'll all just sit back and accept mediocrity ..... thats what Dundalk fans have been doing for years and look where it got ye ... and a fúcking plastic pitch !! :eek:

[dcfcsteve]

ya there is always one. he didn't compare, he was just correctly pointing out that our national broadcaster should support our national league. in this country the BIG LEAGUE is the eircom premier. the sooner people start realising this the quicker the league will develop.

We need to catch ourselves on with this notion that "our national broadcaster" has some sort of biblical-given quest to act as supreme advocate for the Eircom League. Sadly they don't. Why not? Possibly because that's not what the country wants to watch...

The only organisation in this country that has a compulsion to "support" domestic football is the FAI. They are the ones who are clearly failing in their stated duty. RTE, nor any other channel, do not exist to promote domestic sports or, frankly, any other minority interests. That is a simple fact. If they were to do a survey of license payers tomorrow on whether they'd rather see more English than Irish premiership coverage, I think we all know what the response would be. That's the verdict of the people who pay for them to exist.

Save your misguided venom for the FAI - the one organisation who clearly SHOULD be working for the benefit of domestic football. Barking at the moon is not going to help anyone....

[A face]

That is a simple fact. If they were to do a survey of license payers tomorrow on whether they'd rather see more English than Irish premiership coverage, I think we all know what the response would be. That's the verdict of the people who pay for them to exist.

But Steve .... just answer this .... viewing figures .... why did they favour the domestic game ??

What would the verdict be ..... seriously ..... i would love to know !!

That public charter a while back wasn't very public if you remember ... why is that i wonder ??

You might be suprised i'd say !!

And again .... there is no way i'll accept that RTE dont have any duty to promote Irish sport .... at least that is ..... they should promote a foreign league at the cost of the domestic one, there is no way i'll accept that at all.

[mypost]

Think the commentator was merely pointing out that Murphy has stepped up a level in class. Surely we cant deny that thats true.

Playing for Sunderland, is the Premiership equivalent of playing for Waterford. And of the two sides, Waterford have more fans in this country. :rolleyes:
The Premiership is not the big league. It's the hyped-up league, of which RTE are one of the worst contributors. In reality, practically no-one here supports any other team in England except Liverpool, and the Mancs. For barstoolers, watching Charlton, Blackburn, Aston Villa, Wigan, and Sunderland, is the same as watching the NL. They have zero interest in both.

[CollegeTillIDie]

It really doesn't matter how it compares to any other league ... the national broadcaster should not be undermining the domestic league, end of .... no argument.

Make a complaint (http://www.rte.ie/about/organisation/complaints.html) if you want it to change, cos it sure as hell wont change if you do nothing about it.

Tu as raison mon vieux... or as they say outside the pale... Fair play to you boss!:D

[drummerboy]

Watching the Arsenal and Sunderland game on RTE today when the commentator (name eludes me at the moment) comments on Daryl Murphy...
"Scored 20 goals for Waterford Utd last season...Helped them to an FAI Cup Final...BUT PLAYING IN THE BIG LEAGUE NOW".
Thanks again lads, good to know that you can always rely on your national broadcaster to promote your national league. Any takers on when Murphy will be called into the Irish squad, seeing that he too has suddenly dramatically transformed from an average LOI player to a Premiership superstar??? :rolleyes:

I'm surprised you bothered watching a premiership match.

[Roo69]

I watched the match myself and the minute he said it i thought to myself " i bet someone will take offence to that and post it on foot"

Whats the big deal in what he said ? Lads, we do not compare to the Premiership what so ever ! thats fact and we never will. They are the Big League compared to us, sad fact but true ! and as for Murphy, BRUTAL ! any eL player could have done what he did on Saturday ! but there are so many better players who could have done a much better job. Still can't understand how he is playing premiership football, he was never the best striker in the league - never mind best left winger !

[tiktok]

A better comment would have been....

"Scored 20 goals for Waterford Utd last season...Helped them to an FAI Cup Final...and he certainly doesn't look out of place at Highbury".

No-one can seriously argue that the EL is near the standard of the Premiership to be fair, no more than they can seriously argue that the Premiership is the best league in the World :D .

[dav_sfc]

RTE, nor any other channel, do not exist to promote domestic sports or, frankly, any other minority interests. That is a simple fact.

Hello steve,
As soon as I read your quote above my bull**** detector shot off the scale.
Sorry to point out that your ‘fact’ is…well… not even nearly a fact. It’s not even a little bit true. Worse still it’s not just a little bit wrong it’s totally wrong. Actually, the exact opposite to what you said is the fact.

Here is why,
Go to the RTE website, there is information there on the Guiding Principles of RTE.
Somewhere under “The role of Ireland’s Public Service Broadcaster” and they themselves say this,
“Specifically it must:
- provide mixed, generalist schedules of programmes to serve mainstream audiences as well as programming for minority groups and interests”

There is also a section called “Basic Functions and Obligations of RTÉ” under which there is a sub-section called “Among specific programming responsibilities RTÉ must:”
Here is reads:
“- cater for the expectations of the community generally as well as members of the community with special or minority interests.”

There was a bit about Irish sport too!
Under “A statement of principles that clarifies what is expected of RTÉ as the national public service broadcaster, including RTÉ’s accountability to its audience.”
“- sports programming that reflects the demands for national, regional, minority, amateur and local sports in Ireland today.”

Of course A face had already touched on this and he was right, they do have a duty.

Then the viewing figures (which I don’t have time to look-up). Didn’t the European matches with Irish teams competing have higher viewing figures than a Man Utd and possibly a Liverpool match on the same night! I’m sure I read that somewhere! And did this not happen on more than one occasion?!

And here is the full document...
http://www.rte.ie/about/organisation/Guiding%20Principles%20English.pdf

[dav_sfc]

Anyway, back to the subject! The commentators comment. It started off well but crashed and burned on the “Big League” statement! It’s great that RTE and others show more EL matches and the EL is getting more matches televised this year but surly it’s not cleaver for RTE to play down the league which they actually cover themselves!

How about our commentator says something like this, “Daryl Murphy, 20 goals for Waterford, FAI Cup final…. The Eircom league is teeming with talent like this and that talent will be on show Monday at 7:45 live and exclusive on RTE One when Cork take on Shamrock rovers in a bid to overtake Derry at the top of the league as it comes to a nail bitting climax. Cork and Derry go neck and neck into the final 2 games having to play each-other and reining champions shelbourne, who are still looking to catch a place in the Uefa Cup next season where they, like cork this year represented the EL in the first round proper of the Uefa Cup and sealed 2 draws against Deportivo and Lille on the way there.” He could then round off by saying something like, “it’s a pity Darly will not get a chance with sunderland to test his skills on a bigger stage like European competition, a chance he could have had if he were to have transferred to a club like Cork, Shels and soon to be Derry.” He could probably continue (because nothing is probably happing in the sunderland game) by saying: “the time will soon arrive when players will be releasing statements to the press that read, ‘I signed for Shels/Cork/Derry for the chance to play European football, Dublin/Cork/Derry are great cities to live in and the supporters are just great. The Eircom league clubs all have good youth academies to hone young irish talent and everything about this club screams ambition and drive.’”

Will I continue??

For now I’m off to the RTE website to complain, then I’m applying for the soon to be vacant commentators job!
Should I send in my CV with the complaint email?

My point anyway is that he could have said a million different things that could have been more encouraging about the EL.

[trevy]

Get rid of the chip on your shoulders lads :rolleyes: The commentator said nothing wrong and praised Murphy and so did Jim Beglin.Theres no point in taking offence at every perceived slight on the Eircom league.He did'nt look out of place at all there.As a Waterford United fan I was delighted to see him play at Highbury.

[Roo69]

[QUOTE=tiktok]A better comment would have been....

"Scored 20 goals for Waterford Utd last season...Helped them to an FAI Cup Final...and he certainly doesn't look out of place at Highbury".

[QUOTE]

He did say that thou, but it would have been a complete lie to say that he did'nt look out of place, Murphy was well out of his Depth

[trevy]

[QUOTE=tiktok]A better comment would have been....

"Scored 20 goals for Waterford Utd last season...Helped them to an FAI Cup Final...and he certainly doesn't look out of place at Highbury".

[QUOTE]

He did say that thou, but it would have been a complete lie to say that he did'nt look out of place, Murphy was well out of his Depth

I don't agree.I thought he did well,won a few corners and made some nice passes and it was his first full Premiership game too.

[Jerry The Saint]

Tu as raison mon vieux...

I can't believe you wrote that in French when you could have used your message to promote our own domestic language. :( UNDERMINER! :mad:

[dcfcsteve]

Hello steve,
As soon as I read your quote above my bull**** detector shot off the scale.
Sorry to point out that your ‘fact’ is…well… not even nearly a fact. It’s not even a little bit true. Worse still it’s not just a little bit wrong it’s totally wrong. Actually, the exact opposite to what you said is the fact.

Here is why,
Go to the RTE website, there is information there on the Guiding Principles of RTE.
Somewhere under “The role of Ireland’s Public Service Broadcaster” and they themselves say this,
“Specifically it must:
- provide mixed, generalist schedules of programmes to serve mainstream audiences as well as programming for minority groups and interests”

There is also a section called “Basic Functions and Obligations of RTÉ” under which there is a sub-section called “Among specific programming responsibilities RTÉ must:”
Here is reads:
“- cater for the expectations of the community generally as well as members of the community with special or minority interests.”

There was a bit about Irish sport too!
Under “A statement of principles that clarifies what is expected of RTÉ as the national public service broadcaster, including RTÉ’s accountability to its audience.”
“- sports programming that reflects the demands for national, regional, minority, amateur and local sports in Ireland today.”

Of course A face had already touched on this and he was right, they do have a duty.

Then the viewing figures (which I don’t have time to look-up). Didn’t the European matches with Irish teams competing have higher viewing figures than a Man Utd and possibly a Liverpool match on the same night! I’m sure I read that somewhere! And did this not happen on more than one occasion?!

And here is the full document...
http://www.rte.ie/about/organisation/Guiding%20Principles%20English.pdf

And RTE are perfectly able to claim that they do cater to the 'minority interest' Eircom League by showing occassional live games throughout the season, as well as both Cup Semis and the Final. If, as you seem to accept, Eircom League football can be considered a minority interest (which arguably it is) then that level of coverage could be considered about right. Minority interests aren't due wall-to-wall coverage.

So nothing you've written above changes anything.

One word gets used here a lot - "promote". People are sounding off about RTE "promoting" the English premiership, and how they should be "promoting" the Eircom League instead. *** IT IS NOT RTE'S JOB TO "PROMOTE" ANY SPORT !!! *** They exist to show TV programmes - mostly to cater to a mainstream market, but also occassional ones that cater to minority interests etc etc, but they are not a Sports Promotion agency !!

As for viewing figures - we can all pick an Irish game where the viewing figures were better than an English game at the time. Usually, however, they are European games - not Eircom League - and they DO get coverage from RTE etc.

Can we all stop living in the clouds. Run-of-the-mill English games shown on Irish TV attract much bigger crowds than all but absolutely key domestic Irish games. It's absurd to pretend otherwise. What are we going to claim next - EL replica tops outsell English and Scottish ones....?

[ThatGuy]

A better comment would have been....

"Scored 20 goals for Waterford Utd last season...Helped them to an FAI Cup Final...and he certainly doesn't look out of place at Highbury".

No-one can seriously argue that the EL is near the standard of the Premiership to be fair, no more than they can seriously argue that the Premiership is the best league in the World :D .
Well considering the team that finished 5th last year won the champions league there is a strong case for it.

[pete]

RTE pay millions to get live & highlights Premiership coverage. They pay pennies for eL & have strong niche market & almost exclusive coverage. RTE always have ads for the Premiership yet i rarely see eL ads - what kind of eL figures would RTE get if advertised on their own stations?

It is disappointing that RTE commentators & pundits know nothong about the eL or the best players within it. If Murphy or Doyle play for Ireland RTE pundits will know nothing about their backgrounds - how sad is it that we have football pundits & eL pundits on TV & radio. Is the eL that much of a special case?

[dav_sfc]

I see you managed to read what I wrote and understood none of it. Well done.
I didn’t claim that RTE were not fulfilling their duties nor did I claim that the EL deserves wall-to-wall coverage.
I simply said that the commentator could have said something less negative but he didn’t and he’s not very cleaver.
You see, if RTE decide, “hey, this EL thing is getting pretty popular now so lets show some games this year!” then surely its in their best interest to PROMOTE it (are you with me yet batman). Now, I’m not asking for a 15 minute advertisement between the breaks on Fair City or between the news and the weather for the EL, just something a little bit more positive than what the commentator decided to say.

Oh, yeah, I also was just pointing out that your statement, which I quoted once already, was not fact. In fact, it was totally wrong. A fact, can I add, that hasn’t changed.

And then you go and say “So nothing you've written above changes anything.”! Goodness, it wasn’t meant to change anything. It was merely pointing out that what you said was total b u l l s h i t.

So I got a couple of questions for you, do you still think, after reading my first post that…
“RTE, nor any other channel, do not exist to promote domestic sports or, frankly, any other minority interests.”?

And do you think RTE should PROMOTE a league that they show live matches from?
You know, to get higher viewing figures, which leads to more money from advertising which leads to a bigger budget so that they can show/make better programmes which in turn leads to even more expensive advertising etc etc...(do you see the cycle here?)

I look forward to hearing from you.

[A face]

I see you managed to read what I wrote and understood none of it. Well done.
I didn’t claim that RTE were not fulfilling their duties nor did I claim that the EL deserves wall-to-wall coverage.
I simply said that the commentator could have said something less negative but he didn’t and he’s not very cleaver.
You see, if RTE decide, “hey, this EL thing is getting pretty popular now so lets show some games this year!” then surely its in their best interest to PROMOTE it (are you with me yet batman). Now, I’m not asking for a 15 minute advertisement between the breaks on Fair City or between the news and the weather for the EL, just something a little bit more positive than what the commentator decided to say.

Oh, yeah, I also was just pointing out that your statement, which I quoted once already, was not fact. In fact, it was totally wrong. A fact, can I add, that hasn’t changed.

And then you go and say “So nothing you've written above changes anything.”! Goodness, it wasn’t meant to change anything. It was merely pointing out that what you said was total b u l l s h i t.

So I got a couple of questions for you, do you still think, after reading my first post that…
“RTE, nor any other channel, do not exist to promote domestic sports or, frankly, any other minority interests.”?

And do you think RTE should PROMOTE a league that they show live matches from?
You know, to get higher viewing figures, which leads to more money from advertising which leads to a bigger budget so that they can show/make better programmes which in turn leads to even more expensive advertising etc etc...(do you see the cycle here?)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Dav ... legend .... thanks be to fúck i am not on my own here !! :ball:

:thumbs up:

[joeraki]

Only 3 posts on this forum and you can tell he's going to be "another one of those type of posters"

Can wait for your views on the next round of Bohs or Rovers bashing :rolleyes:

[A face]

Hows that plastic pitch doing ??

[joeraki]

Hows that plastic pitch doing ??

Doing what a plastic pitch should do

[A face]

Doing what a plastic pitch should do

Plastic Fantastic !! :p :D

I know i should have put in a bit more of an effort ..... but i just couldn't be ársed !!

[dav_sfc]

Sorry lads,

Don't mean to be a pain, I read this forum quite often when I need my EL fix! As you can see I've not posted before(but i thought i had!) and I usually find a lot to say especially when the b u l l s h i t detector goes off the scale.

I'll try keep future posts as brief as possible! but no promises!

Forza Shelbourne

[A face]

Sorry lads,

Don't mean to be a pain, I read this forum quite often when I need my EL fix! As you can see I've not posted before(but i thought i had!) and I usually find a lot to say especially when the b u l l s h i t detector goes off the scale.

I'll try keep future posts as brief as possible! but no promises!

Forza Shelbourne

You are totally entitled to post your opinion. Thats what it is here for.

[dcfcsteve]

I see you managed to read what I wrote and understood none of it. Well done.
I didn’t claim that RTE were not fulfilling their duties nor did I claim that the EL deserves wall-to-wall coverage.
I simply said that the commentator could have said something less negative but he didn’t and he’s not very cleaver.
You see, if RTE decide, “hey, this EL thing is getting pretty popular now so lets show some games this year!” then surely its in their best interest to PROMOTE it (are you with me yet batman). Now, I’m not asking for a 15 minute advertisement between the breaks on Fair City or between the news and the weather for the EL, just something a little bit more positive than what the commentator decided to say.

Oh, yeah, I also was just pointing out that your statement, which I quoted once already, was not fact. In fact, it was totally wrong. A fact, can I add, that hasn’t changed.

And then you go and say “So nothing you've written above changes anything.”! Goodness, it wasn’t meant to change anything. It was merely pointing out that what you said was total b u l l s h i t.

So I got a couple of questions for you, do you still think, after reading my first post that…
“RTE, nor any other channel, do not exist to promote domestic sports or, frankly, any other minority interests.”?

And do you think RTE should PROMOTE a league that they show live matches from?
You know, to get higher viewing figures, which leads to more money from advertising which leads to a bigger budget so that they can show/make better programmes which in turn leads to even more expensive advertising etc etc...(do you see the cycle here?)

I look forward to hearing from you.

I assume this response was directed at me Dav - despite the lack of any boxed quotes or addressee.

I did read your previous message. I noted with interest that you promoted words like "provide" and "cater for". I noted with greater interest that the word 'promote' was nowehere to be seen in there....

To answer your specific questions above :


So I got a couple of questions for you, do you still think, after reading my first post that…
“RTE, nor any other channel, do not exist to promote domestic sports or, frankly, any other minority interests.”?

I don't think I could be any clearer on this. RTE is a television station - not a promotions agency, or a government department. They do not exist to "promote" anything other than themselves. However - to reflect the fact that they hold a vital position in Irish life, and that they receive substantial public funding, they are tied to providing a broad range of coverage - broader than they would probably otherwise opt to do so given the choice (e.g. TV3). However - there is a mammoth difference between catering towards the interests of minority sports or groups, and actively promoting those groups and their aims themselves. The former is RTE's stated duty, the latter is not....


And do you think RTE should PROMOTE a league that they show live matches from?
You know, to get higher viewing figures, which leads to more money from advertising which leads to a bigger budget so that they can show/make better programmes which in turn leads to even more expensive advertising etc etc...(do you see the cycle here?)

I'll ignore the fact that I spent years working in Advertising, as I wouldn't want to reduce my arguement to the same condascending tone of your own. It is clearly in RTE's interest to advertise the games they show - just as it is clearly in their interests to promote ANY programmes they show (to create an audience, and fulfill everything else you mentioned). However - it isn't their job, nor is it in their interest, to promote the league generally - particularly when they are only showing a few games that meet their minority commitments. Football games are independent events - not on-running episodes. It makes sense for them to promote the ones they are showing, but why should they give a feck about the rest that they aren't ? Why should they have this moral duty to promote stuiff that they aren't showing - and that, in fact, competitors may be showing instead ? It's like saying that, because RTE had Friends they should promote tedious American sit-coms as a whole.

To summarise, RTE have no duty to PROMOTE anything. They are a TV station - not a Trade Body/Union/Representative group.

I, likewise, look forward to hearing from you in response. Though turn-down the condascension Einstein....

[dcfcsteve]

But Steve .... just answer this .... viewing figures .... why did they favour the domestic game ??

What doemstic game(s) are you referring to ? I'm aware of a couple of recent European games involving Irish teams that, when going head-to-head with Euro games involving none-Irish teams, drew larger audiences. To suggest that this happens regularly for live EL games versus Live English Premiership ones on RTE is incorrect.


What would the verdict be ..... seriously ..... i would love to know !!

C'mon A Face - you know yourself. If RTE conducted market research tomorrow asking the question : "Which would you rather see on TV next year - more Eircom League or more English Premiership football", then it is extremly likely that the majority of respondents would opt for the English version. Just like they do in terms of merchandise purchase, viewing figures etc, and arguably even live game attendance.

In an average week, Eircom League live games attract a combined attendance of 10-15,000. Less if one or more of the better supported teams aren't at home. That's nationwide. That's people voting (or not, as is the case is...) with their feet. For perspective, that's the type of attendance that glamour teams like Luton Town and QPR get at every home game. I guarantee you that there would be more than 10-15,000 people gardening in South Dublin or fishing in Connacht every weekend. So why does Eircom League football deserve to get more coverage and be actively "promoted", rather than gardening or fishing....?


That public charter a while back wasn't very public if you remember ... why is that i wonder ??

No idea - you tell me :confused:


And again .... there is no way i'll accept that RTE dont have any duty to promote Irish sport .... at least that is ..... they should promote a foreign league at the cost of the domestic one, there is no way i'll accept that at all.

RTE promote the TV content that they have. A significant string in their sporting bow is the English Premiership. Beyond capitalising on the rights they have for it - how exactly does RTE promote the English premiership ?? If they lost the rights to the English Prem next year, you wouldn't hear a dicky-bird about the league on the channel outside of the sports news. That shows that they aren't promoting the league - just capitalising on the rights they have bought.

For the record - I personally think RTE should have a duty to promote key aspects of Irish life, of which a range of sports would be one. But that's just my view. Meanwhile, they have no commitment or compulsion to do so, and as they air very little to do with the League, they only give it limited coverage/'promotion'.

And why is everyone holding RTE to blame here. There is only ONE body on this island who have a clearly stated aim of promoting Irish football - the FAI. They are the ones who people's venom should be directed towards - not media channels, gardeners, The Wolfe Tones, Tayto, or any other groups with no stated responsibilities towards Irish football.