RTÈ coverage a disgrace

Ok we'll start with foresight shall we? There's no foresight involved in any action that shows the same race twice in the space of a quarter of an hour when there's no Irish interest. It is an Irish station.

Courage would involve trying to help develop Irish football. Again, it is an Irish station and if it can't even make a basic effort to push indiginous sport then maybe we should have an idea why our olympic performance was so crap. It certainly turned out to be a great race but it could just as easily have been an absolute stinker. It was a lucky decision and I don't think a national broadcaster should be relying on luck.

As for talent, look at any of the imported American tripe and ask yourself if it's beyond the realms of possibility that we could do that here? If Fair City is the cutting edge of modern Irish TV then RTE haven't got much to be proud of (though I will concede that Fair City hasn't been afraid to tackle big issues :D)

I maintain it was the wrong decision. You disagree. So be it. But if you prefered watching that race to that match maybe you should change your handle to 'athleticsfan'? ;)

Quote:

---

But if you prefered watching that race to that match maybe you should change your handle to 'athleticsfan'?

---

Because i appreciate a fantastic race , maybe you think courage is needed to involve the eircom league i personally think its CROWDS that are needed, of course if it was GAA they wouldnt have interupted but that is because they can get crowds of up to 70,000 people most EL clubs average 1000 per game , why would RTE risk viewers just for a small minority . (however passionate we are) Maybe you should apply to RTE to be head of programing you would obvioulsy do a better job !"!!!! ;) ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by eircomfan

Maybe you should apply to RTE to be head of programing you would obvioulsy do a better job !"!!!! ;) ;)

---

Now you're making sense! :cool:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by eircomfan

Because i appreciate a fantastic race , maybe you think courage is needed to involve the eircom league i personally think its CROWDS that are needed, of course if it was GAA they wouldnt have interupted but that is because they can get crowds of up to 70,000 people most EL clubs average 1000 per game , why would RTE risk viewers just for a small minority . (however passionate we are) Maybe you should apply to RTE to be head of programing you would obvioulsy do a better job !"!!!! ;) ;)

---

We're talking about a champions league tie that drew a sellout crowd of 24,000 for the first leg with touts selling tickets at 200 euro a pop and 317,000 TV viewers.

How many people are watching the Olympics apart from when Sonia is running or our boxers or rowers or whoever else.

In fairness to RTE normally their coverage is excellent - the main criticism is their lack of coverage of domestic football. Last night was a disappointment but at least we got to see the game.

Radio coverage is also very good - Aertel are obviously a joke but not just with their football results - their rugby is often wrong as well

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cullenswood

6 or 7 minutes of the coverage was disturbed by a great Olympic final, at a time when Shels were two nil down.

---

That's just it though, it's like they made the decision because Shels were 2 down

-they didn't advertise in advance that the race would be shown too, people watching the Shels game weren't expecting to see the final
-they repeated it directly after the match anyway, those watching the match/waiting for olympic coverage would have seen it immediately after

I just don't get why RTE chose to show the race twice in fifteen minutes

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tiktok

I just don't get why RTE chose to show the race twice in fifteen minutes

---

Perhaps coz it only took a few minutes to show it and it was probably worth repeating coz it was a damn good race?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by liamon

Perhaps coz it only took a few minutes to show it and it was probably worth repeating coz it was a damn good race?

---

Well, that's SLK's foresight argument shattered anyway. RTE knew that the race was going to be as good as it was. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by eircomfan

Trust me and i dont want to burst your bubble here, Eircom League is not only a minority its microscopic , athlethics granted may not be everyones favourite competition but were talkin about the olympics here which is if im not corrected is the most watched sporting event world wide.

of course if it was GAA they wouldnt have interupted but that is because they can get crowds of up to 70,000 people most EL clubs average 1000 per game , why would RTE risk viewers just for a small minority.

---

Am I missing something? :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LFC in Exile

Am I missing something? :confused:

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by that eircomfan chap

Trust me and i dont want to burst your bubble here, Eircom League is not only a minority its microscopic , athlethics granted may not be everyones favourite competition but were talkin about the olympics here which is if im not corrected is the most watched sporting event world wide.

---

It was not an eircom league match so what exactly is your point?
If Shels were in the final would it still be a minority sport to irish people because they are an eircom league team?
The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in this country, if not worldwide.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by eircom fan again

of course if it was GAA they wouldnt have interupted but that is because they can get crowds of up to 70,000 people most EL clubs average 1000 per game , why would RTE risk viewers just for a small minority.

---

We're not talking attendances but viewing figures.
1000 per game maybe against other small el clubs but they were playing in a DIFFERENT competition last night.

The bottom line for me is that it wasnt pre-announced so I doubt many athletics fans saw it anyway.
Change your username boss :p

was who appeared after the Sky Debate Started and then dissappeared as quick to write a musical on Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy.

On a serious note I think RTE showed total direspect to Shelbourne,The Eircom League and Irish Soccer in General by showing the Athletics which had no Irish Interest in it (I would have accepted it if they had shown Kevin Babbingtons round in the Showjumping).

Id say Darragh Maloney was fuming like the rest of the el supporters in the country were and the 3 lads in the studio likewise.It was a chance for either Roddy or Dolers to have a go but obviously the pay is too good.

If you want to complain, complaints.review@rte.ie is the address to send it to. I'm preety sure sport@rte doesn't work anymore, on the contacts page sportonline@rte.ie is the place to e-mail the sports desk. You can try them both I suppose.

And I agree, Dolan should've given them serious stick for cutting the game.

I got a reply from sportonline@rte.ie saying that they are only responsible for aertel.....so I gave them loads about that!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ShelsTim

If you want to complain, complaints.review@rte.ie is the address to send it to.

---

Ye'll get an automated response from that:

Thank you for your e-mail to RTÉ Information.



Comments about RTÉ programmes are recorded in our weekly Audience Reaction Log, which is discussed at the weekly editorial meetings: Television, Radio and News plus the Corporate meeting which is chaired by the Director-General and attended by key senior management.



Your feedback is very much welcomed by RTÉ and helps to inform editorial decisions and future programme planning.



You might also wish to consult our website, www.rte.ie, if you have not already done so. This contains programme, technical and company information.



Should you have requested specific details, we will revert to you as soon as possible.



Thank you for contacting us.



Kind Regards



The RTÉ Information team.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by skitso

here is a mental idea!!!! on tg4 they show the celtic league every year.

---

Setanta have bought the rights to the Celtic league this year so TG4 do have a gap to fill, at the same time Setanta themselves look like they're interested in domestic football, and if the rumours coming out are anything to go by we'll have deferred coverage of EL games by the end of the season and live games with a good weekend highlights show next season.

Though that's all off topic.

There were a few non-EL fans at work who watched the Shels game, they all thought that the split screen was ridiculous.

Quote:

---

It was not an eircom league match so what exactly is your point?
by EL Wetter

---

Never said it was an EL match but it was an EL team , whether you want to believe it or not the amount of people who want to watch Irish League football is small in comparison to any other sport,

Quote:

---

The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in this country, if not worldwide.
by EL Wetter

---

I ll think you ll find All Ireland final day would be the most watched sport event in Ireland ,I think even you can work out the math that if 70000 people can go to a GAA match and only bairly a 1000 can go to an EL, I think i know which one id show on my channel if i was running RTE!!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by eircomfan

Never said it was an EL match but it was an EL team , whether you want to believe it or not the amount of people who want to watch Irish League football is small in comparison to any other sport,



I ll think you ll find All Ireland final day would be the most watched sport event in Ireland ,I think even you can work out the math that if 70000 people can go to a GAA match and only bairly a 1000 can go to an EL, I think i know which one id show on my channel if i was running RTE!!!!!

---

Yes but this was the champions league and 317,000 watched the first leg.

The All Ireland finals are not the most watched sports events i nthis country. In something like 16 of the last 17 years the most watched sports event in this country has been an Irish International football match. Normally the All Ireland gaelic makes the top 5 and the hurling the top 10. In 1991 England v Turkey on a wednesday afternoon on Net 2 drew more viewers than the All Ireland hurling final that year.

The really big football matches - Spain 2002, Italy 84, England 91 drew more than double the viewing figures of the gaelic All Irelands.

The GAA is also miles behind football in playing numbers.

The GAA do have the most popular spectator sports in this country because most of the football fans support Man Utd or Liverpool or Celtic and not Shelbourne or Cork City.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gspain

The GAA is also miles behind football in playing numbers.

---

Are you sure of that, I would have thought GAA had more players in Ireland than footy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cullenswood

Are you sure of that, I would have thought GAA had more players in Ireland than footy.

---

The GAA woiuld have more registered players/members but football/soccer has a lot more playing at all levels from 5 aside onwards...

In the Republic of Ireland there are more people playing football than any other sport. It vastly outnumbers the GAA - take a look at the Herald on Junior night and see all the teams in Dublin.

However it is not just Dublin.

Kerry who normally win the gaelic All Ireland npw have less gaelic players than football players. This was raised as a matter of concern at Kerry GAA county board meeting last year.

The GAA are a bigger organisation when you combine gaelic and hurling and members for the whole island but hardly a fair comparison as the IFA administer football in Northern Ireland.

I don't have figures for NI but I imagine the gap is even wider as 60% are excluded from playing GAA.