RTÈ coverage a disgrace

I would just like to state how appauled I am at the shambolic coverage RTE gave the Shebourne game tonight. I couldn't believe my eyes when they cut the screen in half to show the 1500m mens final at the Olympics. What was the huge interest in this event? Was there an Irish interest which meant that we couldn't afford to miss it? No, but we didn't see much of Shels best attempt on goal when Jason Byrnes attempted lob sailed over the bar. The Irish interest was on the pitch in Spain and thats where the focus should have stayed. In my opinion RTÈ have show themselves to be an amateur outfit with this sorry excuse for a broadcast. To add insult to injury the race was show again at the begining of the Olympics show which followed the football programme. I somehow don't see RTE cutting into their champions league coverage for the rest of the year to show another sporting event.

This event was staged 'on the cheap' by RTÈ. Where was the co-commentator with Darragh Maloney, all TV stations (including RTÈ) use co-commentators for football games, perhaps the increased licence fee doesn't stretch to an extra ticket on a Ryanair flight to spain. Even Maloney show his amateur status by treating us to such gems of wisdom as ' Deportivo drew 1-0 in a friendly last week'. My anger was such that I grabed the phone, rang 11850, got the number for RTE, rang them, but unfortunately nobody answers the phone in RTE after five :eek:

I think everyone here should email RTE to register their disgust.
sport@rte.ie

I couldn't agree more. It was a total and utter disgrace.
I for one will be registering strongly my dis-satisfaction with their coverage.
I hope everyone else does.

Ditto couldn’t believe my eyes but all the same it is RTE, why are we cursed with such incompetent media in this county it just wouldn’t be put up with anywhere else,poxy TV3 **** every Monday night and poxy no mark RTE who don’t give a toss, plus FAI are a disgrace they have let the league down with the current or lack off TV deal what scumbags!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well said!!

Another thing that annoyed me, and i meant to post this earlier, was the fact that the programme didn't start til 5 minutes before kick-off. Why couldn't they of put together a decent package that would of included an actual build up to the game. Interviews etc,

Once again a half heaRTEd attempt by RTE :(

I have just sent an email to that address. I hope everyone else does.

I have to agree about the late start and the quick wrap-up, five minutes before and after the game was poor. Switching to two screens for the 1500m was strange, but I accepted it, when the game went from the screen completely, I found it stranger still, but I accepted it. However, when the first action of the olympic programme was to replay the same race, I was dumbfounded, why interrupt the game if the plan was to show the race anyway, not fifteen minuites later.

However I thought the commentary was good, and the half time analysis well presented and interesting.

But that compliment only serves to leave a bad taste in my mouth, because it gave a glimpse of what the coverage could have been like.

Half-heaRTEd sums it up nicely.

Well I thought it was nice to see the w/-\nker Collins get it completely wrong again.
Its a hard one to call.
If the match was 0 - 0 and finely balanced, they probably would not have cut away, but $h£l$ were gone at that stage, and had resorted to type, which ain't a prety sight. All we were short was Oily having a go at the Depor fans and the officials.....;)

Can't you all hear those loud thuds as bodies fall off bandwagons?

It was a ****in joke. I stared in disbelief at the screen during it. ****in shockin hi.

Everyone should email RTÉ about this.

totally agree about RTE. They wouldn't have cut into a man u or a gah match.
I will protest to them and urge everyone else to. Invade any pitches to taunt away fans lately Brendy?

Thing is ... it wasn't very clear that their was any Irish in that race ?

I wouldn't have minded a small inset window showing us a clip of the race and the results etc. but i think they way they did it was poor in fairness.

Although .... they'll be dumb-founded when they see us complaining even with them showing a game !! :eek:

Also they never announced until 2 seconds before that they would be showing the race so therefore no-one would have tuned in especially to see it, so I wonder how many people they actually pleased by showing it?

Had to laugh when there was a false start as they tried to join George Hamilton just in time for the off! :rolleyes:

Was anyone listening to FM104 phone-in last night?
Some gobsh1te on the phone goin on about how Shels hadnt a chance from 2-0 down and that RTE did the right thing, then started calling someone a liar who said there was 8 minutes left in the game: "There was fcukin 7 minutes left, I know cos I was watchin' it". I blame him for my disturbed night of sleep. :eek:

Im going to play Devils Advocate here but i can understand RTE's reasoning behind showing the race , whether we want to believe it or not Shels at the time the race came on were dead and buried , i have already congradulated them for a fine performance but realisticly they werent going to come back , there is also a large audience for the olympics and once again believe it or not alot of people would like to watch the races live were posible , just as we would have been disgusted if the match was nt shown live , they too would be very annoyed!!!!

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Originally Posted by eircomfan

Im going to play Devils Advocate here but i can understand RTE's reasoning behind showing the race , whether we want to believe it or not Shels at the time the race came on were dead and buried , i have already congradulated them for a fine performance but realisticly they werent going to come back , there is also a large audience for the olympics and once again believe it or not alot of people would like to watch the races live were posible , just as we would have been disgusted if the match was nt shown live , they too would be very annoyed!!!!

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But the ones who are interested in the minority sport of athletics (even more minority sport in Ireland than eL football) were already watching BBC because as someone pointed out above they didn't say they were going to show it until 2 seconds before the false start.

If Jason Byrne had scored would they have switched back to the game and dropped the race? It just shows how the sports coverage seems to be decided on the hoof - unless of course it's GAA or the premiership.

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Originally Posted by StarandCrescent

I think everyone here should email RTE to register their disgust.

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Why? Not everyone here agrees with you.
RTE scheduled to show the 1500m final long before this match. It is always a very popular final in the olympics, and last nights race was the high point of the games so far, where El Geurrouj finally won a gold medal

I had no problem in watching both screens for what was only 4 minutes. It seemed a fair compromise, considering the sacred lovely girls contest was never going to be interrupted

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. The match was given prefernence and all we had to do was watch a four minute race split screen!!!! hardly reason to shoot RTE !!!!!!

I disn't have a problem with the 5min pre match buildup as stations usually spend too much time at that anyway.

Co-commentator was missing at Lansdowne for 1st leg too which is badly needed when RTE boys know feck all about the eL. Biggest Moan - RTE once again are incapable was merging sound & picture! P!sses me off to watch match with sound a second ahead of the pictures!!!!!!! :( :(

Thought halftime analysis was 1st class. Could tell RTE got Pat & Roddy in cos they got big egos & speak their minds opposite each other.

Didn't have huge problem with the Athletics interrupting cos game was dead then (if was 1-0 or 0-0 would me different). RTE as usual are carp with technology - they could easily have left match in corner of screen while showing athletics & visa versa when the runners had false start. I thought RTE were gonna stay with 50:50 screen so switched to BBC for runners.

btw 1500m was stunning race!

Totally disgusted with the whole fiasco. They do have two channels if they want to show two different events after all. What next? A split-screen Eastenders/Cornation Street so people can watch them both? or maybe a split screen for advertisments so they can pull in twice as much in ad revenue, sack the incompetents who work there now and hire some people with a little courage, foresight and talent?

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Originally Posted by sadloserkid

Totally disgusted with the whole fiasco. They do have two channels if they want to show two different events after all.

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In fairness they did have Rose of Tralee on RTE1 which still strangely brings in big viewing figures.

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sack the incompetents who work there now and hire some people with a little courage, foresight and talent

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What does courage, foresight and talent got to do with anything , as pointed out the rose of Tralee was on RTE1 which has a massive audience figure and secondly what has any of the 3 keys you have pointed out to do with someone making a decision to show a terrifc olympic final as well as a match that in many peoples view was out shels s reach. !!!!

Christ there's an awful shower of moaners about today. 6 or 7 minutes of the coverage was disturbed by a great Olympic final, at a time when Shels were two nil down. Hardly a need to have a stroke. And yes, contrary to what has been said I do reckon they would have interupted a Champions League match aswell.

I know RTE have crap/no coverage of the eL but at least they did show both games.
The FAI should broker some deal with either broadcaster to get a proper package together for eL highlights.

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'? ;)

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

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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 !"!!!! ;) ;)

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Originally Posted by eircomfan

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

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Now you're making sense! :cool:

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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 !"!!!! ;) ;)

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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

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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.

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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

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Originally Posted by tiktok

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

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

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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?

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

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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.

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Am I missing something? :confused:

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Originally Posted by LFC in Exile

Am I missing something? :confused:

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!!

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Originally Posted by ShelsTim

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

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Ye'll get an automated response from that:

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Originally Posted by skitso

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

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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.

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

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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,

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

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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!!!!!

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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!!!!!

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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.

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Originally Posted by gspain

The GAA is also miles behind football in playing numbers.

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

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Originally Posted by cullenswood

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

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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.