I only caught it this morning myself.
Any reaction from here?? Some very strong arguments from both sides.
POD is at: LOI Central 2021 Ep28 with Declan McBennett, Eoin Toal and Ian Bermingham
https://soundcloud.com/user-91412177...ian-bermingham
Linked: https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-40879907.html
Some comment under the Europe thread but it is as much a League/Cup issue. For me there are legitimate points made by McBennett but the defensive nature of his interview undermined a lot of what he said. He may have been responding to the way Ward approached things, he should be capable of rising above antagonism, keeping it cool and make his point calmly. I do think he has an unintentional bias against LoI which is not a surprise and would be pretty normal when someone has a preference for a sport especially with the baggage of GAA. It was no different when it were Rugby people over RTE Sport like Ryle Nugent. If Im honest as a LoI fan and if I had influence over RTE Sport I would push for LoI coverage that isnt easily justifiable any more than AIL rugby.
The use of LoItv was poor, as simply the quality of the coverage was disappointing but in comparison to what clubs were capable of themselves. It is a service broadcaster so no product can be judged in its infancy. As diehard LoI fan I found LoI TV tough to watch but not because of a single camera, it was due to lack of other simple and inexpensive production add ons.
Not to focus on streaming but it is a thundering disgrace that people were were not only not signing up to watch games during lockdown, it was the number of people looking for free dodgy streams that are LoI fans that rankled me. Itc couldnt have bee an issue with cost imo. The bs on Monaghan United and nobody supporting them due to lads from Dublin being the mainstay of the sides was all cliched, worn out, typical GAA like analysis of why a club wasnt followed tbh. There is an institutional issue with RTE that goes way beyond sports coverage - I have one friend who at interview was told that they were not qualified for a job with RTE and their university qualifications from the UK would not be recognised. The same person already had a job with HBO on a certain epic fantasy show filmed in NI and has since moved on to even bigger productions. Not good enough for RTE though or that they were not connected to the crony organisation. Like many state bodies it needs a good shake up!
I actually thought most of his points were sound. It was hard to hear that the viewing numbers watching LOI matches are so low. I don't really blame them for only showing 18 matches a year, given the numbers. The one thing I did have an issue with was his insistence that they'd only focus on the League champions in Europe, and only when they got knocked out they'd consider the other European games. He didn't provide a valid reason for that imo. I think it makes far more sense to show European ties like Dundalk Vs Vitesse and Bohs Vs PAOK rather than some humdrum league fixture. The European games are far higher profile and would get a much bigger audience.
In terms of personality, I don't think Ward or McBennett came out of the interview very well at all. Dan McDonell seemed like the only calm and measured person in the room.
Yeah have to agree with you on this point Philosopher JW at one stage lost the run of himself completely and McBennett made a smart alli c remark at him and there was a clashing of heads! Always liked DMD think JW meant well but lost run of himself completelyQuote:
Originally Posted by Philosophizer
The viewing figures are embarrassing really. The type of people that we're trying to get to watch the matches would be Ireland supporters that follow foreign clubs. They're used to watching games in big stadiums with proper camera angles, anything else is just non-league to the them.
The only ground in the league that comes anywhere near that is Tallaght. Turners Cross is nice but the camera is in the main stand looking across at a stand with four rows of seats! The Brandywell is just a bizarre arrangement. Terryland's camera is in the main stand looking across at a stand with a purpose built camera gantry on top that can't be used because they got the measurements all wrong and it's now useless!
Showing the LOI, in it's current state, on TV detracts from the League rather than promote it, imo.
Stadium development must be the top priority of the FAI and each club if they want to be taken seriously by supporters from outside the LOI family.
On the interview itself, I agree with McBennett that it's hard to justify more games with the figures. I also agreed with Johnny on his point about it appearing that there's no love shown by RTE to the League. Five minutes of pre-match build-up and little to no promotion of the game in the days before isn't good enough and seems like it only happens with LOI matches.
What are the viewing figures? (Just to save going through an entire 90 minute podcast!)
Around 40k. First match of the season was 66k, last match broadcast 34k. European matches are higher with approx 220k for Rovers vs Milan and 145k for Dundalk vs KI.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu