GAA presenter Jerome Quinn, who was recently sacked by the BBC, is in the middle of a fair employment tribunal case against BBC Northern Ireland. In it he alleges that he was subjected to 'racial and religious harassment' and that BBC NI promoted 'Protestant-supported sports' over the GAA. According to Jerome 'the GAA is still discriminated against in BBC NI'. Jerome was sacked after he was found to be criticising his BBC NI through anonymous posts on an internet forum. What do people think? Does he have a case? I have to say that I think the BBC's coverage of GAA is not bad at all, more coverage than they'd give to other sports like local football. Criticising your employers on the internet wouldn't exactly be the smartest move ever either

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 28/04/2010 10:51:23    631948

I don't agree at all. Considering the popularity of Gaelic games in the North it gets remarkably poor coverage on the BBC. Going back some years ago it was excellent and a very polished production on the Sunday evening but all of a sudden we have token items at the tail end of the program and a shoddy excuse for a show on a Sunday. Either we have negative investment in GAA coverage or much less effort is being put into it.

As far as I know Jerome accepts that the criticism on the forum was foolish however the punishment was not in proportion to the offense in his opinion.

Either ways GAA programming in the north is a lot worse off in his absence.

caughtredhanded (Tyrone) - Posts: 602 - 28/04/2010 11:12:06    631970

was he on here pom?
to be honest, Ulster GAA programmes tend to be so biased and one eyed, that they would be no loss anyways.

Hillstreetblue (Dublin) - Posts: 163 - 28/04/2010 11:21:35    631985

I tried to start 2 threads about this yesterday but neither were allowed through...

Fr.Ted.Crilly (Derry) - Posts: 449 - 28/04/2010 11:22:54    631987

I don't know HillStreet, Hoganstand seems to be one of the biggest around so could easily have been. Fr. Ted I guess because it's an ongoing legal issue they have to watch it and be careful about what they allow through. And Caughtredhanded I think when you look at the Protestant sports (not that any sport should be referred to that way) I don't think the BBC are in the wrong. Local soccer and local rugby get much less coverage than the GAA does. Does the BBC not show virtually every Ulster Championship match? I think their sport coverage in general is quite poor but it's poor for every sport here, the GAA probably does the best out of it

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 28/04/2010 11:46:04    632015

In relation to Quinn, I think that his arguement is that the actions of his employer were disproportionate to the offence. He was posting on Hoganstand according to the Irish News today. Although it may have been foolish, I would suggest that it is not a sacking offence. Anyhow, in relation to the coverage of GAA, I do think that it has reduced in the last couple of years. Overall, as you stated POM the sports coverage overall is poor, but I do not think that the GAA get the best of it so to speak. Coverage of the Ulster championship is hardly massive coverage saying that it only contains 8 games over a two month timeframe. National League hardly gets a mention and your favourite sport gets none at all. I understand that there are monetary restraints but siurely the viewing figures justify it.

omaghredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 3656 - 28/04/2010 12:43:06    632129

OmaghRedHand what sports do you think the BBC do show then? As far as I can tell no live soccer matches, bar the cup final. No Rugby except for the School's Cup. Some motorbike racing that lasts only about a week and I wouldn't class as being a 'Protestant' sport anyway. If they were showing a disproportionate amount of local football or Rugby to the GAA then there would be grounds for complaint but they aren't. We're actually lucky to get 8 games when you look at other sports

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 28/04/2010 12:57:48    632157

Like Fr Ted Crilly I also posted a thread on this topic yesterday but it wasn't allowed either. I stated that while I understood the Jerome Quinn case was ongoing and that we couldn't really discuss it nevertheless many Ulster GAA people and Northern Nationalists DID indeed have serious issues with all the broadcasters there about the lack of GAA coverage in the North. As I said my post was pulled and yet now I see pomeroy gets a thread through supporting the BBC. I believe the HS Editors have serious questions to answer here. WHY were posts critical of the BBC pulled YET one supporting them gets through? This surely asks questions of the credibility, balance and fairness of HS?

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9816 - 28/04/2010 17:48:01    632685

RTE or TV3 should give him a job.

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12295 - 28/04/2010 18:07:58    632724

BCC NI show highlights of the woeful Irish League after during Final Score every Saturday, making me press the red button on my Sky remote or find a different regional version of the BBC under "Other Channels" to wathc the interviews with premiership managers. I don't really know much about their coverage of Ulster GAA, so I can't comment.

nocky (Wexford) - Posts: 2059 - 28/04/2010 18:20:05    632743

Thought this thread was going to be about the former Leitrim half back. Here is a story told about him by Micky Quinn


We were playing Roscommon in the Connacht Championship in 1990 and before the match, our manager P.J. Carroll had an unusual mind game planned.

"He said 'Jerome Quinn, they all think you're ******* mad in Roscommon, what you need to do is pick up a clump of grass, stick it in your mouth and ate it in front of your marker's face. He'll **** himself'."

"Jerome was wing-half-back and was marking a lovely, skillful player. Sure enough, Jerome did as he was told and you could see the Roscommon's player's legs turn to jelly!" recalled Leitrim's first ever All-Star

Dr.Shephard (Leitrim) - Posts: 2187 - 28/04/2010 19:12:33    632818

I support him.

Brolly (Monaghan) - Posts: 4472 - 28/04/2010 21:51:23    632998

BBC's coverage of gaelic games is terrible. Down V Armagh in the NFL got about 10 seconds on the news, after about five minutes of Irish League, which as someone has already pointed out, was covered in detail on the Saturday afternoon. When it comes to something negative about gaelic games, then of course they have loads of coverage...Tyrone County Final a couple of years ago was in the news two or three days in a row. The Battle of Omagh another one that ran for days. A couple of years ago the BBC were down to showing two Gaa matches a year live...MaCrory Cup and the Ulster Final. Can't beat going to a match, but times are hard, so better coverage is needed.
I always thought Jerome did a good job, and if all he done was say the BBC was rubbish...well he was right.

redandblackgaa (Tyrone) - Posts: 251 - 28/04/2010 21:57:22    633020

How many Irish League matches are shown live a year? How many local Rugby matches? How many GAA matches? Anyone who knows these answers can see there is no bias against the GAA, the opposite if anything.

And Ulsterman if indeed Hoganstand had questions to answer they probably wouldn't have even let that post of yours through. It is an ongoing legal issue so they have to tread carefully, if you came out and assumed what Jerome was alleging was true then they couldn't post that

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 29/04/2010 11:20:04    633186

PomeroyPlunkett
County: Tyrone
Posts: 672

633186 How many Irish League matches are shown live a year? How many local Rugby matches? How many GAA matches? Anyone who knows these answers can see there is no bias against the GAA, the opposite if anything.

Do the GAA not give the rights to BBC more or less free to make the Ulster Champ assessable to parts of the north that don't have RTE?

Yop (Wexford) - Posts: 362 - 29/04/2010 12:05:28    633268

'Do the GAA not give the rights to BBC more or less free to make the Ulster Champ assessable to parts of the north that don't have RTE?'

I'm not sure on the deal but it's irrelevant really. I'm sure Irish League aren't looking huge sums to show their games live. The BBC show every Ulster Championship match while they don't give that coverage to other sports. I honestly think people are complaining for the sake of it

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 29/04/2010 12:31:10    633308

PomeroyPlunkett
County: Tyrone
Posts: 674

632157 OmaghRedHand what sports do you think the BBC do show then? As far as I can tell no live soccer matches, bar the cup final. No Rugby except for the School's Cup. Some motorbike racing that lasts only about a week and I wouldn't class as being a 'Protestant' sport anyway. If they were showing a disproportionate amount of local football or Rugby to the GAA then there would be grounds for complaint but they aren't. We're actually lucky to get 8 games when you look at other sports

I don't class any sport as Protestant or Catholic so I can't help you there. Virtually every Northern Ireland home game is shown, the Irish league games are not shown live as SKY believe it or not have the rights. If you also consider that bar Linfield and Glentoran, the average support for an Irish League club is 1000 or less, compared to on average 15000 at an Ulster championship game, it is clear in my view that GAA has a vastly superior following. Even club championship games would have at least 1000 at them. Rugby suffers from the fact that they to are part of the Sky set up so BBC cannot show Ulster etc in the Magners league and are reduced to showing absolutely rubbish quality All Ireland league games. The BBC sport coverage as a whole is poor, I don't doubt that, but the fact that they show 8 or 9 GAA games a year is due to the fact that it is freely available to them as a result of RTE's generosity. However, other than the fact that RTE provide them with the games for next to nothing they would show nothing. Maybe you could help me out in relation to last year. Did BBC show the Tyrone v Kildare or Cork v Donegal games? Did they show Tyrone v Cork? When is the last time you saw a hurling match on BBC?

omaghredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 3656 - 29/04/2010 13:36:00    633407

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kN15IZGeMg

JuanVeron (Westmeath) - Posts: 1866 - 29/04/2010 13:51:54    633437

Any possibility that BBC NI show Ulster championship matches live and not Irish League matches because the general public have much more interest in the Ulster championship Pomeroy? Match attendances would seem to back this theory up.

nocky (Wexford) - Posts: 2059 - 29/04/2010 14:02:06    633460

My thoughts on Hurling are well documented but even you have to admit the Hurling in the North is pretty much non-existant. I don't know what people want, every single GAA and Hurling match shown live? What sports for example do you think are given too much exposure on BBC NI? Jerome's claim was that there was a bias towards 'Protestand supported' sports. Do you agree with that? What 'Protestant supported' are gettong too much coverage?

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 29/04/2010 14:04:43    633468