20/03/2015 21:14:00
fabio8
its not a good thing greenandred for a minority sport like womens rugby to be shown at the expense of sports like womens soccer, womens basketball and womens gaa which would be much bigger sports for women in ireland..the senior side bring in sponsorship...the u20s and womens side have nothing to do with this..the twitter account mentioned deals with facts and they are all to see The IRFU lobbied for coverage of womens rugby. Where are the FAI and other sporting organisations lobbying for more coverage of female sport?
Under 20s, womens rugby do bring In sponsorship. They target different markets and they most certainly have a lot to do with sponsorship

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 20/03/2015 21:33:20    1704945

ROS1 the situation with the schools games was not one I was aware of but it does seem to sum things up quite well and gives further weight to Mediamans posts. Why would the Ulster rugby final clip be shown but not the gaelic football final clip? Both were broadcast by BBC so its not a case that the images were not available to RTE. Only the football game featured a team from south of the border as well, the area RTE licence payers live in, so it seems all the more strange that it wouldn't be the one featured. I am sure we will be given the nonsense about it being rugby season at the moment but surely people will start to realise that there seems to be a very definite slant given to sports coverage by RTE.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 20/03/2015 21:54:10    1704949

ROS, I didn't even know RTE had sent a crew from the Superbowl, that's why I was asking Mediaman about the crew. Apologies Mediaman, if I am being aggressive in my replies to your text. I just wish you'd post a few positive things about sports other than GAA. ROS it's inly my opinion that RTE have little resources for sending cameras to some sports. I've no facts there.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7910 - 20/03/2015 22:00:06    1704951

There can be no justification as to why RTE a national broadcaster favours rugby and soccer so much on their news coverage over the gaa. The facts speak for themselves - the gaa has more members, more players, higher attedances and bigger viewing figures (which I demonstrated in earlier pages on this thread) than the other sports. We're not asking for more coverage just to be equal.

People can say its the gaa off season but this is an all year round issue. If rtewatch keeps this up over the summer he's see rugby still gets more mentions during the height of the championship when their is no rugby on!!

More people have attended gaa games in Ireland since January than the other sports, you would not think it from the coverage being given.

A Another (None) - Posts: 193 - 21/03/2015 11:56:52    1704982

The real problem is that rugby union gets far more RTE coverage than it merits. Take for example the underage scene. The U-21championships in football and hurling are equal in importance to U-20 rugby union. That's self evident. Just look at the attendances for each competition. If anything U-21football and hurling matches attract larger crowds as evidenced by this week's games. Nearly 3,000 attended the Cork Kerry match and that was just one of 8 U-21 matches played on Wednesday night. Last night approximately 1,500 if even that attended the Ireland Scotland U-20 game. And yet the RTE website gave no reports on any of the U-21 football matches (full time scores only) however it gave a detailed report on the U-20 rugby running to a massive 700 words. Add in the fact that RTE has already given full live coverage to U-20 rugby matches this year and you have clear evidence of favouritism. And don't forget many of the U-21 players are already household names. How many of the Ireland U-20 rugby team can you name? These are the facts. Like them or not.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 21/03/2015 17:37:47    1705008

As a postscript to the earlier U-21 post. It is now 7.40 pm on Saturday. The Connacht U-21 Football Semi-final ended well over an hour ago and the RTE website still hasn't even given the score never mind a report. A crowd of 1,600 watched this evening's game more than attends U-20 rugby internationals and yet RTE ignore it completely. For the record Galway beat Mayo and now meet Roscommon in the Final. RTE please copy.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 21/03/2015 19:44:14    1705030

lobbying?..its about whether the sport merits the coverage it gets or not...me and a few people could lobby rte tomorrow to show some obscure sport..it doesnt mean i should expect it to be shown if the overall interest isnt there as its not...the sponsorship womens rugby bring in is minimal to say the least

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 21/03/2015 21:12:25    1705045

I tried to post about this yesterday but for some reason the moderator declined . RTE as a national broadcaster has a public service remit . Lobbying on the part of The IRFU ( Ormond's assertion, not mine) should not influence the choice of sporting content broadcast by RTE. Mediaman has consistently highlighted the discrepancies in the coverage between rugby and Gaelic Games on RTE . It is blatant . Justifiably RTE screened all three matches yesterday and it built to an incredible climax . Less justifiably RTE then elected to show us the Ronan O Gara documentary . The most blatant example of lack of balance in RTE's sporting content broadcast is reserved for the Irish ladies rugby team . All of their home nations games over the last three years have been broadcast live and in full on either RTE Radio or TV. Has RTE broadcast a single game of any other ladies team sport live and in full on either radio or tv over the last three years ? That is before we refer to Katy Taylor . Lobbying should never be a factor in relation to sporting events broadcast by RTE. The questions are does lobbying play a part in the sporting content RTE chooses to broadcast and is RTE in compliance with it's public service remit ?

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6177 - 22/03/2015 11:09:08    1705071

RTE are ran by Fine Gael as can be evidenced by yesterdays coverage of the huge march in Dublin...make sure theres loads of Rugby headlines and people wont realise there was a march of anything up to a 100,000 in Dublin...RTE could stand for rugby telefis eirean at this stage...

hurler32 (Limerick) - Posts: 870 - 22/03/2015 18:14:14    1705248

PPS. The RTE underage bias in favour of rugby union is perfectly summed up by this weekend's matches. It wasn't until more than two and a half hours after the final whistle that the RTE website gave us the final score in the Connacht U-21Football semi-final. The accompanying report is the worse match report I have ever seen. Less than 100 words in length it is like something you would post on your club website to update club members on the outcome of an U-10's match. Check it out you'll see what I mean. In contrast the Ireland Scotland U-20's rugby union match was given a 700 word match report including teams despite the fact that the attendance at the Mayo Galway game was larger than the U-20's game. It's an excellent example of the kind of tokenism so common in RTE. They do cover football or hurling but often in such a deplorable way as to insult everyone concerned. Go compare these two match reports on the RTE site and you will never again doubt that there is not just a clear bias but also an unacceptable level of of disrespect shown towards 'our sport' and its followers.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 22/03/2015 19:25:01    1705316

Only people with the power to change things is the GAA - wouldn't hold my breath though - one phonecall could change things if they so wished.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4953 - 22/03/2015 19:45:37    1705335

i personally wouldnt mind the threat of all rights towards sky exclusively or another channel...would be interesting to see how rte act

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 22/03/2015 20:02:24    1705343

Well said media man well said

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1687 - 22/03/2015 20:12:09    1705349

Greengrass
County: Louth
Posts: 3567

1705071
I tried to post about this yesterday but for some reason the moderator declined . RTE as a national broadcaster has a public service remit . Lobbying on the part of The IRFU ( Ormond's assertion, not mine) should not influence the choice of sporting content broadcast by RTE.

This is true. Lobbying is commonplace though so the GAA, as arock and ormond suggest, might as well engage.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 22/03/2015 20:36:00    1705367

Banging your head against a brick wall there I'm afraid. The current, and previous, director of sport at RTE is rugby true and true. Asking the goys to play more 'bog ball' which is I'm sure what they would refer to it as, would be like asking a DUP MLA to convert to Catholicism. It just isn't going to happen. Non-rugby sports are treated with contempt it's sad to say. The only soccer show now shown on RTE, and it showing games from the national league, has been relegated from it's once prime time slot of 8pm to 11.05pm on Mondays. Could you imagine the uproar from the old boys club if 'Against the Head' was screened that late? Rumour has it that Ryle is changing his title to Director of Rugby at RTE as no other sport can get a look in. It's pitiful. I wonder you Tubs will have on as star guest next Saturday. Will it be Paulie or Seanie or Besty? ROG, Dricco, Donncha and Tommy Bowe have all been on this season so plenty of room for some more.

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4737 - 22/03/2015 21:17:20    1705405

Fascinating item on RTE Radio 1 Drivetime. For no apparent reason the programme decided to interview rugby union activists in traditional football and hurling areas to see what the impact of the rugby union results over last weekend might have. The entire item sounded like nothing more than a free ad for rugby union as speaker after speaker encouraged young boys and girls to get involved in rugby in GAA areas only. I wonder whose idea it was to do this. Obviously not someone with a GAA background. Is RTE now the PR division of the IRFU attempting to poach players from 'our' sport. It certainly sounds like that. What other possible reason could there be for such an odd item? Curiouser and curiouser.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 23/03/2015 20:35:37    1705797

Further evidence of attitude of RTE to GAA. The Women's game v Scotland is on RTE Player for the next 20 days whereas the GAA Club Finals finish tomorrow. Furthermore the GAA Club Finals are being described as being between "Leinster Rangers v Portumna in the Hurling Final, and Castlebar Mitchels v St Vincent's in the Football Final". Yes a year out of date and even then they get one of the names wrong "Mount Leinster Rangers". This can be put down to either complete disregard for or total ignorance of GAA. So much for our "National" Broadcaster.

mod (Mayo) - Posts: 859 - 23/03/2015 20:59:32    1705812

Ormond rte have no sponsorship for there coverage of women's rugby on tv or radio. Indeed i have seen bigger crowds at ladies football junior b finals here in Roscommon between 2 small rural clubs then was at the women's rugby game in Glasgow. Look at yesterdays sport news where the Irish women's hockey team beat Canada across the road in Belfield from Rte there was a 1 second clip of them celebrating didn't even bother showing any of the goals of the game. Indeed it seems that rte presenters are only aware that women play sport since the Irish rugby women's team have become competitive in the last couple of years. Mediaman it was the same on game on on St Patrick day where Hugh Cahill was getting giddy talking about fella from gaa backgrounds playing schools rugby, indeed he failed to mention how most of these lads have to pay fortunes to send there children to these schools

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 23/03/2015 21:31:16    1705830

Is this RTE getting back at the GAA for the "SKY deal"? And where's Ormondo gone to in all of this?

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 23/03/2015 21:33:01    1705831

Year old out of date Information on the Club Finals on RTE Player only goes to prove that whereas nothing is too good for Rugby Union fans any old thing at all is good enough for football/hurling followers. Great to see so many have now become aware of just how badly 'our sport' is being treated by our so-called National Broadcaster.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 23/03/2015 21:35:24    1705833