sceptical
County: Cavan
Posts: 135
1709359
Soccer and cricket are the two most pppular sports on the planet. Both are played in poorest nations on earth. They left their upper middle class elitist cradle long ago. Rugby is an irrelevant minority sport compared to these world games.

Well if rugby is irrelevant compared to those games you could say the same about a lot of other sports including gaa but you dont mention those games. And yes even compared to other sports eg rowing cycling basketball volleyball and many other rugby is very much in the minority on a worldwide scale - but i love and i dont see what give you or others the right to denegrate it. Any sport that gives enjoyment and keeps people (esp kids) fit and healthy in my view can never be irrelevant whether its soccer, rugby , cricket, running, tug of war handball or even the inuit game of mouth pulling

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 01/04/2015 13:00:07    1709402

one has to consider the fact that that game was a novelty considering it was a world cup semi final..how many watched the full game?..that is probably a peak audience figure....where are the viewing figures for their new zealand game and their six nations games?..the same goes for the u20s...there is no viewing figures to back up the amount of coverage they are being given..it is laughable to suggest rte wouldnt show it if it didnt get good viewership when they refuse to show ladies gaa and the league aswell as the club championship which all get excellent viewership and the evidence is there for all to see

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 01/04/2015 18:58:46    1709582

janesboro there is little to your argument bar showing you are a rugby fanboy..most reasonable people on here if you actually listened to them are only bothered that the added stuff in rugby gets so much coverage in comparison to other sports..nobody has an issue with the coverage the main team gets for the most part as they draw good viewership...again listen to the points people are making instead of generalising them just because the odd person comes out with something silly

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 01/04/2015 19:02:09    1709585

Fabio8 County: USA
Posts: 1650
2
one has to consider the fact that that game was a novelty considering it was a world cup semi final..how many watched the full game?..that is probably a peak audience figure... AGREE WITH YOU ON ALL THIS

where are the viewing figures for their new zealand game and their six nations games?..the same goes for the u20s...there is no viewing figures to back up the amount of coverage they are being given..COULDNT FIND VIEWING FIGURES BUT I AM SURE THEY COULD BE OBTAINED FROM TAM IRELAND WHO DO THE RATINGS - AS YOU ARE AWARE THE FOR ADVERTISING THEY NEED TO KNOW WHAT PROGRAMMES ARE BEING WATCHED -THEY USED TO BE AVAILABLE ON AERTEL

it is laughable to suggest rte wouldnt show it if it didnt get good viewership - I DISAGREE ON THIS

when they refuse to show ladies gaa and the league aswell as the club championship which all get excellent viewership and the evidence is there for all to see YES THEY DO GET GREAT COVERAGE - ONE OBSERVATION I WOULD MAKE IS THAT CAMOGIE SHOULD GET GREATER COVERAGE - LADIES FOOTBALL HAS TG4 BUT RTE SHOULD SHOW MORE CAMOGIE - NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF ANY OTHER SPORT

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 01/04/2015 19:54:47    1709615

fabio8 County: USA
Posts: 1650

.again listen to the points people are making instead of generalising them just because the odd person comes out with something silly

APOLOGIES FOR GENERALISATION BUT IT STICKS IN MY CRAW WHEN SOME PEOPLE (NOT INCLUDING YOU IN THIS) DECIDE TO DENEGRATE OTHER SPORTS AND LET BE HONEST THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW POSTS IN THIS REGARD ANY SPORT NOT JUST RUGBY

Wonder should RTE go back to doing a game on monday programme like they did in the 90s showing camogie highlights and better highlights of qualifiers - some qualifier games esp first and second round game only get a minute or two. Would clash with Tg4 highlights programme which i enjoy coz they show 21s and minors, but im sure they could accomodate each other - goin to my old hobbyhorse twould probably get good viewership

Often hark back to the days of sports stadium -excellent gaa and rugby coverage (including my beloved AIL) and covered lot of other sports too - think they showed good bit of hockey

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 01/04/2015 20:03:49    1709621

janesboro
County: Limerick

Often hark back to the days of sports stadium -excellent gaa and rugby coverage (including my beloved AIL) and covered lot of other sports too - think they showed good bit of hockey

Aye Jaysus them were the days when we had proper sports coverage and a health system, education, housing ......

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1066 - 01/04/2015 20:57:17    1709642

janesboro im aware whats on tg4 but people cant expect others not to be upset by the national broadcaster being so biased towards one sport...majority of people have 0 issue with the mens team....sure it can go overboard and all that but in general most people dont have much issue with it...showing the added stuff which no other sport gets is what irks people including myself...i dont believe games that only can have a few hundred in attendance get all that great viewing figures to be honest...compared to a national league game for instance...rte would quite easily get the rights off tg4 if they wanted to....the national league draws great viewership yet rte have no interest in it

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 01/04/2015 21:26:01    1709650

FABIO the point janesboro is making is that maybe just maybe the is an audience for womens rugby - nobody is being forced to watch womens rugby -if yu dont want to watch it - change the station, turn off the tv, dont turn on the rte live website feed

i know from being involved in a gaa club that one thing that turns people off the gaa is this holier than thou attitide espoused by a minority i.e. hurling and football are the greatest games in the world and everything other sport is rubbish ... we could do without attitudes like that of sceptical (eggball snobs) in fairness to janesboro he did ask for examples of such snobbery and no answer wash forthcoming, and attitudes like the chap who earlier referred to rugby players and 1916. Denegrating other sports is not the way to promote our brilliant games -lets give other sports the credit they deserves and continue to positively promote our own games

youngmunsterman (Limerick) - Posts: 1 - 01/04/2015 21:40:01    1709661

another new poster from limerick?...where is the evidence to back up womens rugby being shown?..how many people play and attend matches in this country compared to womens basketball womens soccer womens hockey and womens gaa?

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 01/04/2015 21:56:47    1709673

In fairness youngmuntserman theres a bit of that holier than thou stuff with the rugby people too.
I believe that GAA games suffer the most from "sport bigotry" in this country.
In my experience most people who slag of the GAA have never watched a game.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 02/04/2015 09:34:53    1709687

fabio8 County: USA Posts: 1657

where is the evidence to back up womens rugby being shown?.

tweets from the rtepress twitter account- they are average figures - while i am sure you will question the integrity of the figures - i would assume the figure were got from the independent tam ratings and would also assume that there would be reprecussions if inaccurate viewing figures were given - you can google these for your own verification

1. RTÉ Press Office ‏@RTEPress  24 Feb 2014
Saturday's coverage of England Women v Ireland Women on @rte Two attracted an average of 291,900 viewers with a share of 18%. #rterugby

RTÉ Press Office‏@RTEPress - March 2013
An average of 160,000 viewers watched @irfurugby Women's team Grand Slam #6Nations win live on RTE Two on Sunday #rterugby

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 02/04/2015 09:36:39    1709689

Have you noticed a sudden influx of posters professing to be concerned about football/hurling/camogie/ladies football but sounding more like the Irish Rugby Football Union/RTE Munster Defence Brigade.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 02/04/2015 10:12:49    1709705

Janesboro just for comparison the 2013 ladies football finals on TG4 (the latest figures I can find) had 625000 people tune in to watch - though hat is total compared to the rugby figures which are average. However, considering they get minimal publicity and were broadcast on a station that many Irish households would never watch, it shows the differences in levels of interest in the sports. People don't mind womens rugby being shown if the coverage it got was proportional, but it isn't. This thread is not about rugby, it is about how RTE dedicate so much of its time to one sport above other, more popular sports. As the response to my query about the news on March 17th, even RTE admit that sometimes there is no editorial justification for the additional coverage it gives rugby above other sports.
Another issue, which no doubt will be considered to be rugby bashing rather than people debating the point, is that the standard of womens rugby is relatively poor and actually broadcasting it does little for the promotion of womens sports. Take Irelands 73-3 defeat of Scotland for example, a game between a team with professionals (Ireland) and a team who can pick from a total playing population of no more than a few hundred amateurs (Scotland). Unlike soccer, ladies football, camogie etc in Ireland, as far as I know there are no girls underage rugby teams in Scotland, and until very recently very, very few in Ireland. Correct me if I am wrong but Niamh Briggs was voted the best womans player in the world when she was 28 - she didn't play her first game of rugby until she was 21, and even then it was only a handful of games each year. Up to then she played gaelic football, like a lot of the Irish players. Of course the standard is improving, but when you have underage clubs in a variety of female sports across the country it seems strange for RTE to give the greatest level of promotion to a sport with very few underage clubs (is there even an organised schools competition for girls rugby?)

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 02/04/2015 10:50:01    1709715

Excellent post Soma. Well argued. In no way can it be construed as being anti rugby. What annoys people is the hugely disproportionate coverage given to ladies rugby as opposed to other ladies sports.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6177 - 02/04/2015 13:03:21    1709802

Sama, your figures are not like for like. The TG4 figure for the ladies finals last year, which were a record were 625,000 viewers. This is total viewers and not average, which is what RTE give. Average is usually 40% which means for the ladies All-Ireland finals which are three games, it is 250,000. Great figures all the same, but not multiples of ladies rugby internationals.
I'd watch most sports on TV and compared to 25-years ago, GAA has certainly moved down the pecking order in the winter. Back then you'd get all the NFL results and maybe a goal or two. You might not get the results now but come summer, there is only one sport that gets wall to wall coverage on RTE, and that's our football and hurling.
Compared to back then, the GAA coverage is in a different league, when all you got was the Sunday Game highlights and the only live games were the the two All-Ireland semi-finals and the final.

Roger (Meath) - Posts: 480 - 02/04/2015 13:27:12    1709809

Comparing like with like. The U-21 football championship has more matches and larger crowds than its rugby equivalent even at international level. Now have a look at the reports on the RTE website of last night's Ulster U-21Football Semi-finals and compare how RTE's coverage of these matches compares to their coverage of U-20's rugby. You'll see then why RTE is being accused of bias. The difference is striking.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 02/04/2015 16:03:54    1709885

Roger my previous post clearly stated that the figures were not like for like, they are just the only ones available. I think someone earlier said that the womens rugby world cup semi-final, extensively previewed across all media and shown on TG4, had a total audience of 550,000. That is still less than the ladies gaelic football final figure of 625,000, which gets almost no attention at all in the national media. The 2013 ladies football club final had an average audience of 66000 on TG4 despite probably not getting a mention in any of the national papers that morning.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 02/04/2015 16:25:25    1709900

Another headline you won't see anywhere today. FOOTBALL RISES FROM THE DEAD. Following last night's free flowing, high scoring (if not quite a Cork Cricket score) Leinster U-21 Football Final in Navan that legendary corner-back Mark Tight is quoted as saying that 'rumours of football's death have been greatly exaggerated.' On a night when the only 'muck' was underfoot Dublin came good in a thrilling and entertaining match. In consequence all funeral arrangements have been cancelled. Local papers please copy.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 03/04/2015 11:17:21    1710084

What is it about our football analysts these days that they seem to view everything in such negative terms. Martin Carney is the latest. Here's what he opens this weekend's NFL preview with in his RTE online column. 'There is a kind of snobbishness attached to it. Taking the league seriously that is, or certainly proclaiming openly that it is a competition worth winning. Naw!' The NFL is our second most important football competition. Just because it isn't as meaningful as the championship doesn't make it's meaningless as the article implies. Constructive criticism is always welcome but to do down the efforts of hundreds of our players and belittle the interest shown by hundreds of thousands of our supporters on the most important weekend of the league year is neither constructive nor fair to anyone concerned. RTE columnists in other sports try to grow a greater interest in their own sports. Unfortunately our football analysts prefer to do the opposite.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 04/04/2015 13:13:20    1710371

Mediaman, if you read the whole thing you will see that carney goes on to say that both tyrone and Kerry will be dreading the drop, and he states that while no team is totally obsessed with winning the league, it is very important to avoid relegation. fair enough imo.
I agree totally however, that the league has the potential to be a fantastic competition, and it would benefit the GAA hugely if teams took it more seriously.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 04/04/2015 14:46:39    1710398