1 week Ago By Vincent Whelan
IRISH football fans chuckled as The Late Late Show followed up its GAA special with an edition almost entirely dedicated towards rugby. Last week saw a line-up featuring GAA president Jarlath Burns, Pat Spillane , the four All-Ireland winning captains and even The 2 Johnnies . And this week the bulk of RTE's flagship had a heavy oval ball tint with Andy Farrell , current stars Aoife Wafer, Erin King and Craig Casey and legends Rory Best and Gordon Darcy all making an appearance .
In defence of the national broadcaster, that editorial decision was made in order to mark 150 years of the IRFU one week out from the start of this year's Six Nations . But nonetheless, two of the big three sports in Ireland being given such a spotlight was always going to leave a few noses out of joint among the football fanatics. The You Boys in Green led the grumbling, tweeting: "GAA night last week, rugby tonight on the Late Late Show.
Any word on a football one?" That sentiment proved a popular one with plenty of followers. One person replied: "Unlikely, RTE a very cold place for the most popular sport in the country." While Jason pointed out: "They won't even show League Of Ireland games when they actually on.
..so highly unlikely.
" Lastly, John alluded to the forthcoming LOI season kicking off next month by joking: "We have better things to be doing on Friday nights (soon)." The relationship between RTE and the League of Ireland has never been the most harmonious but the past 12 months have seen it really sour. Shamrock Rovers took the dramatic step of temporarily barring its cameras from Tallaght Stadium in protest at their European games not being broadcast.
And last week seismic news emerged around how Virgin Media will take over from it when it comes to showcasing the LOI as a whole for the next three seasons. RTE did offer to expand their package of annually televised games from 17 to 20. However, their bid still paled in comparison to Virgin's which vowed to feature a weekly game throughout the 36-match campaign.
Since dipping their toe in the water 21 months ago, Virgin Media have given the impression of a more enthusiastic partner with players wheeled out on Ireland AM on match weeks. Virgin have also earned kudos for devoting significant time and resources to pre and post-match analysis. This all led SunSport's Neil O'Riordan to declare in his column: "At last, the FAI looks to have found a TV company interested in promoting a product rather than viewing it as some sort of community service to avoid a prison term.
"The association, or at least a previous incarnation of it, is partly to blame for this perception for the tacking on of League of Ireland rights to negotiations over coverage of the Ireland matches. " John Delaney may have seen this as the FAI using its leverage to secure something that it might not have done otherwise. "But, in fact, it ensured that there was no sense of what domestic TV rights could be worth as a stand-alone product in an open market.
"And if you construct a deal which essentially confers no value on one element of it then do not be surprised if a consequence is it being viewed as worthless to some. "This was reinforced by the undeniable fact that, for a long time, rival companies were not beating down the door to compete for the rights. "And the fanciful notion articulated by some that there was untold riches that could be brought in from selling rights abroad was just that — fanciful — and a distraction in getting a sense of what its value might be.
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