Heaney blasts BBCNI

[thewobbler]

McKenna's article is, by and large, an angle rather than story.

It lacks context, such as:

- RTE's coverage of its indigenous games was also appalling until the late 1980s. Was this sectarianism in action? Or was it simply a reflection of the fact that Gaelic Games didn't attract that large an attendance in the 70s and 80s?

- As a rule of thumb, if you wish to listen so sport on BBC Radio Ulster, you switch over to medium wave 1341, as the FM version is reserved for shite light entertainment. This is as far from a "don't let the fenians on FM" policy as it gets.

- Every Sunday of the national league, BBC Radio Ulster covers a match live for one of the wee 6, and has reports from all other Ulster matches. Similarly, all Ulster championship matches are covered on radio. It's actually really good coverage, with Oisin in particular a great analysts and tipster.

- As I've mentioned innumerable times over the years, local soccer fans are appalled by how little live coverage their sport (Irish League) gets in comparison to the Championship. The problem is all these people, much like McKenna, don't want to hear about the hours of coverage they do get. They want to talk about themmuns, even if they've no idea what themmuns are getting. 

- BBC NI is a regional broadcaster. Whether we, us, you, them like it or not, this means that a team or individual who represents the entire region must be accepted as a bigger story than one which represents a locality. Even if every person in that locality is 100% behind their team it doesn't necessarily make it a regional story. Once one of the "wee 6" wins Ulster and is representing the province in the All Ireland, as far as I'm concerned it then becomes a regional story. As far as I can tell (and I've done no research), RTE follows roughly a similar approach when leading out.

- BBC NI did not vote for Sky to come into their playing field.

[haranguerer]

The coverage is deliberately poor, and it has a major impact on how the sport is seen in the North by the wider community. As MacKenna points out, they never have a gaelic game live on BBC Radio FM, but regularly have soccer games, when GAA dwarfs it in the north in participant numbers and attendances.

[Seany]

It's a mixture of a few things; a total lack of desire in any way to want to get to know our games, a complete lack of understanding of what and who we are and how embedded our games are in terms of our identity and of course, the little bit of themmuns all thrown in.

To give an illustration of all this, I'll just throw in a simple factual example.  Stephen Watson and Joel Taggart are the two main sports reporters in BBCNI.  GAA is the main sport within the region of the BBC where they report.  Just check their twitter feed.  Go back for four, five years.  Not one mention of any GAA event, match, occasion, situation.  Not a picture.  Not a comment.  Nothing.  It is just totally ignored as if it doesn't exist.  Now, in what other parallel universe would this happen? 

[Keyser soze]

Joel Taggart couldnt find his own arsehole using both hands..

[Seany]

I believe both of these fellas (Watson and Taggart) are quite decent guys, but to go five years on your twitter feed commenting about every single sport apart from the most popular one in your region, speaks volumes.  Ulster final, 30000 supporters, but warrants nothing, no comment, not even a mention from the two main sports reporters for the main broadcasting unit in the region.  All Ireland final - 87000 supporters on the biggest sporting days in the calendar of this island and not even a murmur from either of them.  If you check the GAA BBC reporters, their twitter feed is much more representative and inclusive. 

This in a nutshell sums up the entirety of the BBCNI Sport attitude to the GAA. 

Passive aggression all the way.

[Stan Laurel]

I believe both of these fellas (Watson and Taggart) are quite decent guys, but to go five years on your twitter feed commenting about every single sport apart from the most popular one in your region, speaks volumes.  Ulster final, 30000 supporters, but warrants nothing, no comment, not even a mention from the two main sports reporters for the main broadcasting unit in the region.  All Ireland final - 87000 supporters on the biggest sporting days in the calendar of this island and not even a murmur from either of them.  If you check the GAA BBC reporters, their twitter feed is much more representative and inclusive. 

This in a nutshell sums up the entirety of the BBCNI Sport attitude to the GAA. 

Passive aggression all the way.

Watson is a pretentious p***k, if there was a GAA match in Augusta he would report on it with an all expenses paid trip.

[trailer]

I believe both of these fellas (Watson and Taggart) are quite decent guys, but to go five years on your twitter feed commenting about every single sport apart from the most popular one in your region, speaks volumes.  Ulster final, 30000 supporters, but warrants nothing, no comment, not even a mention from the two main sports reporters for the main broadcasting unit in the region.  All Ireland final - 87000 supporters on the biggest sporting days in the calendar of this island and not even a murmur from either of them.  If you check the GAA BBC reporters, their twitter feed is much more representative and inclusive. 

This in a nutshell sums up the entirety of the BBCNI Sport attitude to the GAA. 

Passive aggression all the way.

Watson is a pretentious p***k, if there was a GAA match in Augusta he would report on it with an all expenses paid trip.

Isn't he. He's an awful arsehole. He was away at some Chris Meeke rally and him dropped shortly after for crashing the car too many times.

[orangeman]

BBC's record on coverage is at least consistent - they consistently under report on GAA matches and news stories. They tick a few boxes here and there and give disproportionate coverage to other sports.

[Last Man]

Joel asked Christpher Stalford  for a 1 word answer to the question "will Arlene be attending the Ulster Final?" on this morning's GMU. He might say that's a box ticked.

[DuffleKing]

Is the weekly soccer coverage on a Saturday on fm or am?

[angermanagement]

Both ususally.

[Seany]

It's on FM.
The excuse traditionally was that the Sunday religious programmes clash with the GAA games and apparently 'Sounds Sacred' can never ever be moved, such is its importance to the 25 or so people who listen to it.  I think to move a religious programme off its slot to allow for the 'IRA at Play' would be far too much for our evangelical zealots to endure and Ulster would explode as a result.

So then a few years ago  the GAA moved games to a Saturday and guess what - even though there's usually a sports programme on at the very time the GAA game is on, lo and behold, it's also on MW.

You couldn't make it up...

[smelmoth]

Interesting piece here about the BBC v GAA issue:

MacKenna On Monday: White-Collar Sectarianism Treats GAA Like Second-Class Citizen

Ther are real issues in the midst of that but there is no attempt at balance in that article. The whole reference to Mike Nesbitt is strange and dare I say revealing

[sekibanki]

Interesting piece here about the BBC v GAA issue:

MacKenna On Monday: White-Collar Sectarianism Treats GAA Like Second-Class Citizen

Ther are real issues in the midst of that but there is no attempt at balance in that article. The whole reference to Mike Nesbitt is strange and dare I say revealing

There's no attempt at balance in the BBC either

[JoG2]

Has the 2018 Ulster championship not had far more airing than the other 3 provinces with live, deferred live and live on the iplayer games courtesy of the BBC? Not ideal but a damn site better than the current offerings from rte?