UTV & BBC & RTE & TV3

Redhand Santa · September 17, 2013, 01:12:16 PM

As I said previously I believe the deal given to the bbc by the ulster council was one that would have been very hard to turn down. The argument is that there general sports coverage throughout the year isn't balanced. I've noted that no one who believes their coverage is good has argued with my point that the coverage on tv in the next month would be considerably less than 20 percent.

thewobbler · September 17, 2013, 01:44:51 PM

Quote from: Redhand Santa on September 17, 2013, 01:12:16 PM
As I said previously I believe the deal given to the bbc by the ulster council was one that would have been very hard to turn down. The argument is that there general sports coverage throughout the year isn't balanced. I've noted that no one who believes their coverage is good has argued with my point that the coverage on tv in the next month would be considerably less than 20 percent.

Only because it's a really daft point.

Between now and the the first week of October, there will be exactly zero senior games involving county teams from Ulster, and there will be exactly zero games in the Ulster club championships. So why would Gaelic Games feature strongly, or even significantly? Remember they're a REGIONAL broadcaster, and what happens in local-level sport isn't relevant.

Similarly, there's feck all coverage of soccer in July on BBC NI, as there's no matches taking place. Yes, major announcements make their way onto sports bulletins, but so did the news of Kieran McGeeney getting the chop, so did the news of Peter Canavan standing down, etc.

rodney trotter · September 17, 2013, 01:57:19 PM

If there was any case for Club football - then maybe the County finals from each County should be mentioned, as the winners play in the Ulster Club. Not a Quarter final which Cross were involved in against Pearse Og. They win the Armagh club championship nearly every year, not big news, even if they were without Clarke and a few others. Great strength in depth

armaghniac · September 17, 2013, 02:26:13 PM

is the soccer County Antrim shield a "regional" or a "local" competition
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9765116.stm

sheamy · September 17, 2013, 02:30:43 PM

Quote from: rodney trotter on September 17, 2013, 01:57:19 PM
If there was any case for Club football - then maybe the County finals from each County should be mentioned, as the winners play in the Ulster Club. Not a Quarter final which Cross were involved in against Pearse Og. They win the Armagh club championship nearly every year, not big news, even if they were without Clarke and a few others. Great strength in depth

In fairness, I think the county finals usually are given some degree of coverage. It's no different from RTE in that respect.

GAA people usually take issue with the amount of coverage that god awful soccer league gets week in week out on tv for most of the year, and the fact there are usually more people at a county underage final than goes to these games.

In terms of county games the BBC does a very good job on radio.

T Fearon · September 17, 2013, 02:43:23 PM

Simple facts:

BBC NI has a finite sports budget.

BBC NI has a responsibility to all its licence payers.

BBC has a balancing act to perform in terms of sports coverage,within the constraints of the budget available, and exactly like the Stormont Executive did in Stadia refurbishment (ironically the only dissenting voices to this emanate from Andersonstown nationalist residents opposed to a brand new 38,000 all seater GAA stadium!), prioritises the big three in terms of coverage, i.e. Soccer, GAA and Rugby Union.

Now you can argue about specifics etc, but no one can argue that all three of the aforementioned sports aren't allocated adequate and fair portions of BBC NI's sporting output.

rodney trotter · September 17, 2013, 03:54:20 PM

Quote from: sheamy on September 17, 2013, 02:30:43 PM
Quote from: rodney trotter on September 17, 2013, 01:57:19 PM
If there was any case for Club football - then maybe the County finals from each County should be mentioned, as the winners play in the Ulster Club. Not a Quarter final which Cross were involved in against Pearse Og. They win the Armagh club championship nearly every year, not big news, even if they were without Clarke and a few others. Great strength in depth

In fairness, I think the county finals usually are given some degree of coverage. It's no different from RTE in that respect.

GAA people usually take issue with the amount of coverage that god awful soccer league gets week in week out on tv for most of the year, and the fact there are usually more people at a county underage final than goes to these games.

In terms of county games the BBC does a very good job on radio.

Wouldn't disagree. Don't listen to it much, but the coverage is very good anytime I did hear it.

rrhf · September 17, 2013, 03:57:56 PM

Quote from: T Fearon on September 17, 2013, 02:43:23 PM
Simple facts:

BBC NI has a finite sports budget.

BBC NI has a responsibility to all its licence payers.

BBC has a balancing act to perform in terms of sports coverage,within the constraints of the budget available, and exactly like the Stormont Executive did in Stadia refurbishment (ironically the only dissenting voices to this emanate from Andersonstown nationalist residents opposed to a brand new 38,000 all seater GAA stadium!), prioritises the big three in terms of coverage, i.e. Soccer, GAA and Rugby Union.

Now you can argue about specifics etc, but no one can argue that all three of the aforementioned sports aren't allocated adequate and fair portions of BBC NI's sporting output.

Is that soup tasty tony

Any craic · September 17, 2013, 04:17:43 PM

Ok Tony I think we've got your opinion by now. The BBC themselves couldn't do a better job than you and a few others on here defending them to the hilt, which is fair enough, a bit strange and repetitive but fair enough. I disagree but that's ok too. I also find a few of the arguments to be a bit strange over the last while, like 'Sidebottom, Niblock and O'Callaghan are there primarily for GAA coverage' (the three lads would laugh at that) and 'Expecting them (BBC) to cover club games to any great extent would be akin to expecting them to cover junior soccer'. Really?

rrhf · September 17, 2013, 04:21:34 PM

To be honest its like a struggling marriage. Great when they are with ye but half the time they are away from ye plotting again ye, planning to kill ye...

imtommygunn · September 17, 2013, 04:41:41 PM

Any craic it is very hard to take your arguments seriously based on the fact that you didn't even know that Kevin McGourty commentated / critiqued on club games on the radio and you didn't even know the particular national league game O'Neill mentioned was on!

You seem to like turning arguments round here and no doubt you'll just deem comments to be personal here when they're not really.

Can you answer this... Over this last year do you actually know what coverage the BBC had between club and county games? You're arguing vehmently here and rubbishing people who disagree with you when you can't even back up your arguments?

FWIW They could do better but it is pretty ludicrous to suggest they should be at a first round club championship games.RTE wouldn't be near it so why would BBC.

T Fearon · September 17, 2013, 04:45:52 PM

Any craic. I dont think the BBC is perfect, but you cannot expect them to cover every facet of every major sport. Does club rugby for example get any coverage at all? Don't confuse standard of play/attendances as indicators of what should and should not be covered either. The fact of the matter is that Irish League soccer, relatively poor and all as the standard may be, and with relatively low attendances, is still the highest standard of soccer available in the region.

Stick in a F.O.I. request to BBC NI and get an analysis of its sporting output broken down into the percentages for each sport.

T Fearon · September 17, 2013, 04:52:04 PM

rrhf, a former prominent employee took a case against BBCNI alleging discrimination against Gaelic games. Even he, with more in depth inside information than any of us, couldn't produce a shred of evidence in a tribunal to support his allegations.

Pardon the pun, but I rest my case while I reach for a bowl of minestrone!

Any craic · September 17, 2013, 04:57:51 PM

No thanks Tony, you've clearly been onto the BBC info department, got the info and you keep repeating it on here! Personally I wouldn't take their stats are being anywhere near gospel. They're extremely good at twisting them. As for 'couldn't produce a shred of evidence' that's just daft. I don't know why you throw in these wild assumptions because they take away from your arguments. Where you in court? Did you hear all that went on? No and no.

imtommygun - calm her down there mate. You're all over the place with some of that stuff! Seriously, I think we've all put over our points by now, so let's park it without getting out of hand.

imtommygunn · September 17, 2013, 05:07:51 PM

Haha, Joe Brolly eat your heart out with your debating style any craic.

I'm calm I just think you would be better placed to back up your arguments with facts rather than subjectivity!

Anyway the big test is whether they put ulster club on again. They canned them the other year and there was an uproar which got them back on. Hopefully that remains!.

I doubt we'll be seeing any AI finals the rest of the year or any live games. Would be nice to see some ulster club highlights on the news anyway as well as a radio show. TG4 seem to not put on very many ulster teams for whatever reason so viewing is minimal.

As JC says the hurling is a bit thin on the ground. I can't recall if they had highlights of the ulster club final last year. That would be my biggest gripe(I can't recall exactly). No highlights of county finals fair enough but ulster club final should be there.