Heaney blasts BBCNI

[Gnevin]

You should all scan,post a copy to one person and reply en mass by a courier who is directed to only give it too Mr Gylnn

[Feckitt]

I live on the Warrenpoint Road in Newry.  The Newry Town soccer showgrounds are beside Pairc Esler.  When Newry Town are playing you wouldn't even know a game was on, the cars don't even reach out onto the main road.  I don't know what the attendances were at both matches (Trying to find out IFA attendances is like trying to find the 3rd secret of Fatima).  However I would estimate that there were about 10x times as many at the GAA match.

Guess which one received a live commentary from BBC, and which one was completely ignored?

[Feckitt]

Just sent my complaint away this morning to Mike Edgar & Shane Glynn.  Hope I don't just get the standard reply.



Dear Sirs,
I know that last week you received countless emails, letters and phonecalls concerning your poor coverage of Gaelic Games.  I didn't write to you last week, as I assumed that with the amount of complaints you received along with the negative publicity in the press that the BBC would be embarrassed into rectifying this.
However, I was genuinely shocked to discover on Sunday that your refusal to cover the Ulster Club Championship has not changed.
On Saturday a match involving Newry Town was carried live.  However on Sunday another match involving Mayobridge & Dromore took place in Newry with approximately 10x times the attendance of the aforementioned soccer match. 

I have no problem with the NI soccer matches getting good coverage, but when another sport attracts 10x times the attendance in the same town on the same weekend, but gets no coverage, then you know something is wrong.  In fact there were probably more people at that one GAA match than all the Irish league matches combined.  We will never know this for definite as the attendances at IFA matches is the most closely guarded secret in sport today.

Dromore go on to play Crossmaglen Rangers next Sunday in the Semi Final.  It really would beggar belief if the BBC decided to ignore this game as well.  Tyrone champions versus Armagh, Ulster and All-Ireland champions.  It will be by far the biggest game in Ulster this weekend in any sport.  The BBC have a duty to be there.  We will wait and see.
Yours sincerely,

[tyrone86]

A little strange there was no radio coverage of Mayobridge and Dromore yesterday considering the BBC had updates of the latest score on Ceefax during the game.

[blasmere]

Just sent my complaint away this morning to Mike Edgar & Shane Glynn.  Hope I don't just get the standard reply.



Dear Sirs,
I know that last week you received countless emails, letters and phonecalls concerning your poor coverage of Gaelic Games.  I didn't write to you last week, as I assumed that with the amount of complaints you received along with the negative publicity in the press that the BBC would be embarrassed into rectifying this.
However, I was genuinely shocked to discover on Sunday that your refusal to cover the Ulster Club Championship has not changed.
On Saturday a match involving Newry Town was carried live.  However on Sunday another match involving Mayobridge & Dromore took place in Newry with approximately 10x times the attendance of the aforementioned soccer match. 

I have no problem with the NI soccer matches getting good coverage, but when another sport attracts 10x times the attendance in the same town on the same weekend, but gets no coverage, then you know something is wrong.  In fact there were probably more people at that one GAA match than all the Irish league matches combined.  We will never know this for definite as the attendances at IFA matches is the most closely guarded secret in sport today.

Dromore go on to play Crossmaglen Rangers next Sunday in the Semi Final.  It really would beggar belief if the BBC decided to ignore this game as well.  Tyrone champions versus Armagh, Ulster and All-Ireland champions.  It will be by far the biggest game in Ulster this weekend in any sport.  The BBC have a duty to be there.  We will wait and see.
Yours sincerely,

I beg to differ, St Galls v Glenullin is just as big and may be even more interesting.

But you're right the lack of coverage is a disgrace.

[Feckitt]

Blasmere, I think that with the All Ireland champions playing, and the added Oisin/McMenamin factor the Cross match will be the bigger of the two.  However you are right the St Galls/Glenullin match won't be far behind, and will certainly be better attended than anything the blues/crues/glens/ports etc can muster

[Square Ball]

I live on the Warrenpoint Road in Newry.  The Newry Town soccer showgrounds are beside Pairc Esler.  When Newry Town are playing you wouldn't even know a game was on, the cars don't even reach out onto the main road.  I don't know what the attendances were at both matches (Trying to find out IFA attendances is like trying to find the 3rd secret of Fatima).  However I would estimate that there were about 10x times as many at the GAA match.

Guess which one received a live commentary from BBC, and which one was completely ignored?

would the IFA be bound by the Freedom Of Information Act? I think so, write to them asking for the attendances under the FOI act and see what you get back.

[GPA not OK]

How the hell would the IFA be included in the FOI act?

Each ground would however be required to keep details of gate receipts for accounting purposes. Don't see how you would ever get this information though unless it was volunteered.

Why don't you go to Irish League matches and do a head count.

That would keep you out of mischief for a while 

[Square Ball]

Surely for auditing or some UEFA rule they would have to keep records of attendances at the matches? someone out there must know FFS

[ziggysego]

The BBC showed a good bit of the game tonight, plus interviews with Noel McGinn and Fabian O'Neill. Unheralded stuff. Could this be a new beginning to GAA coverage on the BBC? The short term looks good, but I'll reserve judgement for the long term.

Even UTV's coverage picked up a bit tonight. Prehaps they heard about the campaign against the BBC and were worried they were next on the list

[clawaddy]

Watched the programme last week on Martin Clarke - excellent programme.  At the end of the programme the announcer said 'For all your weekend sports be sure to tune in to Radio Ulster on Saturday at ......' Do they still believe all sports take place on Saturday? Hello there -  I believe there are some weekend sports   on Sunday which are not being covered

[snatter]

Yep, good programme by the BBC on Martin Clarke.

If anybody hasn't seen it yet, its online at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/sol/newsid_7080000/newsid_7087200?redirect=7087294.stm&news=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1

[Sky Blue]

Good show. He seems like a really good talent. How come nobody heard of him before the Australians? Something really wrong with Down scouting IMO.

[ziggysego]

Good show. He seems like a really good talent. How come nobody heard of him before the Australians? Something really wrong with Down scouting IMO.

What you mean no-one heard of him? He was on Down's All-Ireland Winning Minor team in 2005. Big things were predicted for him on the Senior teams a few years down the line, but he got the call to Australia.

[orangeman]

Were there any pictures of the Dromore match on Newsline tonight ? I missed it - ??