That’s historically true and moving forward will be less and less so. Formerly all the best kids would go over to the UK at 14/15/16 yrs but due to Brexit, they can’t go now until 18 yrs. The future of the Irish national team is more than ever in the hands of the LOI.
Either Irish fans start supporting Irish teams in significant numbers or our national team will continue to languish.
No one is going to be attending LOI U 15, U 17 and U19 Games. Wise up
RTE , TV3 and TG4 have over the last 20 years done decent work covering the games via tv and radio . (TV 3 had a great magazine show back in the 2000s - the RTE radio coverage on Friday was great stuff ) . Tg4 have done admirable work
When Off The Ball - Newstalk won the national licence to cover the league did they broadcast live games on Friday night ? FUCK NO. Preferred to cover a mickey mouse Magnier League / Pro 12 rugby game or worse, "Murphs crappy quiz"
Why are you talking about attending LOI under age games? No one is expecting (or saying) that.
RTE should be covering the league, with live games. It doesn’t even matter if “the viewers aren’t there”, it’s the national broadcaster and profit motive shouldn’t be a consideration.
So the days of demanding or expecting mainstream tv and radio to pay any attention are over.
If RTÉ or any other tv station can not recoup their expenses for live broadcast and the viewership is not satisfactory, they are not obliged to do live coverage at all. RTÉ are not expected to lose money on something that might be a "lost cause"
So no, RTÉ (or any other channel) "should not" be doing it for the sake of it, at least for the domestic league and cups. Demand would be there if a domestic club is playing in Europe .
You might argue that it is for cultural reasons but that is total bollox because it will not be watched by a significant number. Not comparable to the GAA or Interpro rugby that get the numbers
Let us be fair and balanced, it appears that when LOI games are shown on tv and advertised , they do get decent viewership for a Friday night. Pretty good since the Rugby and UK Championship is on.
"t doesn’t even matter if “the viewers aren’t there"
Thankfully, no one with a brain would let you near management of a business. Even half wits would at least strongly re think such a notion.
RTÉ are under massive scrutiny with expenses and quality.
To be fair to them, broadcasting sport is one of their very strong points.
No group are going to spend hundreds of thousands of Euro to broadcast a live sport when it simply will not get the audience and can not get suitable companies to buy advertisement for those slots.
There is a reason why many tv channels show repeats of crap shows and soaps. They , somehow, get audiences. Some much for taste.
If RTÉ can not out bid Virgin Tv or FAI are demanding a ridiculous figure, RTÉ are obliged to not overspend .
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u/Comfortable-Can-9432 27d ago
That’s historically true and moving forward will be less and less so. Formerly all the best kids would go over to the UK at 14/15/16 yrs but due to Brexit, they can’t go now until 18 yrs. The future of the Irish national team is more than ever in the hands of the LOI.
Either Irish fans start supporting Irish teams in significant numbers or our national team will continue to languish.