TG4 have made a late request to stream Saturday’s Allianz Hurling League fixture between Cork and Limerick – after a desire to avoid clashing with Ireland’s Six Nations opener against England contributed to the Leeside showdown not being broadcast live on TV.
The Division 1A encounter at SuperValu Páirc Ui Chaoimh is expected to draw a crowd of about 30,000 spectators – with both stands now sold out and only terrace tickets remaining on general sale for the 7.30pm encounter.
However, the match will not to be shown live on television with TG4 broadcasting the Donegal v Dublin Allianz Football League match from MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey at 7.30pm and RTÉ showing All-Ireland SFC champions Armagh hosting Tyrone in the Athletic Grounds at 6pm.
With TG4 carrying the later games on Saturdays throughout the national leagues, they had first option on what match to televise and opted for Donegal’s home tie against Dessie Farrell’s Dubs.
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RTÉ subsequently requested to show the Cork-Limerick match live – but that would have required a rescheduling of the game to an early start time to avoid a clash with the live TG4 fixture.
A Montrose statement read: “RTÉ sought Cork-Limerick in the Allianz Hurling League as our match selection a number of months ago but the counties could not accommodate. RTÉ subsequently chose Armagh-Tyrone.”
Cork were reluctant to move the glamorous fixture between two of hurling’s heavyweights out of the prime Saturday evening slot, which in doing so would have put it up against the eagerly awaited Six Nations opener at the Aviva Stadium, 4.45pm – live on Virgin Media.
Given the shedload of tickets already shifted for the Leeside showdown, it appears to have been a savvy move in terms of attracting a bumper crowd.
Cork GAA said they were, “particularly surprised to hear from Croke Park a number of weeks ago that Cork v Limerick was not to be the chosen game by broadcasters at the appointed time on Saturday, February 1st at 7.30pm.
“We were then asked if we wished to consider changing our game to an earlier time to facilitate broadcast. As this alternative time clashed directly with the Ireland v England Rugby game on the same evening, we sought not to deprive our own supporters of seeing both games.
“We remain disappointed that our fixture will not be televised at the appointed time, but look forward to another spectacle with a packed house here at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday next.”
But TG4 have now made a request to stream the Cork-Limerick match live, so supporters might yet get the opportunity to watch Saturday’s Leeside action.
TG4 are awaiting a response from Croke Park.
The contracted, packed nature of the current intercounty calendar make fixture clashes with other sporting events even more likely.
However, it is not a recent phenomenon. GAA officials were criticised in the past for not being more flexible in facilitating supporters when such clashes arose – and a refusal to budge often led to smaller attendances at those matches.
Indeed, in February 2005 a league hurling game between Limerick and Tipperary at the Gaelic Grounds attracted a paltry crowd of just 1,500. Ireland were playing England in the Six Nations on the same afternoon.
And it is not the first time either whereby the absence of television coverage for a Cork-Limerick hurling game has sparked debate.
There was widespread controversy last May when the Munster senior hurling championship clash between the counties was only available on GAAGo – with many sports fans disgruntled the game had been effectively put behind a paywall.
The saga even brought about public utterances from both the taoiseach and tánaiste of the time.
Simon Harris, then taoiseach, stated: “It’s always been a grassroots organisation and I think the grassroots are really disappointed, really frustrated, at matches that the kids want to watch, that the family want to watch, are being put behind a paywall.
“The GAA really need to listen to their grassroots, that’s always been their strength from the bottom up. I think they’ve got this wrong.”
In response, GAA President Jarlath Burns came out strongly in defence of the association on the subject.
“I’m very surprised to hear the taoiseach speaking about this, considering last year we actually sat in front of an Oireachtas committee, we were asked to do so, we did so.
“There were no issues at the end of it, they accepted every argument that we had, all of our rationale, for the fact that we only have one broadcast partner, which is RTÉ – they have 35 matches.
“If you try to imagine a world without GAAGO, the rest of these games just would not be broadcast because we only have one broadcast partner.
“I’m very, very surprised and disappointed at the taoiseach and then the tánaiste would actually speak about something that we have already been in front of an Oireachtas committee for.”
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