On Tennis: Back in the 1990s the RTÉ English-speaking networks believed Wimbledon was something. Back then the national broadcaster that brings you F1 and Moto GP believed the biggest tennis competition in the world, and one that every Irish sports fan has grown up with, was worth the cost of sending their own people over to cover the event.
Jim Sherwin and former Irish Davis Cup player Matt Doyle used to squeeze into a claustrophobic commentary box on Centre Court and "do" Wimbledon.
Doyle, with his frame of over six feet, never really warmed to the idea of two people in a wardrobe for an entire afternoon. The former top-100 player and coach of the then world number one, Mats Wilander, had become used to a little more in his work environment.
Sherwin used to also go to the French Open at Roland Garros as part of a network commitment to the sport that obviously went beyond local interest. RTÉ showed what people wanted to see rather than slavishly following sports that had only an Irish angle.
Now the two networks don't bother with Wimbledon, maybe because they believe nobody in Ireland wants to watch it any more, or, that they simply can't compete with the juggernaut of the host broadcaster, BBC.
What you get now in tennis is 30 seconds of sports news coverage, any soccer they can afford, motor racing (where you get a drive only if you can bring millions of sponsorship with you) and all sorts of rugby, except the competition everyone wants to watch, the Heineken European Cup. (The live broadcast of the hissy fit thrown by George Hook and Tom McGurk over the fact RTÉ had lost the live European Cup action was well worth the earlier investment of listening to the analysis.)
That aside, you'll be pleased to know Doyle is cutting a fine figure down in the, ahem, premier golf resort at the K Club and happily working off a low single-figure handicap, while Sherwin has disappeared into the ether. RTÉ has forgotten Wimbledon but Irish broadcasting has not. TG4 is again covering the two-week event.
What TG4 says is that we are an Irish language station but we are not stereotypically bog standard. It says we are progressive and we are unafraid to do things that superficially look out of character. The station, a type of little sister subsidiary to the less tennis-loving networks one and two, has a philosophy of "More and better", and it obviously doesn't give a tinker's curse over the coming together of the most quintessential English sport with a language that has been used for many years, and in Northern Ireland particularly, as a political baton to beat England over the head.
TG4 believes it is building on the success of last year's tennis coverage from the pristine lawns and none of its viewers seem to complain. Last summer's gamble, the first time it dipped its toes into the event, was seen as a very decent solo run. From Monday onwards, TG4 will cover 13 days of live coverage up until the men and women's finals on July 8th and 9th.
All this because the 2005 Wimbledon coverage drew positive reviews with particular praise going to the commentators for their enterprising conversion of tennis phrases and vocabulary into Irish. Language that is definitively tennis in character, such as 15-love, deuce or drive-volley was readily made accessible. An average of 235,000 people daily watched the afternoon coverage, with the most successful day being the second Saturday when the women's final took place, between Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams. For Williams' third victory at SW19, 300,000 people tuned in to TG4.
So, what does 235,000 mean and is it any good? Up against other big Irish sports occasions, which unlike international tennis, draw on intensely partisan interest, TG4 appears to compare favourably. Munster's successful European Cup final against Biarritz earlier this year averaged a 532,000 figure, while Roy Keane's testimonial match involving Manchester United and Celtic averaged 460,000.
Last season's FAI Cup final between Drogheda and Cork City had a rating of 4.7, peaking at 7.5, which worked out at an average figure of 179,000. Judge for yourself whether TG4's figure is good while considering the programmes are broadcast in a language that many people in the country do not fully comprehend and largely in the afternoon. World Cup aside, would RTÉ 2 do any better? Do they care? Still, Wimbledon Beo ar TG4. What has a better ring to it than that?
