TV VIEW:WATCHING SPORT on television requires a minimum investment for any viewer. Mild curiosity will suffice as a hook but it has to linger longer than the 30-second channel hop cut-off point. Otherwise apathy, disguised as indecision, takes over and like a stone in a shoe, it can make the whole experience irritating.

Not caring about the outcome is fine as long as the contest is entertaining enough to be classed as distracting. A decent way to measure the level of viewer engagement is to notice how many nuggets of trivia pertaining to players a commentator offers: many interjections equal low grade fare.

Recalling in the aftermath of a match, the car registration number read out on the tannoy at the ground hints at a huge level of disengagement with the spectacle.

Darragh Maloney and Martin Carney provided a relentlessly upbeat soundtrack to the Ulster football championship clash between Donegal and Down yesterday but were undermined slightly by the match and in some respects, by the RTÉ studio panel of Joe Brolly, Colm O’Rourke and Pat Spillane.

The commentary team aped the conditions, bright and breezy, but the analysts were more downbeat.

They scrambled for expressions and similes that exemplified how disenfranchised they had become from the outcome of the match.

Asserting it was poor quality football, the panel suggested in weary resignation Down were less poor and therefore deserved to win. The proximity in scoring terms on the scoreboard injected a frisson of tension into the later throes of the game, won eventually in extra-time by Down.

For the neutral and the panel though, denied any emotive connection to the result, the spectacle will always be defined by strict parameters that relate to quality. The commentary team, in contrast, have a different remit, trying to ensure the viewers don’t reach for the remote control.

The spectacle and soundtrack can be as incongruous as disco music at a funeral.

Watching sevens rugby is like eating a sugary snack, delightful initially but after that surge the mood changes. Murrayfield in Edinburgh hosted the final tournament on this season’s world sevens rugby calendar and both Setanta and Sky Sport devoted a sizeable tranche of the weekend to covering every single game, in the case of the latter broadcaster.

A bit like staring directly into the sun, prolonged viewing of the abbreviated code is not recommended for the television viewer. It’s a brilliant day out if you’re at the venue but on the box, and in reaching for another musical simile, it can resemble elevator music: tries galore but strangely unsatisfying.

The most striking aspect of yesterday’s finale at Edinburgh was the toe-to-toe slugfest involving a Welsh and French player at the conclusion of a match between the countries.

The two just traded punches in an intense flurry that eventually saw both of them sent off even though the final whistle had gone.

Sevens rugby is to the 15-man game as Twenty20 cricket is to the Test match variety.

The recent Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean would have been diverting for the casual fan but the majority of that category of viewer who tuned into England’s clash with Bangladesh can’t have been nearly as enthused.

Taking Dublin-born Eoin Morgan’s Test match debut and his knock of 44 out of the equation, this form of cricket demands a huge interest tariff.

Batsmen guard their wicket with a dour obstinacy, unencumbered by any commitment to score quickly. Chris Tavare’s Kentish defiance springs to mind; a man who batted for four and 54 minutes, facing 202 deliveries to score 42 runs with just a single four in the second innings of the second Test against the West Indies at Lord’s in 1980.

Easily the most compelling spectacle was the Munster hurling championship clash between Cork and Tipperary, where the quality of the game itself was matched by the lively studio debate between Cyril Farrell, Ger Loughnane and Tomás Mulcahy.

The studio analysis was sharp and provocative, facilitated by Des Cahill in the anchor role, shifting between an appraisal of the main talking points from the game and an informative explanation of rule changes during the interval.

The panellists bounced views off each other and in disagreeing occasionally drew the television audience into forming an opinion.

As an overall package it crackled, even for those not necessarily investing emotionally with regard to the outcome.

It reinforced the supposition that to fully appreciate a sporting occasion the viewer should possess or develop an interest.

RTÉ’s coverage also benefited from the commentary team of Ger Canning and Michael Duignan: particular the latter, whose knowledge and candour enhance the real-time experience.

He cares and it makes it easier for the viewer to do so too.