GAA-Sky Sports deal ‘very troublesome and against ethos’

A comment by GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghaíl that “there is no automatic right for everybody to see every game” has been greeted with “absolute shock” by the newly formed Keep Gaelic Games Free to Air group.

Such a view was “very troubling and detached and against the ethos of the GAA”, said spokesman Shaun Cunniffe.

Mr Ó Fearghaíl was speaking on Wednesday as it emerged the GAA will soon announce whether it is to extend a deal with Sky Sports which has been criticised by those who feel all games should be shown on a free-to-air basis.

Mr Cunniffe, an Independent councillor in Tuam, Co Galway, and member of the local GAA club, described the deal with Sky Sports as "incomprehensible" and "an absolute national scandal", which ran against the founding principles of the GAA.

He noted how, because of the deal, five of the six games involving All-Ireland finalists Mayo this year could be seen only by people who could afford Sky Sports. "The only one we could see was the Mayo-Fermanagh game [on RTÉ]," he said.

‘Staggering’

He described this "exclusion" as "staggering", and said in 2013 the Donegal-Mayo football quarter final attracted 442,800 viewers on TV3, while the Donegal-Mayo quarter final in 2015 was watched by 48,300 on Sky, "a difference of 394,500".

He said “the average GAA fixture on TV3 attracted 289,000 viewers while Sky viewership was 10 times less, in the mid 20,000s”.

It was “crystal clear that this broadcasting policy is unfair and detrimental to the community support for the GAA”, he continued.

What Mr Ó Fearghaíl was really saying, he claimed, was: "Thanks for all the countless hours that make your clubs so successful and thanks for the great players that you send forward to your county teams that make the Championships the compelling competition it is that then attracts great media interest - but now we will take it from here. Oh, and no motions at Congress please. It's unhelpful."