Madam, – Donal Byrne (May 6th), lauds the lack of segregation and the homogenous mixture of Munster and Leinster fans at the game on Saturday. He also describes this as “unique to this great game”.
Perhaps when the Leinster and Munster bandwagons have stopped rolling, these fans could come to a GAA match in this very stadium on any given Sunday and see “comradeship” between opposing counties both on and off the field.
This has been a feature of GAA fixtures for over 120 years and will continue thus for another 120. Is it too much to ask that rugby fans show a little appreciation of the GAA, especially when this organisation is providing the very stadium to stage the “historic match”. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – K Nolan (May 6th) is outraged because “Only this Government would allow a national sporting event in our national stadium to be televised live exclusively by a foreign premium subscription satellite broadcaster”.
Surely this was not a reference to the recent Munster-Leinster European Cup semi-final? That was not a “national” sporting event, it was part of a European competition, over which the Irish Government has no jurisdiction.
It was not played in “our national stadium” either. It was played at a stadium owned by a rival sporting organisation, which is made available to other sporting codes only when the owners see fit, in return for vast sums of money. It should also be noted that the governments of all other countries that participate in the Heineken Cup also “allow” games to be shown on pay TV.
Professional rugby in Ireland is largely funded by pay TV companies (Setanta and Sky). If the Government was to “ban” contracts with pay TV channels, then Munster and Leinster would no longer have the resources to keep Ireland’s top players at home. If that were to happen, occasions such as last weekend’s European semi- final would never materialise in the first place. – Yours, etc,