The relevant centenary doesn’t fall until later this year, in August, but RTÉ have been understandably quick out of the traps with celebrations of their 100 years’ broadcasting, which began this month.
The 1920s were a turbulent decade in Ireland and the GAA’s experiences were no exception.
After a period of significant growth in the previous decade, which included the acquisition of Croke Park and the modernising of the games, followed by the tribulations of civil war, the GAA got back on track.
A landmark event took place on August 29th, 1926. The fledgling Irish radio station 2RN, precursor of Radio Éireann and, eventually, RTÉ, decided to broadcast live commentary of the All-Ireland hurling semi-final between Kilkenny and Galway.
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It is not often that the GAA, for all its proclaimed virtues, is associated with technological innovation – especially in the 1920s – but this was the first live broadcast of a field sport in Europe.
There is a connection with this newspaper. Patrick Mehigan, writing for The Irish Times as Pat’O, was contacted by PS O’Hegarty, secretary of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs and asked to give “a running commentary” on the match.
His rousing response – “I’ll try it, anyway” – set the stage. Some years later he sketched a scene, redolent of torture chambers: “A cable led up to a corner of the press stand. Then a big mahogany box with wires and screws and gadgets galore was set out and when the time came, I was asked to sit beside the box. A leather contraption was put around my neck with a yellow brass tube in front into which I had to speak.”
Despite this, the broadcast went well and the idea extended to the remaining fixtures of the championship.
In order to get a sense of how revolutionary this all was, consider the radio schedules at that time. In the era before tape technology was perfected, nearly all of the programming was simply live music performances – whether in studio or from gramophone records.
In the exhibition, ‘Tuning In – From Wireless to WiFi’, presented by the GAA Museum some years ago, it was explained how 2RN managed to be first into this arena.
At the time, the BBC was prevented from broadcasting sporting events before 7pm as a means of protecting newspaper sales. Newspaper proprietors had lobbied to limit any possible impact that the more immediate dissemination of news in general might have on print media. As a result, it was agreed that the BBC would not broadcast news, including sports activities, until the evening.
This strange restriction didn’t last long and the following year, 1927, the FA Cup final between Cardiff City and Arsenal was covered by live commentary from Wembley.
Live broadcasts benefited both the GAA and the broadcaster, as the arrival of a teenage Michael O’Hehir in 1938 began a process of radio commentary becoming both a social event and a national occasion.
When Teilifís Éireann was launched in 1962, the appointment of O’Hehir as the first director of sport was welcomed by Croke Park as reassurance that the GAA’s interests would be protected by those in charge being – in the words of association president Séamus McFerran, “sound in their Gaelic and national outlook.” McFerran had held office while the idea of a television station was being mooted and devised.
From such a perspective, it is hard to imagine an environment less familiar than the one in which the GAA now operates. There has long ceased to be any bonus for the purity of national outlook. Everything is now simply a branch of entertainment.
There are pluses and minuses for the association in the recent release of the 2025 viewership figures. On the positive side, the second-most-watched (the Late Late Toy Show perennially tops the list) programme of the year was the All-Ireland hurling final between Tipperary and Cork (995,000 viewers), followed in fourth by the Kerry-Donegal football equivalent (939,000).
In comparative terms, the top 10 programmes are far more sports oriented than was the case 20 years ago – eight out of 10 as opposed to two out of 10 – and half of them are rugby broadcasts.
In 2024, the figure was nine out of 10 with six rugby internationals accompanying the All-Ireland finals and the Euro 2024 final.
Yet, the GAA can be buoyed by a number of considerations. It is just a few years since the decision was taken to tear up the scheduling habits of over a century by concluding the All-Irelands in July. They will be moved back to August in 2027.
Despite this disruption, audiences for big matches have held steady.
The extraordinary success of the Munster hurling championship saw its attendances climb by 23 per cent, according to provincial CEO Kieran Leddy’s annual report.
In television terms, the seven broadcast Munster hurling matches averaged audiences of 357,000.
There is also the consideration that television ratings no longer tell the whole story. The increased profile of sports programming in the most-watched broadcasts reflects its position as the last stronghold of appointment viewing – programmes that have to be watched live – but there is also the growing non-TV audience.
For example, the All-Ireland hurling final also had 400,645 live streams, a record number for a GAA match on RTÉ Player. The football final attracted 378,279 streams.
Nothing may, in the words of the 2012 GAA marketing campaign, ‘beat being there.’ But 100 years after the process of remote attendance began, not being there has never been easier.
email: sean.moran@irishtimes.com
