WE’RE SUPPOSED TO be chatting about Sunday. Tottenham at Spotland. The FA Cup Fifth Round. Arguably the biggest game of Rochdale’s history. But we get a bit sidetracked.
Brian Barry-Murphy wants to chat more about the League of Ireland.
“I feel quite strongly about this, to be honest,” he begins.
“I think there’s still a sense of ignorance in the UK towards the League of Ireland. Clubs still see that there’s cracking players that come out of the league like Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, all the boys that went over to Preston. But I still think they don’t really rate the league over here. They’ll be players coming over to England and clubs will still be humming and hawing about taking them.
“The league has been outstanding over the last three or four years particularly. There’s such a draw to staying at home now because of European football so maybe you don’t see as many players come over as before. But I think the players get an unbelievable grounding in the League of Ireland. One of the best things that I found out when I came over was that my grounding in the league was harder than any apprenticeship you would have had over here in club academies. Different, I suppose. Now, there’s still a route for the guys who go over really young and progress but I think there’s a huge upside to guys staying and playing in the league and coming over as more developed players.”
One of those players is Ryan Delaney.
The defender arrived at Rochdale in January on a two-and-a-half deal from Burton Albion but it was his superb loan spell at Cork City that reinvigorated him and provided a much-needed confidence boost after a difficult cross-channel initiation.
The 21-year-old has gone straight into the first-team and started the last four games for the club. Later today, he’ll face Fernando Llorente, Lucas Moura et al.
“Delaney is a prime example,” Barry-Murphy continues.
He came over to Burton and never got a chance after doing well at Wexford. He went back to the League of Ireland and had an unbelievable season with Cork City and people still didn’t seem to realise who he was over here. Which is strange for me.”
It’s almost 20 years now since Barry-Murphy left Leeside and pitched up at David Moyes’ Preston. Across two decades, there have been just three further permanent clubs, a testament to his character and dedication. Sheffield Wednesday was enjoyable but brief. There was a long stint at Bury before he signed for Rochdale in 2010.
But, since 2013, he’s taken a step back. Initially there was a player/coach role, with manager Keith Hill keen on using Barry-Murphy as an on-field mentor for the team’s younger charges. But injuries were becoming more frequent and his last game was back in November 2016.
These days, at 39, he concentrates on being first-team coach and he’s quick to point out just how much of an influence his formative days in the League of Ireland have been to him both on and off the field.
“I’ve done study after study over here and I enjoy them all but the facilitators and educators go on about different coaching experiences and teaching the players different ways,” he says.
“Some of the best things I ever learned were from playing in the League of Ireland against certain players. At the FA, down in St George’s Park, they’ll say to me, ‘Where did you learn this?’ and I’ll say, ‘I saw Paul Doolin do it against me one day. I didn’t know what hit me but I remembered it forever.’ Like, I remember playing against that Dundalk side and Johnny C (John Caulfield) and Deccie Daly saying to me, ‘Yer man Doolin is some player now so you’ll have to watch his runs from midfield’. And I was prepared for it but I never saw the runs because he was always making them when I wasn’t watching. I picked up all these things that you could never coach. Paul Doolin? Fuck. He was unbelievable. As long as I’ll live, I’ll never forget the stuff I picked up against those type of guys.”
There’s a brief pause. I move to ask another question and get a couple of words out but Barry-Murphy is excitable now. He’s lost to nostalgia. He’s on a roll.
“LIAM COYLE, EOIN! LIAM COYLE!” he roars, defiantly.
They used play the ball into Liam Coyle’s feet and he’d flick it around the corner or over his shoulder and they’d be in behind you and you’d be green as grass thinking, ‘How did they get in behind me there?’ Unreal, like. And Liam was crippled! He’d be going around with those big bandages on his knees. He was a wizard though, wasn’t he? Like, that group of players were unbelievable and they’ve been consigned to that sort of mentality of, ‘Ah well, they mustn’t have been good enough to go over because they never did’ but it was because they never really got a chance. A different time, I suppose.”
Barry-Murphy doesn’t have much of a hankering for his playing days. Certainly, there’s been a buzz and an energy in the build-up to today’s fixture but having battled through about 400 games in the lower leagues, he knows these days are the exception rather than the rule.
And he’s been a bit-player in recent seasons anyway. It was a slow, patient transition and one he had prepared for.
“It was inevitable, really,” he says.
“My body just had loads of issues. I’d had so many knee surgeries. And even last season, I came back to play in one of those Checkatrade games and I snapped my Achilles and it was a bollocks, like. You miss the days like Sunday, don’t you? But it wasn’t a big transition for me. It was very easy, to be honest. I was in a coaching mindset from quite a while back anyway.
“I was on the verge of retiring five years ago, but Keith Hill came back to the club as manager. I’d had loads of injuries but I continued in this player-coach role, though I didn’t really consider myself a player. He knew I’d played really well for him in his previous stint at the club so after he came back from Barnsley he wanted me to instil his beliefs in the players through action rather than words. So, what he was doing verbally, I was doing it on the training pitch. And it just worked brilliantly. We had loads of players who came through our academy so it was used for that purpose – to bring on those younger players.
I was gaining unbelievable experience from the manager while I was finishing my training and doing my A licence and things like that. So in return I felt like I owed him. If I was going to be a player-coach, I wanted to give him something back in terms of doing things properly on the training ground, even though I was rarely, if at all, selected for games. I felt some sort of justification in that I thought I was helping the younger players and all the players at the club, really. And there came a time about a year or two ago when players started to overtake me so much and I wasn’t able to keep up with them on the training ground and I started dropping out of training more and more and that’s what we were after, really. Once the players became too good for me, I was like a horse that had served its purpose. But it was worth it because the guys progressed so much in such a short space of time.”
This season has been a traumatic one for Rochdale. They’re currently rooted to the bottom of the League One table and time is running out if they’re to avoid relegation. But the FA Cup has been a distraction for them.
They went to Doncaster and won in the Third Round. They forced a draw against Millwall at The Den and were unfortunate not to win. Still, they made up for it the following week by squeezing past them in the replay at Spotland and securing an unusually lucrative and high-profile tie with an elite Premier League side.
Inexplicably for someone who has spent 20 odd years in English league football, it’s also a pretty rare glamour fixture for Barry-Murphy to be involved with.
“Down through the years we’ve had nothing, really,” he admits.
“We had some good home draws: Leeds and Nottingham Forest but nothing from the Premier League to have a go off. So, it’s great for the club, the manager but especially the academy. Our academy has brought through some unbelievable players and sold them on: Craig Dawson, Rickie Lambert – some great calibre players – and it’s good to get some recognition by facing a top team, really.”
Barry-Murphy has been heavily involved in pushing talented youngsters into the first-team. 16-year-old Daniel Adshead made his debut for the club in the drawn game against Millwall and could feature against Spurs.
The teenager is still in secondary school and was doing homework on the team bus as it made its way to south-east London for the Fourth Round clash. A reminder, if ever Rochdale needed it, of just how wide the gulf between the two sides is.
“It’s the biggest game in the club’s history, really,” Barry-Murphy says.
It’s a bit of a fanfare for the team at the moment and the town too, because they’ve had some tough times, so it’s brilliant for them. It’s been really hard going for loads of different reasons in the league but we’ve had some unbelievable results in the Cup, in tough fixtures, so it’s a reward for the lads. It’s great for them. But this is a completely different kettle of fish altogether. It’s a step up from anything we’ve played against at any level over the past three or four years. Tottenham are a top European team now. They’re established.
“But we just try and give the players as much information as we can so they’re prepared. Our manager is very strong, even though we’ve had a tough season. We stick to the way we play and we’ll try and be aggressive and be on the front foot. There will be times when we won’t be able to but a lot of our group is made up of players from our academy. They seem genuinely excited by it and want to have a go. They’re not showing any signs of nerves or apprehension so we’ll go with that and encourage them to be themselves and express themselves. There’s no real point in trying to be cautious. They’re keen to have a go off it so why not let them have a go? That’s always been the attitude at our club. Why hold them back?”
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Couldnt agree more Andy Lee won a world title and barely even a mention complete joke
One professional world title in a poor division doesn’t compare crochet Katie has achieved.
^what. Don’t know where crochet came from.
If you think the middleweight division is ‘poor’ your boxing knowledge is seriously lacking.
So beating two people to win a world amateur title is more than what Andy Lee did?
Gennady Golovkin is one if the best pound for pound boxers at the moment, Miguel Cotto a future hall of famer….both middleweight title holders. Andy Lee has done Amazingly well to get a world title in this division, delighted for him!
5 times to win a world title, Olympic gold, 6 European titles.
Its not a poor division but Andy is not the main man in it either. Its still a massive achievement though and should have had better coverage
There are very few famous boxers (that I know of, I am open to correction) from D4 that’s why rte refuse to cover it
Bit of a stupid reason, I know, but that’s rte for you!
most of which shown by rte.
Clearly never heard of GGG or Cotto have we? Look I have the high of respect for Katie Taylor but if we are talking about this year Lee’s achievements are far far superior
Andy would sit just outside the top 5 in most rankings lists.
His fight was part of a ppv package so they couldn’t show it even if they wanted to. Hisnext fight will prob not be ppv since he will be main fight so rte will probably make a push for it
KT receives more coverage than most…
Oh Holy God that’s shocken!!
It is because you are a solid Christian Katie – the media hate that fact, and hate it when you dedicate and praise God for your winnings. The media and RTE are trying to turn Ireland into New York, rootless, Godless, meaningless. Plus the D4-ites who support austerity and immigration, the twin policies of globalisation, don’t want their Fintan’s sullied, rubbing shoulders with working class peasants.
the religious aspect of your argument KINDA falls down when you realise that before our prime time news coverage we have to stop for a minute for the Angelus!!
RTE may be many things but “Anti-religious” they are not!!!
careful people they walk amongst us raving lunatic.
Very Christian of you.
She’s outrageously dreary. I’m a bit sick of hearing about her and being told I should respect her or her achievements. She seems a bit … simple and I’m not sure of the morality of punching her. Andy Lee is far more personable and doesn’t drag ‘god’ into every sentence.
Gavin Carton
Argument still stands. RTE are anti-Christian, they are hardly going to get rid of the Angelus overnight, even though they want to, but they know the sizeable portion of their licence revenue and thus salaries, of the country is still Roman Catholic. RTE is no less anti Christian just because the they are out to get rid of it by stealth over a longer time period.
GGG, Cotto, Sergio Martinez, Martin Murray, Jermain Taylor, Billy Joe Saunders, Quillin, Geale. The Middleweight division is stacked – granted Sergio may never fight again and there are one or two other divisions I can think of that have more exciting fights. GGG is a top ten pound for pounder (not Ring but in the eyes of vast majority of boxing aficionados), Martinez was number 3 in the P4P list just last year (warranted or not), Cotto is a future hall of famer. It’s not the darling division that it once was but it is not by any stretch of the wildest of imaginations a poor division.
Jermain Taylor? He still fighting?
Yep – doing well also.
Martin, if you’d cared to read the comments above your you’d realise I wasn’t the first one to bring up the religious aspect.
Now re-read the comments again, there’s a good lad!!
also it’s spelled “outbreak”!!
I don’t deny that, Martin. She is a fantastic sportsperson
I was responding to someone else’s argument that RTE are anti-religious and THAT is the reason they haven’t broadcast her fights. I wasn’t the first person to bring up the “Anti-religious” argument!
The spelling correction was a low-blow, I’ll admit!!
Very bored hearing about Katie Taylor on RTE
Thank god
Your sarcasm font is not working.
The only sport rte care about is the GAA.they don’t realise more and more people don’t give a toss about it with other sports becoming more and more popular
Get sky sports so
I would have thought that Gaa are way ahead of any other sport in Ireland. In my opinion rightly so, the length and breadth of the country they bring communities together in a very positive way. I’ve always admired Katie and you can’t fault her for fighting for her sport (which I enjoy) but it doesn’t have nearly the same level of support as Gaa (or soccer for that matter)
@neeneee – Your right people don’t watch or care about GAA that’s why the All Ireland Hurling final had a viewership on RTE of 889,400 while the football had 1.64 million. Let’s scrap the sport all together – go**ite
Lads,
Don’t feed the troll
I’m not a troll
Figures show that the GAA is the third most popular sport in this country behind rugby and soccer
@tom every other sport/club in the country bring communities together the same way the GAA do.theres nothing special about what the GAA do
neeneee, I’m not a follower of GAA, except on landmark occasions but to suggest it is not in all likelihood Ireland’s most popular sport is bordering on the delusional. While I am not a follower of the sport I hugely respect their achievements and the sport itself. It has a role in Irish life which no other sport can match. I am a keen follower of another sport but that does not mean I have to belittle one of Ireland’s most successful sports to feel better about my own sport. My own sporting preference will stand or fall on its own merit. GAA gets the coverage it does on its on merits. Fair play to them.
We are all rightly proud of Katie and what she achieved but I do question some of that things that come from her dad. Such as causing a rescheduling of the coming home parade after the Olympics and the assertion that he should have won manager of the year ahead of Joe Schmidt. Katie’s achievements should not be spoiled by such petty points.
RTE only have money for very large salaries so everything they cover in news or sport is provided to them by PR agencies and they just parrot it.
Yeah but in their defence, they need to pay Ray Darcy’s wages
Supply and demand. Simple. Katie’s stock is rising, unlike a lot of woman’s sport, so the future should see her have great coverage.
To be honest while it’s great what she is doing, at this stage she has pretty much cleared out the amateurs, either go pro get this tv time she wants and a bit of money or stop complaining
I’m a fan of the pro-game, but let’s be honest. But as a spectacle Amateur boxing is sh*te. It’s like fencing without the swords. It’s about scoring points not doing damage, which leads to boxers throwing pitty patty fast punches with little or no power on them.
I don’t blame RTE for ignoring amateur boxing because if they did show it, nobody would watch it.
Spot on Gerry , just like Irish Water, no money to fix pipes but humungous money for salaries and bonuses , best little country in the world when you’re close to the elite ….
To my mind, Katie gets huge coverage already. Aside from her Olympic bouts every four years, is there an audience that wants to regularly watch women’s amateur boxing in Ireland? I doubt it to be honest. There is no demand for tickets to watch her fight in Ireland.
But as a spectacle Amateur boxing is sh*te.
Yes. And Golf is absolutely rivetting isn’ it.
Nike win every time. It could be Rory, it could be anybody. If Nike are backing you, expect prizes. If you are an amateur look forward to being pushed down th epecking order. Does anybody really think that this prize is not a reflection of corporate interest?
Of course your right, Katie Taylor comparing women`s boxing to spectator team sports like rugby is plain ridiculous, RTE sport is practically wall to wall Katie Taylor as it is, it`s so boring for the rest of us that are not interested.
Newsflash andrew. As a corporate entity Nike do compete in golf. They just sponsor golfers.
RTE are an utter sham, only good for showing cheaply bought reruns ad nauseam as we are collectively forced to buy the TV license to fund their botched operation and pay massive wages to useless so called ‘stars’ hired through inbreeding and nepotism who would be unemployed anywhere else…..
rte as a state broadcaster has a fantastic record for showing sport ( world cup ,Olympics ,European championship gaa and a lot of amateur boxing ) they cannot compete with the money charged for pro boxing.
nice rant but it had nothing to do with the issue of rte showing boxing ( sport) but it’s all about the green thumbs so well played.
Kane Abel, your statement is simply incorrect and lacks any factual base. RTE have covered a whole range of professional and non-professional sports over the years and done so to a high standard. But they are now competing in a market where others including PPV like Sky have much larger pockets and markets. They have lost the coverage of key events in recent years due to being out-bid. However they continue to cover public broadcast events to the greatest extent possible. As RTE have observed, many of the amateur boxing events were not televised or in some cases televised with a single camera which makes viewing a chore. Finally, I respect Katie but did it not occur to her that there simply might not be the public interest to justify RTE coverage except where large events like the Olympics are concerned.. Boxing may be Ireland’s most successful but it is not Ireland’s most popular sport or even Ireland’s most participated in sport.
John the rant by Kane was for green thumbs only and had nothing to do with the issue but sadly that’s what happens here sometimes.
Taylor’s excitable father, Pete (for whom Katie is the mouthpiece), is obviously bitter that his daughter (justifiably) did not win the RTE Sports Person of the Year award for 2014. But Katie cannot win every award going, Pete.
RTE’s existing coverage of boxing, and especially women’s boxing, is grossly disproportionate to the actual popularity of boxing within Ireland compared to other sports. Boxing, and women’s boxing in particular, is very much a minority pursuit in Ireland. It hardly warrants any coverage given the fact that most licence-fee payers have no interest in it. Indeed, the only reason why there is any calculable knowledge of women’s boxing is (1) because the Irish media feels compelled, out of liberal political-correctness (the intellectually weakest reason in the world) to cover it and (2) because Katie Taylor happened to be the only Irish competitor to win an Olympic gold medal at the 2012 games (which was more of a reflection on the continuing poor quality of preparation, infrastructure and ambition for Irish athletes in advance of Olympic Games in general).
As for the Irish Independent, it was strikingly obvious that their “awarding” of the Irish Independent Sports Star of the Year to Taylor was a supine attempt to endear themselves to female readers (most of whom probably couldn’t give a fiddlers as to who is made a “sports star”).
As to “sports star” status, it must be borne in mind that Katie Taylor is virtually unknown outside of our insular country of Ireland. Only aficionados of women’s boxing would recognise the name of Katie Taylor outside of our shores. Rory McIlroy on the other hand, is a global star comparable to Tiger Woods in his prime (one only has to look at McIlroy’s achievements on the world stage in 2014 alone). McIlroy is very much a household name all around the world, something which cannot be said of Katie Taylor. So, as to the true Irish Sports Star of the Year, the only honest answer to that question is Rory McIlroy.
Sorry Katie we’ve all become so accustomed to RTE treated us with disrespect it’s hard to notice anymore
Don’t blame RTE Katie, you should go professional …
… you never see amateur darts on rte do you?
I don’t think amateur or professional status has anything to do with it. Presumably, if RTE could sell advertising space during a tiddlywinks contest they would programme it.
It comes down to popularity. If there was a GAA match and a Katie Taylor fight on at the same time, the viewing figures for GAA would far outweigh that of the boxing. That’s just a reality for boxing fans in the country
GAA is our national sport. It is an important part of our culture, so to compare it to boxing is just plain ridiculous. I didn’t watch Katie, because I am not interested in amateur boxing. Go Pro or go home. There is high class MMA and other sports on all the time, so why waste time on amateur boxing
True … GAA is “amateur” … but it is our own home grown sport, that our forefathers invented, when under British rule.
It sets up apart from “soccer” and the Premier League. It is the one sport we can truly call our own.
It is more than a “sport”, it is part of who we are
Interest in boxing is minimal?
We like Katie because she wins. Irish people love a bandwagon
If marginal sports are relying and waiting on RTE to sell and market their sports for them, I think they need to go back to the drawing board
Best comment on here. If she hadn’t won in the Olympics no one would care, they probably didn’t care again till she won a while ago, same with Andy Lee everyone thinks he is best thing in boxing now and complain he didn’t get coverage eventhough he will get destroyed by any other title holder in his division
Look at rte and the LOI coverage yet still no one cares about it. I think Katie is overrating her own star power.
Destroyed by who ? He could beat Cotto, Taylor but GGG is a different story altoghter.
In fairness to RTE (and indeed ANY broadcaster), the level of live coverage of a sport is a direct function of the level of national interest in it.
The number of Irish based people interested in viewing boxing is a drop im the ocean to that of the more mainstream sports like soccer, GAA and rugby. The only reason we’ve been saturated with rugby these last 5 years is due to Ryle Nugent’s influence as Head of Sport. It also is way behind GAA and soccer in terms of average viewership numbera and even bigger in terms of participation.
Good luck to Karie Taylor, but the simple harsh reality is she can’t compete with Henry Shefflin,Paul O’Connell, Irish soccer team in terms of viewership numbers etc.
And that’s it in a nutshell. What would viewing figures have been for her semi-final in Bulgaria? Had the RTE sent over a team to broadcast live there would have been some other sport (sailing, say) having a moan. Katie Taylor is a great champion in a very minority sport – Women’s Boxing.
RTE look down their noses at boxing. Ireland could have world champions at every weight and it still wouldn’t get live air time.
Bar GAA and rugby what sports do rte give air time to? There’s lots of sports that receive zero coverage.
“RTE offered comprehensive coverage but this was declined” – so what’s her problem?
Just go pro Katie. Then you might have an argument. No doubt she is world class, but she will never prove this fighting at amateur level.
There’s not really any such thing as amateur boxing anymore. The fighters get paid and it’s called Olympic boxing now
I couldn’t believe her last fight wasn’t on RTE and I only found out it was on TG4 by seeing it on Twitter.
Well if u were that big a fan you would have known
she is letting herself down a bit. She should know better than anyone that sports coverage is a “winner takes all” , not one for everyone in the audience.
She is a winner, multiple times.
The sports personality of the year awards were a joke. It was one big rugby football love-in. Niamh Briggs (never heard of her either) got more coverage than a world champion like Katie Taylor or Andy Lee. O’Driscoll’s parents presenting him with his award was vomit inducing too.
Youre 100% right
and o driscoll pretended to be shocked in the name of jasis.
RTE have plenty of money to pay Marian Finucane 600k a year for 4 hours of radio a week.
Nothing can justify that.
Barely mentioning Andy Lee was a disgrace. I am sure some county b minor division c replay got a mention before it.
Rte keep farming everything off to Tg4 , it suits them to do this. It’s terrible for the 90% who don’t speak a word of Irish. Imagine if the gaa leagues & Pro12 were in English more people would watch.
It’s the same with their arts coverage- they just get in a load of snooty UCD wafflers from across the road to fill air.
Puts people off the Arts.
RTE should be moved from Donnybrook at this stage before we all turn into Ryan Tubridy.
I jus hope RTE offer more coverage of John Delaney at the World Karaoke Championships. I’d love to see him do some Japanese songs in his routine., maybe introduce a hand fan and a kimono to his wardrobe too.
No fan of rte, but women’s boxing? Ffs who wants to watch that
And womens amateur boxing at that. Apart from the Olympics it is never shown. People here have said “but GAA is amateur” but its viewership also far outweighs that of amateur boxing.
Is she having a laugh. Minority sport with few participants. Lucky to get the exposure she is getting.
RTE isn’t a tv broadcasting station, it never was. It’s part of a dictatorship that likes to call itself a government.
Well said Katie. Any other national broadcaster would take pride in the amazing achievements of this world class athlete. RTE on the other hand are world class at covering their asses and justifying the ridiculous pay and conditions that exist at Montrose.
It’s a bit rich for people here to be saying that boxing fans do not compare to GAA and Rugby etc. If you don’t promote or broadcast the sport you don’t get an audience for it.
As a lover of sport, almost all sports, I’d love RTE to have a dedicated sports channel to showcase all the sporting interests in the country. But the budget obviously isnt there for that.
RTE is going to divide the budget in a way that will let them sell the most amount of advertising
Katie needs to go pro if she wants RTE to show it! Simple as that! if she wants to be the worlds best, she needs to be in the pro ranks!
How somebody could comment on here and say the middleweight division is poor in relation to Andy Lee is seriously uneducated in the art of pugilism.
Alot of people on this and other media who jumped on the wagon after Andy Lee win seem to know little about boxing from comments I have read.want to see ggg fight a top level opponent next year and get recognition he deserves
I think Katie Taylor is a great athlete, as well as the likes of Andy Lee but the reality is that RTE will show that which gets the most coverage, and that just happens to be GAA and Rugby at this particular moment in time. They’re in the business of supply and demand entertainment not necessarily promoting athletes/sports because they happen to be world class in their field.
I’m only speaking for myself by saying that I wouldn’t watch boxing or even UFC for the matter. And a majority of people I know would be in the same boat as myself.
Amateur boxing is far too working-class for RTE.
English soccer isn’t?
The IABA refused RTE.Read the article before you comment.
Diarmuid an Katie up a a tree……..
If you want media cover Katie remember your are the wrong gender, in the wrong sport in the wrong country. Irish media bends over backwards to cover English soccer matches played by men from wherever! The first 4 pages of my ‘Irish’ newspaper this weekend was nothing but English soccer news
True – what is it with Irish men supporting Brit football to the obsessive extent they do. Played by overpaid spoiled brats not even from those British cities with many many foreign players, as well as pushing crass merchandise consumerism and teams owned by “Russians”, they have more passion for people chasing a ball then for the state of their own country.
I suggest you stop buying gutter rags like the star and sun so Dain.
Was neither Dave
What I could not understand earlier on this year, that Women’s Rugby World Cup was shown on TG4, and not on the national state broadcaster, is saying alot about themselves…
Total bull crap alright, they farm everything to tg4 as it’s cheaper to do so. Never mind the viewers who don’t speak Irish
RTE just plain sucks. If it were not for the fact we are forced by law to pay for it, RTE would have already gone away. From their slanted and bias news reports to the slanted and bias event coverage there is nothing worth watching on RTE, nothing worth paying for that is.
She has a point especially with excessive GAA coverage on both RTE & TG4. They can send camera crews to the asre end of the country for very minor GAA games but none to other amateur sports i.e. boxing, soccer etc are rarely if never covered. Biased in favour of the GAA me thinks.
All about rugby really. Joke BOD getting inducted to hall of fame. Not retired 10 seconds. Katie Taylor is a legend and has proven it on the world stage unlike the rugby team. No point in winning autumn friendlies. All about the world cup.
So Katie should have been inducted instead? Right so.
Probably the stupidest post on an article full of them
Katie Taylor has been the number 1 boxer in teh world for the whole of 2014, Rory McIlroy wasn’t the number 1 golfer consistently throughout the whole of 2014. KT has been always representing Ireland. Rory McIlroy never represented Ireland internationally, even tough he is where he is thanks to the Irish support, both morally and economical since day 1, and he chooses to represent NI instead of the republic, not once I’ve seen him on TV representing Ireland, check on-line on any golfing tournament, they refer to him as representing NI or the UK, ohh… he changed his mind and for once he will represent Ireland at the Olympics.
Think McIlroy represents Ireland in the World Cup of golf fairly regular, always has done. Golf is similar to rugby in that it is an all island association.
He never has represented The U.K.
“Rory McIlroy have never represented Ireland internationally” Obviously your search engine didn’t work as you would’ve known that McIlroy proudly represented Ireland at the Golf World Cup in 2011 and why would he represent the Republic when is from Northern Ireland…..he is representing ALL of Ireland.
“Katie Taylor has been the number 1 boxer in the world for the whole of 2014, Rory McIlroy wasn’t the number 1 golfer consistently throughout the whole of 2014″
Only a simpleton who knows nothing about sport would make that comparison. The level of competition,the fact he’s a professional and she’s only an amateur who refuses go professional, and the fact boxing has multiple weight divisions meaning multiple world champions means there’s no relationship between the two.
I’m sure Rory would love to win a world title by only having to beat two golfers too.
Extremely talented woman that was cursed with an awful accent !
How many of the boxing “fans” bothered their holes to watch the world championships on TG4? The viewing figures for that is why RTÉ don’t show it. There’s no shortage of band wagoners in this country.
women’s amateur boxing is not competitive. it will not get popular, there is very little risk involved, it is more like fencing than boxing. Taylor should go pro! She is a talent but no where near McIlroy status. Was it ROG that took her off Second Captains top 10? She doesn’t deserve to be on it.
On a side note, people who think RTE’s coverage is below par are prob the same people who wont pay water taxes! #rte #watertax
Boxing is not a sport actually.
I wonder how much rugger RTE will show in a few years time when Paul Kimmage and others expose the rife use of performance enhancing drugs within the sport.
Let’s be honest most of us are in work or asleep when she fights as there mid week and in different time zones
No money in boxing for RTE … simple as …
Good man Diarmuid. Having a pop at the middleweight division to defend what Katie Taylor said, ridiculous. For what it’s worth, Katie is the best female boxer in the world but her chosen field is a minority sport and the fact is if there was a huge demand RTE would have covered it. The truth hurts.
Who watches Rte any more? Why would Katie want low budget one camera angle productions. Go pro and she can make it big on sky sport 4!!
If you had any interest in boxing you’d know that sky sports 4 is not the place to watch boxing
It would be nice to see the return of ‘Sports Stadium’ on Saturdays, which could have a piece on all sports on a regular basis. Instead, we have crap US imports on Saturday afternoons.
This argument is divided on the pro/am line, again. Rory’s interview revealed strong links with tourisim (irish open at portstewart 2015 and GAA). All mega bucks where RTE can cream off Advertising revenue as business dictates sports event locations, dates and times.
The real prize for the sports person is that they were well disciplined, well prepared and won well; that is a superior prize rather than the result of a commercial decision. Congradulations to all participants.
How come fishing is unknown to television broadcasting? This is not my main sport, but handball is, where we currently have a muliple world champion, no mention of that from our national broadcasting company not enough money to be made out of it but who cares who realy cares about sport?
Wow, great debate on KATIE, in my view, best Irish sports star at the moment, most consistent and nicest person you will ever meet, Rte should step up and deliver, I was in London for her win and will go to Rio to support her, class act, in fairness Irish sort doing well on integration stage, golf, rugby, why not boxing or Mma
Fair play to Katie Taylor for her achievements. When she won the Olympic gold I wasn’t terribly impressed with her skill level however. She’s very well conditioned and is usually able to overpower her opponents but personally I’d prefer to watch a Paddy Barnes fight. The thing is that Olympic boxing, and athletics and numerous other sports don’t really lend themselves to being covered as neatly and easily as a ball game. Maybe the best thing would be to have an hour-long weekly highlights programme