TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS has said that he fully supports the call by Senator Tim Lombard that GAA President Jarlath Burns comes before the Seanad to hear of concerns about the the number of hurling games being shown on GAAGO.
Tomorrow night, the Munster Senior Hurling championship game between Cork and Limerick is to be shown on the pay per view service.
This is the second weekend in a row where no Munster or Leinster hurling championship game will be shown on terrestrial television.
Speaking during a visit to Corrin Mart in Fermoy Co Cork, Harris described the GAA as an “incredible organisation”. However, he warned that they need to listen to the “grassroots” when it comes to the issue of pay walls for big matches.
“It has always been a grass roots organisation. And I think the grass roots are really angry, disappointed and frustrated that matches that the kids want to watch, and the family want to watch, are put behind a paywall,” Harris said.
“The GAA really need to listen to this. They need to listen to their grassroots. That has always been their strength from the bottom up and I think they have got this wrong and I think they need to reflect,” he said.
“My colleague Senator Tim Lombard, who is here with me, has asked that the GAA would come in to the Oireachtas and I think that is entirely appropriate. And that they tease through and discuss this issue.”
He added that the Government supports the GAA and sees “huge value” in the organisation.
“Communities right across Ireland (also) do but they have gotten this wrong. So many people tomorrow will want to watch that Munster final. And it being behind a paywall isn’t what people who support the GAA in every community want to see. They really need to reflect on that.”
Meanwhile, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has previously said all GAA matches should be televised on free-to-air channels amid criticism of GAAGO.
The GAAGO site provides coverage of GAA fixtures, originally aimed at international viewers, allowing them to pay to watch the games online.
Following an expansion of its coverage in October 2022 after the GAA’s broadcasting deal with Sky Sports ended, its has now also become popular for games which are not broadcast on free-to-air channels in Ireland.
Martin has previously said that his “personal view” for a “long, long time” has been that fans should not be subjected to extra charges to watch GAA matches online.
Written by Olivia Kelleher and posted on TheJournal.ie
Bit ironic of completely out of touch politicians to urge an association to ‘listen to the grassroots’ when they themselves are completely tone deaf.
I’m a loyal supporter of Kerry GAA and try to watch or listen on radio to all grades of games both ladies and men,also watch all games be it hurling or football and all county games,My children give me early Father’s Day present of yearly GAA Go subscription,now you have another channel of Clubber,im lucky my children can set up so I can watch it on TV,what about the other people around the country and abroad who want to watch games but cannot afford or have access to this,deeply disappointed with the GAA and the attitude shown towards the grassroots of the organisation,
RTE and GAA have a large potential audience in all of the Irish people that live abroad. I pay a fair amount of money for streaming services and would be willing to pay for a package that included Irish sport, language, history, drama, radio, music, archived programs and novels spoken by the authors. There is a huge audience for Irish Culture around the world. Package it properly and there will be enough money to get rid of license fees in the country.
Well said on the community because it still a volunteer organisation slowly getting the oxygen suck out of it.Football is a poor watch, hurling we can’t even see,but rugby and soccer is getting better promotion and what influence children more,
@martin byrne: There will be over 200 GAA matches broadcast live and free to air on RTÉ, BBC and TG4 this year. Rugby and soccer don’t get anywhere near that coverage. How much more do you want?
The GAA and RTE could do more to promote hurling. If I was a Cork fan I’d be pretty annoyed because the games are being put behind a paywall for the second year in a row. I’d feel very used if I was from Cork.
Having games on at the same time too isn’t great when there are so few games to watch in the first place.
Even JP in his helicopter wouldn’t be a e to see both provincial hurling finals live with them being scheduled back to back in recent years
@Joe O’Regan: from this year one Saturday and other Sunday. GAA must try not football and hurling games on same day
There is one way to get rid of gaago keep your money in your pocket
RTE could easily sacrifice the Dublin v Louth Leinster senior final this weekend and show the Cork v Limerick game instead.
Seniir