Brolly: I lost the fight on pay-per-view GAA
JOE BROLLY believes the GAA faces far greater challenges than matches being behind a television paywall. The outspoken pundit was yesterday accused of hypocrisy after joining the Eir Sport team for their Allianz League coverage, after his long campaign against pay-per-view TV coming into Gaelic Games. Brolly said yesterday that he has lost that argument and it has now become a fact of GAA life. ‘We are 10 years down the line now and eventually you have to come to the realisation that you’re howling into the wilderness. The decision has been made by the GAA and there’s no going back. It’s set in stone. ‘There is a world after RTÉ and I have to accept in the modern world, the whole broadcasting landscape has changed. There are far bigger challenges for the GAA than this.’ Brolly explained that he was ‘hurt’ by the manner of his exit from the national broadcaster, after 20 years as arguably its most highprofile analyst. ‘There’s a personal thing in that I didn’t want to leave things the way it was in RTÉ. I felt very hurt,’ said the Derry native, who was also critical of the direction of The Sunday
Game since Declan McBennett became RTÉ Head of Sport two years ago, claiming the show has become about ‘blandness and statistics’.
BEFORE Joe Brolly took his seat yesterday to face the inevitable questions about hypocrisy, a pre-emptive strike had been fired by way of the Gaelic Life newspaper, where he’s a columnist. In it, he explained that he has been howling into the wind for the past 10 years and his argument about payper-view TV had been lost. Comprehensively rejected by the GAA.
The message remained the same as he was unveiled in Croke Park as the star attraction of Eir Sport’s forthcoming Allianz League coverage. Even when asked straight out if he was a hypocrite, the outspoken pundit didn’t veer off course.
‘Well, I don’t know. I mean, I suppose you could say that,’ the 1993 All-Ireland winner shrugged. ‘For me, I think sooner or later, you’ve got to move on. In ten years, who is even going to remember any of this? I think you either become irrelevant or you accept the reality. The GAA has made this decision. It’s set in stone. The debate is dead.’
So, it seems the most ardent critic of the Sky Sports deal has accepted that if you can’t beat them, join them. It was even playfully wondered what would he do if a certain British broadcaster came calling in the summer? He resisted the temptation to answer in the affirmative.
There is a reason that Eir came knocking at his door. The same reason why Sky may be willing to let bygones be bygones later this year. Brolly remains box-office. Like Eamon Dunphy, that other great controversialist jettisoned by RTÉ, he knows that punditry is about entertainment. National conversation was the term that Brolly kept returning to yesterday. He wanted to analyse for the viewers watching the match over a few pints.
‘I thought the whole point of punditry, if there is any point at all, is you can see yourself standing at the bar with friends who are knowledgeable about football, having a few pints and talking about the game. If you can capture that, then you are in business as a pundit because the viewer will be interested.’
As he spoke for nearly 40 minutes yesterday, it was clear that Brolly was still hurting over the manner of his exit from RTÉ. It appears that his relationship was strained with Declan McBennett from the moment the Monaghan man assumed the role of Head of Sport in April 2018, but Brolly believed that after 20 years, he deserved a more dignified send-off from the national broadcaster.
Beneath the shouty, finger-pointing exterior, there always lay an erudite and incisive analyst. During his robust defence of the switch to what he had once held up as the dark side, Brolly referenced The Great Gatsby, American author Garrison Keillor, the BBC Trust’s concerns about the age of its television viewer before bringing it back to the serious issues facing the GAA and Irish society, as a whole, with the depopulation of the western seaboard in contrast to how Dublin is now just a car park.
And that is what Eir have shelled out for, and what may sorely be missing from RTÉ when the Championship cranks into gear this summer. People tuned in for Brolly, whether they loved or loathed him. And it’s not like his voice will be silenced because he is no longer on the flagship GAA show.
‘With the GAA, the huge crusade I’ve been on is about the social capital. Taking advantage of the political and social capital. We should be a social organisation more than anything.
‘The games are great, but that’s only part of the package. It’s about the health of the GAA community. It constantly drives me insane. We are great at doing things piecemeal — a GAA funeral or wake, everybody rallies around for those moments. Why don’t we structure this and take advantage of it? This has to come from the top. There needs to be a proper social strategy in place for the GAA.’
And perhaps this will be Brolly’s next fight. Haranguing the GAA to utilise its enormous social and political force to ensure that there is a more even dispersal of Ireland’s population. That may be an even greater battle.
As for the football itself, Brolly feels that the transition to Dessie Farrell in Dublin will be so seamless that they will end up winning a sixth AllIreland title in a row this summer. But the dominance isn’t going to last forever.
‘They will run into (David) Clifford eventually. One of the great joys of following Gaelic football now is watching David Clifford play. He’s a complete football machine. He’s 20. Who rocks up to his first All-Stars wearing a polo neck? I don’t think there’s anything beyond that kid. I’d say one more All-Ireland for the Dubs and then the following year Kerry, so long as they are structured around Clifford.
‘He’s not markable. He scored 4-4 against us in the minor All-Ireland final — 4-4 from play. Like the first goal, it was like bouncers trying to throw Jean-Claude Van Damme out of a disco, five Derry men around him and it still ends up in the net,’ he says with that mischievous smile, which can now only be seen with a subscription.
It may be only in late summer when Clifford is shredding defences in Croke Park that RTÉ will realise what they have lost.
‘One of the great
joys is watching David Clifford’