AFLW ESCAPISM IS WARMLY WELCOME
ALF Stewart would probably refer to TG 4’s sports coverage as fair dinkum. For almost 25 years, it has proved itself innovative with a broad and diverse range of programming, from the fondly-remembered Olé Olé, which brought La Liga to Irish screens, to the manner in which it has reinvented the GAA club championship.
The Irish language channel’s partnership with Ladies Football has been its biggest success story – and a huge factor in the game’s growth. So, covering the AFLW, where 14 Irish players are competing this season, seems a natural extension.
If sport is supposed to provide escapism, the images from Perth on Saturday evening did that in spades. In the middle of a 24-hour long rain shower, Irish viewers tuned in to see Mayo’s Kelly sisters and Tipperary’s Aisling McCarthy line out for West Coast Eagles in 35 degree heat.
‘A challenging day with that heat,’ explained Kelli Underwood on commentary. Watching the rain fall and listening to the wind howl, it was the kind of challenge most of us would have risen to over the weekend.
Eagles were hosting Adelaide Crows, who were the opponents when Bríd Stack suffered a neck fracture playing for the Great Sydney Giants. On Saturday, Cork’s multiple-time All-Ireland winner gave a raw and honest account of the past 10 days in her Irish Examiner column. Had you read it, you wouldn’t have been cheering for the Crows, for their attempts to scapegoat Stack.
When Ebony Marinoff, whose three-game suspension for the incident was overturned, received the ball for the first time in midfield, Leigh Montagna on commentary suggested she has become a very familiar name recently. He might have added ‘for our Irish viewers’ but didn’t. But the former St Kilda star turned commentator appeared conscious that the feed was being watched on the other side of the world.
Niamh Kelly, who ‘was recruited for her speed’ became the first Irish goal-scorer on TG 4’s coverage, a well-taken effort after beating her marker in a foot race.
Her goal kept the Eagles within sight by half-time, the home side only trailing the two-time Premiership champions 20-15.
Montagna was keen to emphasise how the three Irish girls contributed to the West Coast’s first half. ‘You can see how they want to play. Kick the ball into space and take the game on. And that kind of game suits these
Irish girls – Niamh & Grace Kelly and Aisling McCarthy.’
The way the commentators were talking, there was the makings of a genuine contest for the second half. Any illusions of that were shattered within the first few minutes of the third quarter.
It is called the championship quarter in the AFL for a reason. The Crows completely dominated proceedings. The Eagles barely mustered an attack and by the end of the quarter, it was 47-15. There was some Irish cheer in the final quarter as Clare’s Ailish Conisidine kicked a lovely goal for the Crows, allowing Montagna to talk again about ‘the Irish girls making a mark on this competition.’ To rub salt in, however, Marinoff also kicked a goal and was interviewed post-match about her difficult few days without once mentioning Stack or her injury. “Stone the flamin’ crows,” as Alf Stewart might say.
Still, there was enough to suggest from this first broadcast that the AFLW will be a pleasant diversion in the coming weeks, something other than the Premier League to take our minds off things.
There was a time when Arsenal v Manchester United came with a guarantee of fireworks. That was a long time ago. After the tame goal-less affair in the Emirates, all we had for drama was an annoyed Roy Keane in the Sky Sports studio. Going heavy on ‘you play for Man United’, his stock high-pitched phrase when he doesn’t like what he sees from his old club, Keane reckons that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side don’t have the belief they can mount a title challenge. He has a point.
‘I’m scratching my head with United. The worry for me is they almost lacked belief that they could win the game… people are saying “can you compete with Man City?” And it looks as if the players have got almost frightened of that challenge.
‘I’m scratching my head at this team. You play for Man United. Ole keeps talking about these players and saying they are winners. Well come on then, show us. It is Man United. You were signed to win football matches, to win the big prizes.’ There was more head-scratching on Thursday night for those who tuned into RTE’s slimmed-down Sports Awards of the Year.
Sam Bennett’s heroics during the Tour de France last September, and subsequent celebrity status, still weren’t enough for him to be recognised in Donnybrook as they had a picture of his young French team-mate Remi Cavagna purporting to be Bennett.
It was a bad start, but the national broadcaster’s determination to have a show celebrating the strangest of sporting years was commendable. They even, oddly, inserted canned applause.
As ever with this type of show, there was disagreement over the eventual winner. This is the point of awards. While there was little quibble about John Kiely being named Manager of the Year or his Limerick hurlers named team of the year, given their perfect season, there were more than a few who thought Bennett’s achievement in France should have seen him take the main gong.
Bennett had a strong case, but then again, Katie Taylor has brought women’s professional boxing into the mainstream, as she did before for the amateur game. We tend to take her excellence for granted, evident in that this was only the second time that she’d collected the award.
‘It was the kind of challenge most would have risen to’