NEED A HURL NEW LOOK AT GAAGO
Taoiseach blasts match viewings paywall DE VAAL
TAOISEACH Simon Harris said the GAA needs to revisit the decision to put certain championship games behind a paywall.
He added the organisation has “gotten this wrong” on streaming service GAAGO.
Today’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship game between Cork and All-Ireland champions Limerick is available only on the subscription service.
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
2022 after the GAA’s broadcasting deal with Sky Sports ended, it has also become popular for games which are not broadcast on free-to-air channels here.
Finals
RTE is contractually obliged to show the two provincial football finals tomorrow.
It means the only outlet for the biggest hurling matches of the weekend is the GAAGO platform, which is jointly owned by the GAA and RTE.
Mr Harris said: “The GAA is an incredible organisation and tomorrow tens of thousands of youngsters right across Ireland will go out and they’ll kick a ball and they’ll take a hurl, they’ll play camogie, they’ll play hurling and they’ll play football.
“It has always been a grassroots organisation and I think the grassroots are really, really, really angry and really disappointed and really frustrated that matches that the kids want to watch, that the family want to watch, are being put behind a paywall.
“The GAA really need to revisit this, they really need to listen to their grassroots members.
“That’s always been their strength, and I think they’ve gotten this wrong. I think they need to reflect.
“My colleague, Senator Tim Lombart, has asked that the GAA would come into the Oireachtas, I think that’s entirely appropriate, and that they tease through and discuss this issue.”
Support
Yesterday, RTE hurling analyst Donal Og Cusack also suggested the Government could do more to support hurling. He told RTE’s Morning Ireland, he said: “It is commonly acknowledged that hurling needs oxygen.
“This weekend, the people charged with promoting the game have given up that opportunity in order to sell subscriptions to a commercial entity.
“A commercial entity that does hurling in Ireland very little service.
“[We] ask where the government of Ireland stands when it comes to supporting not just the sport but a cultural cornerstone.”