Viewers give RTE the yellow card on Brolly
‘It was wrong of me and unfair on David’
RTÉ got more complaints about benching Joe Brolly, than they got for his original controversial comments.
Mr Brolly was axed from the RTÉ punditry team after the drawn All-Ireland final between Dublin and Kerry.
The barrister and former Derry inter-county footballer made a number of controversial comments about the performance of referee David Gough during the match which saw the referee award Kerry a first-half penalty and send off Dublin defender Jonny Cooper.
The sending-off decision prompted Mr Brolly’s most controversial claim, that Mr Gough ‘has clearly been influenced by the propaganda coming from Kerry’.
Panellist Ciarán Whelan also criticised the decision to send off Jonny Cooper but later retracted his comments saying it was clear that the Dublin defender pulled down Kerry’s star forward David Clifford.
‘When you look back on it and look at the replays, as Cooper is going down he does pull Clifford down with him so it’s hard to argue with Gough’s decision,’ Mr Whelan said. Mr Brolly received widespread criticism for his remarks and was ultimately replaced for yesterday’s final, although RTÉ did not specify the reason for the panel substitution.
But it turns out that the decision was not a popular one. As of Friday evening RTÉ had received 12 emails and 10 calls complaining about the announcement that Mr Brolly would not be lining up beside Pat Spillane and Ciarán Whelan for yesterday’s All-Ireland final.
In contrast just one email was received by RTÉ in favour of their decision to give Mr Brolly the red card. And the station originally received 17 emails of complaint about Brolly’s comments at half time of the first match.
Former Mayo manager and Donegal selector Stephen Rochford replaced Mr Brolly and appeared to be a good impact sub, receiving plaudits on social media for his contributions.
RTÉ also confirmed to the Irish Mail on Sunday that they received no official correspondence from the GAA or Mr Gough in relation to Mr Brolly’s remarks.
Mr Brolly did not reply to a request for comment from the MoS yesterday. However, he didn’t seem too perturbed about missing the match, tweeting a picture of himself enjoying a pint of Guinness with a friend a few hours before throw-in with the caption ‘One door closes. Another opens.’
Speaking on Virgin Media’s Six O’Clock Show, Mr Gough revealed that he remains on good terms with Mr Brolly who phoned him to apologise for his remarks.
‘That’s his [Mr Brolly’s] business with another TV company.
‘Joe picked up the phone and rang me during the week. We had a chat. He explained his viewpoint, I explained mine. He apologised, we got on with life.’
In his column with the Sunday Independent, Mr Brolly backtracked from his on-screen criticisms but it wasn’t enough to retain his place in the punditry line-up.
He wrote: ‘I suggested in the heat of the moment that referee David Gough may have been influenced by the propaganda emanating from Kerry in the lead-up to the game.
‘Afterwards, I contacted him to apologise for this. It was wrong of me and unfair on David a man of integrity and honour.’