Give Nations League a free-to-air audience
Blossoming UEFA competition merits the more in-depth, focused analysis available on terrestrial television...
ON Friday morning, less than 12 hours after Stephen Kenny’s regime of change began with that most familiar of Irish scorelines, Kenny Cunningham was invited onto OTB AM to forensically dissect what Ireland did right – and what they did wrong – in Sofia the previous evening.
Cunningham was followed on air by his former international teammate Matt Holland, who offered more incisive analysis.
Between them, the pair pinpointed the issues of Kenny’s first game. The Matt Doherty v Seamus Coleman debate, the positioning and performances of the centrebacks as well as James McCarthy’s display.
It was clear, in their words, that the pundits cared about the Ireland team – and they focused on what supporters themselves were discussing following the 1-1 draw.
However, these issues were barely mentioned during the live television broadcast.
Sky’s coverage of Kenny’s first match hit a nerve.
The lack of terrestrial television coverage lessened the significance of what supporters hoped would be the launch of a brave new era under Kenny.
Phil Babb did his utmost to speak for a nation in the build-up when he mentioned the ‘dross’ that has been served up in recent years. However, his enthusiasm could not overcome the feeling that the game was something of an afterthought, tacked onto the coverage of Wales v Finland.
That is understandable with a broader audience, given that Ryan Giggs and Gareth Bale are boxoffice in a way that Stephen Kenny and Adam Idah aren’t.
But Ireland supporters clearly would have preferred their team to be the primary focus.
Furthermore, the presence of Mick McCarthy as co-commentator felt awkward – the former manager, charged with dissecting how his successor was performing, made for uncomfortable listening.
However, the most frustrating aspect of the coverage was the absence of any studio analysis at half-time. Rob Hawthorne and Mick tried their best to break down the first 45 minutes of action which they had already called on live commentary, but that’s a pretty thankless job.
The television viewer had to wait for the highlights on Virgin Media to get the more comprehensive analysis they were craving.
Brian Kerr knows this territory well from his own time in charge of the national side and has established a reputation as a passionate and knowledgeable pundit.
It was interesting to get his verdict as the Dubliner explained how the intention was to keep possession but remarked how Shane Duffy had appeared nervous trying to set up the play.
These sort of observations would have certainly enhanced the viewing experience at half-time.
The Ireland football team remain our flagship national sporting side. Even now, after three successive regimes when there has been a distinct lack of flair and imagination in our play, there’s simply no team that can unite, or divide, a nation as they can.
As Irish supporters, we have been spoiled for years by how the ‘three wise men’ of the RTÉ studio set the agenda and framed the conversation about the national team, even when people disagreed with them. But that is how it should be. Following the final whistle in Sofia, supporters were desperate to hear the instant thoughts of a Brian Kerr or Richie Sadlier, rather than Giggs reflecting on Wales’ laboured 1-0 win in Finland.
This situation has arisen because, when UEFA conceived the Nations League in the middle of the last decade, nobody was quite sure what to make of the competiton. UEFA, clearly having seen one Ireland-Oman match too many, viewed the Nations League as a means of ridding the calendar of meaningless friendlies, but few expected it to take off as it did.
When Sky Sports got exclusive rights for Ireland’s matches, there was no great fuss. After all, they had exclusivity to the friendlies for years and nobody had marched on Donnybrook when those live broadcasts vanished from RTÉ.
But the tournament has taken on a life of its own, as was evident in the wild celebrations that greeted Faroe Islands’ late winner against Malta on Thursday. Who would have thought that a competition where teams of similar ability play each other, would be a success?
Sky have exclusive rights to Ireland’s Nations League games up to 2022, and the fear is that much of Kenny’s revolution may be confined to being a sideshow to how Wales are progressing under former Manchester United star Giggs.
RTÉ do have rights to show the Slovakia play-off next month, and the prospective final against Bosnia or Northern Ireland. Even though they are officially Nations League matches, RTÉ negotiated a deal with UEFA last March to broadcast the game live. So, there could be wriggle-room, although it may need Government intervention and Irish soccer has had enough of that recently.
The Department of Communications deem what sporting events should be free-to-air under the Broadcasting Act 2009 (Designation of Major Events). The list was last updated in October 2017, when Denis Naughten was the minister.
Ireland’s home and away qualifiers in the World Cup and European Championships were included in the last list, but there was no mention of the Nations League. A number of efforts were made to contact the department on Friday – to ascertain if there were any plans to protect the Nations League matches in the future – but we received no reply.
And so, Stephen Kenny’s first home match in charge takes place this evening behind a pay-wall.
The realities of the coverage challenges mean it may be a few hours after the match, or even tomorrow morning, before we receive any comprehensive analysis on the airwaves of what it all meant.
‘THE LACK OF HALF-TIME ANALYSIS WAS EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING’ ‘THIS NEW TOURNAMENT HAS TAKEN ON A LIFE OF ITS OWN’