The biggest game in the 95-year history of St Patrick’s Athletic will be played behind a pay-wall in Istanbul this evening.
Stump up a tenner to Solidsport, a Norwegian streaming company, and you can watch the action unfold from the comfort of home.
None of the Irish terrestrial channels, RTÉ, TG4 or Virgin Media made a pitch for a game which could see Stephen Kenny lead St Pat’s into the group phase of the Europa Conference League for the first time.
Virgin Media is showing an episode of the game show Tipping Point at kick-off (5pm) between Basaksehir and Pat’s, which may be apt as there are those at the club, and across Irish club football, who feel the TV snub around European club games has gone too far. Of the 18 Euro games so far this summer involving the Saints, Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne and Derry City, not one was shown free-to-air for Irish viewers.
It’s the same for game 19 today and game 20 tomorrow between Shamrock Rovers and PAOK in the Europa League play-offs.
For those calling for greater TV coverage for the League of Ireland Euro adventurers, these oversights are not acceptable.
Among the fiercest critics of RTÉ and Virgin Media are the clubs.
Shamrock Rovers have even gone so far as to suggest RTÉ may not be allowed to cross the threshold in Tallaght Stadium again, while Kenny has also called foul. Vested interests always see things through their own prism.
For League of Ireland diehards, there is no league like it, and for them it should be mandatory for the powers-that-be in
Montrose and Ballymount to broadcast more and more games, especially ones ‘in Europe’.
RTE are always vulnerable for a whipping from the league’s cheerleaders who contend it is compulsory for a public service broadcaster to lift the profile of the league by showing more matches.
I feel some context is needed here, having incurred criticism for daring to suggest that poking the RTÉ bear wasn’t the smartest move by Rovers – a comment I defend.
As it stands, for 2024, RTÉ are contracted to show live 18 SSE Airtricity League Premier Division games, as well as the Sports Direct FAI Cup semi-finals and final.
Virgin Media are signed up for a further 14 Premier Division games.
TG4 are on board for 12 Women’s Premier Division games including Bohemians versus Shelbourne this Saturday, plus the FAI Women’s Cup final on October 20.
That represents a fairly comprehensive TV coverage of the League of Ireland, which is perhaps not as big a drawing card as its champions proclaim.
For starters, attendances for 2024 in the Premier Division are roughly equal for that of 2023.
Bohemians are pulling in big numbers, St Pat’s and Shels are on the up, not everyone else is.
Derry City and Dundalk returns are down, while the First Division figures, excluding Cork City, are tiny for a professional full-time league.
The last two league home games of Shamrock Rovers, admittedly played on a Sunday evening, drew the lowest crowds of the season to Tallaght Stadium, 3,681 (versus Drogheda United) and 3,017 (versus Galway United).
Since the opening of the North Stand, the most modern ground in the league seats 10,500 yet it was less than 32 per cent full on average for a team driving for a fifth league title, which commands the biggest support and plays an attractive football.
When Pat’s played Basaksehir in Tallaght Stadium last Thursday, a game with so much riding on it, there were 6,219 in attendance 4,000 seats lay empty in the ground.
Had the game been screened live on RTE or Virgin, the crowd would have been less. I’d imagine the bean counters at Pat’s were privately relieved the game wasn’t free to air.
I love the league, especially febrile Friday nights late in the season under lights.
Summer football has led to better pitches and a more attractive product.
Since 2011, Shamrock Rovers (twice) and Dundalk have reached the group phase of UEFA club competition. The FAI Cup final has become a unique selling point for Irish club football.
On the flip side, many grounds are below the requirement for Europe’s 33rd ranked league, while its appeal in a sports-loving country does not shift the needle for all.
For RTÉ, there is more commercial return in showing Umder 20 international rugby or the Galway Races, which pull in more viewers than a live League of Ireland game.
The figures for Soccer Republic which replaced Monday Night Football were in slippage when the plug was pulled by RTÉ sports chiefs before the 2021 season.
I’ll pay my tenner tonight and will be rooting for Kenny and his players in Istanbul. Should they advance, the Premier Sports paywall will be in place for the group phase.
Even if broadcasters RTÉ or Virgin Media wanted to, they won’t be able to give the league a dig out.
