O'Donoghue 'disappointed' after FAI talks
Sports Minister John O’Donoghue tonight emerged ‘‘disappointed’’ from a meeting with Football Association of Ireland officials who have signed a contract with Sky TV that will prevent home international soccer matches being shown on terrestrial television.
News of the four-year multi-million pound Sky deal has outraged football followers nationwide and prompted a torrent of protest calls to the state-backed RTE TV network that failed to clinch coverage of the internationals.
Yesterday, soccer fan Taoiseach Bertie Ahern joined in expressions of regret over the move, highlighting difficulties that could confront supporters in rural areas of Ireland without access to Sky TV.
Communications Minister Dermot Ahern has responded to the affair by ordering officials at his department to draw up a list of sporting events that have to be reserved for free showing on terrestrial TV in the future.
Tonight, however, after talks with the FAI, Mr O’Donoghue, conceded that the contract with Sky could not be reversed.
‘‘We had a very full and frank meeting, and I stressed the need to find a way of trying to resolve this controversy. I explained there were a lot of people who were now going to find it difficult to see their games.
‘‘But the problem is that the FAI have signed their contract, and it is done and dusted to that extent. I am still disappointed at what happened.
‘‘I had a meeting last week with the FAI and this was not mentioned.’’
It was understood, though, that the FAI was examining possible ways of showing the soccer fixtures at community centres and other venues around the country and possibly at open-air areas in the style set by South Korea in their World Cup ties last month.
Association secretary Brendan Menton said ‘‘I think we saw it in Korea, where there was an open air party of 250,000 people watching their team play. It was fantastic and these are some of the ideas we are going to explore, both with Sky and our supporters.’’
The affair has led to a row between the football authorities and RTE.
The FAI has claimed the broadcaster did not offer enough cash for the TV rights and RTE has said
they were not kept fully informed about the state of the negotiations.
A number of organisations have said that Sky-only coverage of the internationals could lead to young people watching the matches in bars - with both drink and soccer available.
* The Labour Party tonight tabled a parliamentary private members’ motion condemning the FAI decision to sell the broadcasting rights to Sky Sports, and deploring the failure of the government to use the legislative powers they claimed were available to ensure that the majority of viewers retained access to coverage.
They called on the communications minister to act immediately to include home soccer internationals among events designated for terrestrial TV coverage.
