by Séamus Morris

Like a long lost friend we welcomed it back, excitement fuelled with anticipation as we sat down to begin our summer consumption of The Sunday Game. But something was different…

Yes folks, RTÉ has done it again – the ‘If it ain’t broke, Break it’ maxim has been adhered to in the new look ‘Sunday Game’ series. A fusion of graphics and gizmos, intertwined with stats galore, leaves the GAA fan feeling that style has overtaken substance in RTÉ’s coverage of our beloved games. Aesthetics, rather than authenticity, has become the order of the day.

That one constant of the programme, the signature tune, has now been replaced by a horrendous, soulless piece of music that appears more relevant to some sort of a sect rather than a GAA programme (or maybe RTÉ are trying to tell us something ?!) For years the old tune signalled the beginning of summer, a time when school was over and we could stay up late to watch our heroes on television. But alas, as appears to be the case in the current climate, tradition counts for nought.

It appears that RTÉ has missed a beat somewhere along the line in its new format of Gaelic games coverage. Where once we were presented with matches in a fashion of simplicity, now the whole exercise has become more complex. The barrage of stats and images, of upcoming highlights that night, of updated scorelines from around the country, all these combine to take the viewer’s focus away from the main task at hand – watching the games.

One ‘beneficiary’ of the new style of coverage is Michael Lyster, who now gets to embark on a Magical Mystery Tour of Ireland for the next three months. Whether Michael is happy with this new way of doing things is unknown, but even he must have been startled when recently he was joined at a Munster Hurling Semi-Final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh by Colm O’Rourke and Bernard Flynn. It soon became apparent what the two footballing evangelists’ purpose was – to analyse the Dublin / Westmeath Leinster Championship football match in Croke Park!. As one of RTÉ’s less enlightened ideas, this surely ranks near the top. Thankfully, some form of normality returned to Montrose the following weekend when Michael was safely ensconced back in the familiar surroundings of his studio, joined by panellists who knew they were in the right place at the right time, just as they were in their playing days.

The coverage so far has left us feeling somewhat empty; style rather than substance being the order of the day. Even the previously consistent ‘Breaking Ball’ has failed to reach the heights of previous seasons, possibly falling under the weight of expectation built up by previous seasons of high level performances. As for ‘BBX’ – the less said about this the better, save to say that the only X factor about the show is its amorous presenter, Ms Ní Chofaigh.

The games of Gaelic football and hurling are in themselves simple and uncomplicated – this is their main strength. A plethora of stats and graphics is not required to tell the viewer what is going on in front of their eyes. The games themselves are sufficient, they don’t necessitate punctuation by needless statistics and graphics that merely absorb some of the mystery and magic that make our games so special. The only stat that we need to know is that the ball is in and the game is on – a game that will run and run through the summer!