I thought it was a shambles last Sunday night.. Whelan pushing the Dublin agenda on Connolly getting off.. Coopers tackle and the one that riled me most was the McMahon feigning injury.. Compare that to the comments Whelan had on Tiernan McCAnn?.. McStay was wrong to make statements about Connolly being out for the replay when it was still under review.. The Sunday game has a massive audience and can have an influence on the public mood and therefore on the outcome of decisions. The 8 weeks that McCann got was in response to public outcry and in depth review on the Sunday game. On Sunday night all decisions were still under review and RTE need to realize the influence they have and manage it appropriately.

unclegerry (Mayo) - Posts: 1222 - 01/09/2015 10:26:23    1779621

Here is a thought for the Sunday Game's management.

Allow the hurling analysts to review the football for one night & see how it goes.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 01/09/2015 10:52:34    1779650

The analysts on the Sunday game should not be analysing their own Counties its as simple as that.Bring in Analyst from neutral counties and let the give an honest opinion.

ifindoubt (Donegal) - Posts: 133 - 01/09/2015 11:12:09    1779681

Fair point,but i thought the pundits were fair on Sunday night.We all have our favourites im sure and i must admit,while K McStay seems like a decent man,i think hes a weak pundit.Dont really know what he brings to the debate.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 01/09/2015 11:19:24    1779690

RTE need to realize the influence they have and manage it appropriately

Oh I think they do realise exactly what influence they have hence how they manage it and their agendas. They and all media know there are a lot of people out there who will take everything they say as how it is and like good mass goers follow that word like the Gospel.

Please stand for the creed.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 01/09/2015 11:45:53    1779723

If people are influenced by the Sunday game they should take a look at themselfs not the pundits

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 01/09/2015 13:30:06    1779869

ifindoubt
County: Donegal
Posts: 9

The analysts on the Sunday game should not be analysing their own Counties its as simple as that.Bring in Analyst from neutral counties and let the give an honest opinion.

Ah here now...

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3685 - 01/09/2015 14:22:57    1779916

DoireCityFC
County: Derry
Posts: 938

1779869
If people are influenced by the Sunday game they should take a look at themselfs not the pundits


Well said

turkeyplucker (UK) - Posts: 137 - 01/09/2015 14:50:08    1779943

Here's a mad idea = DON'T WATCH THE 'ANALYSIS'! Very simple solution to a very frivolous problem. When I turn on the tele, I want to see Gooch Cooper, Bernard Brogan, Joe Canning etc etc etc at their best, I certainly don't turn it on to hear the ramblings of middle aged, attention seeking, has-beens.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 01/09/2015 15:36:35    1779988

Htaem
County: Meath
Posts: 6694

1779988
Here's a mad idea = DON'T WATCH THE 'ANALYSIS'! Very simple solution to a very frivolous problem. When I turn on the tele, I want to see Gooch Cooper, Bernard Brogan, Joe Canning etc etc etc at their best, I certainly don't turn it on to hear the ramblings of middle aged, attention seeking, has-beens.
___________________
Spot on, I tend to mute the TV for the soccer as well, works wonders I can tell you.

In fairness to the OP I don't believe he is alluding to the public being influenced so much as the referees and the CCCC for example, and it is possible that the SG can exert undue influence in these areas.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 01/09/2015 16:33:45    1780075

Of all the criticisms of TV pundits, the worst came from no less than Pat McAneny in an interview with Balls.ie. Pat actually stated that Dessie Dolan (RTE cocomentator for last Sundays game)dooesnt know the rules of the game. Dessie, during the game, simply asked if it was any wonder people become frustrated when they see players like Mark O'Se blackcarded and Cian O Sullivan NOT blackcarded for a similar foul. Pat explains that in one case the player is brought to the ground and in the other he is fouled without being brought to the ground. But Pat must know that the result is the same - to stop a player going through from scoring. That technicality is what is frustrating and Dessie Dolan is totally correct in his comment. Pat McAneny was one of the best refs ever in the GAA, but he must surely apologize for such an outragious accusation against Dessie D., one of the best footballers in the country in the last 12 years.

michael (Cork) - Posts: 381 - 01/09/2015 19:07:10    1780194

i heard all the furore and i heard all the comments re what wheelo said, so when i sat down to watch it last night i was prepared for the worst and ended up convinced people were just waiting for him to say something, anything they could jump on!!
If Wheelo didnt get down on his knees and beg the irish people for their forgiveness on Sunday night he was gonna be hung
His analysis actually wasnt that bad ATALL and if anything, Tomas was defending the Dubs more than Wheelo!!!!

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 01/09/2015 19:16:21    1780196

The Sunday Game panel were consistent to be fair to them. They did call out the major incidents and discussed them. I like Whelan, he is a Dub through and through but wasn't afraid to highlight their cynicism. All people want is consistency and an end to singling out fellas and counties. Tyrone have been on the end of some very nasty stuff on the web especially and that's out of order.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9697 - 01/09/2015 19:31:37    1780204

Michael, how can Dessie Dolan be absolutely correct if he doesn't understand the technicailty you speak of? And he clearly doesn't understand it, which means that in actual fact Pat McEnaney is the one who is absolutely correct when he says that Dolan doesn't know the Rules of the Game.

Gavvygavgav (Dublin) - Posts: 382 - 01/09/2015 19:33:21    1780206

Slayer, how could you have hurling analysts reviewing football when they come from a game where are no rules and consequently no frees.

neverright (Roscommon) - Posts: 1648 - 01/09/2015 19:38:39    1780211

The match may have ended in a draw, but Mayo gave the Dubs a real pasting on TSG in the evening. Kevin McStay played an absolute blinder, going for the blue jugular in a lethally softly-spoken way, while poor Ciaran Whelan fumbled for some combination of words to make himself look credible without hanging his mates, though ultimately failed on both counts.

Because he was so strident in his attack on Tyrone, calling for public apologies and tacitly agreeing with talk of 'bad smells', Whelan knew that he had to offer some criticism of the Dubs. To ignore the skulduggery would have been to ruin his supposed reputation as a straight-down-the-middle analyst, and so he highlighted it all, making reference to just about everything bad that the Dubs did. However, in also throwing in phrases like 'it's not in his nature', or 'he'll feel very foolish tomorrow', and in failing to mention anything to do with public apologies, Whelan still came across to many people as mealy-mouthed and hypocritical, as he had gone nowhere near as far as he had with Tyrone. Thereby, in committing to neither the party line nor the truth, he neither helped the Dubs nor his own reputation.

McStay, on the other hand, had taken no part in the Tyrone attack 3 weeks earlier, and was thus under no pressure to be true to any recently stated beliefs. And he revelled in this freedom, quoting rules like 'or intention to head-butt' and highlighted with glee every dirty act committed by a boy in blue. He even had the bare-faced cheek to state that Colm Boyle's dive was a stone-wall penalty! McStay used all his experience to heap the pressure onto both the CHC and Eddie Kinsella and, to be fair to him, he did it brilliantly.

Thomas Clarke (Tyrone) - Posts: 1002 - 01/09/2015 20:10:16    1780231

I think there's more of an agenda on this thread tbh . The pundits probably do have an agenda but so does everyone that's paid to have an opinion . I'm happy with TSG ..as long as anyone from Newstalk is never ever on it .. I'll even put up with Cake as long as that attention seeking Laois fella is nowhere near it

Finsceal (None) - Posts: 559 - 01/09/2015 20:23:28    1780240

brendtheredhand

Fair enough brend, you'd like to think the referees the CCCC wouldn't be influenced by pundits but they're only human so it probably does happen.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 01/09/2015 20:24:49    1780241

I agree about Pat McEnaney interview, his comments were bizarre and not exactly encouraging. He may be right about the black card rulings but that is the problem. The rules are actually very clear cut on what is a black card but that just means you can get away with equally cynical play without sanction.

The bit that got me was him saying that he would not have given Johnny Cooper a red card because he did not know him to be a dirty player. Just no. If that is the way a ref thinks he should not be allowed to ref a game, never mind have the authority he does.

wee_yo (Mayo) - Posts: 63 - 01/09/2015 21:06:38    1780275

I can't believe I'm agreeing with him but Ulsterman is correct, Whelo went to town on Dublin. He slated Philly in particular. Imagine somebody like Peter Canavan doing that to Tyrone!! If anything Whelo was too one sided and OTT on Dublin. It still beggars belief that the O'Connor elbow on ROC, the worst incident in the game, was ignored. Whelo is the best pundit out there. He tactical analysis is second to none and he's fair.

Joxer (Dublin) - Posts: 4700 - 01/09/2015 21:21:02    1780291