RTÉ KO’s world title fight by Irish boxer

Perhaps a collective sadomasochistic streak throughout the nation is to blame.

Or maybe begrudgery has become such a national pastime that only Irish sportspeople who achieve unprecedented levels of humiliation warrant attention from our national broadcaster.

How else could one explain the wall-to-wall coverage of our national football team — which has spent the last fortnight getting spanked around Europe — and the complete lack of attention paid to Andy Lee, who contested a world title fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on Saturday last?

Not only did Lee’s fight fail to garner mention on the RTÉ website’s home page on the eve of the bout, the boxing section of the RTÉ sports website also failed to show any sign of one of the nation’s finest sportsmen in advance of what could have been a career-defining bout.

The sadomasochism/begrudgery theories both gain some legs when one considers that the Limerick boxer’s defeat was considered newsworthy by RTÉ on Sunday morning, unlike the mere fact that he had reached such a prestigious opportunity in his sport the night before.

We are in a TV age that has a never-before-seen appetite for car-crash TV but perhaps viewers deserve to be offered something other than Simon Cowell berating tween hopefuls and our national team redefining what it is to be whipping boys.

John Hogan

Ballyneety

Co Limerick