Grand National win for Morris: The real value of heart-felt sport

SPORT has become the life blood of communications, especially traditional television stations.

Its sale via pay-to-view channels is a primary force in shaping fans’ consumption. The sums are astronomical. Discovery paid €1bn to broadcast the Olympics from 2022. National broadcasters, even the BBC, are secondary. RTÉ lost rugby’s Six Nations from 2017. This evolution has empowered saleable superstars too — Rory McIlroy has a “multi-year” deal worth over €200m with US sportswear giant Nike. This is the high- testerone, increasingly remote end of sport but the age-old values that makes sport such a central part of our lives were obvious at Aintree on Saturday.

Tipperary-based trainer Mouse Morris sent the 33/1 Rule The World out to win the Grand National. Owned by Michael O’Leary and riden by teenager David Mullins the win put Morris in a pretty exclusive club — trainers who have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National. He also won the Irish Grand National last month with Rogue Angel.