RTÉ awards no-show by fighting Irish explained

Two Irish sports stars who enjoyed successful years were absent from Sunday night’s RTÉ Sports Awards - though for very different reasons.

Boxer Katie Taylor and mixed martial artist Conor McGregor missed the event and their no-shows were explained yesterday.

On his RTÉ Radio show, Seán O’Rourke was discussing the awards with colleague Pauric Lodge and wondered as to the whereabouts of Taylor, who won a fifth consecutive world championship title last month. Lodge revealed there is a dispute between the boxer and the state broadcaster. “Katie has issues with RTÉ’s coverage of boxing,” he said.

“When she was presented with the Sportswoman of the Year award at the Shelbourne Hotel on Friday, she wasn’t willing to speak to RTÉ on camera. There are issues that need to be sorted there,” Lodge said.

Yesterday Taylor re-tweeted a message from a Twitter follower, which said it was a disgrace her father Pete had not won the manager of the year award. The award was won by Irish rugby boss Joe Schmidt.

Meanwhile, McGregor, who climbed to fifth in UFC’s featherweight rankings after two wins this year, wrote on Facebook indicating he wants remuneration rather than adulation. “I appreciate the curiosity about my absence from these ‘sport awards’,” he wrote. “Credit with RTÉ, however, is not what I seek. It is cash. And, as executive producer of my six-part series Notorious, airing January 26, cash is what they pay.

“If it’s pure sport you want though — the original sport of the human race, the sport of unarmed combat, the sport of survival, the sport before the term ‘sport’ was even created — catch ‘UFC Fight Night Boston: McGregor v Who gives a f***, we are still watching’ live and exclusive to Setanta Sports and 3e Sports respectively, this coming January 18.”