Umpire fury sparks web surge

OVER 2,000 visitors a day are going to TG4’s website to look at or download Wednesday night’s controversial Munster U21 hurling final between Clare and Tipperary.

The match proved a real audience-puller for the station. The channel had a 6% share of the available TV audience during the game — twice their normal viewing figures for that time on a Wednesday evening.

According to the official measurement figures from the Nielsen agency, the match commentary enjoyed an audience “reach” of 250,000 viewers. The average viewership throughout the broadcast was 65,000.

The full match, the row afterwards and replays of the Clare goalie’s controversial puckout are being shown continuously in the Sports Archive (Cartlann Spóirt) on TG4’s WebTV at www.TG4.tv.

Many fans checking the TG4 webcast are using it to fuel furious online discussions on GAA web forums. A topic on the popular website ‘An Fear Rua — The GAA Unplugged!’ www.anfearrua.com had been read almost 30,000 times up to last night and includes over 550 individual comments. It is believed to be the fastest growing readership of any topic on a GAA web forum up to now.