RTÉ chiefs say analysts were not contacted by Wallace

RTÉ bosses have asked pundits on The Sunday Game if inter-county managers are asking them to play down the seriousness of incidents in games following comments by Antrim senior hurling manager Jerry Wallace earlier in the week.

Wallace said last Monday he had contacted panellists on The Sunday Game last week to ask them to play down the seriousness of events in the Antrim-Westmeath Leinster SHC clash two weeks ago.

During that game Antrim player Cormac Donnelly, who was unavailable to play, was a maor foirne for the northern side but got involved with a Westmeath player, an incident for which he was later suspended for eight weeks.

Wallace told the Irish News earlier in the week: “On the day of the match I approached the RTÉ crew that were there for The Sunday Game and asked them could they lose that video but their director of sport had already got ahead of me and made sure they had it.

“I had met with Brian Carthy who had done commentary on the match for RTÉ. I rang three of the analysts who were working for The Sunday Game so that when it came up they would deflate it.”

The Antrim boss also said he had asked match referee Anthony Stapleton to reconsider his match report.

However, the broadcaster has issued a statement rejecting those claims, stating: “RTÉ can confirm that none of The Sunday Game panellists on the programme featuring Antrim v Westmeath on the weekend of May 19/20 received any contact from Antrim Senior Hurling manager Jerry Wallace.

“In addition, none of the RTÉ Sport crew were approached regarding the footage from the game by Jerry Wallace as alleged.

“RTÉ is not aware of any county in the past contacting The Sunday Game panellists in an attempt to influence their opinions on our programming.

“Our editorial independence is of the upmost importance to us right across our sports coverage.”

In recent years some observers have ascribed undue influence to the pundits on The Sunday Game, suggesting that some GAA disciplinary actions are based on what pundits focus on in the popular television programme.