Slán leat Seó Spóirt. What will fill vacuum?

The end of the Allianz Leagues will also see the end of TG4’s current series of Seó Spóirt, writes John Coleman.

The end of both will leave us wanting for more but while the championship will eventually, at a minimum, give us something to complain about, Seo Spóirt will be no more. It will be greatly missed.

What’s beautiful about Seó Spóirt is its sheer simplicity. A couch, an incredibly competent anchor, erudite and knowledgeable guests, interviews with players and other protagonists that stray from the usual banality of staged media days and a few clips using past action to try and figure out the future. It’s everything a show of its ilk should be, familiar, informative, entertaining and strangely comforting.

It feels like an extension of your living room on a Friday night. The off-Broadway nature of the programme lends it a certain sense of freedom of expression.

Watching it, you get the sense that the guests are genuinely happy in each other’s company and that they would be just as happy to be having the same conversations in the snug of some suitable pub with the cameras turned off.

For the past 11 years it has offered a form of escapism that is firmly rooted in the reality of those of us who put too much emphasis on all matters sporting in our lives.

That it conducts its business through the medium of Irish may have intimidated a few. However, this should not be the case.

It is programmes like this that give the language life and offer it a platform that is too often forgotten in the great Irish debate.

Tomás Ó Sé disavowing the use of the double sweeper has a more widespread relevance to people than the keening of ‘Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire’. However, before it is too late I challenge everybody to watch it once more, or even just the once. You will not fail to be charmed by the eloquence of Dara Ó Cinnéide, the steely authority of Dónal Ó Grady, the eccentricities and intensity of Diarmuid ‘Gizzy’ Lyng, the seriousness of Cathal Moore or the energy and enthusiasm of Gemma Ní Chionnaith.

Even the northern soul of Mark Harte may help ease the trauma of your long forgotten Leaving Cert Irish aural exam while Seán Bán Breathnach, well he’s just Seán Bán Breathnach. Yes, the void will be hard to fill. But this is more than just the end of an admired TV programme. Seó Spóirt’s departure leaves behind it not only a sense of loss, but also a real sense of frustration in relation to the coverage of the GAA on television.

It is a problem that has really become apparent throughout the course of this year’s leagues.

While TG4, in particular, and Eir Sport, continue to provide outstanding live coverage of the Allianz Leagues, the issue of a proper highlights programme needs to be addressed.

Never is it more apparent than on the weekends where there is a full programme of fixtures in both codes. An hour and a half on Sunday Sport is simply not enough time to do the two codes justice (a hurling and a football programme maybe?).

The leagues are the one time in the inter-county calendar where teams actually play their grade and all we get is a rehash of what TG4 and Eir Sport have shown us already. The GAA should not be happy with this. However, for all its failings, at least Sunday Sport is there, but it needs to be better.

The thing is, there is a real appetite for serious coverage of the GAA. It can be seen in the quality of the writing in the newspapers and our continuing fascination with radio in this country. But that sense of seriousness is often lost in any attempt to create a relevant magazine-type GAA programme.

Rugby has Against the Head and the League of Ireland has Soccer Republic. Both are from a very similar mould to that of Seó Spóirt and are the better for it. The GAA, however, gets Thank GAA it’s Friday.

I

t’s not that there isn’t space for such a programme but it just doesn’t really deliver the type of coverage that the more serious GAA fan wants. Despite its decision to end Seó Spóirt, TG4 continues its evolution through the live streaming of matches and provides an unparalleled service to the GAA follower.

But there’s no real hope that the chasm being left by Seó Spóirt will be filled by anything worthwhile.

We’ll be stuck with the usual triviality disguised as ‘colourfulness’ and we’ll meet ‘characters’ in sombreros and we’ll chuckle when Séadna Morey is compared to a Honda 50 or Ronan Maher to a Clydesdale pony (yes, this happened).

I get the sense that we all want something more than that. We deserve it too.

Anyway, slán leat Seó Spóirt, ní bheidh do leithéid arís ann.