Donal Óg Cusack on GAAGO debate: 'Are RTÉ and the GAA exploiting hurling?' 

The Corkman says the game is lacking oxygen but is being used to boost the online platform. 

Donal Óg Cusack made his case on the Sunday Game.

Donal Óg Cusack has strongly criticised RTÉ and the GAA for their failure to screen more hurling championship clashes on free-to-air television.

The comments from the All-Ireland winning goalkeeper came on a weekend in which a Cork-Tipperary epic was broadcast on GAAGO rather than terrestrial TV.

Three of the five Munster Championship games so far have been shown on the online, pay-per-view platform, which is a joint-venture between the GAA and RTÉ.

Waterford v Clare next weekend will also be on the platform, an arrangement which has attracted much comment and criticism in recent weeks.

“Hurling needs oxygen,” Cusack said on The Sunday Game. “I have no issue with pay-per-view, that’s part of the landscape and it has its role to play.

“But by next weekend when Clare play Waterford, four of the biggest Munster championship games will have been on pay-per-view. The GAA have introduced this microwave hurling championship, this compressed season, where there’s 11 weekends of hurling. I would say three or four of those now, you’re not going to have any games on free-to-air and you have to ask – who is accountable for the promotion of hurling? Because whoever it is is not doing a good job.

“The GAA took on trusteeship of it. It looks as if they’re actually shrinking the game instead of growing it. And I would say, you’d have to question, are RTÉ and the GAA exploiting hurling?

“How many Munster championship games in football compared to hurling have they shown? It looks very like that they’re using hurling to get this joint venture off the ground, whereas it should be the other way around.

“There’s loads hundreds, thousands of brilliant, brilliant volunteers who are trying to grow hurling. As I said at the outset, it needs oxygen. There’s no better oxygen that you can get in the game than the imagery coming out of the likes of Tipp and Clare, from a full Ennis - that being beamed into every house in Ireland. The Clare and Limerick game, the power of that.

“My nephew can name all of Liverpool squad. I don’t think the young fella was ever in Liverpool. Why is that? The opportunity we’ve lost over the last number of weeks to market the game has been huge.” 

Impassioned debate on the broadcasting of hurling. #SundayGame. pic.twitter.com/eKL6O0zKte

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“These are facts," the Cloyne man continued. "Last year we had an All-Ireland quarter-final played at lunchtime. The next day there was a Tailteann Cup game on Croke Park.

“I came in downstairs here (at RTÉ) and was looking at the screen and I thought something looked strange about Croke Park. The cameras were on the other side of the field. Now I can only assume those cameras were put on the other side of the field so that the crowd would look bigger.

“Someone had the back of Gaelic football. If someone had the back of hurling in that same way, there is no way they would have sold out with those games over the last number of weeks.

“And the last point I’ll make," he told presenter Jacqui Hurley, "I sat over there and the head of sport in RTÉ was here, you were here. And I said that given what was coming - that was a number of months ago - given what was coming with the coverage of the games in this country and on this station, we should put a rugby ball up in the corner of the screen up there.

“And, I’m very proud of the Irish rugby team and their credit to the country and we all hope they win the World Cup, but in terms of being a competitive space, the GAA have waved the white flag, because we’ve now given over 2023 to rugby country.”