#TheToughest Issue: Is The Sunday Game still relevant?

The Sunday Game remains a mainstay of a GAA fan's weekend, but it has faced criticism of late. Is it still revelant?

Conor Heneghan of JOE.ie says: YES The sound of the Sunday Game theme tune is greeted with something close to euphoria when it airs for the first time every year. It means that summer is here. It means that the sideshow is over and that the real stuff, Championship football and hurling, is back. And it also means that a large portion of the Irish viewing audience know that for the best part of three months, their Sunday afternoons and evenings are sorted. Without it, a lot of us would lost. Within a few weeks, that initial euphoria dies down a little and, especially in the social media age, it's not long before people are willing to bare their teeth and have a little bite about what they're seeing. At the moment, there appear to be a number of specific criticisms, a number of them valid. On the highlights programme, too much time is focussed on showing games that have already been broadcast live earlier in the day. Personally, this doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother other people. From my experience of attending these matches, I know that a large majority of people who watched the game make it to their business to be back in time for The Sunday Game that night. What did the panelists make of the performance of the respective teams? Did a refereeing decision look as controversial on TV as it did in the flesh? What will the managers have to say afterwards? Besides, it seems natural enough to me that, having committed significant resources to cover a game live in the first place, the quality of highlights will be superior to that of a game where there only a couple of cameras present. Should there be more coverage of games that weren't broadcast live? Absolutely, no doubt about it. If I was, for example, a Fermanagh fan, I'd be upset about the fact that there were only mere glimpses shown of one of the biggest days in their history at the weekend. At the same time, in the Sunday Game's defence, they featured highlights from seven football matches, three hurling matches and some camogie to boot. Factor in analysis of those games and that's a lot to cover in two hours; it's nearly inevitable that some counties will feel they drew the short straw. Whether RTE or Sky are aware of it or not I don't know, but the GAA is crying out for another TV show combining highlights and more in-depth analysis during the week, preferably on a Monday when the events of the weekend are still fresh in the memory. I'm sure I'm not the only voracious consumer of GAA out there. Live games, The Sunday Game itself, reviews of the action from the likes of Off the Ball and Second Captains, I for one can't get enough of it. It's easy to simply conceive of a Monday Night Football style show and a whole other thing actually producing one, but I know if there was one, I and many more would eat it up. The quality of the actual analysis is another matter of fierce debate and again, those who criticise it have plenty of ammunition with which to do so. Let's take the main football analysts, messrs Brolly, O'Rourke and Spillane. Much like the RTE soccer panel, actual analysis often plays second fiddle to the latest in a series of fierce debates between them. Like the RTE panel, some of it sounds like absolute nonsense but some of it also undoubtedly makes for absolutely riveting television, creating talking points that GAA people will talk about for weeks afterwards. Beyond the main lads, there are some really insightful and intelligent pundits who probably deserve more airtime than they're currently getting. Tomás Ó Sé has been a breath of fresh air, as has Dónal Óg Cusack. Between them, they provide an insight into the modern game that is beyond some of the other pundits who dress up bygone eras as far more glorious than archive footage would suggest. Ciaran Whelan, I believe, is excellent and Dermot Earley is interesting too, although I'll gladly agree that someone needs to have a word in Martin McHugh's ear given some of the nonsense he's been spouting of late. McHugh and others have definitely been guilty of cursory treatment of the weaker counties, but that aside, I think the pundits do a decent job with the limited time at hand. What's more, the programme has never been afraid to tackle controversial issues, with footage shown on the show often indirectly contributing to disciplinary action being doled out at a later date. What I will say about the naysayers is that they're right about the unnecessary amount of attention being paid towards the analysts' outfits, a seemingly recent phenomenon that is cringe-worthy at the best of times. Is The Sunday Game perfect? Far from it. Is it still relevant? Absolutely and until there's a better alternative, I know I'll be tuning in with interest for many years to come. Conán Doherty says: NO It's about as relevant as a Barcelona comparison at half time of the Leinster final. The Sunday Game is supposed to be the blue riband programme of a proud national sport. It used to be. Then it lost its way. Then it turned into a bar stool for bitter ex-footballers to air their personal grievances and pine for the days when men were men. That sort of bullshit doesn't belong on prime time television. And yet, week after week, we're subjected to pointless agendas - nay, whinges - because we keep tuning in to see the actual football. From that point of view, it's all the show is really good for anymore- it's a chance to see the actual action which you'd swear never took place if you even listened for one minute to any of the analysis. But even at that, you're still at the mercy of scheduling. You'll get a game or two a week and then you'll get the same game or two on the highlights show on Sunday evening. The rest of the matches - you know, the ones that no-one has yet seen - well, they're condensed into what might as well be one of those five-second movie spoofs. Take, for example, the weekend. By all accounts, Fergal Doherty produced two classic Fergal Doherty moments when he put two Fergal Doherty-shaped holes mincingly into the body of two more Fergal Doherty victims from Wexford. That was all the talk that came out of Derry's win, that and David Power having a right go at the officials for an incident that apparently warranted a red card. We saw none of it. What we saw was lip service. A couple of scores at either side for what felt like a procession. Games in the same competition, the same level, the same round, shoehorned in at the end of the night as an afterthought. 'Did you enjoy that game?' That's the lead into the punditry which ends when the ex-footballer has given his verdict on whether or not the two-minute video reel he was subjected to was up to scratch with his own personal taste. Des Cahill tip-toes around these guys almost worried that they didn't enjoy watching one of the matches. No-one gives two monkeys whether or not they enjoyed the match. It's actually completely irrelevant. It's actually got nothing to do with the football championship. Just like the vast majority of The Sunday Game's coverage. That stems from the top, from the main show. It stems from three men sitting in a huff because they're being made to watch Ireland's premier competition and, after 70 minutes, they just throw their hands into the air and declare that it's crap, that it's not the way they used to play. When they do turn their hand to analyses, it's about Chelsea's counterattacks, about Manchester United against Yeovil Town, it's about Barcelona trying to beat a blanket defence (all three of those references have happened in the last month). Then, actually, when someone like Joe Brolly forgets about his agenda and actually looks at the match, he talks a bit of sense. He spoke of Cork's chronic troubles with Kerry and how they needed Donegal's battle-hardened attitude to compete. He spoke about what they needed to do and, although it was all completely contradictory to what he has been saying all year, it was worth watching. It was insightful. He was no sooner looking for soundbites at full time though going over the top and labouring the point of a refereeing mistake and, yet again, despite Darragh Maloney's best efforts, the train went off track. Pat Spillane, within two and a half seconds, turned a discussion about a two-tiered championship into a tirade on defensive football. Completely irrelevant to the topic at hand, completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of the summer or the sport. Irrelevant. The way the shows have gone, they've indirectly created competition out of nothing else but complete neccesity. Second Captains, Off the Ball, Sky Sports GAA, these shows are now the ones you want to watch or listen to. Everyone likes debate, discussion and no-one even minds hearing something they don't agree with or like. The only stipulation is that it is relevant. That it's relevant to the game. That it's relevant to football. That it's relevant to 2015. At the minute, The Sunday Game belongs in another era.

Brought to you by AIB GAA, proudly Backing Club & County. Follow AIB GAA on Twitter,Instagram and Facebook