Senior GAA officials may answer questions on GAAGO initiative in front of the Oireachtas' joint committee
Pic: Brendan Screen Moran/sportsfile Tv Gaago
Senior GAA officials could appear in front of the Oireachtas’ joint committee on sport to answer questions about their GAAGO initiative with RTÉ in the coming weeks.
As RTÉ meet the joint committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media on Wednesday regarding the payments controversy in Montrose, GAAGO directors may be next to shed light on their agreement to show over 38 championship games on the pay-per-view service.
Although the surprise decision to show the Galway-Mayo All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final on RTÉ last Sunday was widely welcomed, that this Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final double-header, Kerry v Tyrone and Armagh v Monaghan, will only be available to watch on GAAGO has drawn heavy criticism in participating counties especially Kerry and Armagh.
Speaking in May, Fine Gael TD and former Mayo footballer Alan Dillon likened the subscription to “a licence fee increase by the backdoor”.
Ex-Mayo TD and senator, former Galway, Leitrim and Mayo manager John O’Mahony, encouraged the GAA and RTÉ to speak to the politicians.
“I would encourage them to come in,” he said in May. “Those meetings can go on for two or three hours and from the politicians’ point of view, they can ask all the hard questions “Of all of the work that I would have done in Dáil Eireann, I would have found that the committee system was actually a great system for dealing with things.”
Meanwhile, Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final double-header in Croke Park is on course to be a sell-out with no tickets currently available online. Suspicious accounts offering tickets have already been appearing on social media for the Derry-Cork and Dublin-Mayo double bill.
Last year over 122,000 attended the quarter-finals double-headers in Croke Park – 71,353 taking in the Kerry-Mayo and Armagh-Derry games a day after 50,874 were in attendance for the Dublin-Cork and Derry-Clare matches.
In what was considered unprecedented demand at the time, close to 60,000 tickets for the Sunday fixtures last year were sold close to two weeks out from the day, 50,000 in the space of two hours.
The only tickets currently available online for Saturday’s games at GAA HQ are in the upper Davin, upper Hogan stands and Hill 16.
It has also been confirmed that Armagh’s Box-It Athletic Grounds will host the All-Ireland minor football final between Derry and Monaghan on Sunday week with a 1pm throw-in.
In a repeat of the Ulster final, Monaghan will be aiming for the first minor title since 1939 while Derry are looking for a second crown in three years.