TG4 have made several success stories of unsung competitions, in spite of earning half the State funding of the Welsh-language broadcaster S4C.
Gavin Cooney THIS COLUMN RETURNED to the Oireachtas Committee room last week, a first return since John Delaney’s Vow of Silence as the FAI’s short-lived Executive Vice-President.
RTÉ reliably bridle at neglecting the league while Virgin Media have recently dipped their toe into coverage, while the LOITV streaming service – which has curiously not drawn GAAG0-level ire from rural TDs about poor oul’ fellas not being able to work HDMI cables – provides access to all games in the men’s LOI and the women’s Premier Division.
And so successive governments displayed our native genius for ambiguity in paying lip service to a native langue they did not speak. In making the language compulsory, the State also made it calcified: it became mandatory at school and a necessary shibboleth for select public service advancement but successive governments could never create a society in which the language could flourish, so committed were so many in never straining beyond their own cúpla focail.
There is a similar movement underway in the League of Ireland, where clubs have modelled themselves as a nexus for their local community and brought people along with them. Growth is undeniable: there’s been a 29% rise in attendances since 2019. Some cold hard cash should also go to TG4. They get half the State funding that Welsh language channel S4C get, in spite of serving a larger population. They have played a vital role in inching the Irish language in from the margins - most obviously in their part-funding of the extraordinary, Oscar-nominated An Cailín Ciúin - and they can do the same for the League of Ireland.
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