Joe Brolly has come out fighting in defence of the punditry on The Sunday Game after sharp criticism from GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail.
As reported in today’s Irish Examiner, Ó Fearghail branded the RTE programme “predictable” and “tiresome”.
“I did say it before and I would still say it again: I think some of The Sunday Game commentary is unfair,” he said. “But at this stage it’s predictable and in fairness it’s consistent in its negativity.
“So it’s fairly predictable. It’s tiresome, I find.”
He was particularly angered by Colm O’Rourke describing Tyrone football as having “a bad smell” and also by Brolly’s comments about referee Maurice Deegan.
“When people talk about smells or nastiness or anything like that, I just find it unhelpful in our sport,” Ó Fearghail said.
“I like analysis where people say something is wrong and where they point out that something could be improved. There’s nothing wrong with that but using that type of language is not something I like.”
More worryingly for RTE, he wouldn’t rule out the controversy affecting future media rights to air GAA games, saying: “It might be. It could be an issue”.
Brolly has gone on the attack on Twitter this afternoon, suggesting the GAA want “Rose of Tralee coverage” of their games.
He said the coverage provided by The Sunday Game “is what people want to hear. Judging by the 775,000 that tuned into RTE on Sunday past”.
He continued: “They want Rose of Tralee coverage, instead of the real stuff discussed by GAA folk in the stands & bars”.
Brolly was discussing the issue on Twitter with Irish Examiner GAA CorrespondentJohn Fogarty, and some of Brolly’s responses will have done nothing to assuage the GAA’s anger.