LAST UPDATE | 6 Aug 2019
TYRONE MANAGER MICKEY has hardened his stance on RTÉ’s coverage of Gaelic Games, dismissing the common refrain that games such as Mayo’s win over Donegal on Saturday should be free-to-air.
Asked about the issue, Harte responded, “Look, the GAA deal with who they want to deal with in terms of who they give the rights of their games to.
“I have to suggest that the introduction of Sky to the promotion and presentation of Gaelic games has helped what we’re looking at. There were no graphics much until Sky brought them in – did they not exist of the last 10 or 15 years? I think they did. I think that’s an advantage of them.
“We’re getting more insightful analysis, all sorts of diagrams and arrows and highlighting that didn’t happen before, so there’s something good in what’s going on there.
“Don’t just think that it’s all wrong. I never seen so many people so interested in people in homes and other places around the country that can’t see television. It seems strange that these people suddenly have such a grá for these kind of people.”
Harte also expressed his disgust at the disciplinary tightrope his nephew Peter finds himself in ahead of the Red Hands’ All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry on Sunday.
Should the Errigal Ciaran player get a black card in this game, he could be facing a suspension for a possible All-Ireland final after he collected three black cards in games against Donegal, Longford and Cavan earlier this summer – with only the one against Longford rescinded on appeal.
“I didn’t think any of them merited what the black card was entertained for,” said Harte.
“Any of us looking at it could see if a player didn’t try to do anything else than try to commit that foul. If anybody could say that about the ones that affected Petey Harte, and many others that I saw this year as well, then I don’t think they are looking at it with the right eyes.
“That’s how it goes. The referee decides deliberate and he is infallible.”
He added, “Why was this brought in? It was brought in by a rant, over Sean Cavanagh. And that was a very clear and deliberate, intended pull down. And so, do any of the things that Petey Harte done, remotely resemble that?
“That they could be considered clumsy, deliberate, ill-timed, but in the context of it, why would he want to do that after ten minutes of the Donegal game?”
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