DAIL DEBATES

Sitting Time
Sitting Date
21:00 (9 o'clock)
1 April 2003
Text:

Mr. Kelleher: I thank Deputy O'Flynn for sharing time with me. I
welcome the opportunity to debate this important Bill which is indicative of the esteem in which we hold sport in this country.
If one looks back over recent great sporting moments in Irish history we see evidence of a nation coming to a standstill when the Irish soccer team played abroad or during the All-Ireland Final or, as happened last Sunday,when the rugby team played for the grand slam and the Triple Crown.

This goes to show how dearly we feel about sport. It is part and parcel of our everyday life. For that reason, this Bill is very timely. I have a few general concerns about the direction in which sport is going. The whole of issue of advertising and sponsorship must be looked at, particularly the close association of sporting events with drinks companies. In the past, tobacco companies sponsored great sporting events, but this role is now being filled by drinks companies. This must be seriously considered.
Reports have been published on the problems associated with underage binge drinking. Advertisers are covertly creating an association between sport and alcohol, and it is creating problems in our society that must be tackled on a long-term basis. Dr. Loftus of the GAA has raised this issue on numerous occasions, and it is now widely accepted that advertising has a very strong hold over young people. They are impressionable at an early age, and drinks companies can use their sporting heroes to market their
products. That must be addressed.
Over recent years, sport has become a major industry internationally. One of the fastest growing sports in the world, for example, is golf, and a single individual like Tiger Woods can generate huge advertising revenue. Even in this country, there has been a huge growth in sponsorship of the GAA, soccer and rugby. All-Ireland finals have become huge commercial as well as sporting events. That is very welcome, but we must recognise that sport is about participation. It is about young people getting involved at an early age, becoming part of a team, enhancing their self-esteem and developing as individuals. Participation is the essence of sport.
If we keep going down the road of massive sponsorship and huge
advertising campaigns, we will end up with people not participating in sport anymore but merely viewing it. That would have a long-term serious impact for society. Many reports have noted the role of sport as an attractive alternative to anti-social behaviour like drinking and drug taking. However, through their success in attracting advertising and sponsorship, sporting bodies themselves will effectively cut off their noses to spite their faces. Instead of young people getting involved and participating on the field, they will remain at home watching sport day in, day out. Saturation of sports coverage to the point of overkill is an issue that must be addressed.
Prior to television, among the generation before mine, neighbours would gather in one house to listen to the radio broadcast of the all-Ireland final. It was almost an event in itself in townlands, villages and parishes. That is very important. Families can now sit down and watch sporting events together on television, cheering on their sporting heroes, their country, county or parish. That is what sport is all about. If we go beyond that, to the point where sport becomes a form of entertainment that no longer involves the actual participation of young people, it would be a very dangerous development.
The FAI and domestic soccer is being swamped by the saturation coverage of the Premiership and the Champions League. If we have an arbitrator in place to adjudicate on which companies can broadcast the various designated events, that arbitrator must take into account the effort that has been made by qualifying broadcasters to cover less prestigious fixtures. Take the FAI as an example. TV3 now broadcasts domestic soccer matches, which is a very welcome and positive development. It gives the domestic league an opportunity to promote itself, to demonstrate that there is good home talent, that facilities are improving and that the standard of the domestic league is improving. Such coverage should be taken into account when it comes to deciding who broadcasts the FAI Cup Final or other events under the control of the FAI.
Thus, for an organisation that has made the effort to send reporters out on wet, miserable nights to Turners Cross or wherever, that should be taken into account when it then tries to secure the rights to show one of the major sporting events covered in this legislation. That is a very important point. The Minister, through this legislation, gains leverage over organisations interested in showing major sporting events. The fact that companies have shown commitment to lower profile games and to the drudgery that accompanies everyday sport should be taken into account when
the arbitrator decides who should be awarded the broadcasting rights to designated events.
The era of professionalism has been upon us for many years in soccer and has been evident in rugby more recently. It has raised the standard of these games on the pitch. There is now huge pressure on the GAA to embrace professionalism. When one attends an all-Ireland final, one witnesses the spectacle of huge crowds cheering on their county teams. Huge advertising and commercialism has built up around such occasions.
Obviously, the main participants in this are the people on the pitch performing for the spectators in the stadium and at home. That issue must be addressed. In the long term, we must acknowledge that people incur costs when training for many months each year. They also must cope with huge family and financial commitments. This will create enormous pressure on the GAA.
Equally, however, if organisations are intent on capitalising on the major sporting events and trying to sell them to the highest bidder without taking into account the people who sustain the sport at grass roots levels and attend less glamorous fixtures, it can create different tiers of supporters. Sponsorship will obviously attract the more attractive fixtures with the larger audiences.
In general, this Bill is very welcome. I have followed Cork hurling and football in particular, which has given us many great occasions over many years. Cork city soccer club also has a new manager, Pat Dolan, whom I wish the best of luck. I know he will bring us on by leaps and bounds.
Coverage of less glamorous, everyday sporting events should be taken into account. This Bill gives us an opportunity to create a situation whereby the arbitrator must give consideration to the costs incurred by broadcasters who cover less glamorous events. This would pay great dividends.
The Irish Derby and Grand National are also events in which a large
proportion of the population take a great interest, even if they do not follow horse racing for the rest of the year. I welcome the thrust of the Bill and compliment the Minister on it. Obviously, the FAI jumped the gun in its sponsorship deal in 2002 with BskyB, and it is regrettable that we find ourselves in this situation. If taxpayers make contributions to sporting organisations, the sport ceases to belong exclusively to that organisation. The public take ownership of the sport also by making a contribution to the development of the sport and its infrastructure, training programmes and so on. That has to be taken into account as well when the arbitrator is deciding what terrestrial company should show the major sporting events.
In recent years the drink culture has grown and we will have many
debates on it in the years ahead. If we do not acknowledge that it is one of the biggest scourges facing Irish society, then we have our heads in the sand. All sporting organisations along with Government and society will have to address and confront this problem.
Reports show that sport is a mechanism which encourages young people to get involved and to participate in something which is positive and which will provide them with an opportunity to express themselves, to build self-esteem and to develop into young adults. Most sporting organisations have developed this area but a grave difficulty is emerging in regard to volunteerism. Many sporting organisations will find it difficult to get volunteers in the years ahead. In the past a person who lined the pitches or who trained the under 14 or the under 12 team received a ticket to the All-Ireland Final at the end of the year as a bonus. As a result of the
lack of available tickets, clubs can longer recognise volunteerism in this way. That is something which will effect all sporting organisations.
It is time to ensure we have a stadium which can accommodate a greater number of people than heretofore. I urge everybody involved, particularly the GAA which holds the trump card with Croke Park, to ensure as many people as possible can access sport, whether by attending or by viewing it on terrestrial television free of charge. I commend the Bill and I congratulate the Minister on bringing it forward.