National Forum

Sunday Game

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


Its been obvious for a long time that the Sunday Game is no longer fit for purpose.

The original format was fine when there were 2-4 games per weekend.

With the shortened season, the number of games needs a more match of the day type show - nothing but highlights and a short discussion on anything controversial.

What they need then is a Monday/Tuesday analysis show where there is a proper detailed analysis of any game that had some unusual tactical ploy that would educate the audience.

At the moment we have a bit of everything with nothing worth listening to.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1803 - 22/04/2026 13:03:02    2667883

Link

Replying To ExiledInWex:  "No game they showed earlier that day needs to be re-shown or analysed. It can be watched back on RTE player.
Or else they need to show short highlights and put extended highlights on YouTube or RTE player.
Analysis of the games, well its often done by people who didn't watch the game so what is the point?"
I would agree that there is no need to show extended highlights of matches that were shown live earlier in the day, plus I would like to see greater focus on Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4 matches.

As for analysis, that is supposedly the whole point of having pundits, for their expert analysis. maybe pointing out stuff the fans might not ordinarily notice about tactics or setups. I think SKY had the best match analysis during the live games compared to RTE etc, it was fascinating and educating.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1820 - 22/04/2026 13:35:14    2667892

Link

The quality of the Sunday Game is declining for a number of years. The main problem seems to be that whoever is producing the programme doesn't think it needs changing which is a problem in itself. As other people have alluded to over a number of years on this forum; there is no need to re show and do analysis a second time for games that were covered live earlier in the day. It might be a better model if hurling was played on a Saturday one week and football on the Sunday and alternate each code the following week. The current format is convoluted and has too many games which means it is impossible to cover and analyse each one. Some teams play so many times in a season, managers don't want to give away tactics so what is the point of these games? In recent years RTE have added camogie and ladies football to their coverage; these games are included in the two programmes per week! Will it change? Very unlikely. In the longer term GAA+ will become the main source of coverage whereby a viewer will pay and they can pick a game to watch as other media outlets do with soccer matches.

Which brings me to the main problem - the pundits. I'd struggle to name one pundit who is impartial and know what he/she is talking about. In terms of the weaker counties, it has been proven that a lot of the top pundits pay little or not attention to teams outside divisions 1 and 2 in football and the same in hurling so how can a pundit analyse games and players they know very little about? RTE market the Munster hurling champions and the Ulster football championship plus the All Ireland series and fit the other provincial championship in when they can.

wicklowsupport (Wicklow) - Posts: 2214 - 22/04/2026 14:11:23    2667900

Link

Replying To Commodore:  "I would agree that there is no need to show extended highlights of matches that were shown live earlier in the day, plus I would like to see greater focus on Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4 matches.

As for analysis, that is supposedly the whole point of having pundits, for their expert analysis. maybe pointing out stuff the fans might not ordinarily notice about tactics or setups. I think SKY had the best match analysis during the live games compared to RTE etc, it was fascinating and educating."
Sky were very good for both Football and Hurling in fairness

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19470 - 22/04/2026 14:41:29    2667908

Link

Replying To tirawleybaron:  "Its been obvious for a long time that the Sunday Game is no longer fit for purpose.

The original format was fine when there were 2-4 games per weekend.

With the shortened season, the number of games needs a more match of the day type show - nothing but highlights and a short discussion on anything controversial.

What they need then is a Monday/Tuesday analysis show where there is a proper detailed analysis of any game that had some unusual tactical ploy that would educate the audience.

At the moment we have a bit of everything with nothing worth listening to."
The TG4 1hour show is a good program imo, but it's all action and zero studio. You can watch what you want, and *30 anything you've seen previously. You won't miss any 'analysis', because there isn't any, which is why the program content is usually quite worthwhile.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4696 - 22/04/2026 15:37:07    2667915

Link

Replying To foreveryoung:  "A two point second-half from one of the Big Tree is back in people's minds again! Cork did better this time around, but that's something that will never be forgotten!"
Not by you anyway it seems. Thankfully, most of us in Cork have moved on...

bloodandbandage (Cork) - Posts: 526 - 23/04/2026 09:03:16    2668016

Link

Replying To Commodore:  "I would agree that there is no need to show extended highlights of matches that were shown live earlier in the day, plus I would like to see greater focus on Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4 matches.

As for analysis, that is supposedly the whole point of having pundits, for their expert analysis. maybe pointing out stuff the fans might not ordinarily notice about tactics or setups. I think SKY had the best match analysis during the live games compared to RTE etc, it was fascinating and educating."
I may be honest, I would rather 5-10 minutes extra of highlights of any match than 5-10 minutes of any pundit.
There are enough podcasts / newspaper articles / etc where I can get analysis. Sure social media is full of experts.

ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1635 - 23/04/2026 09:37:51    2668026

Link

Replying To bloodandbandage:  "Not by you anyway it seems. Thankfully, most of us in Cork have moved on..."
No point looking backwards in life.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 19470 - 23/04/2026 11:56:45    2668078

Link

Replying To Pope_Benedict:  "The TG4 1hour show is a good program imo, but it's all action and zero studio. You can watch what you want, and *30 anything you've seen previously. You won't miss any 'analysis', because there isn't any, which is why the program content is usually quite worthwhile."
Forgot about that programme. Was Leitrim vs Sligo on it?

Tacaí Liatroma (Leitrim) - Posts: 1291 - 23/04/2026 18:22:24    2668195

Link

Replying To foreveryoung:  "A two point second-half from one of the Big Tree is back in people's minds again! Cork did better this time around, but that's something that will never be forgotten!"
It actually happened to Kilkenny in 2004 and it seemed to have been forgotten by many. So much so that people were questioning if it had ever happened before in an All-Ireland final, after Cork's second half performance last year. Very few seemed to recall Kilkenny only scoring 2 points in the second half of the 2004 final.
So I wouldn't be too sure about it never being forgotten.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2795 - 23/04/2026 22:53:37    2668253

Link

Replying To ExiledInWex:  "I may be honest, I would rather 5-10 minutes extra of highlights of any match than 5-10 minutes of any pundit.
There are enough podcasts / newspaper articles / etc where I can get analysis. Sure social media is full of experts."
Unfortunately Social media is full of so-called experts, but there is a severe lack of quality unbiased analysis.

Match Analysis was one thing that Sky actually did really well during live games, RTE don't and they are also too political too often, pundits calling out the GAA to make rule changes etc. Put a motion through your club and have debated at congress, the arrogance to bypass all structures and go on tv and try and tell the association what to do is astounding.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1820 - 24/04/2026 09:57:23    2668282

Link

As much as I don't like them this isn't all rte's fault, it is the rights package that the gaa have set up for sale.

There are so many Saturday games, why not have a Saturday highlights show for those, and then on Sunday another highlights show for that days games, and spread the fixtures out evenly.

Any games they didn't manage to show on those days put them on a Monday night show. You could use the news now channel to have a 3 hour highlights package show every Monday and let the pundits talk as much rubbish on that as they want, and you'd still get a decent amount of gaa nerds tuning in to see that.

This isn't rocket science, or shouldn't be.

But county boards need to be a bit more vocal here too, for example there should have been nothing stopping Sligo and Leitrim being available to watch on a seperate stream other than gaago and let them share the profits of that for example. The current rights set up prevents that.

ohwow (Leitrim) - Posts: 178 - 24/04/2026 10:42:59    2668301

Link

Replying To ohwow:  "As much as I don't like them this isn't all rte's fault, it is the rights package that the gaa have set up for sale.

There are so many Saturday games, why not have a Saturday highlights show for those, and then on Sunday another highlights show for that days games, and spread the fixtures out evenly.

Any games they didn't manage to show on those days put them on a Monday night show. You could use the news now channel to have a 3 hour highlights package show every Monday and let the pundits talk as much rubbish on that as they want, and you'd still get a decent amount of gaa nerds tuning in to see that.

This isn't rocket science, or shouldn't be.

But county boards need to be a bit more vocal here too, for example there should have been nothing stopping Sligo and Leitrim being available to watch on a seperate stream other than gaago and let them share the profits of that for example. The current rights set up prevents that."
You must not have noticed how "The Saturday Game" was on last Saturday night, followed by "The Sunday Game" on Sunday night. It'll be the same this week, and I presume every other week throughout the championship.

Still no Monday night show on RTE, though.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3580 - 24/04/2026 11:18:46    2668313

Link

Replying To Commodore:  "Unfortunately Social media is full of so-called experts, but there is a severe lack of quality unbiased analysis.

Match Analysis was one thing that Sky actually did really well during live games, RTE don't and they are also too political too often, pundits calling out the GAA to make rule changes etc. Put a motion through your club and have debated at congress, the arrogance to bypass all structures and go on tv and try and tell the association what to do is astounding."
My point was if RTE want somebody to do the Jamesie O'Connor role from Sky, then they can do it and post it on Social Media.
Maybe its just me but I can't tell you the last time I watched any expert analysis. I time my day around throw-in, half time cup of tea, and then do other things between the games. I can form my own opinion on these matches.

ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1635 - 24/04/2026 11:21:27    2668316

Link

Replying To ExiledInWex:  "My point was if RTE want somebody to do the Jamesie O'Connor role from Sky, then they can do it and post it on Social Media.
Maybe its just me but I can't tell you the last time I watched any expert analysis. I time my day around throw-in, half time cup of tea, and then do other things between the games. I can form my own opinion on these matches."
We all can do our own analysis, but I found a few times that SKY team would highlight things in how Teams setup that weren't always obvious. Having listened to a load of different GAA podcasts recently, i think a lot of GAA pundits could do with seeing that type of analysis for learning purposes. Some of them are actually former Inter-county players, I'm not sure why they resort to lazy analysis.

Others are Sports Journalists who seem to cover every sport, I can understand why some of them might miss subtle tactical things.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1820 - 24/04/2026 16:32:49    2668408

Link

I think a lot of the time the pundits didn't even watch the game they are analysing and just resort to tired old cliche.

ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1635 - 25/04/2026 10:24:34    2668498

Link

Replying To ExiledInWex:  "My point was if RTE want somebody to do the Jamesie O'Connor role from Sky, then they can do it and post it on Social Media.
Maybe its just me but I can't tell you the last time I watched any expert analysis. I time my day around throw-in, half time cup of tea, and then do other things between the games. I can form my own opinion on these matches."
It's not just you, and it's not just analysis/punditry. I know more than one couch potato sports enthusiast, who can only tolerate watching certain sports with the sound off, and GAA would certainly be one of those sports on occasion. It could be an age thing too though.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4696 - 27/04/2026 20:13:17    2669351

Link

Replying To ExiledInWex:  "I think a lot of the time the pundits didn't even watch the game they are analysing and just resort to tired old cliche."
Hurling, other than Dónal Óg and Sheedy, is very superficial.

Ironically- and it pains me to say it as Dub to say it - we have gone from being sneered at pre Limerick last year to being regarded as much better than we are.

Supporters are far more astute in recognising flaws in own team than the pundits. People will say they don't have same interest as us saddoes but they get paid for it.

It is costly obsession for many of is here!

BarneyGrant (Dublin) - Posts: 4272 - 27/04/2026 21:31:29    2669370

Link

Tried watching on Sunday. Talk about the most uninspiring dross. Had to turn it off, just so sad to see in comparison to what it used to be.

Jjoniel79 (Monaghan) - Posts: 270 - 27/04/2026 21:58:07    2669377

Link

Replying To ohwow:  "As much as I don't like them this isn't all rte's fault, it is the rights package that the gaa have set up for sale.

There are so many Saturday games, why not have a Saturday highlights show for those, and then on Sunday another highlights show for that days games, and spread the fixtures out evenly.

Any games they didn't manage to show on those days put them on a Monday night show. You could use the news now channel to have a 3 hour highlights package show every Monday and let the pundits talk as much rubbish on that as they want, and you'd still get a decent amount of gaa nerds tuning in to see that.

This isn't rocket science, or shouldn't be.

But county boards need to be a bit more vocal here too, for example there should have been nothing stopping Sligo and Leitrim being available to watch on a seperate stream other than gaago and let them share the profits of that for example. The current rights set up prevents that."
You do realise the Saturday game showed the Galway Leitrim game...

Belclare98 (Galway) - Posts: 16 - 28/04/2026 06:51:57    2669406

Link