MINISTER FOR Communications Eamon Ryan has dismissed an accusation by the head of Irish rugby that he will destroy the game by designating “on a hunch” important matches as free-to-air for television.
Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) chief executive Philip Browne yesterday claimed that Mr Ryan’s proposals to add both the international Six Nations series and the Heineken European Rugby Cup to the list of protected events was misguided and misinformed.
At a highly-charged press conference convened to oppose the changes, Mr Browne said Mr Ryan’s plans posed the greatest threat to rugby since the game went professional in 1999.
“Does he want that on his head that he personally brought down Irish rugby on the back of a hunch?” he said.
The IRFU, which claims the decision could lose it revenue of €12 million per year, yesterday asserted that the Government should have no role in deciding what should be free-to-air and what should be pay-per-view on television.
“It is up to us as a governing body to decide that. It’s not up to the Minister,” he said.
However, Mr Ryan dismissed the accusation that he has made his decision on a “hunch”. He said that he has spent a year in consultation on the list, which he is legally obliged to propose every three years.
He argued that figures have shown a dramatic fall in audiences when sporting events transfer to paid channels. Limiting audience can have a detrimental effect on a sport in the long run, he also said.
Mr Ryan pointed to Government funding of rugby including €191 million for the Aviva Stadium, funding for Thomond Park and tax breaks for players. He said that television income was only one stream of revenue. “Do we want to go down the road where certain events are only available in wealthy houses and not in poor houses and do we want kids to have to go to pubs?” he said.
Mr Ryan did signal that he may be willing to amend his proposals when the period of consultation is completed next month.
The IRFU wants neither the Six Nations nor the European Rugby (Heineken) Cup designated as free-to-air. At present the international matches in the Six Nations are free-to-air as RTÉ holds the rights. If the designation remains as it is, a pay TV station such as Sky Sports would be allowed bid for the rights in 2013, when the current arrangement expires. The satellite broadcaster has the rights for the Heineken Cup in Ireland.
Fine Gael’s spokesman on communications Simon Coveney said Mr Ryan had no understanding of the issue. He said that the standard of rugby would suffer huge setbacks if the status was changed. “In an ideal scenario it would be free-to-air. Sometimes you have to make choices. That is what commercialism is about.”
Mr Coveney added that he would have a difficulty if home internationals were made pay-to-view. He said that issue doesn’t arise for another three years.
Mr Browne said the consequence of making both competitions available for free is that Ireland would lose its best players.
But Mr Ryan responded by saying that young children could not emulate the likes of Ronan O’Gara or Paul O’Connell if they had no access to broadcasts.
He pointed out that the Six Nations is designated as free-to-air in France.
“If you lost the audience it’s the biggest threat to rugby, Gaelic football or soccer. Some 80 per cent of the income comes from supporters. They deserve it as well. My view is that the Irish public should be entitled to see the Six Nations. That’s protected up until 2013 but after that it isn’t.”