Duffy: Sky debate has already been dealt with

GAA director general Páraic Duffy has insisted the intense debate over Sky showing exclusive GAA games has already been dealt with. Duffy wouldn’t be drawn on Irish Mail on Sunday columnist Michael Duignan’s criticism that the Waterford-Kilkenny hurling qualifier should have been available on terrestrial television but did point out a motion to have all Championship games free-to-air was roundly defeated at Congress last year. ‘I didn’t see The Sunday Game but obviously I am aware of it since,’ Duffy said. ‘Last year at Congress, we had a debate on it. Dublin had a motion that all Championship games should be on terrestrial TV. ‘It was debated and Congress decided, it was roughly 200 against the motion and 36 for. That was a decision taken by Congress. That is where Sky is.’ Duffy also said that in his 2015 annual report, he wrote a detailed explanation of why the GAA sold rights to Sky. At that time, he pointed out that any restriction that prohibits the GAA from engaging with all interested parties, including subscription television providers, would seriously reduce their negotiating power. He said that his views haven’t changed. Duffy did say that there is a constant line of communication between

Croke Park and RTÉ. ‘We have an ongoing debate with RTÉ on a range of issues from time to time. We will just leave it at that.’ Meanwhile, Duffy has clarified why the GAA split the two AllIreland quarter-finals over two days at the redeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh, as they felt they wouldn’t be able to accommodate demand on just one afternoon. ‘We didn’t want to take the risk of not accommodating all who wanted to go. We are opening a new stadium so there will be a curiosity factor as well. People will want to see it. I think in fairness to supporters, we divided them over two days. I think it was the right thing to do,’ Duffy said. And the GAA have no fears that there will be any teething problems in the new 45,000-capacity stadium, which Duffy viewed yesterday. ‘I think it’s in really good shape. There’s still a bit of work to be done yet but it’s absolutely all ready to go. We wouldn’t have fixed the games if there was any doubt.’