Good Deal!

When Sky TV were given the exclusive rights to local football, the I.F.A. were at pains to assure rank and file members that this was all to benefit the clubs. I of course, being the doubting Thomas that I am, took this all with a 'huge' pinch of salt. Here we are not quite three months into the 'new' deal and only one game has so far been televised. Surprisingly one of the teams featured in that game, was last year's champions, Linfield and the next match scheduled for transmission is the Boxing Day derby game featuring Linfield and Glentoran. The very next game scheduled is the return fixture on the first Saturday of the New Year, where Linfield entertain Cliftonville. Am I being paranoid here? Is this not saturation coverage of Linfield? What's the old saying? The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. Would it not be better, well maybe not better, but fairer anyway, for the producers at Sky TV to select a couple of games that didn't feature Belfast's three Premier teams? I know that quite a lot of our games are to say the least, boring, but many of the encounters between Cliftonville/Linfield/ Glentoran are quite boring too, the fact that they are three of the top teams doesn't guarantee good football. Another downside to this deal has been the loss of local coverage from out two local TV stations. Just this week U.T.V. and B.B.C. failed to cover the County Antrim Shield final, surely this is not good for local football. The ball, if you'll forgive my pun, is in Howard Wells's court, you made the deal, now get us a deal more to our liking!