Former GAA President Sean Kelly believes the GAA "moved too fast in going digital" as he criticised the decision to show big Championship games exclusively live on GAAGO.
The two recent All-Ireland football quarter-finals between Kerry and Tyrone, as well as Monaghan v Armagh, were only available to watch live on the controversial streaming service.
The GAA are to say that “the expectation that every single game should be on television is just not realistic” during an Oireachtas sport committee later today.
But Fine Gael MEP Kelly has urged the GAA to "relook at the arrangement".
He told RTE's Morning Ireland: “I’m not sure what I should be telling the Oireachtas committee to do but I would just say, from being a former president and listening to people on the ground and seeing what happened this year, there were far too many games on GAAGO, not available to an awful lot of supporters.
“And a lot of club officials and county board officials have got it in the neck on account of it.
“I think it is time to relook at the arrangement that is there, to ensure that there are more games free-to-air.
“GAAGO was initially for the diaspora and it worked very well, because I saw some games when I was abroad on GAAGO.
“But extending it to all if Ireland and having to pay €12 per match, I think, is not what the GAA is about. And I think that’s one of the key points that will have to be asked.”
When highlighted that a season ticket for GAAGO costs €79, Kelly responded: “That’s for those who want to follow the games. But an awful lot of people would be just following the games that they are involved in, that their own county would be involved in. And even some of those wouldn’t even be on GAAGO.
“Only the real fans who follow all games would be planning like that in advance. And that’s why GAAGO has been so controversial, because people didn’t hear about it or look at it until the previous week when they saw their own match was coming up, a vital championship match, and then they couldn’t see it and the only place they could get it was GAAGO.
“So I think we probably moved too fast in going digital,” he concluded. “We didn’t bring the people with us, and it’s time now to reassess to ensure that more games – particularly vital championship games – are available free-to-air.
“And also that GAAGO would be used in a minimalistic way, rather than maximised for generating finance, etc, for the GAA and indeed for RTÉ, which wasn’t the original intention.”
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