Des Cahill has criticised the direction The Sunday Game is heading, declaring that the structure of the programme “has got to change”.
The sports broadcaster hit out at RTE’s flagship GAA show claiming it is now squeezed for time and that he used to enjoy it “a hell of a lot more”.
He said: “I see frustration all around me from the team working on it. Utter frustration. All my colleagues are frustrated.
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“Everybody’s trying hard to make it the best programme it can be. The amount of talented people involved, cutting these games, which isn’t an easy job, it’s huge.
“But regularly now, we’re showing up to 15 games. How do you get 15 games into 106 or 108 minutes? You can’t. I used to enjoy making The Sunday Game a hell of a lot more. You could have the craic, a bit of a laugh. We miss laughter on the programme. A little spontaneity. I miss it.
“The programme doesn’t have room to breathe in my opinion. But there has to be structure and the more matches you squeeze in the more structure it has to be.”
The popular presenter has fronted The Sunday Game – which has been running since 1979 – for 15 years.
Cahill said the number of live games being crammed in now was putting the entire production under pressure.
He added: “In fairness, when Declan McBennett [head of sports] came in in 2018, I think we had 31 live games and we’re in the 50s now.”
And in the era of social media armchair critics, Cahill said he understood why the show now comes in for so much flak online.
He told the Irish Independent: “I would agree the level of hostility on social media is higher than it has been.
“I’m not naive about that. I hear what it’s saying. But it also shows people care.
“You know as soon as the programme starts, you’ll get 200 messages straight away complaining about the game you’ve started with.
“Of all the programmes in RTE, I think The Sunday Game is the one that people most feel ownership of.
“Maybe people feel more comfortable beating us over the head and that’s fair enough because they effectively own the programme.”
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