On Saturday I attended an Irish Supporters’ Network http://www.heartofthegame.ie conference which highlighted some great work by clubs and their volunteers. The http://www.extratime.ie report on the day is linked at the foot of this post.
One of the most interesting comments came during a panel discussion when the Irish Sun’s Owen Cowzer pointed to our League’s levels of newspaper coverage being driven by feedback on Twitter. That feedback to journalists is matched by purchase of papers. Supporters will buy a paper just for League of Ireland coverage, a trait not matched by other codes.
I wondered how I’d discuss the influence supporters can have on the media when Roddy Collins made a few disparaging comments about Sunday’s FAI Ford Cup Final on RTE 1 during the ‘Today with Sean O’Rourke’ show. These went viral, and have since been featured on most Irish online Sports sites.
Roddy is a divisive character. I learned that first hand when I hired Roddy to manage Athlone Town ahead of the 2012 season. I received a torrent of online abuse from Cork City fans who questioned if I’d “forgotten what he’d done at City”. Roddy is media savvy, it’s one of the reasons he remains a good managerial candidate. Through periods of employment and unemployment as a football manager, he’s maintained a media career in Print, Radio and TV [the subject of two Setanta documentary series]. This isn’t an accident.
Roddy knows which buttons to push to get a reaction; when you meet him after he drops one of his bombshells he’ll laugh about it, knowing that the reaction will only increase his profile and the desire for the next editor or producer to get his opinion. Eamon Dunphy on RTE is the other great master in this arena. If you meet Dunphy, read his books, or listen to the wonderful extended interview he did with Second Captains, it’s hard not to like him. But he has a living to earn and he knows that entertainment and controversy will keep him on RTE’s panel far longer than tactical insight.
Roddy knows the value of a well placed controversial soundbite. Supporters react, those monitoring social media report back and producers smile. We’ll wait for the newspaper columns Roddy writes and scour it, ready to be outraged again.All the time, RTE, Newstalk and the Star have more website hits, listeners and readers to put before advertisers.
The key point, to return to Owen Cowzer’s comment, is that our reaction is a positive. We can drive added discussion and interest through tools like twitter in a positive way. Do you like “Soocer Republic”, do you want to keep it? Do you like seeing League of Ireland coverage in the papers? Make those responsible for producing the items that interest you aware that you’re reading, listening and watching. We created Roddy, we can do a lot more.
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