Members of the Tyrone panel will be conspicuous by their absence from interviews on RTE’s GAA coverage after it was confirmed that their boycott of the station would continue this season.
Players and members of the management team from the Red Handers have refused to give interviews during the state broadcaster’s coverage of the GAA for each of the last two seasons because of a grievance with a sketch on the John Murray show in 2011, which was deemed to be insensitive to the family of manager Mickey Harte following the tragic death of his daughter Michaela in January of that year.
Harte is also believed to have been disappointed at the treatment of RTE broadcaster Brian Carthy and his perceived downgrading in the pecking order at the station following the retirement of Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh a couple of years back.
According to the Irish Examiner, Harte confirmed that their RTE boycott would continue when quizzed about the matter during the launch of the Ulster Championship in Belfast last night.
“Yep, that’s right. No further answer required,” Harte replied when asked the question last night, indicating that he and people in the county still feel very strongly about a matter that has dragged on for quite some time now.
Harte and the Tyrone squad will still give interviews to GAA coverage on the likes of BBC, TV3 and Newstalk during the course of the championship, but with Tyrone showing signs that they are going to be involved in the business end this season – when RTE’s coverage becomes more prominent than its competitors – it will be interesting to see whether RTE make moves to try and smooth things over in the relationship between now and the end of the summer.
