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Emmett Brennan brilliantly sums up Boxing Family’s RTE anger

Irish boxing delivered again on Thursday.

Two Irish fighters brought huge honour to their country by winning on the international stage.

Both Amy Broadhurst and Lisa O’Rourke proved themselves THE BEST IN THE WORLD in their weight class and achieved in a manner very very few Irish sports stars do.

It was a moment of real joy for Irish boxing fans and those within the boxing family. However, there was an element to the success that bugged most and many felt it important enough to raise. Some became annoyed with the fact the bandwagon toppled over with so many jumping on but more were upset the finals were not broadcast on television in Ireland.

It was argued such a historic day – Ireland had two fighters in World Championship finals action on the same day for the first time – was worth air time in Ireland. However, fans had to source a youtube feed to watch the fights from Istanbul.

While there are a number of TV options and a number of stations that could have picked it the finals at the majority of the ire was sent the way of RTE. As the public service broadcaster, certain members of the boxing family argued that RTE has an obligation to show such important fights.

It’s a frustration that existed before Thursday and one that has been raised before. The usual defence for RTE not showing boxing is budget, while scheduling has also been mentioned.

The boxing family have disputed such reasoning and claimed there is just a lack of willingness when it comes to Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport.

It’s a point Olympian Emmett Brennan made in his own way. the Dubliner rolled his eyes verbally at the lack of air time the sport gets and was particularly upset the magical hour of Irish sport wasn’t aired by the public service broadcaster. The Docklands graduate claimed much less important sporting events have found their way onto our screens.

“Last year I looked at the European cross country championships, European athletic under 23 championships , six nation under 20s, Ireland v England in hockey on rte But I couldn’t look at 2 girls win a world championship They don’t care about working class sports,” Brennan said online.

Brennan, also called for things to change and the upcoming European Championships to be broadcast.

RTE’s website have covered the games well and Hugh Cahill has done brilliant work covering the sport, while Game On has also given this tournament plenty of coverage with Chris McNulty an educated and informative regular on teh show.

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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