FOR SOME reason the producers at RTÉ and Setanta Sports seem to think the only clubs Irish people support are Manchester United and Liverpool FC.

What these television stations fail to realise is more people do not support Manchester United and Liverpool, than do.

While Manchester United and Liverpool have strong support, there are a much higher number of people who do not support either of the two clubs. Yet every time there is a Champions League or Premier League game on, guess who’s being shown.

RTÉ are a public service broadcaster. This means they must cater to all interests, sporting or otherwise. Instead of showing other games, they constantly show Man United and Liverpool. I can understand why these teams are shown, but not on a full time basis.

The only time either of these two teams are not shown is when one of them is eliminated from the Champions League tournament. What I would like to see RTÉ do is show the most hyped game on a week to week basis.

There have been too many incidents in the past when RTÉ have failed to show the best match on television and have instead opted for the United or Liverpool game.

One example of this was in 2005, in the second round of the competition and the first knockout round. It was the second leg. United were playing AC Milan at the San Siro and Chelsea were playing Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. Instead of showing the bigger game, which at that time was Chelsea against Barcelona, they chose to air United against Milan.

United lost that game 0-1, while Chelsea beat Barcelona by 4-2. Instead of picking the best game for the neutral fans, RTÉ went for the game which had little interest to anyone other than United fans.
Setanta Sports is another television station who do this, but to a lesser degree then RTE.

In the 2008/2009 season between August 16 and December 29 Setanta will have shown Liverpool ten times and Manchester United on nine occasions.

While Setanta are notpublic service broadcasters they will alienate many subscribers by constantly showing only United and Liverpool games. As a football fan, I would like to see the best game shown.
If people are constantly shown games where the outcome is predictable, they will lose interest very quickly and change the channel.

Look at a station like Sky Sports, while it has its critics, one thing that can not be taken away from it, it shows all teams on an equal basis.

It is time to cut favouritism out of football coverage.