Last night's All-Ireland Day documentary on RTE received much acclaim, with many commenting favourably on the innovation of micing up the referee.
However, some were inclined to wonder whether the players were told that their conversations with the referee were being recorded for later broadcast.
Good show by rte. I assume they asked players permission to broadcast their on-field conversations #allirelandday #whathappensonthefield
— Mike Quirke (@Mike_Quirke) November 9, 2015
Sean Potts, the GPA's head of communications, informed Balls.ie that they have been contacted by a number of players who have said they were not aware that their conversations with the referee were to be broadcast.
He said that the GPA considers this 'unacceptable'.
We've been informed that a number of the players weren't aware that they were being mic'd. While we are very much in favour of this type of documentary, the idea that the players were on mic without being aware of it is unacceptable.
Permission should have been sought from the squads for that. There should have been sign off from the squad for such an important occasion.
In terms of respect for players operating at that level to be put into that situation without their knowledge isn't right.
A number of players contacted us and said they were unaware of it. I don't know at what level, across the board, permission was sought, but we have been contacted about it.
The biggest story to arise from the documentary was the footage of Kieran Donaghy telling David Coldrick that he had been eye-gouged as he scrapped for the ball on the ground. In the game's aftermath, Donaghy declined to comment on the incident, saying 'what happens on the pitch stays on the pitch.' Potts highlights this as one of the consequences of last night's documentary.
A player may choose to, in the surrounds of a press conference afterwards, decide what he wants to say. But in the white heat of battle... That's just an example of the consequences of this.
Potts said the GPA are in favour of this type of documentary being made but that players need to be made aware beforehand.
We're very supportive of this type of innovative documentary being made to promote the game and players. And it works very well in other codes, but at the very, very least, permission should have been sought and secured.
We contacted RTE about this earlier today but are still awaiting comment.
A similar experiment has also been tried in English football for an ITV 'World in Action' documentary in 1989, when David Elleray was fitted with a mic for a league game between Millwall and Arsenal. Both clubs had been informed of the experiment, but Arsenal forgot to pass the information onto their players, with the result that the Millwall players behaved in an exaggeratedly respectful manner while the Arsenal players, most notably Tony Adams, continued to eff and blind as normal.
