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Written by Len Dinneen

Thursday, 11 December 2008

A Broadcaster’s Nightmare

MUNSTER had to dig deep to get what could prove to be a very valuable loosing bonus point in Clermont last Saturday.
The Munster supporters put the recession on the back-burner and again turned up in their thousands to support the team.
The Clermont authorities had experienced the Munster Red Army support last January and they did their best to divide up the fans to various pockets of the ground.
However, when Marcus Horan scored his try the cheering from around the pitch was as loud as ever.
In fairness to the Clermont fans they joined in for a few verses of ‘The Fields…’, but I think they were using a bit of gamesmanship when they started shouting ‘shish-shish-shish’, when Ronan O’Gara was lining up his penalty kicks.
Munster were on top for long periods of the first half and Doug Howlett was very unlucky with his try-scoring attempt, but we should have had more points on the board at half time.
Clermont came out in the second half and clearly knew they had to up a gear to win the game. They established a foothold in the Munster 22 and stayed there until they scored.
The game had swung their way and with referee Wayne Barnes penalizing Munster on a number of occasions the men in red were not able to establish any rhythm and subsequently lost.
Ronan O’Gara once more though kept us in this competition with a bonus winning penalty point.
I was perched high in the back of the stand with my son David, doing the live broadcast for Limerick’s Live 95 FM, but broadcasting in France can be a nerve-wracking experience.
It took us two hours to establish a good ISDN line link but I won’t bore you with the details.
Suffice to say it was better than last January, the occasion of my last visit to Stade Marcel Michelin.
On that occasion I was accompanied by Michael Corcoran of RTE, but when we arrived at the ground, two hours before kick-off, we discovered the French telephone people had not installed our lines and it was Sunday. We found out later they don’t work on a Sunday…
A broadcaster’s life has many pitfalls but not having a line is the bottom line.
There was panic for a half-hour. Michael discovered a permanent BBC line which was not being used so he was fixed up.
Gazing forlornly onto the empty pitch, I was wondering what to do, when the Heineken Cup PRO in France, Charlotte Moriarty, came to my rescue and with the cooperation of the Clermont PRO Emmanuel Noussie they offered the use of their own phone in their admin office.
The only problem was the room was below ground level and looking out the window I could only see the player’s legs running up and down the pitch.
Emmanuel though again helped me out by plugging in a monitor and I broadcast the entire game watching that.
Not ideal, but the job got done thanks to helpful PROs. Incidentally, Charlotte is married to Ian, a brother of Paul Moriarty of Clare FM—small world.
I remember another occasion doing a broadcast in Castres when a lightning storm struck just on half time and put my radio machine out of commission.
A French print journalist saw I was in trouble and fixed me up with his telephone line which he did not have to use until the end of the game.
Perhaps I should bring my own satellite dish with me next time…

Shannon and UL/Bohs in action this Sunday

SHANNON and UL/Bohemians will be hoping their fans turn out to support them in their last AIB All Ireland league games before Christmas.
Both teams have moved their games to Sunday to avoid the clash with the Heineken Cup game between Munster and Clermont on Saturday.
Shannon play St Mary’s while UL/Bohs take on Cork Constitution.
Both Limerick teams were beaten last week and will be anxious to win these home games which could prove vital the end of the season.
Garryowen travel to Dungannon in good spirits following their win over Cork Con last week.
Young Munster just lost out to Dungannon last Saturday, but if they can keep up their challenge for 80 minutes they could take the points from Galwegians in Galway.
In the second division, Old Crescent had a good win in the North over Instonians and they take on Belfast Harlequins whom they should beat at Rosbrien.
Thomond also had a fine win over Clonakilty but they may have it tough in Dublin against Greystones.
Bruff will play their league game on Sunday and they will be at home to Highfield.
The Co Limerick side had a narrow one-point win in Dublin against DLSP and are in second place in the league.
They will hope to take the points against ’Field.

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