The 2016 Rio Paralympics is taking place this month and with Irish and British athlete’s being majorly successful at the games, we here at The Liberal are asking should disabled sports stars get more TV time.
With sport being watched in all households’ throughout the globe and with superstars such as Premier League footballers, Rugby players and Tennis players being a mantle for every man, woman and child throughout the country should their disabled counterparts be given their fair shot of more media coverage and create a level playing field all round.
With RTE’s and Channel 4’s dedicated coverage of the Paralympic games many of the watching public have been glued to their screens watching stars remarkably participate in the same sports that are equally if not more entertaining, but yet the athletes taking part only seem to receive heightened Television media coverage every four years.
Sure there are some events televised on a rare occasion but the heroics of these brave hard fighting men and women are rarely seen, and with Sky Sports seemingly signing up every sport available on the market the greatness of sports such as wheelchair basketball, tennis, rugby and many more are rarely seen. Also let’s not forget the brave men and women who take to the track, field and the aquatics centre to compete for honours, bet yet these great athletes slip through the net.
We all know sport is now basically a multi-billion euro business that relies on television and sponsorship to pretty much keep it going, but surely these companies such as SKY TV can give back and create a dedicated channel devoted to the stars of disabled sports after all the satellite company fought tooth and nail to bring F1 to it’s platform.
Meanwhile could there also be more done on free to air TV with some sports and round up programmes being made available on a weekly basis with The Six Nations and Match Of The Day being examples of what’s still available on free to air TV. Surely RTE, TV3, BBC, ITV or even Channel 4 can find time in their schedule to air disabled sports on a similar basis.
With the high cost of TV licences and pay per view TV we believe these great stars should be given their fair shot of more television coverage. What do you think?