Last Monday at 7 p.m. An Moltóir eagerly switched on his radio in anticipation of a mighty edition of RTE Radio’s Sportscall programme, following Meath’s awesome performance in Croke Park the previous day and Ireland’s miraculous theft of a victory in Lansdowne Road on the Saturday. Well, imagine your scribe’s surprise when, instead of the expected dulcet tones of Des Cahill, out of the speakers came the blast of John Kelly’s mystery train heading off into the distance. Having glanced at his watch and peeped out the window to see how dark it was, it began to dawn on An Moltóir that something terrible had happened to one of his favourite radio programmes.

A quick dash to the RTE website revealed that Sportscall has been relocated to Sunday evening at 6 p.m. An Moltóir did a double-take here. Shurely shome mishtake? One of the great strengths of having this programme on Monday evening is that it allows the dust to settle after the weekend’s sporting events. The main controversies have got a good airing in the Saturday and Sunday papers (not to mention The Sunday Game). People have a chance to discuss the key issues and compose their thoughts before picking up the phone and giving RTE a call. One of the best aspects of Sportscall (as it was) were the calls from people who were present at the big sporting events and were able to give an account of their own experiences (whether it was the state of the public toilets or the state of the Kerry forward line, with the probable answer that both were 'crap').

So what do RTE do? They put on the programme when half the people who were at the big GAA match on Sunday afternoon are guzzling pints in pubs, with nary a thought of even listening to Sportscall, never mind calling in. Another quarter are in buses and trains and in most cases are also most likely guzzling something or other and similarly disposed towards listening to or calling up RTE. That leaves the final quarter who are in traffic jams trying to get out into the open road for home. They may have the radio on, but are probably too busy having an animated discussion about the game themselves, or keeping an eye on the traffic, to pay too much attention to the broadcast.

One wonders what possessed RTE to make this change? As far as An Moltóir can make out, Sportscall was a very popular and enjoyable programme in its old slot. Why try to fix something when it ain’t broke? There definitely is room for a discussion programme on RTE after the Sunday big match, but Sportscall in its old slot provided an excellent platform for the ordinary Joe Public to get in his or her spake. But what can one expect from an organisation that inflicts Ger Canning on its audience, and has Marty Morrissey interrupting Mícheál Ó Sé’s excellent commentaries in Irish with some of the most inane observations imaginable?