Sacked GAA presenter says BBC 'racially harassed' him

national | rights, freedoms and repression | other press

Tuesday April 27, 2010 14:15

by Bimpe Archer - Irish News April 27 2010

Former face of the BBC Northern Ireland's GAA coverage unleashes extraordinary attack

The former face of the BBC Northern Ireland's GAA coverage has unleashed an extraordinary attack on the corporation for downgrading its coverage of Gaelic games and subjecting him to "racial harassment".

Self-proclaimed "Mr GAA" Jerome Quinn is representing himself in a case against the BBC in which he alleges unfair dismissal and discrimination.

He was sacked last year after his employer discovered he had been posting anonymous criticism of its coverage of Gaelic football and hurling on a GAA discussion board.

The award-winning presenter said they were an attempt to "inform fans of what was behind anti-GAA coverage in BBC NI".

BBC 'racially harassed' former GAA corr Jerome Quinn - Irish News 27 April 2010

At a fair employment tribunal yesterday Mr Quinn read from a 14-page statement which alleged:

- Harassment on religious and racial grounds because he was "Catholic and Irish".

- Pressure to move GAA stories to the bottom of sports bulletins and criticism for using the term "in the north" during a broadcast.

- BBC promotion of "Protestant-supported sports" such as the North West 200 motorcycle race over the GAA.

- Attempts to manipulate voting for the 2008 Sports Personality of the Year so that a GAA player would not win.

This is for entire GAA community Quinn tells tribunal

by Bimpe Archer

Former television presenter Jerome Quinn has said he is representing not just himself but the "entire GAA community" in a fair employment case against BBC Northern Ireland.

Mr Quinn claimed he was "demoted, devalued and demoralised" towards the end of his two decades at the corporation. This, he said, had a "damaging effect on my career and on the wider GAA".

Mr Quinn was sacked last year after his employers discovered he had criticised their Gaelic games coverage on a GAA discussion site.

Yesterday he opened a case against the BBC alleging unfair dismissal and alleged discrimination. He is representing himself in the case which is scheduled to last for the remainder of the week.

The Omagh-born sports commentator presented BBC NI's The Championship for 17 years before he was replaced in 2008. In February last year Mr Quinn was removed from presenting the Sunday Sportsound Radio Ulster show.

At the opening of yesterday's case, Mr Quinn admitted criticising his employer on an internet discussion board was a "poor error of judgment for which I apologised", but said his dismissal was a "disproportionate response".

"I lost my career and suffered serious reputational damage," Mr Quinn told the tribunal.

The journalist, who has been doing contract work as a sports presenter, claimed he was the subject of "conscious discrimination (due to his) Catholic and Irish background".

"(I received) less favourable treatment than if I was Protestant, British and not associated with the GAA," he told the panel, insisting he was "subjected to harassment on religious and racial grounds".

"GAA is still discriminated against in BBC NI," he said.

"I have an obligation not just to myself but to the entire GAA community which has been badly treated by BBC NI for the last century.

"I genuinely hope that change comes within BBC NI so that it's treated with parity with other sports which it deserves."

Mr Quinn accused his bosses of reducing the prime-time coverage of Gaelic games and having a "negative approach to GAA reportage".

"(There was) an increase in Protestant-followed sport and decrease in GAA which disadvantaged Catholics," he said.

This directly affected him: "As I was Mr GAA."

Mr Quinn, who said he was the first Catholic to be employed in a production presentation role in BBC NI sport in 1989, said his appointment heralded an improvement in GAA coverage, until a change that began around four years ago.

By that stage, Mr Quinn said he was "established as a senior broadcast journalist and the face of GAA sports coverage in BBC NI".

He told the panel that there is now a "massive imbalance" in the coverage, despite the sport's popularity.

"It became known as a 'And finally' sport," he said, because it is relegated to the end of bulletins.

"GAA's strength is its roots in local community. That should be celebrated," he said.

Mr Quinn said he found his rota altered to give him early morning radio shifts "for the first time in a decade" which was "seen as a demotion and made without consultation".

The award-winning presenter claims he was "continuously overlooked" and the BBC showed "a clear lack of appreciation for my public profile" when he was dropped from All-Ireland coverage.

He claimed his bosses were "imposing a Protestant and British prejudice".

"There was prioritisation of Protestant-followed sport (which) created or afforded opportunities for Protestant presenters while minimising opportunities for GAA presenters such as myself."

Mr Quinn claimed attempts to skew sports coverage included "moves to influence voting for (the) 2008 Sport Personality of the Year so that it would not be won by a GAA player, working to manipulate (the) judging panel".

The tribunal heard his career "continued to suffer at an alarming rate and GAA coverage continued to be the last item if at all".

"I felt humiliated by demotions which attracted embarrassing media coverage," he said.

Mr Quinn insisted his fateful contribution to message boards was "anonymous" and "an extension of a practice I had been doing for a number of years".

He said he was "informing fans of what was behind anti-GAA coverage in BBC NI".

After his dismissal he said he was "hounded by the media and quizzed by all sides of the GAA community", but that he "maintained silence".

However, he told the panel he was left "financially in a dire situation at the start of the recession".

Mr Quinn said he could have given up on his case "many times in the last 13 months" because he did not have the money to fight it.