Media Career
Following retirement from Gaelic football, Spillane developed a career in the media. He joined The Sunday Game team as a co-commentator in 1992 before later working as a studio analyst.
For a brief time Spillane presented The Sunday Game highlights programme during the summer months until 2009.In this new role he developed a reputation for asking an analyst a question and interrupting them before they had a chance to finish their reply which many viewers found irritating. That year he was replaced by Des Cahill, allowing Spillane to return to his more familiar, and more suitable, role in the analyst's seat.
As an analyst of games Spillane has often expressed his disdain for Ulster football teams, particularly those of Armagh, Tyrone and, latterly, Donegal. In 2003, he described Armagh's and Tyrone's style of defence as puke football. This earned him yet another appearance on Reeling in the Years, following on from most of the 1970s and 1980s.
In 2011, Spillane used his media position to vent his highly critical views of the Donegal senior football team, to the point where he branded their style of play with the racist epigraph Shi’ite football. After Donegal's Ulster Senior Football Championship defeat of Antrim in May 2011, Spillane was critical on The Sunday Game of Ryan Bradley, scorer of two points in his first Ulster start, being in receipt of the man-of-the-match award. Spillane claimed Bradley was "the best of a bad bunch" and didn't deserve the award at all, causing Donegal manager Jim McGuinness to react furiously. McGuinness called Spillane's comments “way over the top”. Spillane changed his tune completely in 2012, prompting much surprise in the county.Spillanes Sunday game colleague Joe Brolly was also highly critical of Donegal that year but did not receive a fraction of the criticism from Ulster Gaa people that Spillane did,which many found a bit strange.
Spillane also has a weekly column in the Sunday World newspaper.
Spillane has appeared as himself on an episode of Irish soap opera Fair city.
Read more about this topic: Pat Spillane
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