Shay Elliott: Cycle of Betrayal' on Setanta Ireland

bunnygreen

A new documentary chronicling the life of Ireland's first professional cyclist, Shay Elliott, will be broadcast on the Setanta Ireland channel on Sunday July 26th next.

A new documentary chronicling the life of Ireland's first professional cyclist, Shay Elliott, will be broadcast on the Setanta Ireland channel on Sunday July 26th next. The programme called 'Shay Elliott: Cycle of Betrayal' will air at 7.45pm.

Elliott was a hero of cycling and enjoyed the financial rewards and trappings of sporting stardom. But as his professional career came to a close, his personal life began to unravel, costing him his wealth and his marriage, ultimately concluding in his untimely death in 1971.

The documentary includes interviews with friends, colleagues and team-mates of Elliott with extensive archive footage from the 1950s and 60s. It reveals a career distinguished by many firsts.

Elliott was the first English speaking cyclist to win stages in the three major Tours, the first English speaking cyclist to finish on the podium in a major Tour and the first Irishman to wear the coveted Yellow Jersey of race leader in the 1963 Tour De France, 24 years before Stephen Roche's glorious victory.

But it wasn't all firsts; in 1962 he lost out on the title of World Champion in controversial circumstances, finishing second. It was just one of a number of near misses in a career that promised even more than it delivered and which led to recrimination and bitter regre

Zorba

But what if u don't have Setanta, any chance this will be repeated somewhere else ?

Captain Havoc

Zorba wrote: »

But what if u don't have Setanta, any chance this will be repeated somewhere else ?

If eircom is your internet provider you can watch Setanta via www.eircom.net

rottenhat

jerseyeire wrote: »

If eircom is your internet provider you can watch Setanta via www.eircom.net

Really? Excellent. I take back one or two of the offensive things I may have said about them in the past.

CatFromHue

jerseyeire wrote: »

If eircom is your internet provider you can watch Setanta via www.eircom.net

wow thats a great link i had no idea you could watch setanta on eircom

i recently upgraded to sky, specifically to get sky sports for thelions and the heineken cup. no im sorted to watch the magners league wahey!
thanks for the link

Zorba

jerseyeire wrote: »

If eircom is your internet provider you can watch Setanta via www.eircom.net

Hmmm nope unfortunately i'm not with eircom, vodafone here.

victorcarrera

Its Freeview. So if you have Sky and don't subscribe to Setanta Ireland you can still see it on channel 418. A repeat is on the following Thursday 30th July @ 9:45 pm.

PainIsTemporary

Missed the programme. Reading "Daily Telegraph's Book of the Tour De France". Before that hadn't ever heard of Shay Elliot. Sounds like a very interesting character. Question:

bunnygreen wrote: »

concluding in his untimely death in 1971.

Does this imply that he died in trajic circumstances or am I reading into it? [Apologies for my ingnorence in advance]

Highway_To_Hell

PainIsTemporary wrote: »

Does this imply that he died in trajic circumstances or am I reading into it? [Apologies for my ingnorence in advance]

Taken from wikipedia:

In April 1971 his father died. Elliott was already upset by the death of his son in a road accident. Two days after his father's funeral, on May 4 1971, Elliott was found dead in his garage from a shotgun wound.

penexpers

victorcarrera wrote: »

Its Freeview. So if you have Sky and don't subscribe to Setanta Ireland you can still see it on channel 418. A repeat is on the following Thursday 30th July @ 9:45 pm.

Setanta Ireland is freeview on NTL/UPC only.

blorg

Apparently they have Setanta now on analogue UPC- does anyone have details of the frequency or channel no etc.?

unionman

Really looking forward to this programme.

victorcarrera

penexpers wrote: »

Setanta Ireland is freeview on NTL/UPC only.

It does not apply to this programme.

I have Sky TV basic and do not subscribe to Setanta Ireland.
Individual Freeview programmes on this channel can be viewed but you cannot view others.
The Shay Elliott program is tagged as Freeview.

kenmc

blorg wrote: »

Apparently they have Setanta now on analogue UPC- does anyone have details of the frequency or channel no etc.?

Setanta : 248 MHz

Zorba

victorcarrera wrote: »

It does not apply to this programme.

I have Sky TV basic and do not subscribe to Setanta Ireland.
Individual Freeview programmes on this channel can be viewed but you cannot view others.
The Shay Elliott program is tagged as Freeview.

So i'm ok to record it on sky + ?

Aquos76

Zorba wrote: »

So i'm ok to record it on sky + ?

You sure are, but dont forget that if you have your sky+ set to record a couple of mins before the start time, you will need to fast forward those set mins as the freeview programs only unscramble just as they start

Zorba

Aquos76 wrote: »

You sure are, but dont forget that if you have your sky+ set to record a couple of mins before the start time, you will need to fast forward those set mins as the freeview programs only unscramble just as they start

Ah great already have it set to record so it should be ok, thanks for the tip.

DeepBlue

jerseyeire wrote: »

If eircom is your internet provider you can watch Setanta via www.eircom.net

Didn't they end that some time ago?

uberwolf

the athletics column in today's Irish Times focused exclusively on the Shay Elliot story, and the apparent quality of this documentary. (I don't have TV, so if anyone has access to it...)

Captain Havoc

DeepBlue wrote: »

Didn't they end that some time ago?

No, I watched el tontos magnificent appearance last weekend

DeepBlue

jerseyeire wrote: »

No, I watched el tontos magnificent appearance last weekend

Yep, I stand corrected - http://sports.eircom.net/setanta/

Dunno where I got the idea that they'd ended that service .

Bunnyhopper

I'm just bumping this as a reminder - the programme is about to start...

Captain Havoc

That was fantastic but easily one of the sadest stories I've ever heard.

Esroh

jerseyeire wrote: »

That was fantastic but easily one of the sadest stories I've ever heard.

+1
Can't say much more

warrfla

+1
cracking documentary, such a sad story

and as for that stablinski, what a c*nt!!

Raam

Loved every minute of it. Very sad, yet interesting story.
Would love to see more documentaries on our other cyclists by the producers of this. It was brilliant.

biker_joe

yea, very sad story .... and I do think that Shay did leave the next generation a lesson ..... Kelly and Roche were ruthless !!! Shay was probably too nice a guy !!! If you want to be a Pro you need to be ruthless and selfish .... and it ain't a Job or a way of life that many can do, nevermind having be very talented athlete, the OTHER side of cycling is very tough aswell !!!

Biker Joe

turbine?

Did anyone else feel a bit emotional when they showed Elliots yellow jersey. What an achievement. And to return back with nothing. Different times.

Ryaner

Will this been shown anywhere else for those of us who don't have Setanta?

Boden08

Superb show. RTE should be buying it and showing it peak time free to air.
His life story would make an incredible film...

unionman

Outstanding film. Such an amazing cyclist. Great story. Well done to the film makers.

lukester

Triple ar5e, I knew there was something I forgot to do yesterday, meant to tape this.

Anyone know if it's being repeated, or if you can view it online if you're not an Eircon customer?

Wicklowrider

Back in '98 when the tour came over here, several of Shay's friends put together
a cracking exhibition in Bray Town hall. The yellow jersey, one of his bikes and lots of other bits and pieces were there.
The film was a great piece of work - specially liked the fact that Peter Crinnion cycled up to the monument for his interview. Can't remember who said you can tell the measure of man by his friends but its especially apt about Elliott. All the riders interviewed were great riders and showed real class in their interviews

blorg

lukester wrote: »

Anyone know if it's being repeated, or if you can view it online if you're not an Eircon customer?

It is being repeated twice:

30/07/2009 21:45-23:00
01/08/2009 17:45-19:00

irishmotorist

It was a great program alright. A great man with a sad story. Could you imagine actually finding that yellow jersey at an auction?

Does anybody know the nature of the injuries that he suffered? His friends seemed to doubt that he meant to kill himself - something that I hadn't heard before. During a montage at that part of the program, they showed some coroners reports - but it was too closeup to see the detail. I'm pretty sure though I saw the word 'liver' there. Is that related to the wound or was it perhaps general post-mortem examination details? I suppose it wasn't necessarily a relevant document and could have been just a 'prop' for the sake of making the scene move visual.

pgibbo

Raam wrote: »

Loved every minute of it. Very sad, yet interesting story.
Would love to see more documentaries on our other cyclists by the producers of this. It was brilliant.

+1

What a great documentary. My wife even enjoyed it and she has no interest in the sport at all.

vektarman

I didn't realise 'til I watched this last night that my wifes uncle was shay eliotts best pal, I got one big surprise when I saw the uncle being interviewed.:eek:

unionman

vektarman wrote: »

I didn't realise 'til I watched this last night that my wifes uncle was shay eliotts best pal, I got one big surprise when I saw the uncle being interviewed.:eek:

Was that the guy who had the medal given to him by Shay's mother? He was great. His account of their sunday spins was a jaw dropper (Dublin -Virginia-Longford-Dublin, with a plate of potatoes in Longford for fuel).

I loved the bit at the end when Peter Crinion cycled up to the memorial. Having cycled it myself for the first time on the W200 there was just something really nice about that.

The film reaches beyond cycling enthusiasts I think, it's such a compelling story and well made film. It rightfully places Elliott as a unique sporting hero, a pioneer in Irish terms.

I ended up watching it twice last night, glad I recorded it.

Straatvark

Great program, well done.

I'm only a couple of months in Ireland now and clearly did not understand the significance of the Shay Elliott climb in the W200. Next time I will show respect.

Thanks to the producer/maker of this program. We need more of these.

xz

did anyone else think that Stablinsky was a right S***, or was it , that Shay was very naive, either way, he had a real run of bad luck for such a talent

unionman

xz wrote: »

did anyone else think that Stablinsky was a right S***, or was it , that Shay was very naive, either way, he had a real run of bad luck for such a talent

Bit of both I reckon, based on how his friends told it.

SACH Central

xz wrote: »

did anyone else think that Stablinsky was a right S***, or was it , that Shay was very naive, either way, he had a real run of bad luck for such a talent

Unfortunately didn't see it last night, dont subscribe to Setanta or use eircom as my broadband provider but... is it true that Elliot was married to Stablinskys sister - he was Elliots brother in law. If so, it might go some way to explaining his strange 'loyalty' to him

LastGasp

SACH Central wrote: »

Unfortunately didn't see it last night, dont subscribe to Setanta or use eircom as my broadband provider but... is it true that Elliot was married to Stablinskys sister - he was Elliots brother in law. If so, it might go some way to explaining his strange 'loyalty' to him

Might have been, but I don't think that was in the film. I think they said Stablinski was Godfather to Elliotts son, which I suppose might have had the same result.

DirkVoodoo

Just watched it there, really well done and a very heart wrenching story. It's a shame that most people believe (myself included) Ireland's golden age of cycling began with Kelly and Roche when in fact Shay Elliot was there 20 years before.

unionman

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Just watched it there, really well done and a very heart wrenching story. It's a shame that most people believe (myself included) Ireland's golden age of cycling began with Kelly and Roche when in fact Shay Elliot was there 20 years before.

Well hopefully this will set the record straight on that perception. I was struck by how much he created a breakthrough for Irish cycling into Europe. He really broke a lot of barriers.

vektarman

unionman wrote: »

Was that the guy who had the medal given to him by Shay's mother? He was great. His account of their sunday spins was a jaw dropper (Dublin -Virginia-Longford-Dublin, with a plate of potatoes in Longford for fuel).

.

Yes, that's him, Shay's mother only had two of his medals as momentos of his outstanding career and generously gave one of them (la Vuelta) to my wifes uncle.

Captain Havoc

Just was looking at the Setanta schedule for this evening and it's on again at 21h45. I know it was already posted but just throwing out the reminder. It really is worth watching.

alfalad

jerseyeire wrote: »

Just was looking at the Setanta schedule for this evening and it's on again at 21h45. I know it was already posted but just throwing out the reminder. It really is worth watching.

Thanks had forgotten about it!

Idleater

biker_joe wrote: »

yea, very sad story .... and I do think that Shay did leave the next generation a lesson ..... Kelly and Roche were ruthless !!! Shay was probably too nice a guy !!! If you want to be a Pro you need to be ruthless and selfish .... and it ain't a Job or a way of life that many can do, nevermind having be very talented athlete, the OTHER side of cycling is very tough aswell !!!

Biker Joe

Caught this program last night and I'd agree with this.

Maybe that could be the lead in to the next documentary(ies) on the Kelly/Roche era?

Very interesting program anyway.

alfalad

Caught it last night and just gutted i had no way to record it, was really well made and really good tribute. As said very sad film but very enjoyable!

Captain Havoc

Just noticed they're showing this again at 17h50 for anyone who missed it the first few times