RTÉ Sport
Encyclopedia
RTÉ Sport is a cross platform, integrated business division of Irish
broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann
, responsible for the provision of sport
coverage on RTÉ Radio
, RTÉ Television
, and RTÉ.ie
.
RTÉ Sport are in competition with TV3 Sport, TG4
, Setanta Sports
, Eurosport
, ESPN
and Sky Sports
. Additional competitors include BBC Sport
and ITV Sport
both are widely available in the Republic and there is a considerable overlap in events such as the FIFA World Cup
, Six Nations Championship
and UEFA Champions League
which are available to Irish viewers meaning RTÉ's exclusivity of these events is largely in name only. A prime example is the FIFA World Cup final which is available on RTÉ, the BBC and ITV within the Republic of Ireland. Despite this RTÉ still has high audience figures for these events.
The situation regarding radio sports events is similar with BBC Radio 5 Live
available in Ireland on cable and satellite. It is less widely available, however, because it is not available on the FM
bandwidth. Both Newstalk and Today FM
are RTÉ's major rivals but aside from the Premier League available only on the aforementioned two stations, RTÉ dominates the live sporting airwaves in Ireland.
was RTÉ's flagship Premier League programme until 2008, when Premier Soccer Saturday
was launched. The Premiership was shown on Saturday nights at 7.30pm. There were sometimes Premiership Specials which would normally be shown on a Sunday evening at 8.00pm or on a Monday night. These programmes are hosted usually by Darragh Maloney or Peter Collins with analysis mainly by Kenny Cunningham, John Giles, Ronnie Whelan, Richie Sadler, Liam Brady, Trevor Steven or Graeme Souness. The Republic of Ireland
matches were shown live on the channel for UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup
and UEFA Euro 2008, for all of which, they failed to qualify. Sky Sports got exclusive rights to Irish matches in the early 2000s and there were fears that National team matches couldnt be seen by fans so te government stepped in and now all Irish home and away qualifying matches have to be shown on Irish free to air tv meaning either RTE, TV3 or TG4 and have remained on RTE as well as Sky Sports.
RTÉ Sport broadcasts all the big association football tournaments. It is showing 64 live games in the 2010 FIFA World Cup
and that is 200 hours of programming.
These are the team of association football pundits that RTÉ Sport announced ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Apart from Ossie Ardiles, Dietmar Hamann
and Kevin Kilbane
, all who are making their debuts, and Liam Brady
who has recently left his post assisting Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni
, the rest are all regulars on RTÉ Sport's association football programming. The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the ninth for both Bill O'Herlihy and George Hamilton. RTE also have rights to Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014.
Presenters (usually one per game):
Bill O'Herlihy
, Darragh Maloney, Peter Collins
, Con Murphy
Panels (usually two/three/four per game):
John Giles
, Eamon Dunphy
, Liam Brady
, Graeme Souness
, Ronnie Whelan
, Richie Sadlier, Denis Irwin
, Ossie Ardiles, Dietmar Hamann
, Kevin Kilbane
Commentators (usually two per game):
Jimmy Magee
, George Hamilton
, Ray Houghton
, Gabriel Egan, Trevor Steven
, Stephen Alkin, Damien Richardson
, Adrian Eames, Matt Holland
The RTÉ Sport football division has achieved cult status due to it unintentional humor that is incorporated. With the main team of Bill O'Herlihy
, John Giles
, Eamon Dunphy
and Liam Brady
usually used for Irish matches and Champions League matches with a usual big build up and long analysis afterwards which gains huge ratings.
, with probably more than a million watching on the day of the All-Ireland Final.
RTÉ GAA coverage is the cornerstone of their sports coverage. RTÉ previously held the exclusive rights for television and radio in the Republic for the entirety of the Championship compromising of interprovincial games, All Ireland Qualifying games and the All Ireland Championship series. The games were also available in Northern Ireland who although able to see Ulster
games on BBC Northern Ireland
, did not receive the breadth of coverage as available on RTÉ. In 2008, however, TV3 won the rights to show 10 Championship games marking an end to RTÉ's exclusivity. RTÉ though remain the sole broadcaster on radio and retained the All Ireland series exclusively with 40 championship games available on television. Games are also available online at RTÉ.i.e. RTÉ also show highlights of club and National League games on their Sunday Sport banner through the winter and spring. In 2011 under a new deal BBC NI show all Ulster Championship matches mostly Live and some deferred shown in full, as well as live coverage of the All Ireland Championship if an Ulster tean is playing. TV3 show 11 matches including both All Ireland minor finals with coverage on TV3 in English and sister channel 3E in Irish.
The All Ireland Football Final traditionally attracts high ratings with it too attracting high ratings in previous years.
banner, for more information on their coverage see there
Among other sports, RTÉ broadcasts the following on television (usually on RTÉ Two
):
RTÉ's regular radio sports programming (usually on RTÉ Radio 1
, with split AM
and FM
wavebands if necessary) comprises:
Sports news bulletins are broadcast hourly on RTÉ 2fm
under the title RTÉ Sport on 2fm.
's Grand Slam
decider
versus Wales
was the overall top rated programme of 2009 with a 68% share of the total audience watching television with 866,000 viewers. The game was also shown on the widely available BBC One
, but still ranks above other programmes exclusive to RTÉ.
In 2010 RTÉ bought the rights for Celtic League rugby
with TG4
, BBC Northern Ireland
and BBC Alba
.
RTE showed the Heineken Cup for many years and after the coverage was snapped up by Sky Sports in 2004, RTE still showed Live coverage until 2007 and then highlights afterwards but in 2011 TG4 took their highlights coverage of the Heineken Cup, Amlin Cup to add to their Pro 12 coverage and Rugby World Cup highlights. So as of 2011 RTE is the Home of International Rugby holding rights to the 6 Nations, Rugby World Cup and Autumn Internationals as well as the Pro 12 Live but TG4 is the Home of Club Rugby.
The Rugby World Cup returned to RTE in 2011 after an 8 year gap as the 2007 tournament was on TV3 Ireland. Their coverage was the same as TV3 in the sense they had only 13 live matches with every Irish match Live and every match from the Quarter Final onwards with Setanta holding every Live match and TG4 had lucrative daytime deffered rights meaning they can show a full re run of a match in the afternoon. RTE also broadcast highlights in primetime between 7pm and 10pm on RTE Two. Their Live coverage was presented by Tom McGurk with analysis by Conor O'Shea, Brent Pope and George Hook. Highlights were presented by Daire O'Brien who hosts their Pro 12 coverage with analysis from Victor Costello, Shane Horgan, Frankie Shehan, Leinster coach Joe Schmidt and new signing from ESPN, Ben Kay who won the World Cup in 2003 with England. RTE Commentary team consists of Hugh Cahill, Ryle Nugent, Donal Lenihan, Tony Ward, Ralph Keyes and Kurt McQuilkin. George Hamilton was supposed to be part of commentary but he had a heart attack so Darragh Maloney is instead commentating. Any highlights that did not have an RTE voiceover instead featured the World Feed, one example was in the highlights show with an England match using Sky Sports Commentators who worked for ITV in 2007, Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes.
, covering everdays play Live. In 2011 they had play everyday on RTE One and Highlights on RTE Two late at night. Sky Sports also show all four days of the Irish Open live. RTÉ Radio also cover Saturday and Sunday’s action live on Saturday & Sunday Sport.
, Punchestown and Cheltenham
. OB Sport is a sports programme designed to highlight games of less intererst in the country, like basketball or tennis. Sport is shown on RTÉ News as well, as it is a common past-time.
A programme for the Beijing Olympics was shown on RTÉ Two before the games, called Ireland's Olympians. RTÉ broadcast most of Ireland's candidates for the gold medal during the Olympiad, as well as the finals in which no Irish took part.
From the 1970s through to 1997, RTÉ's flagship television sports programme was Sports Stadium
, which provided live football and racing coverage on Saturday afternoons along with coverage of other sports and classified football results, in a similar manner to the BBC
's Grandstand
or ITV
's World of Sport
. The programme was badly hit by the loss of live rights to Saturday afternoon Football League Division One matches after the beginning of the Premier League in 1992, and ended as part of RTÉ's revamp of Network 2 into N2 in 1997, being replaced for one year by Saturday Sports Live (which only concentrated on one single football or rugby game. Since 1998 RTÉ has not covered live sports on Saturday on a weekly basis on television, although major events such as the Six Nations Championship
are still shown live.
• Radio • Television
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
, responsible for the provision of sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
coverage on RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio is a department of Irish national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Radio broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels....
, RTÉ Television
RTÉ Television
RTÉ Television is a department of Ireland's state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann.The first channel to broadcast was Telefís Éireann which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961...
, and RTÉ.ie
Rte.ie
RTÉ.ie is the brand name and home of RTÉ's online activities, located at the URL http://rte.ie. The site began publishing on 26 May 1996. According to RTÉ, it operates on an entirely commercial basis, receiving none of the licence fee which funds much of RTÉ's activity. The site, it says, is funded...
.
RTÉ Sport are in competition with TV3 Sport, TG4
TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
, Setanta Sports
Setanta Ireland
Setanta Sports Ireland is a subscription based Irish sports channel featuring local and international sporting events. The channel is available on some basic cable packages in the Republic of Ireland, while it is available upon direct subscription to the Setanta Sports package on other networks...
, Eurosport
Eurosport
Eurosport is a pan-European television sport network operated by French broadcaster TF1 Group. The network of channels are available in 59 countries, in 20 different languages providing viewers with European and international sporting events...
, ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
and Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
. Additional competitors include BBC Sport
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC. It became a fully dedicated division of the BBC in 2000. It incorporates programmes such as Match of the Day, Grandstand , Test Match Special, Ski Sunday, Rugby Special and coverage of Formula One motor racing, MotoGP and the Wimbledon Tennis...
and ITV Sport
ITV Sport
ITV Sport is a sport producer and brand name owned by ITV plc. It was formed from the amalgamation of Granada Sport, Carlton's sports department and ISN, the sports division of London News Network. The company produces Champions League and FA Cup Football, along with coverage of England's national...
both are widely available in the Republic and there is a considerable overlap in events such as the FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
, Six Nations Championship
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
and UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
which are available to Irish viewers meaning RTÉ's exclusivity of these events is largely in name only. A prime example is the FIFA World Cup final which is available on RTÉ, the BBC and ITV within the Republic of Ireland. Despite this RTÉ still has high audience figures for these events.
The situation regarding radio sports events is similar with BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
available in Ireland on cable and satellite. It is less widely available, however, because it is not available on the FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
bandwidth. Both Newstalk and Today FM
Today FM
Radio Ireland Ltd, trading as 100-102 Today FM is an Irish commercial FM radio station which is available nationally. The station, which commenced broadcasting on Saint Patrick's Day in 1997, can be received nationally and carries a mix of music and talk...
are RTÉ's major rivals but aside from the Premier League available only on the aforementioned two stations, RTÉ dominates the live sporting airwaves in Ireland.
Soccer
The PremiershipPremier Soccer Saturday
Premier Soccer Saturday is the principal weekly club association football programme on RTÉ.It is broadcast on RTÉ Two every Saturday evening between 19:30 and 21:00 and occasionally on Sunday during the English league soccer season, showing highlights of Premier League football matches...
was RTÉ's flagship Premier League programme until 2008, when Premier Soccer Saturday
Premier Soccer Saturday
Premier Soccer Saturday is the principal weekly club association football programme on RTÉ.It is broadcast on RTÉ Two every Saturday evening between 19:30 and 21:00 and occasionally on Sunday during the English league soccer season, showing highlights of Premier League football matches...
was launched. The Premiership was shown on Saturday nights at 7.30pm. There were sometimes Premiership Specials which would normally be shown on a Sunday evening at 8.00pm or on a Monday night. These programmes are hosted usually by Darragh Maloney or Peter Collins with analysis mainly by Kenny Cunningham, John Giles, Ronnie Whelan, Richie Sadler, Liam Brady, Trevor Steven or Graeme Souness. The Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland national football team
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is run by the Football Association of Ireland and currently plays home fixtures at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, which opened in May 2010....
matches were shown live on the channel for UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
and UEFA Euro 2008, for all of which, they failed to qualify. Sky Sports got exclusive rights to Irish matches in the early 2000s and there were fears that National team matches couldnt be seen by fans so te government stepped in and now all Irish home and away qualifying matches have to be shown on Irish free to air tv meaning either RTE, TV3 or TG4 and have remained on RTE as well as Sky Sports.
RTÉ Sport broadcasts all the big association football tournaments. It is showing 64 live games in the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...
and that is 200 hours of programming.
These are the team of association football pundits that RTÉ Sport announced ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Apart from Ossie Ardiles, Dietmar Hamann
Dietmar Hamann
Dietmar "Didi" Hamann is a German footballer who was most recently manager at Stockport County. Throughout his career, he has played for Bayern Munich, Newcastle United, Liverpool, and Manchester City primarily in a defensive midfield position. He also spent time at Milton Keynes Dons as a...
and Kevin Kilbane
Kevin Kilbane
Kevin Daniel Kilbane is an English-born Irish association footballer who plays as a left back or left winger for Derby County, on loan from Hull City....
, all who are making their debuts, and Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Liam Brady is a former Irish association football player, and former assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team....
who has recently left his post assisting Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni
Giovanni Trapattoni
Giovanni Trapattoni , sometimes known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football coach and former player, considered the most successful club coach in the history of Serie A. As a player he was part of Italy's squad at the 1962 FIFA World Cup....
, the rest are all regulars on RTÉ Sport's association football programming. The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the ninth for both Bill O'Herlihy and George Hamilton. RTE also have rights to Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014.
Presenters (usually one per game):
Bill O'Herlihy
Bill O'Herlihy
Bill O'Herlihy is an Irish sports broadcaster with Raidió Teilifís Éireann . He also heads one of Ireland's largest public relations firms.-Bill's life:...
, Darragh Maloney, Peter Collins
Peter Collins (broadcaster)
Peter Collins is an Irish sportscaster for national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. He is to be seen on RTÉ's coverage of live association football, Gaelic games, Formula One and Moto GP.-Career:...
, Con Murphy
Con Murphy (RTE)
Cornelius 'Con' Murphy is an Irish sports presenter, working primarily on Raidió Teilifís Éireann radio and television....
Panels (usually two/three/four per game):
John Giles
Johnny Giles
Michael John "Johnny" Giles is a former association footballer and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s...
, Eamon Dunphy
Eamon Dunphy
Eamon Martin Dunphy is an Irish media personality, radio and television presenter, author, sports pundit, as well as a former professional football player. He is best known as a soccer analyst on Raidió Teilifís Éireann 's coverage of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. He was paid...
, Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Liam Brady is a former Irish association football player, and former assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team....
, Graeme Souness
Graeme Souness
Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur,...
, Ronnie Whelan
Ronnie Whelan
Ronald Andrew "Ronnie" Whelan is a former Irish football midfielder, and sometimes defender, who was an integral part of the dominant Liverpool side of the 1980s...
, Richie Sadlier, Denis Irwin
Denis Irwin
Denis Joseph Irwin is a former Irish football player who is best known for his long and successful stint at Manchester United, where he established himself as one of the most important players in the United team that won a host of domestic and European trophies in his time there between 1990 and...
, Ossie Ardiles, Dietmar Hamann
Dietmar Hamann
Dietmar "Didi" Hamann is a German footballer who was most recently manager at Stockport County. Throughout his career, he has played for Bayern Munich, Newcastle United, Liverpool, and Manchester City primarily in a defensive midfield position. He also spent time at Milton Keynes Dons as a...
, Kevin Kilbane
Kevin Kilbane
Kevin Daniel Kilbane is an English-born Irish association footballer who plays as a left back or left winger for Derby County, on loan from Hull City....
Commentators (usually two per game):
Jimmy Magee
Jimmy Magee
Jimmy Magee is a longstanding Irish sports broadcaster. Known as 'the Memory Man', he has spent over half a century in sports broadcasting...
, George Hamilton
George Hamilton (commentator)
George Hamilton is an Irish sportscaster born in Belfast. He works for Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and is a household name in Ireland where his voice and refined commentary style of football are familiar to sports fans. He also presents a show on RTÉ lyric fm and previously presented Know Your Sport...
, Ray Houghton
Ray Houghton
Raymond James "Ray" Houghton is a retired Scottish-born footballer who represented the Republic of Ireland at international level, qualifying through his Irish father...
, Gabriel Egan, Trevor Steven
Trevor Steven
Trevor McGregor Steven is a football talent scout. He was formerly an England footballer who shot to fame with the successful Everton side of the 1980s....
, Stephen Alkin, Damien Richardson
Damien Richardson
Damien John Richardson is an Irish football manager and former player. He currently has no club attachments, having left Cork City at the end of the 2007 season. Richardson formerly managed Gillingham in England and Cobh Ramblers, Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers in Ireland.Richardson's father...
, Adrian Eames, Matt Holland
Matt Holland
Matthew Rhys "Matt" Holland is a former English-born Irish footballer, who represented Republic of Ireland at international level...
The RTÉ Sport football division has achieved cult status due to it unintentional humor that is incorporated. With the main team of Bill O'Herlihy
Bill O'Herlihy
Bill O'Herlihy is an Irish sports broadcaster with Raidió Teilifís Éireann . He also heads one of Ireland's largest public relations firms.-Bill's life:...
, John Giles
Johnny Giles
Michael John "Johnny" Giles is a former association footballer and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s...
, Eamon Dunphy
Eamon Dunphy
Eamon Martin Dunphy is an Irish media personality, radio and television presenter, author, sports pundit, as well as a former professional football player. He is best known as a soccer analyst on Raidió Teilifís Éireann 's coverage of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. He was paid...
and Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Liam Brady is a former Irish association football player, and former assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team....
usually used for Irish matches and Champions League matches with a usual big build up and long analysis afterwards which gains huge ratings.
Gaelic games
In 1926, RTÉ broadcast the first field game in Europe. The GAA match was live on the radio, 2RN, RTÉ's predecessor. RTÉ Sport is probably the second most significant of the categories since often hundreds of thousands would watch The Sunday GameThe Sunday Game
The Sunday Game is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ Two’s longest-running shows, having been on air since 1979, one year after the channel first...
, with probably more than a million watching on the day of the All-Ireland Final.
RTÉ GAA coverage is the cornerstone of their sports coverage. RTÉ previously held the exclusive rights for television and radio in the Republic for the entirety of the Championship compromising of interprovincial games, All Ireland Qualifying games and the All Ireland Championship series. The games were also available in Northern Ireland who although able to see Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
games on BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...
, did not receive the breadth of coverage as available on RTÉ. In 2008, however, TV3 won the rights to show 10 Championship games marking an end to RTÉ's exclusivity. RTÉ though remain the sole broadcaster on radio and retained the All Ireland series exclusively with 40 championship games available on television. Games are also available online at RTÉ.i.e. RTÉ also show highlights of club and National League games on their Sunday Sport banner through the winter and spring. In 2011 under a new deal BBC NI show all Ulster Championship matches mostly Live and some deferred shown in full, as well as live coverage of the All Ireland Championship if an Ulster tean is playing. TV3 show 11 matches including both All Ireland minor finals with coverage on TV3 in English and sister channel 3E in Irish.
The All Ireland Football Final traditionally attracts high ratings with it too attracting high ratings in previous years.
Coverage
RTÉ's championship games are broadcast through their The Sunday GameThe Sunday Game
The Sunday Game is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ Two’s longest-running shows, having been on air since 1979, one year after the channel first...
banner, for more information on their coverage see there
Among other sports, RTÉ broadcasts the following on television (usually on RTÉ Two
RTÉ Two
RTÉ Two is a free-to-air general entertainment channel operated by Irish state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Two is available throughout the island of Ireland through digital terrestrial service Saorview, VHF and UHF bands, and is also available via satellite to Irish subscribers of...
):
- The Sunday GameThe Sunday GameThe Sunday Game is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ Two’s longest-running shows, having been on air since 1979, one year after the channel first...
- coverage of All-Ireland Senior Football ChampionshipAll-Ireland Senior Football ChampionshipThe All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the premier competition in Gaelic football, is a series of games organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association and played during the summer and early autumn...
and All-Ireland Senior Hurling ChampionshipAll-Ireland Senior Hurling ChampionshipThe GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship is an annual hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1887 for the top hurling teams in Ireland....
games (May - September) - Premier Soccer SaturdayPremier Soccer SaturdayPremier Soccer Saturday is the principal weekly club association football programme on RTÉ.It is broadcast on RTÉ Two every Saturday evening between 19:30 and 21:00 and occasionally on Sunday during the English league soccer season, showing highlights of Premier League football matches...
- coverage of Premier League matches - League of Ireland Live and Monday Night SoccerMonday Night SoccerMonday Night Soccer is the RTÉ's main football television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two on Monday evenings during the Irish football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in Irish football's top division, the League of Ireland Premier Division...
- coverage of League of IrelandLeague of IrelandThe League of Ireland is the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1921, as a league of eight clubs, it has expanded over time into a two-tiered league of 22 clubs. It is currently split into the League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland...
matches. - Against the HeadAgainst the HeadAgainst the Head is a weekly rugby magazine programme, broadcast on RTE Two and presented by Joanne Cantwell with regular panellists Shane Byrne, and Irish Times rugby correspondent Gerry Thornley with various other guests throughout the series. The programme goes out on a Monday night usually...
- review and discussion of rugby unionRugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
games. - RTÉ Racing - coverage of major Irish racing festivals.
- Pro Box Live - coverage of professional boxingBoxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
cards.
RTÉ's regular radio sports programming (usually on RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Radio 1 is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926...
, with split AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
and FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
wavebands if necessary) comprises:
- Drivetime Sport - Half an hour, news and interviews broadcast weekdays.
- Weekend SportWeekend SportWeekend Sport is a programme broadcast RTÉ Radio 1 at weekends. Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport are round-ups of Irish and International sports news. They are presented by hosts such as, John Kenny, Andrew O'Connor, Con Murphy and Jacqui Hurley. Many RTÉ sports reporters and producers also...
- Saturday Sport - coverage of Premier League and other Saturday sports.
- Sunday SportSunday SportSunday Sport is a British tabloid newspaper, published by Sport Newspapers, which was established in 1986. It prints plainly ludicrous stories, such as a double-decker London bus being found frozen in the Antarctic ice, or a World War II bomber found on the moon. Defenders of the paper pointed out...
- coverage of GAA and other Sunday sports. - Take Your Point
Sports news bulletins are broadcast hourly on RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's second national radio station. It broadcasts popular music programming aimed at a young Irish audience.- History :...
under the title RTÉ Sport on 2fm.
Rugby Union
RTÉ's coverage of sport remains popular, underlined by the fact that IrelandIreland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
's Grand Slam
Grand Slam (Rugby Union)
In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition...
decider
2009 Six Nations Championship
The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2009 RBS 6 Nations because of the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the tenth Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the six major Northern Hemisphere rugby union national teams...
versus Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
was the overall top rated programme of 2009 with a 68% share of the total audience watching television with 866,000 viewers. The game was also shown on the widely available BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, but still ranks above other programmes exclusive to RTÉ.
In 2010 RTÉ bought the rights for Celtic League rugby
Celtic League (rugby union)
The Celtic League is an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
with TG4
TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
, BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...
and BBC Alba
BBC Alba
BBC Gàidhlig is the department of BBC Scotland that produces Scottish Gaelic language programming. This includes TV programmes for BBC Alba and BBC Two Scotland, the BBC Radio nan Gàidheal radio station and the BBC Alba website.-Television:...
.
RTE showed the Heineken Cup for many years and after the coverage was snapped up by Sky Sports in 2004, RTE still showed Live coverage until 2007 and then highlights afterwards but in 2011 TG4 took their highlights coverage of the Heineken Cup, Amlin Cup to add to their Pro 12 coverage and Rugby World Cup highlights. So as of 2011 RTE is the Home of International Rugby holding rights to the 6 Nations, Rugby World Cup and Autumn Internationals as well as the Pro 12 Live but TG4 is the Home of Club Rugby.
The Rugby World Cup returned to RTE in 2011 after an 8 year gap as the 2007 tournament was on TV3 Ireland. Their coverage was the same as TV3 in the sense they had only 13 live matches with every Irish match Live and every match from the Quarter Final onwards with Setanta holding every Live match and TG4 had lucrative daytime deffered rights meaning they can show a full re run of a match in the afternoon. RTE also broadcast highlights in primetime between 7pm and 10pm on RTE Two. Their Live coverage was presented by Tom McGurk with analysis by Conor O'Shea, Brent Pope and George Hook. Highlights were presented by Daire O'Brien who hosts their Pro 12 coverage with analysis from Victor Costello, Shane Horgan, Frankie Shehan, Leinster coach Joe Schmidt and new signing from ESPN, Ben Kay who won the World Cup in 2003 with England. RTE Commentary team consists of Hugh Cahill, Ryle Nugent, Donal Lenihan, Tony Ward, Ralph Keyes and Kurt McQuilkin. George Hamilton was supposed to be part of commentary but he had a heart attack so Darragh Maloney is instead commentating. Any highlights that did not have an RTE voiceover instead featured the World Feed, one example was in the highlights show with an England match using Sky Sports Commentators who worked for ITV in 2007, Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes.
Golf
RTÉ holds exclusive Irish rights to live coverage of the only professional golf tournament to take place in Ireland, The Irish OpenIrish Open (golf)
The Irish Open is a professional golf tournament on the European Tour, currently played at the end of July or early August each year. The event has been played in many locations on the island; its current home is the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club in County Kerry in southwestern Ireland...
, covering everdays play Live. In 2011 they had play everyday on RTE One and Highlights on RTE Two late at night. Sky Sports also show all four days of the Irish Open live. RTÉ Radio also cover Saturday and Sunday’s action live on Saturday & Sunday Sport.
Other sports
RTÉ also screen a lot of horse racing, including the Galway RacesGalway Races
The Galway Races is an Irish horse-racing festival that starts on the last Monday of July every year. Held at Ballybrit Racecourse in Galway, Ireland over seven days, it is the longest of all the race meets that occur in Ireland....
, Punchestown and Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
. OB Sport is a sports programme designed to highlight games of less intererst in the country, like basketball or tennis. Sport is shown on RTÉ News as well, as it is a common past-time.
A programme for the Beijing Olympics was shown on RTÉ Two before the games, called Ireland's Olympians. RTÉ broadcast most of Ireland's candidates for the gold medal during the Olympiad, as well as the finals in which no Irish took part.
From the 1970s through to 1997, RTÉ's flagship television sports programme was Sports Stadium
Sports Stadium
Sports Stadium was an Irish television sport programme on Raidió Teilifís Éireann . Broadcast between 1973 and 1997, it was RTÉ's flagship sports programme and one of its longest-running shows....
, which provided live football and racing coverage on Saturday afternoons along with coverage of other sports and classified football results, in a similar manner to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Grandstand
Grandstand (BBC)
Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
or ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's World of Sport
World of Sport (UK TV series)
World of Sport was a British television sport anthology programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 to 28 September 1985 in response to competition from BBC's Grandstand...
. The programme was badly hit by the loss of live rights to Saturday afternoon Football League Division One matches after the beginning of the Premier League in 1992, and ended as part of RTÉ's revamp of Network 2 into N2 in 1997, being replaced for one year by Saturday Sports Live (which only concentrated on one single football or rugby game. Since 1998 RTÉ has not covered live sports on Saturday on a weekly basis on television, although major events such as the Six Nations Championship
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
are still shown live.
External links
• Radio • Television
- RTÉ Sport: In Pictures - Photography Archive
- RTÉ Sport: "Great Sporting Quotes"