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''Gillette Labs Soccer Saturday'' is a weekly television programme broadcast on
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
games in the United Kingdom on Saturday afternoons. The current host is Jeff Stelling. The programme is sponsored by Gillette Labs.


History

Soccer Saturday grew out of ''Sports Saturday'', which started in August 1992 and was hosted by
Paul Dempsey Paul Anthony Dempsey (born 25 May 1976) is an Australian musician. He is best known as the lead singer, guitarist and principal lyricist of rock group Something for Kate. Dempsey released his debut solo album, '' Everything Is True'', on 20 Au ...
and
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. ''Sports Saturday'' was similar in format to the BBC's ''
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'' programme featuring a variety of sports and as with ''Grandstand'', the programme finished with news of the day's football in a segment called ''Scorelines''. Current host Jeff Stelling joined the programme in 1994 and became its sole presenter a year later. From the start of the 1998/99 season, it became a football-only programme and accordingly the name of the programme changed to ''Soccer Saturday''. Prior to May 2010, portions of the programme were simulcast on Sky Sports 1 as well as Sky Sports News. The portions simulcast were between 12:00 and 12:30, and 15:00 and 17:15, although this differed depending on the matches being covered on Sky Sports 1. From the start of the 2010–11 season these simulcasts were dropped and for the next three seasons the programme was exclusive to Sky Sports News. The Sky Sports 1 simulcast returned for the 2013–14 season as part of Sky Sports 1's new all-day Saturday football service. For the 2014–15 season the programme moved from Sky Sports 1 to Sky Sports 5 but reverted to Sky Sports 1 for the 2016–17 season.


Format

''Soccer Saturday'' is broadcast from 12:00 on Sky Sports News and usually airs for six hours. The programme begins with the host and four regular in-studio pundits previewing the weekend's matches, reviewing recent results and debating current issues in football. The show is also famous for the rapport between the pundits and the presenter. There is much banter between the pundits and Jeff Stelling, who, in a good humoured manner, often points out each other's mistakes and incorrect predictions. Stelling exuberantly celebrates goals scored by his favourite team (
Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...
). Viewers are kept updated on the progress of early kick-offs by reporters at the games and by graphics below and to the right of the director's cut. These graphics also includes latest team news and league standings. From 15:00 to 17:15, ''Soccer Saturday'' provides running coverage of the 3 pm league matches, of which none is televised in the UK and one is televised in Ireland. The graphics display a
vidiprinter A vidiprinter is a sports scores and results ticker service provided to media organisations. A vidiprinter providing football results is used on BBC One and Sky Sports News when significant games are in progress. Since its inception, the vidip ...
and cycle through current scores in the English and Scottish leagues, with Jeff Stelling providing commentary on the events as they unfold. Significant events at the most high-profile games – almost always in the
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
– are described by the studio panel who each watch a game on a monitor. Other games deemed important are reported on by correspondents at the grounds connected to the studio by a video link,
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or telephone. This portion of the show is also aired on
Sky Showcase Sky Showcase is a British pay television channel which launched on 1 September 2021 along with Sky Max. It is owned and operated by Sky Group, a division of American media company Comcast. The channel was announced on 28 July 2021 to replace S ...
. After the 3 pm games finish, the classified football results are read by Alan Lambourn and this is followed by a run-through of the updated league tables. A commercial break then follows and this is when the vidiprinter is removed from the screen. For the final 45 minutes of the programme the studio pundits discuss the games they have been watching, and post-match interviews with players and managers are shown. The regular format occasionally changes, for example during international windows when no Premier League or Championship matches are played, the show is shortened to 14:00 and 17:30, and League 1 and 2 fixtures are then covered by the studio pundits as opposed to the usual Premier League ones. Stelling no longer presents ''Soccer Saturday'' during the international break, with duties being handed over to Julian Warren.


''Soccer Special''

A programme with the same format is also broadcast when there are a number of midweek games, such as on
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nights, in which case it is known as ''Soccer Special''. Since 2011, ''Soccer Special'' has been hosted by Julian Warren. Between 2008 and 2011, Ed Chamberlin presented the programme. He had previously shared presenting the programme with Ian Payne during the previous season. ''Soccer Special'' was hosted by Stelling until he began presenting ''
Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, ...
'' at the start of the 2005–06 season. The midweek Soccer Specials are often simulcast on Sky Sports 1. From the 2015–2016 season, Stelling started presenting Soccer Special again as Sky lost the rights to Champions League coverage to BT Sport. The ''Soccer Special'' name is also used when a full afternoon programme of football is played on a day other than Saturday, which usually only occurs on
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,
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(unless that falls on either Friday or Sunday) and
Easter Monday Easter Monday refers to the day after Easter Sunday in either the Eastern or Western Christian traditions. It is a public holiday in some countries. It is the second day of Eastertide. In Western Christianity, it marks the second day of the ...
as well as the last day of the Championship and the last day of the Premier League season as both are normally played on a Sunday. On these occasions the programme is usually presented by Stelling and follows the normal ''Soccer Saturday'' format.


''Sports Saturday/Sunday''

For a few years during the summer, the show was replaced with ''Sports Saturday'', which is more akin to the show's original format, concentrating on sports other than football due to the absence of competitive football during the summer. This again was presented by Ed Chamberlin. The programme did not return in 2009 or 2010, but was revived in July 2011, although it was presented by regular Sky Sports News presenters. However, in August 2010, Sky announced the launch of ''Sports Sunday''. This programme, which aired Sundays from 13:00–18:00, was similar to the old Sports Saturday format, was initially presented by Ed Chamberlain but after his promotion in early 2011 to additional football presenting duties on Sky Sports, the programme started to be presented by other presenters from the Sky Sports News roster. From 2021, Sports Sunday began to show the vidiprinter on screen throughout the programme, which by now was on air from 12:00–18:00, on which the latest British and European scores are displayed. The scores shown also include the Women's Super League and the Women's Championship.


Presenters and reporters

*Presenter: Jeff Stelling * Relief/Soccer Special Presenter: Julian Warren and Nick Powell *Lead Studio Pundit: Paul Merson *Additional Studio Pundits: Iain Dowie,
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,
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, Matt Murray, Glen Johnson, Jamie Mackie,
Lee Hendrie Lee Andrew Hendrie (born 18 May 1977) is an English former professional footballer and pundit for Sky Sports. As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Aston Villa where he spent fourteen years. He also play ...
, Clinton Morrison, Kris Boyd and Sue Smith *Reporters: Bianca Westwood, David Craig, Guy Havord, Dickie Davis, Rob Palmer, Johnny Phillips,
Neil Mellor Neil Andrew Mellor (born 4 November 1982) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career at Liverpool in the Premier League. He made his name in 2004 by scoring a stunning last-minute goal from long r ...
, Peter Smith, Peter Stevenson, Stuart Jarrold, Simon Watts, Tony Colliver, Jonathan Beales, Rob McCaffrey, Steve Jackson, Mike Jones, Russ Taylor, Mark Benstead, Mark McAdam, Frank Gilfeather, Andy Walker, Stuart Lovell, Davie Donaldson, Dave Bracegirdle and John Temple *Former Reporters: John Gwynne, Bob Hall, Chris Kamara
Rodney Marsh Rodney William Marsh (born 11 October 1944) is an English former footballer and football coach; he later worked as a broadcaster. A forward, he won nine caps for England between 1971 and 1973, scoring one international goal. Brought up in th ...
was a regular pundit, known for his outspoken views, until being sacked by Sky Sports in early 2005 after a joke referencing the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
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was also a regular until leaving in 2004 to fight alcohol problems. In August 2020, regular studio pundits Matt Le Tissier, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas were controversially sacked from the programme. Other former studio analysts include Frank McLintock, Alan Brazil, Alan Mullery,
Clive Allen Clive Darren Allen (born 20 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward for seven different London clubs. Allen was a prolific striker throughout his career. In 1986-87 he won the PFA and Football Writers' ...
, and Gordon McQueen. On 30 October 2021, Stelling announced his intention to leave ''Soccer Saturday'' at the end of the 2021–22 season. However, on 28 March 2022,
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
announced that Stelling would be staying until at least the end of the 2022–23 season. In April 2022, it was announced that Chris Kamara would leave Soccer Saturday at the end of the 2021–22 season after working on the programme for 24 years.


In popular culture

In the
Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription streaming service owned and operated by Apple Inc. Launched on November 1, 2019, it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service was announced ...
series '' Ted Lasso'', character Roy Kent serves as a pundit on the show alongside Stelling and Kamara.


See also

*'' Final Score'', a similar programme which is broadcast by the BBC *'' BT Sport Score'', a similar programme, broadcast by BT Sport *''
The Goal Rush ''The Goal Rush'' was a live ITV television programme that aired from 2001 to 2003, produced by Granada Television. The programme was broadcast on Saturdays as a rival show to Final Score on BBC One, and provided live football scores from the ...
'', a football results programme broadcast by ITV from 2001 to 2003


References


External links

* * {{Navboxes, list1= {{Sky Ltd {{Sky Sports {{Association football on television 1992 British television series debuts 1990s British sports television series 2000s British sports television series 2010s British sports television series 2020s British sports television series Sky Sports Premier League on television Saturday mass media Sports television in the United Kingdom Sky UK original programming