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RTÉ Sport is a department of Irish public broadcaster
RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...
. The department provides sporting coverage through a number of platforms including
RTÉ Radio RTÉ Radio is a division and service of Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), which broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels across Ireland. Founded in January 1926 as 2RN, was the first broadcaster in ...
,
RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's public service broadcaster. Its first channel was Telefís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since the 1960s, RTÉ Television has added chan ...
, RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Player Sport and RTÉ Mobile. RTÉ holds the television and radio broadcasting rights in the Republic of Ireland to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flagship analysis programmes such as ''
The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since 1 ...
'', ''Thank GAA It's Friday'', '' Soccer Republic'' and ''RTÉ Racing'' on RTÉ Television, and ''Game On'', ''Saturday Sport'', and ''Sunday Sport'' on
RTÉ Radio RTÉ Radio is a division and service of Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), which broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels across Ireland. Founded in January 1926 as 2RN, was the first broadcaster in ...
. Traditionally RTÉ Sport faced competition from British-based broadcasters such as the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and ITV, which have always been present in Ireland; however, these broadcasters were primarily concerned with the British public and market. Domestically, RTÉ had no competition until the late 1990s due to lack of competition in the Irish market. In later years, however, a growth of variety in the Irish market opened competition between other broadcasters most notably with
TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...
and
Setanta Sports Setanta Sports Media is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland and in Tbilisi, Georgia, broadcasting throughout select Eurasian countries, and the Philippines. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Iris ...
but also
Virgin Media One Virgin Media One, also called Virgin One, is an Irish free-to-air television channel owned by Virgin Media Ireland (part of Liberty Global), operated through its subsidiary Virgin Media Television. The channel launched on 20 September 19 ...
. RTÉ Sport is also in competition with other European broadcasters such as
Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...
,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
,
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
,
BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...
and
ITV Sport ITV Sport is the Broadcasting of sports events, sports department of ITV plc, which produces and presents sports programming for the ITV (TV network), ITV network and ITVX. The branding was originally introduced in 1985 as an umbrella title fo ...
. Despite competition in sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup final, which is also available on the BBC and ITV, RTÉ Sport remains Ireland's premier and most popular sports broadcaster.


Television broadcasts

On television,
RTÉ2 RTÉ2 (formerly branded as RTÉ 2 from 1978–88, Network 2 from 1988–97, N2 from 1997–2004 and RTÉ Two from 2004–14) is an Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched on 2 Novemb ...
is the home of live sporting action, broadcasting the majority of RTÉ's sports content. Sport may also be broadcast on
RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...
depending on scheduling demands.


Football

RTÉ Sport currently holds the rights to a large portfolio of football tournaments including: *
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
finals * Republic of Ireland qualification matches for both World Cup finals and Euro finals * UEFA Champions League ( women's (final only, from 2019 to 2020) and men's) *
FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...
* FAI League of Ireland *
FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...
*
FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI Cup. Organised ...
Final *
UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...
The
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
matches were shown live on the channel for
Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...
, the
2006 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 had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...
and
Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...
, all of which the team failed to qualify for. Sky Sports gained exclusive rights to Irish matches in the early 2000s and there were fears that national team matches could not be seen by fans, so the government stepped in and now all Irish home and away qualifying matches must be shown on Irish free-to-air television (RTÉ, Virgin One or TG4), and have remained on RTÉ as well as Sky Sports. Sky Sports held exclusive live rights to Irish home friendlies from 2000, with Premier Sports winning the rights from 2014, with highlights broadcast on either RTÉ or TV3. RTÉ Sport broadcasts association football tournaments. It showed 64 live games (approximately 200 hours of programming) during the
2010 World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...
. These were the team of association football pundits that RTÉ Sport announced ahead of the 2010 World Cup. Apart from
Ossie Ardiles Osvaldo César Ardiles (born 3 August 1952), more commonly known as Ossie Ardiles, is an Argentine football manager, pundit and former player. A competitive and skilled midfielder, Ardiles became a cult hero in England, along with Glenn Hoddl ...
,
Dietmar Hamann Dietmar Johann Wolfgang "Didi" Hamann (; born 27 August 1973) is a German football pundit and former professional player. Throughout his career, he played for Bayern Munich, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Manchester City primarily in a defen ...
and
Kevin Kilbane Kevin Daniel Kilbane (born 1 February 1977) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as a left winger or Full back (association football), full back. born in England, Kilbane won 110 caps for the Republic of Ireland n ...
, both made their debuts, and
Liam Brady William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer and pundit. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for ...
, who left his post assisting Ireland manager
Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian former Association football, football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Football in Italy, Italian football ...
, the rest were 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. For the 2014 World Cup, the RTÉ team was announced on 5 May 2014. The coverage was presented by Bill O'Herlihy, Darragh Maloney and Tony O'Donoghue. The pundits for the tournament were RTÉ regulars John Giles, Liam Brady, Eamon Dunphy, Kenny Cunningham, Richie Sadlier and Ronnie Whelan. Guest pundits joining the coverage included Didi Hamann, Ossie Ardiles, Neil Lennon and Brad Friedel. Play-by-play came from George Hamilton, John Kenny, Stephen Alkin and Adrian Eames while colour commentators included Ray Houghton, Trevor Steven, Jim Beglin and Brian Kerr. This was Bill O'Herlihy's 11th and final World Cup for RTÉ. Hamann and Ardiles both worked for RTÉ at the last World Cup in 2010 while Lennon and Friedel both working for the BBC at the World Cup and Jim Beglin rejoined RTÉ after leaving ITV in 2013. RTÉ provided live coverage of all live games of the
UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champio ...
, the first time a major woman's football tournament was broadcast live in its entirety. RTÉ cover at least one match per week from the FAI League, these matches are usually hosted by Peter Collins or Tony O'Donohue with guests from Irish football such as Richie Sadlier, Kenny Cunningham, Roddy Collins. Commentary comes from Stephen Alkin, Adrian Eames, John Kenny, Ger Canning or George Hamilton. The first live
League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...
game was broadcast on
RTÉ2 RTÉ2 (formerly branded as RTÉ 2 from 1978–88, Network 2 from 1988–97, N2 from 1997–2004 and RTÉ Two from 2004–14) is an Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched on 2 Novemb ...
from
Tolka Park Tolka Park () is an Ireland, Irish association football ground located in the Northside Dublin, north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, Dublin, Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Irelan ...
between Shelbourne and Derry City during the 1996/97 season. '' The Premiership'' was RTÉ's flagship
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
programme until 2008, when ''
Premier Soccer Saturday ''Premier Soccer Saturday'' (formerly ''The Premiership'') was the principal weekly club association football programme on RTÉ television. In June 2013, RTÉ Sport confirmed that due to cost-cutting initiatives to save the station up to € ...
'' was launched. ''The Premiership'' was shown on Saturday nights at 19:30. There were sometimes ''Premiership Specials'' which would normally be shown on a Sunday evening at 20:00 or on a Monday night. These programmes are hosted usually by Darragh Maloney or Peter Collins with analysis mainly by Kenny Cunningham,
Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as ...
,
Ronnie Whelan Ronald Andrew Whelan (; born 25 September 1961) is an Irish former professional football player who played as a midfielder and sometimes as a defender. He played an integral role in the dominant Liverpool side that won a wealth of titles in ...
, Richie Sadlier,
Liam Brady William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer and pundit. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for ...
,
Trevor Steven Trevor McGregor Steven (born 21 September 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played as a right-sided midfielder. He progressed through the ranks at Burnley, making his debut in 1981 regularly scoring over the next two seasons ...
,
Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit. A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...
or
Matt Holland Matthew Rhys Holland (born 11 April 1974) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is a director and club ambassador at Ipswich Town. Holland began his career at West Ham United, having previously been with Arsenal's ...
. ''Premier Soccer Saturday'' was dropped from RTÉ's schedules from the 2013/14 season. Presenters (usually one per game): Darragh Maloney, Peter Collins,
Joanne Cantwell Joanne Cantwell (born 30 September 1979) is an Irish sports presenter. Personal life Cantwell was raised in Dublin, one of five daughters. She studied journalism at Dublin City University. Cantwell is married with two daughters and lives in O ...
Panels (usually two, three, or four per game):
Liam Brady William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer and pundit. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for ...
,
Ronnie Whelan Ronald Andrew Whelan (; born 25 September 1961) is an Irish former professional football player who played as a midfielder and sometimes as a defender. He played an integral role in the dominant Liverpool side that won a wealth of titles in ...
, Richie Sadlier,
Denis Irwin Joseph Denis Irwin (born 31 October 1965) is an Irish former professional footballer and sports television presenter. Irwin is the joint most successful Irish footballer in history, a record he shares with Ronnie Whelan and fellow Manchester U ...
,
Ossie Ardiles Osvaldo César Ardiles (born 3 August 1952), more commonly known as Ossie Ardiles, is an Argentine football manager, pundit and former player. A competitive and skilled midfielder, Ardiles became a cult hero in England, along with Glenn Hoddl ...
,
Dietmar Hamann Dietmar Johann Wolfgang "Didi" Hamann (; born 27 August 1973) is a German football pundit and former professional player. Throughout his career, he played for Bayern Munich, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Manchester City primarily in a defen ...
,
Kevin Kilbane Kevin Daniel Kilbane (born 1 February 1977) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as a left winger or Full back (association football), full back. born in England, Kilbane won 110 caps for the Republic of Ireland n ...
,
Brad Friedel Bradley Howard Friedel (born May 18, 1971) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. Friedel played 84 games for the United States national team between 1992 and 2005, and represented his country a ...
,
Paul Clement Paul Drew Clement (born June 24, 1966) is an American attorney who served as United States Solicitor General, U.S. Solicitor General from 2005 to 2008 and is known for his advocacy before the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Cou ...
,
Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He currently manages Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic. During his playing career he represe ...
, Michael O'Neill Commentators (usually two per game): George Hamilton,
Ray Houghton Raymond James Houghton (born 9 January 1962) is a former professional Association football, footballer and current sports analyst and commentator with RTÉ Sport. As a player, he was a midfielder, notably playing for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool w ...
, Gabriel Egan,
Trevor Steven Trevor McGregor Steven (born 21 September 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played as a right-sided midfielder. He progressed through the ranks at Burnley, making his debut in 1981 regularly scoring over the next two seasons ...
,
Stephen Alkin Stephen or Steven is an English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the firs ...
, Damien Richardson,
Adrian Eames Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the main ...
,
Matt Holland Matthew Rhys Holland (born 11 April 1974) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is a director and club ambassador at Ipswich Town. Holland began his career at West Ham United, having previously been with Arsenal's ...
, Brian Kerr, Darragh Maloney Former RTÉ Sport personnel:
Bill O'Herlihy Bill O'Herlihy (26 September 1938 – 25 May 2015) was an Irish television broadcaster and public relations executive. He was best known for his broadcasts for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), primarily in politics and sport. A presenter for ...
, Con Murphy, Jimmy Magee,
Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit. A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...
, John Giles,
Eamon Dunphy Eamon Martin Dunphy (born 3 August 1945) is an Irish media personality, journalist, broadcaster, author, sports pundit and former professional footballer. He grew up playing football for several youth teams including Stella Maris. Since retirin ...
, The RTÉ Sport football division has achieved cult status due to its unintentional humour. The former main team of
Bill O'Herlihy Bill O'Herlihy (26 September 1938 – 25 May 2015) was an Irish television broadcaster and public relations executive. He was best known for his broadcasts for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), primarily in politics and sport. A presenter for ...
,
Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as ...
,
Eamon Dunphy Eamon Martin Dunphy (born 3 August 1945) is an Irish media personality, journalist, broadcaster, author, sports pundit and former professional footballer. He grew up playing football for several youth teams including Stella Maris. Since retirin ...
and
Liam Brady William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer and pundit. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for ...
was usually used for Irish matches and Champions League matches, with a usual big build up and long analysis afterwards which gain huge ratings.


Gaelic games

In 1926, RTÉ broadcast the first field game in Europe. The GAA match was broadcast live on the radio station 2RN, RTÉ's predecessor. RTÉ Sport is probably the second most significant of the categories since often hundreds of thousands would watch ''
The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since 1 ...
'', 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 (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
games on
BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...
, did not receive the breadth of coverage as available on RTÉ. In 2008, however,
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...
won the rights to show ten Championship games, bringing an end to RTÉ's exclusivity. RTÉ though remain the sole broadcaster on radio and retained the All-Ireland series exclusively with forty championship games available on television. Games are also available online. 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 team is playing. Under the 2011 deal, TV3 showed eleven matches, including both All-Ireland minor finals with coverage on TV3 in English and sister channel 3e in Irish. In 2014, a new deal was announced, with TV3 losing their coverage to Sky Sports. RTÉ keep their share of the matches but Sky has fourteen exclusive matches and other matches, such as the All-Ireland Semi Finals and Finals, which are shared between RTÉ and Sky. Under this deal BBC NI also get to show matches as long as RTÉ also cover them. The
All-Ireland Football Final The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, All-Ireland Men's Senior Football Championship, the premier competition in Gaelic football, is an annual series of games played in Ireland during the summer and early autumn, and organised by the Gae ...
traditionally attracts high ratings with it too attracting high ratings in previous years.


Coverage

''RTÉ's championship games are broadcast through their ''
The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since 1 ...
'' banner; for more information on their coverage see there''. Among other sports, RTÉ broadcasts the following on television (usually on RTÉ2): * ''
The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since 1 ...
'' – coverage of
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...
and
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Championship, is an annual Inter county, inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest-tier competition for ...
games (May – September) * '' League of Ireland Live'' – coverage of
League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...
matches * ''
Against the Head ''Against the Head'' is a weekly rugby magazine programme, broadcast on RTÉ Two and presented by Joanne Cantwell with regular panellists Shane Byrne, and Irish Times rugby correspondent Gerry Thornley with various other guests throughout th ...
'' – review and discussion of
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
games * '' RTÉ Racing'' – coverage of major Irish racing festivals * '' Pro Box Live'' – coverage of professional
boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...
cards Sports news bulletins are broadcast hourly on
RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...
under the title ''RTÉ Sport on 2fm''.


Rugby union

RTÉ's coverage of rugby remains popular, underlined by the fact that
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
's Grand Slam
decider Decider is both a real word and a "Bushism". It may refer to: * ''Decider'' (website), a pop culture website operated by the ''New York Post'' * '' Bill Maher: The Decider'', a stand-up comedy special * Decider (Turing machine), a Turing machin ...
versus
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
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 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
, but still ranks above other programmes exclusive to RTÉ. In 2010 RTÉ bought the rights for
Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...
rugby with
TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...
,
BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...
and
BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day. The name ' is the Scottish Gae ...
. In 2014 Sky Sports signed a non-exclusive deal to cover the Pro 12, under the new contract TG4 continue to show the tournament free to air for Ireland, BBC Wales and S4C continue to cover the tournament in Wales, BBC Scotland return to cover the tournament alongside BBC Alba and BBC Northern Ireland cover all Ulster Matches not being Broadcast by Sky. Under this new deal RTÉ dropped the Pro12 Rugby but continue to show every game in the 6 Nations and all Ireland Autumn Internationals. RTÉ showed the Heineken Cup for many years and after the coverage was snapped up by Sky Sports in 2004, RTÉ 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. As of 2014 RTÉ is the home of international rugby, holding rights to the Six Nations and Autumn Internationals, signing a deal with Sky Sports to cover Ireland Autumn Internationals. The Rugby World Cup returned to RTÉ in 2011 after an eight-year absence, as the 2007 tournament was on TV3 Ireland. Their coverage was the same as TV3 in the sense they had only thirteen 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 deferred rights meaning they can show a full rerun of a match in the afternoon. RTÉ also broadcast highlights in primetime between 19:00 and 22:00 on RTÉ 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. RTÉ 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 was instead commentating. Any highlights that did not have an RTÉ 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. RTÉ lost the rights to TV3 for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. After they lost the rights to coverage of the Six Nations to
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...
, RTE showed live Women's and U20's matches in 2018. Coverage was usually presented by Daire O'Brien, with analysis by the likes of Bernard Jackman and James Downey, with commentary from the normal team of Hugh Cahill, Donal Lenihan and more.


Golf

RTÉ holds exclusive Irish rights to live coverage of the only professional golf tournament to take place in Ireland, The Irish Open, covering every day's play Live. In 2011 they had play every day on RTÉ One and highlights on RTÉ 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'' and ''Sunday Sport''.


Other sports

RTÉ also screen much horse racing, including the
Galway Races The Galway Races (Irish language, Irish: ''Rásaí na Gaillimhe'') is an Ireland, 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 one of the ...
and
Punchestown Punchestown Racecourse is located in the parish of Eadestown, between the R410 and R411 regional roads near Naas, County Kildare, in Ireland. It is known as the home of Irish Jumps Racing and plays host to the annual Punchestown Irish Nationa ...
, they have their own coverage for Irish racing with Treacy Piggott, but they take
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
coverage when covering the Grand National, The Derby and the Cheltenham Festival. Sport is shown on RTÉ News. 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 athletes were competing. From the 1970s through to 1997, RTÉ's flagship television sports programme was ''
Sports Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
'', 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 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
's ''
Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...
'' or ITV's '' World of Sport''. The programme was badly hit by the loss of live rights to Saturday afternoon
First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...
matches after the beginning of the
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
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 The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...
are still shown live. For many years, RTÉ was the official broadcaster in Ireland of
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
with its coverage presented by Peter Collins.


Radio

RTÉ's regular radio sports programming (usually on
RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...
) comprises: * '' Saturday Sport'' – coverage of Premier League and other Saturday sports * ''
Sunday Sport The ''Sunday Sport'' is a British tabloid newspaper that was founded by David Sullivan in 1986. It mainly publishes images of topless female glamour models, and is well-known for publishing sensationalised, fictionalised, and satirical con ...
'' – coverage of GAA and other Sunday sports Sports news bulletins are broadcast hourly on
RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...
under the title ''RTÉ Sport on 2fm''. RTÉ Sport also broadcasts an hour-long sports programme ''Game On'' from 7pm Monday – Friday on 2fm.


Awards

RTÉ Sports, in conjunction with the
Irish Sports Council Sport Ireland (), formerly the Irish Sports Council, is a statutory authority that oversees, and partly funds, the development of sport within Ireland. It is located at the National Sports Campus in the townland of Sheephill near Abbotstown Hou ...
, presents a number of awards annually - including in team of the year, manager of the year and sportsperson of the year categories. At the 2012 event, when the
RTÉ Sports Person of the Year The RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Award is the titular award of the RTÉ Sports Awards ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the Irish sportsperson (from the island of Ireland) judged to have achieved the most that year. The ...
award was being given to boxer
Katie Taylor Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She was the undisputed and undefeated lineal world lightweight champion from 2019 to 2024, and has held the undisputed and lineal world super lightweight ...
, viewers of the broadcast were instead shown an advertisement for the cosmetics and beauty company
L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French multinational personal care corporation registered in Paris
. This caused "uproar", with group head of sport at RTÉ, Ryle Nugent, apologising and stating that: "RTÉ sports awards offers sincere apologies for the technical issue at the end of tonight's programme. We're investigating how it happened".


References


External links

* *
Radio
*


RTÉ Sport: In Pictures
– photography archive

{{DEFAULTSORT:RTE Sport Sports divisions of TV channels