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Irish fans celebrate Ireland's goal at the Submarine Bar in Crumlin, Dublin. INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Croatia match attracted highest RTE audience since 1994 World Cup

Over two million people tuned in to see Ireland lose their opening Group C match to Slaven Bilic’s side on Sunday night.

THE RESULT MIGHT not have been quite as good as the Giants Stadium win over Italy 18 years ago, but Ireland’s defeat to Croatia last night was the most watched sports event here since 1994.

A record 2.03 million people tuned in at some point to see Giovanni Trapattoni’s side lose their opening Group C game, 18 years after the channel last recorded such high numbers at the World Cup in the United States.

An average of 1.235 million people watched the coverage from start to finish, encompassing the opening credits to the closing Apres Match sketch.

Over 180,000 people have streamed the station’s coverage of the tournament so far on the RTE Player.

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15 Comments
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    Mute Steve Wright
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    Jun 11th 2012, 6:08 PM

    My guess is viewing figures will be down for Spanish game. I’ll be cheering tho.

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    Mute Sean Mc Avinue
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    Jun 11th 2012, 8:38 PM

    My guess is there will be more people watching The Angelus than the Spain match.

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    Mute David Clements
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    Jun 12th 2012, 12:49 AM

    well those that don’t tune in for
    the spanish game don’t deserve, and probably never get, that feeling in your gut and your heart, when we score and beat the odds… screw em

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    Mute stephen corrigan
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    Jun 11th 2012, 6:44 PM

    Loving the RTE 2 HD on the old sky!

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    Mute The Frog Blog
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    Jun 11th 2012, 6:48 PM

    Why is RTE Two HD only available on Sky if you have the HD pack? I can get BBC HD for free? That’s a bit messed up, no?

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    Mute stephen corrigan
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    Jun 11th 2012, 7:17 PM

    It’s on it now without the pack!

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    Mute Chris lynch
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    Jun 11th 2012, 9:03 PM

    Channel 295 – no need for the HS Sub..

    Only found it last night before the game started.

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    Mute Damien Moore
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    Jun 12th 2012, 12:06 PM

    Thanks to the fine people at Boards.ie television forum, RTE 2 HD doesn’t need the HD pack anymore.

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    Mute louise
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    Jun 11th 2012, 6:10 PM

    What match

    16
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    Mute curly nettie
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    Jun 11th 2012, 7:23 PM

    Disappointed to learn (5 minutes before the match) that RTE had blocked online viewers from abroad, forcing us to watch foreign channels who didn’t even recognise Michael D in the crowd.. I’d like to get some value for money for my Irish TV licence, which I’m still paying every month (in addition to the Late Late Show of course..).

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    Mute Paddy Murphy
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    Jun 11th 2012, 8:18 PM

    is it not a case that Rte don’t have the rights to show their channels in other countrys? also what do you mean still paying for a tv license.?

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    Mute Jock O'neill
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    Jun 11th 2012, 6:53 PM

    I’ll give odds of 100/1 in a private bet money guaranteed to anyone who thinks Ireland will win one of their next two matches

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    Mute David o Mahony
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    Jun 11th 2012, 7:11 PM

    100 euro on that jock. I think they will win 1 of the next 2 games. Do you accept this as a written contract / agreement ?

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    Mute Mike Rrotch
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    Jun 11th 2012, 7:22 PM

    silent jock !!!!!! if the bet comes off david he will be left with no jocks

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    Mute Thomas Mc Grory
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    Jun 11th 2012, 9:02 PM

    Anne Doyle is making a come back

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