LAST UPDATE | 19 Aug
SHAMROCK ROVERS SAY that the club “is considering if it will facilitate any future requests” from RTÉ to show League of Ireland Premier Division fixtures from Tallaght Stadium for the rest of 2024 after the club’s Europa League play-off games against Paok were not picked up by any national broadcaster.
Both legs of Rovers’ tie with the Greek champions will instead be shown live on the LOITV streaming service.
RTÉ have told The 42 that they “informed the FAI back in November that for financial and editorial reasons, RTÉ would not be in a position to broadcast League of Ireland clubs in Europe this season”, and that “this was communicated to the clubs by the FAI”.
It’s also understood that RTÉ’s League of Ireland TV rights deal is with the FAI rather than with the individual clubs and, as such, Shamrock Rovers would be in a breach of their participation agreement if they were to prevent RTÉ from broadcasting live match coverage from Tallaght Stadium.
Rovers’ indication that they would take action to that effect came after their fourth consecutive European tie this season wasn’t picked up by any Irish free-to-air broadcaster.
Fans in Ireland and the UK will instead be able to stream Thursday’s Europa League play-off first leg against Paok from the Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki, on LOITV, where kick-off will be at 6:30pm Irish time. The return leg in Dublin on 29 August will also be available to stream on LOITV, except in Greece and Cyprus.
Having been unable to secure a TV home for their continental qualifiers, Rovers have organised at their own expense for all four of their ties to be streamed on the same platform.
Stephen Bradley’s men are already guaranteed group-stage European football for just the third time in their history after sealing a 3-2 aggregate victory over Celje at Tallaght Stadium last Thursday. That victory means that, even if Rovers suffer defeat to Paok over two legs, the League of Ireland champions will compete in the Conference League proper this season.
The Hoops’ group-stage fixtures in either the Europa League or Conference League will be shown live on Premier Sports, who are the exclusive rightsholders for both competitions in Ireland.
“The club exhausted every avenue across the four rounds of European matches to deliver matches on a free-to-air national broadcaster, but to no avail,” Rovers said of the club’s qualifiers. “Live streaming has provided fans with the option to follow the Hoops home and away in Europe in July and August.
“It has been a disappointment that these thrilling games have not been showcased to a wider Irish audience; the drama of a last minute penalty miss in our first home tie advancing the team to UCL QR2, 9,500 fans packed into Tallaght Stadium for a great match against Sparta Prague game and, finally, the turnaround from an away first leg loss to beat Celje in extra time to make the UECL League phase (at a minimum).
“And now, the visit of PAOK will not be broadcast on terrestrial Irish TV.
“The club is considering if it will facilitate any future requests from the national broadcaster to show SSE Airtricity Premier Division fixtures from Tallaght Stadium in 2024.”
- Updated at 2:50pm with comment from RTÉ.
