Comments on: European Rugby on Aussie TV

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:45:51 +0000

True Tah

As l said l dont mind if more Rugby comes on board but the reason l have the subscription (trial) is football. Mark Viduka, Kevin Muscat, and now McDonald and other Aussies ply their trade in Scotland
BTW I’m no great fan of Harlequins? or Bath or Gloucester either.

By: True Tah

True Tah — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:11:25 +0000

Didn’t realise you were such a huge fan of the likes of Kilmarnock and Dunferline.

If Rangers and Celtic ever left SPL and went to EPL, would you still be a big fan of Scottish futbol?

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:52:14 +0000

Good luck to the Rugby guys to get more of your game on but…if they start taking football off then my subscription goes with it.

By: The Riddler

The Riddler — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:31:04 +0000

As I posted above, Setanta in their reply to me indicated that they have the rights from Sky Sports / BSkyB in the UK to show the GP in Australia - they just chose not to some of the time, espeically when there is an SPL soccer game on.

A couple of polite inquiries to Setanta may just pay dividends.

By: Ian Noble

Ian Noble — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:03:04 +0000

Spiro

Murdoch is the man you should target, he holds the rights to the Guinness premiership and the Heineken Cup. Surely if enough Roar posties pestered him they would listen, presumably at the moment they assume there are not enough viewers to make it viable.

By: The Riddler

The Riddler — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:53:57 +0000

“Um did any of you Rugger Buggers consider that maybe more people watch the Scottish Football than the Rugby Union,just a small point”

I did consider that - but quickly dismissed it as a foolish thought

By: Spiro Zavos

Spiro Zavos — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:35:30 +0000

ESPN occasionally play a Guinness match and later in the season Heinenken Cup. It is frustrating not to have the good
UK matches on when you are only paying your Setanta sub for the meagre rugby they play. So let’s all pressure Setanta to give us more rugby.

By: Ian Noble

Ian Noble — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:48:24 +0000

Setanta is Irish and therefore a strong sports bias towards Celtic games ie Wales, Scotland and Ireland. As far as rugby is concerned they show the Magners League. I don’t know the viewing figures to compare with the SPL, but I suspect otherthan Celtic and Rangers games the figures for the SPL are poor. For the first time, they were able to bid for and win 20% of televised EPL games as BSkyB were prohibited from bidding for that package as the powers that be decided Murdoch had too many EPL games on their platform.

As BSkyB is owned by Murdoch and his cronies I don’t understand why as far as rugby is concerned they can’t make the GP,HC etc available in OZ. In the UK they are able to stream S14 etc., perhaps because they assume that the large numbers of ex-pats from OZ, SA and NZ make it a viable proposition

6Ns the biggest draw is on BBC (FTA) with the games attracting 5/7 million per game; good move by RFU and others as on a FTA platform it is great promotion of union. I believe Setanta may have bought rights to some of the games for worldwide distribution. There is an increasing clamour in the UK for more rugby union on FTA. ITV the commercial FTA channel has just won the right to show a 90 mins highhlights show of GP games every weekend, it will interesting to see viewing numbers although timings and use of digitai platform not available to all may compromise figures.

In Wales there is a excellent rugby programme on BBC Wales called scrum 5 which I can pick up on the internet. They also feature games in the Magners league which can be picked up via the FTA digitial interactive platform.I found it useful as Quins, my club, are drawn against Ulster in the HC and they recently featured in a game v Dragons in Magners League game on that platform.

By: jools-usa

jools-usa — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:44:28 +0000

Here in the US Setanta gives us rugby from Heineken, Guiness, Magners, Currie Cup, ANZ Provincial matches, and English Premier League soccer..
I’d say 50% of Guiness & Heineken rugby games are hard to distinguish from EPL, except in the
EPL they’re meant to kick.
Jools-USA

By: John Ryan

John Ryan — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:29:12 +0000

Um did any of you Rugger Buggers consider that maybe more people watch the Scottish Football than the Rugby Union,just a small point

By: mtngry

mtngry — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:22:49 +0000

I will write to setanta as well, they do not play enough rugby and they hardly seem to be on at a time when I am home to watch.

By: netrug

netrug — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:13:44 +0000

True Tah

You are correct. The Georgians can’t wait for the clash with Russia. Even the home based players are looking iat it for revenge for the invasion.

The first round game between Russia and Georgia is scheduled 21st March, 2009, in Russia. It will probably be in the Rugby mad Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Hopefully, Russian TV will show a delayed replay over the internet.

By the way, ltwo wweks ago, a local seven a side tournament was held in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. An American team was entered but I don’t know who it represented, most probably “military advisors” based in Georgia.

By: kenikenipat

kenikenipat — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:55:10 +0000

Fox sports had 6N’s and Heiny Cup for a while, but my guess is, that the rights cost way over the odds for the amount of Ad sales they are able to recoup. Otherwise, it would be a permanent fixture. Maybe the home nations are asking too much for the rights?

By: True Tah

True Tah — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:06:22 +0000

netrug,

I cant wait to see Georgia play Russia next time, given the recent hostilities between the two countries, its a chance for our Georgian friends to get something on the board.

Especially when you what the Georgian rugby players in France had to say.

“We’ve been speaking amongst ourselves. We consulted each other and 80 per cent of us are ready to go off to battle, if in the next two or three days, the situation does not improve. We’ll all go together. We’re obliged to go, its our country. We want to defend it” Davit Kinchagishvili, Brive.

By: netrug

netrug — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:46:52 +0000

It is possible to get some Rugby from Europe live streamed over the internet, mainly from Georgia ans Russia. This year I was able to see the Georgia/Russia, Georgia/Portugal, Russia/Romania and Russia/Portugal games live. Russian games are actually on a delay so you will need to find out the broadcast times

Spain is in the first division this time and it may be possible that their home games will be broadcast live as well.

Rugby broadcasts can befound but it does require a bit of searching. Try smotri.tv for Russia and the public channel of Georgia TV for starters

By: The Riddler

The Riddler — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:45:06 +0000

I have received a response back to my email to Setanta which reads :

“We can show any game shown by the host broadcaster Sky Sports. Unfortunately they didn’t make a game available this week to us. There have not made any highlight show available to us. Often the selected games clash with our SPL coverage which is one of our feature products so games are often only on delay. ”

How sad that Scottish Premier League Soccer is seen as a more valuable product than GP Rugby! However, very nice that they took the time to respond to my query. As per my original post, perhaps if a few more rugby fans were to write to them, complimenting them on their existing coverage and requesting more games, it could have an effect. The address I used was setantaoz@setanta.com

True Tah, the UK show (the Rugby Club) doesn’t have Greg Martin but it does have Brian Moore!!

By: Chris Ash, syd Aust

Chris Ash, syd Aust — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:32:37 +0000

ESPN show Heineken cup games too, also the occasional NH match (eg: USA vs Musnter & USA vs clermont tour matches last month)

You just have to check out the guide on a week to week basis online in case of any updates etc.

i too would like to see more NH rugby…

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:10:39 +0000

Thanks True Tah
Sounds like a game that may be worth watching when it comes on Setanta.

By: True Tah

True Tah — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:50:03 +0000

Dave

Ireland is split into 4 provinces - Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster, this is not just a rugby thing, it is a historical thing going back centuries.

In Irish rugby, with the move to professional rugby, the decision was made to have the four provinces be the professional teams. Munster and Leinster have been the strongest teams, Munster - rugby is far more of a working class game there, whereas Leinster rugby is essentially middle class.

This game is the biggest in Celtic rugby without any doubt, in the past, clashes between the 3 good Irish sides generally draw the biggest crowds in the comp (once they drew 45,000 at Lansdowne Road before it was redeveloped), admittedly the Scottish crowds are pathetic and aside from the Ospreys the same could be said of the Welsh.

I guess Setanta does show any European rugby at all, it is likely to be Six Nations or Heineken Cup, neither of which have started yet.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:37:08 +0000

Setanta have 2 channels so what we get in Oz maybe is a combination of Setanta 1 & 2. Have just put it on for a trial month because of all the football they show mainly WC qualifiers. I would say the reason more Rugby is not shown is because there is so much football on.
True Tah
You might help me here. Setanta have been running an ad for the biggest game in Celtic Rugby…Munster vs Leinster? Who/what are these teams?

By: True Tah

True Tah — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:27:05 +0000

The Riddler,

I don’t have Setanta, but given that Foxtel is unlikely to show any European rugby here anytime soon, so I can’t get my summer rugby fix any other way!

Is the UK version of Inside Rugby better than the Aussie version, I guess without Greg Martin it would be!