Irish broadcaster faces wrath of England fans
During Saturday’s encounter with Andorra, England fans managed to temporarily divert their attention from the incredibly exciting football action to let out a tremendous chorus of “We Hate Setanta! We Hate Setanta!”
The lack of terrestrial coverage of England games is hugely frustrating for those looking for a fix of mild disappointment and boredom, meaning the Irish broadcaster - who are perfectly within their rights to exclusively show England’s away games - have come under heavy fire.
So what do you think? Is it our divine right to see a highlights package at the very least? Are Setanta acting unfairly or should we blame the BBC for blowing their budget on securing the Formula One instead?
Let us know with a comment below.
16 responses so far
1 jason baalham // Sep 8, 2008 at 10:13 am
I hate Setanta.
2 Greg Batty // Sep 8, 2008 at 10:21 am
To be honest i dont hate Setanta , i watch all my boxing on Setanta and was fairly miffed that i had to watch the Amir Khan fight on PPV. I paid it anway , got my popcorn and 6 pack.
Sat down and it was over befor i even opened a can.
Bout time we had somebody out there to challange sky. That Khan fight cost me 30 big ones, thats 2 months of Setanta viewing.
Never paying PPV on sky again .
GB
3 Honest Abe // Sep 8, 2008 at 12:30 pm
It’s quite strange to think that the Andorra- England match was on terrestial televison all across Asia, Africa, and quite a fair bit of Europe.
Yet, in England you need to pay to watch the English national football team?
You’ve got to wonder why does this only happen in England? Could you imagine if this happened to France? Italy? Spain? etc.
Another problem with Setanta, is who in there right mind would pay to watch England? They were near shambolic against the second worst nation in the world. £12.99 a month for that seems like an awful waste of money.
4 Greg Batty // Sep 8, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Well there again , i like watching the footie also the boxing and UFC . im not paying 12 99 just for the footie. There is so much more.
I have no problem with it .
5 Eric Wheatfield // Sep 8, 2008 at 4:57 pm
A lot of the arguments are pure bo**ox to be frank. These are AWAY games. As long as I can remember in recent years these games have been on SKY, which isnt exactly free. The penny still hasnt dropped with a lot of fans that the FA have no control over away games and never have! I had to laugh when I saw the headlines in the papers this morning about fans shouting “We hate Setanta”, a touch of irony there because A) They had paid a few hundred quid to go see England in Barcelona, this versus a tenner a month? Hmm. B) The national team is a joke, run by an overpaid past it club manager, if the fans have time to chant at a TV station then the game they were supposedly watching mustnt have been much good then eh?
6 Upminster Iron // Sep 8, 2008 at 5:04 pm
“overpaid past it club manager”
Really? The guy has won league titles in each of his last three seasons - from 2004 onwards so hardly ages ago - as a club manager in competitive leagues.
7 mike // Sep 8, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I’m from the States & I must say that I cannot stand Setanta. Setanta is as crooked as the Mafia. They have all the rights to the big matches. I’m refering mainly Euro, WC qualifiers, Champions League & Uefa Cup. They will only feed the satellite signals to pubs and send a Setanta agent to work the doors of these pubs to collect 20 bucks (roughly 10 GBP) per person…..Mafia I tell you
8 Squee // Sep 8, 2008 at 10:32 pm
I can’t decide which is more of a disgrace - Setanta or the BBC for letting go of the FA Cup.
9 hate setanta // Sep 9, 2008 at 11:41 am
At least sky let the BBC show highlights of the england games, setanta have no compassion.
IMO England matches should have the whole nation watching and supporting, not a select few.
The bbc are not without blame though as I would rather my license fee go on football rather than some of the pap they put on!
10 Upminster Iron // Sep 9, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Squee, I think the BBC just didn’t want Motson commentating on full gamea any more but they didn’t have the heart to tell him so decided it would be easier to just lose all their TV rights!
11 Lee Waller // Sep 10, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I hate Setanta…
I’m English but live in the US - Went to the local bar in Hoboken NJ that shows all English football to watch the Andorra game on Sat to find someone on the door charging $20 - I was amazed that the bar would charge this for such a small game - Checked if there was a charge today for the Croatia game to find that it’s the same $20 cover but have discovered that it is actually Setanta who impose this charge on all bars that subscribe for the games and actually send one of their reps to man the door and get the money and the bar only gets 15% of this - What a rip-off, I’m disgusted and refuse to pay it and the bar owners should too!
12 Stamford // Sep 10, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Setanta SHITE
13 peter youles // Sep 10, 2008 at 9:21 pm
setanta take the piss why should we english have to pay again to watch our country play when they show nrth ireland on sky sports two i suppose in ireland they could watch england it makes me sick everyone wants to have us over well they can stick it were the sun dont shine im not paying again im getting rid of my sky sports package its fnnished.
14 Jay // Sep 11, 2008 at 10:34 am
Irish company preventing English fans from watching their national side unless they pay for it. Yes I hate them just in the same way i hate every foreign company that negatuively affects my life nowadays
15 William of orange // Sep 12, 2008 at 9:31 am
Filthy Irish bastards. They know they dont have anything worth watching in Ireland, their teams are all absolute shite, no-one in their right mind would pay to watch a bunch of inbred spud-dodgers run about so they decide to charge the English instead, Who the hell do they think they are charging us to watch OUR national side play OUR game, its enough to renew hostilities over I think. If it wasnt for the fact they are so close to us i would suggest a nuclear strike
16 j // Sep 13, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I went to sports bar here in Montreal to watch Andorra and it was 20 bucks to get in. The Setanta rep works the door. On Wed I said fuck that shit and bought it on pay per view at home for $25 bucks. 5 of us split the cost.
Bar = $20 each at the door plus $30 bucks each for 6 bottles of beer with tip.
Home $5 each for the match and around $10 for 10 bottles of beer. I saved $35.
I also heard that Setanta offers the bar the option of buying the match at a flat fee or having it on consignment and they will charge 20 bucks to get in. Either way it’s a fucking scam and they should be ashamed. I want go to the pub to watch is again . Which is too bad cause I like it when it gets argie bargie.