In spite of the magnitude of the occasion, Ireland's vital World Cup qualifier with Norway at Tallaght Stadium tomorrow evening will not be broadcast live on television.
Although eir Sport have shown three of Ireland's games from the campaign thus far (home games against Slovakia and Holland along with the away game against the Dutch which, as an FAI statement trumpeted afterward, reached 50,000 people online as a result of it being streamed live on eir Sport's Facebook page) they are not picking up tomorrow evening's showdown with top seeds Norway.
An eir Sport spokesperson confirmed that they are instead focusing on the French Open at Roland-Garros.
eir Sport are the rights holders to the French Open at Roland-Garros, which is ongoing. From early in the year, that's where the focus was going to be for these two weeks. The men's semi-finals are on tomorrow evening, and they are the key focus for eir Sport tomorrow evening.
eir Sport have always been big supporters of the Irish women's soccer team and have shown three games from the current campaign live and look forward to broadcasting more games in the future, and wish the team well in tomorrow's game.
While the home game won't be on television, next Tuesday's return fixture against Norway will be live on RTE 2 from 4.35pm.
RTE did explore the possibility of showing tomorrow's game, but the rights were not made available to them. Balls understand that suggestions eir Sport blocked RTE or any other Irish broadcasters from picking up the rights to tomorrow's game are incorrect, as eir Sport were not asked whether they had any issue with another broadcaster showing tomorrow's game.
Ireland are in second-place in their group as they bid to qualify for a first-ever major tournament, with the upcoming double-header against third-placed Norway crucial in determining the outcome of the group. Ireland are in second place in the group, sandwiched between group leaders Holland and Norway, over whom they have a one-point advantage having played one game more.
The side that finishes top of the group qualifies for the World Cup automatically, with four of the seven best-ranked runners-up (after their points against the bottom-placed side are disregarded) playing off for one final qualification place.
