Shamrock Rovers have released a damning statement after they failed to find a broadcaster willing to show their pivotal Europa League play-off against PAOK this weekend on on terrestrial television.
The League of Ireland champions have produced an impressive run in European competition this summer, now being just one tie away from securing a place in the Europa League group stages.
It has been announced that the first leg of their tie against PAOK in Athens, which takes place on Thursday at 6.30pm Irish time, will be broadcast on LOI TV.
This was seen as a last resort for the club, who hoped to have the fixture (along with the second leg the following week) broadcast live on Irish terrestrial television.
However, they were unfortunately unable to deliver on that aim.
We can confirm that both legs of our UEFA Europa League Play-Off will be streamed live on LOITV.
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.
Full statement 👇— Shamrock Rovers FC (@ShamrockRovers) August 19, 2024
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Shamrock Rovers Miffed As Broadcasters Opt Against PAOK Play-Off
While this game will be available to stream in Ireland, it is unfortunate that it will not reach a wider audience on terrestrial television.
Shamrock Rovers have now released a damning statement on the matter. In it the press release on the club website, they say that they 'exhausted every avenue' to have the games shown on terrestrial television but to no avail.
Rovers go on to suggest that they will reconsider allowing RTÉ into their stadium for the remainder of the 2024 season on the back of their lack of cooperation on this occasion.
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. 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, 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.
Not showing this tie against PAOK seems like a huge missed opportunity for the likes of RTÉ and Virgin Media, who would have no doubt drawn a sizeable audience of both Shamrock Rovers fans and neutral viewers.
The club will be playing European group stage football of some sort later this year, with a place in the Conference League already assured should they fail to advance from the upcoming tie against the Greek club.
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