Well, I did say it’s good to have the football back didn’t I? So good in fact that those kind people at Setanta Sports (with especial thanks to Tom) have been on to offer a tantalising prize for those of you willing to test your prediction skills a bit further during every round of the forthcoming league campaign. This might appeal, in particular, to those of you who don’t feel that the mini-league is challenging you sufficiently in this regard.
As you probably know, Setanta will be broadcasting two live matches every Saturday night during the campaign, one on the Setanta Ireland channel (for those of you on cable, that’s the one that comes included in the standard channel line-up) with another on their subscription-based Setanta Sports channel. In addition, the match they broadcast on Setanta Ireland will also be shown in glorious high definition quality on the Setanta HD channel (also available as part of the main UPC package) and tomorrow night’s clash between Dublin and Armagh will be the first ever bit of live GAA action to be shown on HD. Good on them.
So, here’s the crack. There’ll be a competition here every week, in association with Setanta Sports, to predict the exact score of the game being shown live on Setanta Ireland of a Saturday night so this week it’s the Armagh v Dublin match. All you need to do to enter is to send me an email (to williejoe@mayogaablog.com) identifying yourself and giving your prediction for the exact score of the Dublin/Armagh game and the Mayo/Down game, which will be used as a tie-breaker in the unlikely event that there are two correct answers. The weekly winners (seven of them) will then go into the hat from which I’ll get someone (most likely my small mucker here) to pull one overall winner.
And the prize? Well, with thanks again to my new best buddies in Setanta, the trophy for this particular contest is one year’s free satellite subscription (worth a cool €200) to Setanta Sports. It’s just available via satellite (i.e. not cable) and, for obvious logistical reasons, is also only available to those residing within the jurisdiction but that should still make it something worth having a go at for a fair few of you.
So, if you want to give it a go, just drop me a mail with your Week 1 score predictions of those two games before 5 pm tomorrow and I’ll then announce the first shortlisted punter on Monday. Best of luck and all that.
I dont get Setanta WJ. I thought the GAA didnt enter into exclusive deals with cable or pay for view channels. Thats some thanks to all those that give their time on a voluntary basis to the GAA through out the country, that to see a televised league match you either subscribe to Setanta or Chorus. Not on in my opinion. GAA belongs to the people not some cable company wanting to profit on an an organization thats in the main built and driven by the volunteer. This WJ is not a go at you, just my feelings about pay to view. SKY is pay to view as well but its revenue goes to professional footballers. (I dont get that either by the way)
Fair enough, OTR, but I guess the reality is that most households with a TV pay for the service in some shape or form. The Setanta Ireland channel forms part of UPC’s basic channel line-up so you don’t have to pay anything extra to receive it and in cabled areas that’s how must people are getting their TV so I don’t think the GAA’s arrangement with them can fairly be classified as a pay-to-view arrangement.
For sure, if you want to access their other channels (which is where our match unfortunately is being shown on Saturday night is) you have to subscribe to their service but you’re guaranteed to get at least one Saturday night match in every round without having to do so.
I think Setanta also deserve recognition for deciding to broadcast the action in HD – RTE still have to get up off their fat, TV licence-funded arses on that front!
Does anyone know where in east london around stratford forest gate area a man ..or woman could get a setanta 1 pub in which to watch tonight game
thanks for any help