RTÉ Sport is set to re-show unforgettable games, goals and greatest sporting hits, but to package them as an ‘as-live’ experience with additional content online and on radio.
Starting this Thursday on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player at 9.30 pm, RTÉ Sport Classics will run every Thursday for 10 weeks.
The series will get underway with the 1995 All Ireland Hurling Final when Clare won their first All Ireland for 81 years amid scenes of pure delight. If you think watching the crowd in the Croke Park stands looks a bit strange in the current climate, wait until you see them on the pitch at the end.
On April 23rd the epic Munster Hurling Final of 2004 between Cork and Waterford takes centre stage. If you don’t remember, try to avoid googling the result and watch it ‘as-live’ for a pure thrill.
On April 30th we will relive the 1982 All Ireland Football Final where Seamus Darby broke Kerry hearts.
Moving into May and the Irish Women’s rain and mud-soaked victory over Italy to win a first-ever Grand Slam will get a merited viewing by a bigger audience than tuned in back in 2013.
That will be followed by a Doubleheader of Euro Qualifiers from 1974 and 2015 and a Don Givens hat trick followed by a Shane Long belter that gave us two of the most magical occasions at the old Lansdowne Road and then the new Aviva Stadium.
It’s another double on May 28th with wins over France in 1981 and Wales in 2017 bringing us on another switchback ride through football history.
The two football nights will be split up by the 2013 near-miss against the All Blacks for the Irish Men’s Rugby team and then the revenge from 2018 will round out the series on June 18th, after we see the Republic of Ireland against Holland in 2001 on June 4th and the Irish Women’s World Cup semi-final in Hockey against Spain from 208 on June 11th.
There is a second run of Classics running over a further ten weeks if there is still no live sport on the horizon to take us through July and August and the action will be further supplemented with reshowings of some excellent sporting documentaries including The Game, Blues Sisters, All Ireland Day, Mondello and many more.
In soccer, over the past two Sundays, RTÉ has shown every goal from the 2014 and 2018 World Cups and will continue this Sunday 19th April with more goals and stories from the men’s and women’s World Cups down the years.
Finally, one to whet the appetite there is a plan to reshow the Euro ’88 and Italia ’90 campaigns through June and July, bringing the iconic moments and cultural reference points that they became to a whole new audience.
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