Freaking Huge: Premiership coming to ESPN

A friend just emailed me the following story...

ESPN will screen Guinness Premiership rugby matches for the next three years after stepping in to take the 43 games per season that were due to be shown on Setanta before the Irish broadcaster's British arm collapsed.

ESPN has secured exclusive live rights to 43 matches per season from the Guinness Premiership, beginning next season and running through to the 2012/2013 season, including exclusive live coverage of the Guinness Premiership Final and one of the two semi-final matches.

snip

"Starting next season, our new television deals mean we have doubled the number of live televised Premiership matches, which will further raise the profile of the sport in the UK and overseas and will allow our clubs and sponsors to derive even greater exposure and value. It also means supporters have more chance to see their team on live television," he added.

I couldn't be more thrilled!

Heineken Cup & Amlin Challenge Cup

Bath lost a heartbreaker at home, and are now in all likelihood not going to advance from pool play. (Quick aside: their round 2 opponent, Stade Francais Paris - the most hideous uniforms I have ever seen.)












Gloucester was destroyed.

London Irish also lost a heartbreaker at home to Scarlets. I wonder if that was karma collecting for the favor at Leinster in round 1?

Dallaglio

I've been looking into my finalists' teams a bit, and one name that keeps coming up with the Wasps is Lawrence Dallaglio. Dallaglio is widely (unanimously?) believed to be one of the greatest 8-men in rugby history.

Each team has its legends, the Wasps are no exception. That being said, there is an unspoken rule among the fans of most teams that ill is not to be spoken of legends, however deserved. It would seem that Dallaglio - but for a drug allegation that was later resolved - has a character deserving of ill-will immunity. Point for Wasps.

Heineken Cup, Round 1

London Irish beat Leinster 12-9...though it looked like the benefited from a late no-call that would have easily tied it up.

Bath lost to Ulster...was totally outplayed 2nd half. Everytime I think I'm getting behind Bath, I watch them play and I thank myself that I'm still considering three other teams.

Gloucester beat the Newport Gwent Dragons in what looked like a great game. I could be wrong, but it appeared that Kingsholm seemed a bit more into the game than what I remember.

Fan Response

I'm pleased to post that I've received a few emails from fans of Premiership teams trying to support their team's case for me to be their newest fans.

I've received an email from a London Irish fan and two from a Bath fan. Both were thorough and respectful, but certainly sought to state their case.

I also made a post at each fan forum....

Bath - great discussion
Gloucester - crickets chirping
London Wasps - no activity, but I'll give them a pass as my own computer error prevented me from logging in properly
London Irish - a discussion on mascots, which I'm not considering

Madejski Stadium

Capacity: 24,000.

Regularly holds: 12,000

How does it look from match clips on iTV?: Empty.

This = a strike.

A look at Owners

London Irish and London Wasps: apparently owned by holding companies with board representation. Strike.

Bath: Andrew Brownsword, who apparently made his millions selling greeting cards. Full-time entrepreneur today.

Gloucester: Tom Walkinshaw, who is a Scottish racecar driver.