An editorial note re: The Journal and The 42’s reporting on the Uefa Nations League matches between Ireland and Israel is available to read here.

FOR THE SECOND successive Sunday, Ireland fans and otherwise curious viewers were treated to the bizarre spectacle of RTÉ’s compromise coverage of Ireland facing Israel in the Nations League.

The national broadcaster is curtailing how it covers the two games, and said last month that it would not be using its own employees on screen or studio punditry, with the commentary instead provided by Uefa’s global coverage.

RTÉ has said it is broadcasting the Uefa feed due to a decision to fulfil its “contractual obligations” while limiting commercial activity around the game. The broadcaster has been continuing to provide news coverage of the game and the events surrounding it.

No ads were broadcast before the match or at half-time. 

As Ireland played their nominally home fixture against Israel in the north Serbian town of Bačka Topola tonight, things on TV looked much the same as they did last week.

The broadcast began with no introduction, continuity announcement, studio analysis or any of the other bells and whistles that would accompany an Ireland game aside from pictures and commentary from Uefa’s man on the ground.

The TV schedule said the game would start showing at 7.35pm, 10 minutes before kick-off, but the broadcaster so curtailed its coverage that it shaved another two minutes off the build-up and aired RTÉ 2′s staple Sunday evening nature documentary until 7.37pm.

After that belated introduction, much of the coverage from the Uefa feed was – like the notes in any good jazz standard – all about what the commentator didn’t say. 

There has been no shortage of spikiness between the two sides in recent weeks, as well as questions about whether Ireland should play these games at all, whether the players would agree to do so, and why this game is happening 2,000km away from Dublin.

Tonight’s coverage did not allude to any of that, though there has been so much controversy around Ireland’s two fixtures against Israel that not even the Uefa guy could sanitise the elephant out of the room.

The pre-match patter began by referencing Israel’s game against Kosovo and Ireland’s 2-2 draw with Austria, with emphasis put on how a win here for either side would help them ahead of the final fixtures of the group.

It didn’t take long until the commentator made his first knowing reference to events off the pitch.

“Both these teams know the importance of a victory this evening in terms of…,” the commentator said, trailing off with a third-trimester pregnant pause before steering things back on course.

Ireland’s Troy Parrott celebrates with Adam Idah after scoring his side's first goal of the match Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

“… trying to avoid relegation from League B.”

To his credit, the man with the microphone didn’t completely shun the awkward reality around the game, but he certainly tried his hardest to avoid it.

Announcing the starting XIs, he observed that Ireland and Queens Park Rangers defender Jimmy Dunne has had “an interesting international break” after being named as a third-choice goalkeeper – though he didn’t explain when or why.

Uefa rules stipulate that international squads require three goalkeepers, and Dunne was nominated at short-notice alongside Caoimhín Kelleher and Max O’Leary after Gavin Bazunu decided to withdraw from the group ahead of last week’s fixture in Hungary.

Minutes later, the commentator noted that Bazunu had made himself unavailable for selection for this game, as he’d done last week, but again avoided enlightening viewers as to why this was the case.

For much of the evening, the mission was clear: stick to football.

No additional context was given to mutterings about the lack of spectators in the stadium, shots of Ireland’s players and management team bowing their heads during the Israeli anthem, or references to the lack of handshake between the captains during the coin toss.

At one point during the first half, the commentator made a colourful quip about a hotel overlooking the stadium where tonight’s game took place, and how it had hosted the Irish team during their stay in Bačka Topola.

“[It was] the shortest possible journey for them today,” he observed, forgetting that literally any hotel on the island of Ireland would have been a shorter trip if the game had been played at Lansdowne Road as it was originally supposed to be.

The whole thing was best summed up by events at half-time, when the silence around the stadium meant that microphones easily picked up angry howls that suggested some kind of kerfuffle as both teams went down the tunnel after the referee blew his whistle.

Viewers couldn’t quite see what was happening because the graphic that displayed the half-time score blocked out the pictures, and the TV director seemed determined not to show anything other than a wide shot of the pitch.

“And at half time, it is Republic of Ireland one, Israel nil,” the commentator announced, over an increasingly aggressive shouting match happening off-camera.

Irish journalists on the ground, including my colleague David Sneyd at The 42, later reported that Ireland fitness coach Damien Doyle claims he was spat at by an Israeli player as the sides exited the pitch.

When a first-half highlights package was played during the 15-minute interval, the commentary was jettisoned entirely and, in one clip, there was no audio at all; those watching along at home could be forgiven for barely noticing the difference.