Soccer Saturday

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Gillette Soccer Saturday is a weekly television programme broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Saturday afternoons. The current host is Jeff Stelling. The programme is sponsored by Gillette.

History

Soccer Saturday grew out of Sports Saturday, which started in 1992 hosted by Paul Dempsey. Current host Jeff Stelling joined the programme in 1994 and became its sole presenter a year later. The name of the programme changed to Soccer Saturday in 1998.

Format

Soccer Saturday is broadcast from 12pm on Sky Sports News and Sky Sports 1, and lasts for up to six hours. The programme begins with the host and four regular in-studio pundits previewing the weekend's matches, reviewing recent results and debating current issues in football. Viewers are kept updated on the progress of early kick-offs by reporters at the games and by graphics below and to the right of the director's cut. These graphics also includes latest team news and league standings. If Sky Sports is covering a Barclays Premier League or Football League match at 12.45pm, match coverage replaces Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports 1 at 12.30pm whilst the programme continues on Sky Sports News.

Just before 3pm, Sky Sports 1 recommences its simulcast with Sky Sports News in time for the 3pm matches, none of which are televised in the UK. The graphics display a vidiprinter and cycle through current scores in the English and Scottish leagues, with Jeff Stelling providing commentary on the events as they unfold. Significant events at the most high profile games - almost always in the Barclays Premier League - are described by the studio panel who each watch a game on a monitor. Other games deemed important are reported on by correspondents at the grounds connected to the studio by a video link, ISDN or telephone.

After the 3pm games finish, the classified football results are read by Alan Lambourne. Immediately afterwards, Sky Sports 1 provides live coverage of the 5.15pm Football League match, with Soccer Saturday continuing on Sky Sports News. The studio pundits discuss the games they have been watching, and post-match interviews with players and managers are shown conducted by that evening's Football First commentators.

A programme with a similar format is also broadcast when there are a number of midweek games, usually in the UEFA Champions League, in which case it is known as Soccer Special. Since the start of the 2008/2009 season, Soccer Special has been hosted by Ed Chamberlin who had previously shared presenting the programme with Ian Payne during the previous season. Soccer Special was hosted by Stelling until he began presenting Monday Night Football at the start of the 2005/2006 season.

During the summer the show is replaced with Sports Saturday which is more akin to the show's original format, concentrating on sports other than football due to the absence of competitive football during the summer. This again is presented by Chamberlin. However in 2009 Sports Saturday was not shown and Sky Sports News just continued airing their normal weekday schedule. This may be down to the presenter of the show Ed Chamberlin being diagnosed with Cancer.

Presenters and experts

• Presenter: Jeff Stelling
• Studio analysts: Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Phil Thompson, Charlie Nicholas & Paul Walsh
• Match reporters: Alan McInally, Alan Smith, Chris Kamara, Scott Minto, Tony Cottee, Gordon McQueen, Tony Gale, Peter Beagrie, Iain Dowie, Alan Mullery, John Salako, Rob Palmer, Johnny Phillips, Dickie Davies.

Rodney Marsh was a regular pundit, known for his outspoken views, until being sacked by Sky Sports in early 2005 after a poor taste joke referencing the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami^[1]. The late George Best was also a regular until leaving in 2004 to fight alcohol problems.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Final Score, a similar programme which is broadcast by the BBC.
• The Goal Rush, a football result programme broadcast by ITV from 2001 to 2003.

References

External links

• Soccer Saturday at the Internet Movie Database