According to their press release announcing their coverage, RTE says “RTÉ Sport will broadcast every match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 on television and on RTÉ Player.
Viewers will be able to cheer on the Republic of Ireland as well as coverage of all other matches with some featuring on RTÉ2, RTÉ News Channel and all 64 live games from Australia and New Zealand on RTÉ Player along with highlights, previews, and features.”
Some of the Irish people from their coverage to follow are
One of RTE’s most popular reporters, Tony has been with the station since the early 90’s, and is one of the most knowledgeable people on Irish football. He covers all aspects of the game from The League of Ireland, to underage games to reporting from the sidelines of the national senior men’s teams as he travelled throughout the world with the qualifying campaigns and to major tournaments.
Tony has also been all over the world with the Irish Womens Football team. The team wanted to show their appreciation to Tony after qualifying for the World Cup Playoff, so Vera Pauw presented the reporter with a signed jersey as a token to thank him for his dedication to the team over the years. Tony will be on the sidelines in Australia with the team throughout the tournament.
You can view Tony’s Twitter profile here and watch and listen to him on RTE Radio and RTE TV during the tournament.
RTÉ Kids –
Having graduated from UCD, Samantha went on to work in RTE since 2000.Samantha can usually be found in the RTE newsroom, she is a lifelong Shamrock Rovers fan and will be switching to the RTE coverage, particularly focusing on RTE Kids and social media feeds.
Paul graduated from Dublin City University (DCU) and started working in journalism in Newstalk in 2002. Before joining RTE in 2004. Paul uses social media to make the news more accessible to younger generations and this is what he will be doing for RTE during the tournament
RTE Kids
RTE Kids is a platform run by RTE designed to make bite-sized versions of different cultural, news, animation and Irish-speaking information designed to be made accessible for children. By Paul and Samantha providing this information about the Womens World Cup it is designed to reach the next generation of Irish people so that it can inspire them to get involved with their local football team.
RTÉ Sport’s Commentators:
It’s often said that George is the voice of Irish football. The 72 year old has been commentating for RTE on Irish football internationals, World Cups, European Championships, Champions Leagues, and Olympic Games since 1978. Commentating on 12 World Cup and perhaps the most famous commentary line of “a nation holds its breath” during David O’Leary the Italia 90 penalty shoot-out to get the quarter finals of the competition. In addition to being a radio host on Lyric FM and an author
George was in Hamden Park when Amber Barrett scored the goal that put Ireland through to the World Cup and George will be travelling with the team to the world cup to commentate on the Irish national teams games. Having a very active social media account George can often be seen on RTE previewing the game, or on his Twitter profile, describing the areas and what the team is doing when games aren’t taking place.
You can listen to George’s commentary and previews on RTE TV and Radio or you can read his Twitter profile here
Des has been commentating on Irish TV in a number of different ways. Des could be first heard on Irish TV as a commentator on TV3, while also anchoring the in-studio section of the show and producing the show too. He could then be heard commentating on Setanta Sports and broadcasting on TV stations outside of Ireland, such as ESPN. He then made the move to RTE a number of years ago.
Des will be one of the commentators at the tournament for RTE, you can view his Twitter profile here
Adrian is originally from Sligo and he is a lifelong Sligo Rovers fan. He has worked a number of different jobs in radio for the likes of North West Radio, Century Radio and FM104. Before joining RTE in 1998 where he first presented on RTE Radio as an anchor on sports shows, before working as both a radio and television commentator. Like George, Adrian has commentated for RTE at World Cups, European Championships, Champions Leagues and Women’s games as well. He is well known as a Gaelic Games commentator too.
Adrian will be commentating from the tournament. You can see his active Twitter profile here
Co-commentators:
One of the Republic of Ireland’s most celebrated footballers, Stephanie has played for the likes of Peamount United, ASPTT Aibi (in France), the Houston Dash (in America), Sunderland, Florentina and Shamrock Rovers. However, most of you will remember her for “that” goal Stephenie scored against Wexford Youths, which ended up being nominated for the Pucas Award (Best Goal of the Year) in 2013.
In addition, Stephanie made 58 appearances for The Republic of Ireland, scoring 14 goals.
Having been an intern at the FAI, Stephanie also works as a football analyst and commentator on Newstalk, RTE and Premier Sports to name a few. She is one of the most vocal advocates for female sports, getting their fair share of media coverage.
She will be one of the analysts for RTE Sports for The FIFA Womens World Cup and you can find her Twitter profile here and her media links here.
Growing up in Cork, Claire was a prodigious soccer and camogie player showing her natural talent for sports from an early age. Clare decided to focus on soccer, signing for Cork City FC before moving to Raheny United. Clare then signed for Glasgow City in 2015, while gaining 7 caps for Ireland in the process.
After stepping away from her football career, family and friends, Clare openly admits to drinking far to heavily and thenaccording to her 2022 article on Sky Sports website “20 October 2018 was when I tried to commit suicide.
That was a huge turning point for me. Obviously, I saw the effects that it had on a lot of people in my life.” After entering rehab for her alcoholism, Clare slowly returned to her family and friends, before beginning her football career again, first with Cork and now with Glasgow City again.
Clare is now a co-commentator for RTE and will be at the tournament covering the games. You can view Clare’s Twitter profile here
Panellists
A star player in The Republic of Ireland’s underage youth set up in the 90’s, Richie was signed by Millwall at a young age. However, injuries plagued his footballing career and he was told he would have to retire from the game aged just 24. After this Richie contemplated taking his own life, telling Second Captains “ I retired in the first week of September. By December, I had contacted a solicitor. I had started writing a will. I lived in a house with a swimming pool in the back yard. My plan was to jump in there and not get out…My mother suggested therapy when she knew something was up. She gave me the name of someone who
worked in London and I took it from there. It went from being something I would never consider to something I felt I had to do.” I wondered whether a job like hers would be the job for me someday. I thought I’d like it, but doubted whether I’d be taken seriously given my former career. It took me another seven years to do something about it but now I’m a practising therapist myself.”
Richie became a board member of St Patrick’s Athletic FC, eventually becoming chairman of the board and a pundit on RTE football, Second Captains Podcast and his own column in Irish newspapers. Richie runs his own private practice specialising in adolescent psychotherapy, while providing mental-health related modules in secondary schools in Ireland. He wrote a book entitled “Let’s Talk: Relationship, Sexual Health and Intimacy” Drawing on his experience of working closely with teenage boys, topics including an overview of human sexuality; relationships and dating; consent; how to handle sexting, breakups and trust issues; porn vs real-life intimacy; and knowing how to tell the difference between attraction, infatuation and love.
You can find his Twitter profile here, his Instagram here and his interviews on the Players Chair (which is part of Second Captains) here.
A legend of the women’s game in Ireland, Karen is a midfielder with the highly successful Peamount United and has played for Ireland 35 times between 2013-2018. Having won medals for her native Kilkenny Camogie team, started her football career with UL where she was studying, before moving to Peamount United. She had 3 seasons with the club, before moving to the UCD Waves for 3 years. In 2018 Karen returned to Peamount United.
Karen has won three league titles with Peamount United, and individually she won the Senior International Women’s Player of the Year Award in 2016, The Womens National League Senior Player of the Season Award in 2016 and 2020, she has been included in the Women’s National League team of the year 6 times between 2013 to 2020.
You can view Karen’s Twitter Profile here