• Home
  • /
  • Latest News
  • /
  • WATCH: RTE's Old Studio For Live Football Looked Like The Smoking Area Of A Pub

WATCH: RTE's Old Studio For Live Football Looked Like The Smoking Area Of A Pub

Conor Neville
By Conor Neville
Share this article

The versatile Michael Lyster - rally driver and TV sports anchor - has never been synonymous with association football.

But he was the man at the helm when Ireland officially qualified for the 1990 World Cup. Billo must have been sick or away on business. It's open to speculation.

The match wasn't memorable. It wasn't a nail-biter. As Lyster himself said at the outset, "it would take a miracle of suspicious proportions" for Ireland to fail to make it at that stage.

Recommended

Best of all however is the studio. Ireland games weren't transmitted from a nondescript studio in Montrose but from a room which looks vaguely like the smoking area of a Dublin pub.

A smoking area from a time before smoking areas. In 1989, everywhere in a pub was a smoking area. It has that vague feel of the place where the BBC used to interview tennis players at Wimbledon.

Two years before, RTE had screened the Bulgaria-Scotland European qualifier live. George Hamilton and his RTE technical assistants bunked a lift on the Scottish team plane. Gary Mackay scored the winner guaranteeing Ireland's place at Euro 88.

When the goal flew on, RTE cut back to their 'studio' which, as in '89, resembled that same smoking area.

Advertisement

The footage comes courtesy of killianm2, a man who we have previously described as youtube's greatest public servant.

Read more: Balls Remembers: The Complete Story Of How Dublin Almost Got A Premier League Team

Join The Monday Club Have a tip or something brilliant you wanted to share on? We're looking for loyal Balls readers free-to-join members club where top tipsters can win prizes and Balls merchandise

Processing your request...

You are now subscribed!

Share this article

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Developed by Square1 and powered by PublisherPlus.com

Advertisement