Hamilton Academical vs Dundee Utd

Scottish Premier League, 11 August 2008

Really enjoyed this one. Hamilton making their return to the top flight of Scottish football after a near 20 year absence, playing at home. Quite a modern little stadium on show, of the stands visible on TV, two nice raised stands, which I always like as it means the spectators right at the front get a decent view when the ball is on the opposite side of the pitch. One side of the ground is just a wall, looks like a stand is being built. They have electronic advertising boards along the main stand, which I always find distracting when watching the match, but I suppose that's the point. I wonder if they're there all the time, or if they are just installed for live matches on TV. The dugouts even have those fancy sports-car-style seats! Apparanently last season, the ground had a synthetic pitch, which hs been relain as turf for this season. Very good atmosphere at the match, with singing from both sets of supporters.

Both teams set out to play decent attacking football, playing the ball well on the round, making for a very enjoyable viewing experience. Dundee took the lead somewhat against the run of play, unfortunately through an own goal. Hamilton then drew level shortly after from a well taken free kick, which took a slight deflection to wrong-foot the goalkeeper. Approaching halftime, Hamilton took the lead when a ball that went across the goal looked like it was nudged in off a Hamilton player's hand.

The second half started a little more slowly, but after a little bit of hand-bags, Hamilton scored again as Dundee failed to clear their lines. Dundee put a bit of pressure on towards the end, but although Hamilton appeared dead on their feet, they didn't come too close to scoring, and Hamilton hung on for a well earned win in their first match back in the SPL. A good evenings football.

What's on this season?

Just thought I'd compile a list of what we know is going to be available in the UK this season on various TV and internet channels. Please send me anything that I've missed: email thefootballwatcher@gmail.com with anything that is inaccurate or missing.

England
Premier League
Live matches on Sky and Setanta, highlights on BBC.
Delayed full matches shown on BT Vision, extended highlights on Sky Sports.

The FA Cup
Live matches on ITV and Setanta

The League Cup
Live matches on Sky, highlights on ITV

The Football League
Live matches on Sky, highlights on ITV

Johnstones Paint Trophy
Live matches on Sky

Blue Square Premier
Live matches on Setanta

Scotland

Premier League
Live matches on Setanta, highlights on BBC. Delayed matches shown on BT Vision and BBC Gaelic

FA Cup
Live matches on Sky and BBC

League Cup
Live matches on BBC

Other Leagues
League of Wales
Live matches on S4C

Carnegie Irish Premier League (Northern Ireland)
Live matches on Sky

Eircom Premier League (Republic of Ireland)
Live matches on Setanta

La Liga (Spain)
Live matches on Sky

Bundesliga (Germany)
Live matches on Setanta

Ligue 1 (France)
Live matches on Setanta

Eredivise (Holland)
Live matches on Setanta

Serie A (Brazil)
Live matches on SportsXchange

J-League (Japan)
Live matches on Eurosport 2 (streaming also on bet365)

Chinese Super League
Live matches streamed on bet365

Russian Premier League
Live matches streamed on bet365

Finnish League
Live matches streamed on bet365

European Competitions
Champions League
Live matches on ITV and Sky

UEFA Cup
Home rights sold by individual clubs - expect matches on ITV4, Setanta and Five for English clubs. ITV have rights to Manchester City matches.
BBC Scotland usually broadcast Scottish matches. Matches not involving British Teams tend to be streamed on bet365.
Quarter finals onwards broadcast only on ITV.

UEFA Super Cup
Live on ITV

Worldwide competitions
World Club Cup Championship
Expected to be on BBC, as it features Manchester United

Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana
Live matches on Setanta

Internationals
England
Home: World Cup qualifiers on ITV, Friendlies on Setanta (Highlights on ITV), some on ITV
Away: Sky/Setanta

Scotland
Live home matches on Sky; highlights on BBC Scotland
Away matches on Sky/Setanta/BBC Scotland

Wales
Live home matches on Sky; highlights on BBC Wales
Away matches on Sky/Setanta/BBC Wales

N. Ireland
Live home matches on Sky; highlights on BBC N Ireland
Away matches on Sky/Setanta/BBC N Ireland

Rep. Ireland
Live home matches on Sky
Away matches on Sky/Setanta/BBC Scotland

As part of Setanta's deal to broadcast home nations away matches, they have secured rights to the home matches of various European national teams. It is belived they will screen some of these other matches which take place in home nations groups as time allows.

So, looking at that list, it would appear that the Italian Serie A will not be broadcast this season (at time of writing), and the Portuguese BWin League has also disappeared from Setanta's portfolio.