The Sport Thread

Australian Open Tennis live on BBC Two:

Thursday 24 January 8.15am - men's singles semi-final
Friday 25 January 8.15am - men's singles semi-final
Saturday 26 January 8.25am - women's singles final
Sunday 27 January 8.15am - men's singles final.

If only the BBC had kept the rights to the whole tournament. We could have had tennis filled mornings on BBC Two for two whole weeks in January. Perhaps one or two Murray matches might pop up in the schedules as well.

Time for my annual purchase of a couple of months of Eurosport player then.

So the BBC's final Horse Racing broadcast doesn't go ahead then on 27th December as Chepstow is postponed until Saturday 5th January. I suppose Channel 4 broadcast it now?

Due to a waterlogged track & further rain forecast, the Coral Welsh National has been abandoned & has been rescheduled to Sat 5 Jan 2013.

— Chepstow Racecourse (@Chepstow_Racing) December 24, 2012

Ahh.. this answers the Question. No the BBC won't be broadcasting it.

@007Kev We've been in discussion with C4 & are hopeful that they'll provide terrestrial coverage on Sat 5 Jan & this will be confirmed asap

— Chepstow Racecourse (@Chepstow_Racing) December 24, 2012

I wonder then if Clare might pop up on the 5th January because as thing stands she fronts C4 Racing on New Years Day then Nick Luck fronts the next couple of Saturday meetings.

It's weird how I was wondering what would happen IF such a situation arose, and posted on here, and then it does arise.

Suppose the BBC's decision to look back over their coverage of horse racing back during their previous meeting was the correct one, in the end.

One odd question, now that C4 have the rights, I'm just wondering if, for any events that C4 show at Chepstow, if S4C may tag along and provide a Cymraeg commentary and coverage?

It's not unusual for certain meetings to be cancelled at this time of the year, the Welsh National included.

We once did a reccy for doing a 'main site' production of C4 Racing at Carlisle racecourse (it's quite a challenge getting 4 artic's and the other assorted vehicles which make up the main site set up into the smaller racecourses), for a meeting at this time of the year. For four years running it was planned and booked in the calendar, only for the meeting to be abandoned days in advance. The fifth year they decided not to bother and only send a van and a single camera for the coverage for inserts into another meeting, and I think that actually happened.

Despite all the planning being done and sorted, the trucks have never made it to the racecourse.

Around this time of year there is often dual plans made for the events - the intended course and a "backup" at one of the courses with all weather surfaces like Lingfield, which provided the intended meeting is abandoned before the Friday, all the kit and crew will turn up at the back up course. It gets complicated when they abandon the intended meeting on the Friday... IIRC, there was at least one saturday years ago where the whole of production was sat in a carpark at Kempton Park racecourse, while a handful of cameras and a tiny last-minute-booking OB truck were dispatched down to Lingfield to try and cobble a programme together.

I don't see why they would - S4C have far more links to the BBC than to C4 nowadays.

If they're overnight they might end up on the red button.

Appears last year they showed Andy Murray's semi final, and the two finals on BBC 2/HD, so the extra semi final is an improvement. IIRC there was some red button coverage of earlier Murray matches too.

Your post fails on so many levels it's amusing.

Firstly -- what for? What possible benefit to the Welsh speaking licence-fee paying public would Welsh language coverage of horse-racing (largely a rich-man leisure pursuit fuelled and enabled by misguided gamblers' losses clouded by constant accusations of animal cruelty) be that the English coverage couldn't provide?

Also you seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that S4C and C4 have anything to do with each other nowadays. Since DSO, they have completely different programming, none shared. The only time I can remember in history anything similar to this proposal occurring was when S4C covered Wales' ODI with England back in the early 2000s, but again, that was an S4C commission from S+V with its own theme music and Welsh graphics (albeit in the C4 style)

In any case, it wouldn't be S4C doing coverage, it would be the production company.

And I'm pretty sure C4 have had rights to other races at Chepstow and indeed Ffos Las over the years, and S4C haven't been needed then.

And it's not "a Cymraeg" --- firstly "Cymraeg" means "Welsh" in Welsh and you are typing in English so its use is a pathetically obvious fallacy... Also if you knew basic English grammar you would not use "a" in front of an adjective that describes a pluralistic noun in that way.

Post of the year right there!

Being pedantic, the phrase "a Welsh commentary" would be legitimate. The sentence "S4C provides both an English commentary and a Welsh commentary" is perfectly grammatical.