News broke of the death of Phil O'Donnell at about half six. He died while playing for Motherwell in a Scottsh Premier League match of a heart attack.
Sky Sports News went into a mini-obituary mode, ending their bulletin just before seven with a sombre still picture. They started at 7 without their usual overdone music and launched into a seven minute tribute.
Setanta were a bit slower to act but are now running tributes on what is scheduled to be their phone-in.
It should be mentioned that both channels have to strike a fine balance between their coverage of this, and all the other games that are taking place today. But they seem to be doing a good job.
Obviously a very sad day for Scottish football. Motherwell fans will obviously remember the death of Davie Cooper, who was with Clydebank at the time, and it's always a tragedy when something like this happens.
Sad for his family, his friends and the supporters of Motherwell of course - but I think it's important to keep things in perspective and not go over the top for a player who is hardly well known in footballing circles.
In fact it would be quite disrespectful to turn his death into a massive media story IMO.
On the contrary (at least in Scotland), he is a former Celtic player, and a massive star for Motherwell. He may not have become a massive Premiership footballer, but not many people do.
The other perspective up here is that this is creepily reminscent of Davie Cooper, Rangers and Scotland legend, who died while shooting an STV kids' programme of a brain haemorrage. This is why it hits home to many football fans up here, myself included.
Going back into media mode, this will be a massive story up here, and I fear that one of the Sundays will go over the score and make a massive error. Remember the hassle one of the papers got for an inappropriate picture of the player Foe when he died on the pitch.
From the coverage so far on the sports and news channels, it has been in perspective, and very respectful. Sky in particular has done a very good job - making clear how big this is, while continuing to provide the usual sports news.
What happens over the next few days will be a different matter. Because, imagine what would have happened if a player had died at a Premiership match. In Scotland, that is the scale of this story.
EDIT: Although Setanta is currently leading the way in missing the bloody story. Presumably they're on tape all night, but it's not been mentioned at the top of their headlines sequence, and they've just gone instead on non-stop highlights. Sky has continued with the tributes and, coincidentally or not, Jim White is presenting throughout the night. At the same time they are balancing this out with showing the highlights from the Premiership games.
Have to say - Setanta looks like a joke service right now in comparison.
Have to say - Setanta looks like a joke service right now in comparison.
Right now? Have to say it's looked a joke since launch, but yes in particular this story has highlighted the channel's flaws.
Very sad news, this. I heard it on 5 Live, they broke into the live commentary to go back to London for a very sombre news report before going back to the live football which was quite difficult for the commentators to get back into.
Sky Sports News went into a mini-obituary mode, ending their bulletin just before seven with a sombre still picture. They started at 7 without their usual overdone music and launched into a seven minute tribute.
Well done to SSN, their coverage was superb, and very tastefully done. Phil was a superb player, and he will be sorely missed.
A full tribute will apparently be screened on STV's Scotsport at 6pm. It's been trailed on Scotland Today.
Setanta are still leading off on fooball managers going on about 'taking one game at a time' (someone has just used that quote), and placing the story third in their headline sequence. For an ITN production, I'm a bit concerned about their news values.
It's news-worthy, but not headline stuff. Granted he may have a profile in Scotland, but it's a name most people wouldn't have been familiar with before his death.
It's news-worthy, but not headline stuff. Granted he may have a profile in Scotland, but it's a name most people wouldn't have been familiar with before his death.
But surely the headlines are a way, on the part of a broadcaster, of pointing out which stories it feels are the big stories of the day.
If they are spending considerable time on this in their bulletin then I would suggest to you that they obviously feel that it is pretty majhor and therfore it should have really been in the headlines IMO
I actually think it's only big becasue he collapsed during the game - if it was at home, there would just be a sombre mention, probably a report - but nothing more on the channels.
It's news-worthy, but not headline stuff. Granted he may have a profile in Scotland, but it's a name most people wouldn't have been familiar with before his death.
Setanta are a bigger name and better respected in Scotland though aren't they? They've been broadcasting Scottish games along with Rangers and Celtic TV for many years
It's news-worthy, but not headline stuff. Granted he may have a profile in Scotland, but it's a name most people wouldn't have been familiar with before his death.
Don't forget that Setanta is the main broadcaster of the SPL in the UK, so frankly I would have thought those who follow the SPL would go Setanta first, rather than Sky.
Overall Sky have covered this story better. It's nice having an alternative to Sky Sports News, but Setanta has a very long way to go yet.
