Premier Soccer Saturday (formerly The Premiership) is the principal weekly club association football programme on RTÉ

Raidió Teilifís Éireann

Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...

.

It is broadcast on RTÉ Two

RTÉ Two

RTÉ Two is a free-to-air general entertainment channel operated by Irish state broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Two is available throughout the island of Ireland through digital terrestrial service Saorview, VHF and UHF bands, and is also available via satellite to Irish subscribers of...

 every Saturday evening between 19:30 and 21:00 and occasionally on Sunday (when there is an important game played that day) during the English league soccer season, showing highlights of Premier League football matches. When the show is aired on a day other than Saturday, it uses the appropriately customised title (e.g. Premier Soccer Sunday). The programme only shows English association football, as Monday Night Soccer

Monday Night Soccer

Monday Night Soccer is the RTÉ's main football television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two on Monday evenings during the Irish football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in Irish football's top division, the League of Ireland Premier Division...

covers Irish association football.

The current theme tune for the show is a cover of the Republica

Republica

Republica are an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. The height of their popularity spanned from 1996 to 1999. The Republica sound was described by the band as "techno-pop punk rock"...

 song, "Bloke".

History

The programme was first broadcast in September 1998 as The Premiership. Between August 2004 and May 2007, RTÉ also had the broadcasting rights to 15 live Premier League matches on Saturday afternoons (kick off: 15:00). These programmes were called Premiership Live. Setanta Sports

Setanta Sports

Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...

 obtained exclusive rights to the games from the 2007-08 season.

There is a new feature to Premier Soccer Saturday where fans come on the show and give their opinion on the match shown.

Presenters

The programme is currently presented on a rotational basis between Bill O'Herlihy

Bill O'Herlihy

Bill O'Herlihy is an Irish sports broadcaster with Raidió Teilifís Éireann . He also heads one of Ireland's largest public relations firms.-Bill's life:...

, Peter Collins

Peter Collins (broadcaster)

Peter Collins is an Irish sportscaster for national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. He is to be seen on RTÉ's coverage of live association football, Gaelic games, Formula One and Moto GP.-Career:...

 and Darragh Maloney. O'Herlihy used to be the sole presenter of the program but from the 2006-07 season, decided to scale back his workload in light of his advancing years in an effort to grow old gracefully, although he still presents the UEFA Champions League

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

, FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

 and international match coverage for the station.

Analysts

Regular pundits that feature on the show to make comments about the games, include Eamon Dunphy

Eamon Dunphy

Eamon Martin Dunphy is an Irish media personality, radio and television presenter, author, sports pundit, as well as a former professional football player. He is best known as a soccer analyst on Raidió Teilifís Éireann 's coverage of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. He was paid...

, Johnny Giles

Johnny Giles

Michael John "Johnny" Giles is a former association footballer and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s...

, Ray Houghton

Ray Houghton

Raymond James "Ray" Houghton is a retired Scottish-born footballer who represented the Republic of Ireland at international level, qualifying through his Irish father...

, Trevor Steven

Trevor Steven

Trevor McGregor Steven is a football talent scout. He was formerly an England footballer who shot to fame with the successful Everton side of the 1980s....

, Kenny Cunningham

Kenny Cunningham

Kenneth Edward "Kenny" Cunningham is an Irish former footballer who played as a defender. He played international football for the Republic of Ireland until his retirement in 2005...

, Ronnie Whelan

Ronnie Whelan

Ronald Andrew "Ronnie" Whelan is a former Irish football midfielder, and sometimes defender, who was an integral part of the dominant Liverpool side of the 1980s...

 and Graeme Souness

Graeme Souness

Graeme James Souness is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s and player-manager of Rangers in the late 1980s as well as captain of the Scottish national team. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur,...

.

Then Irish Taoiseach

Taoiseach

The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...

, Bertie Ahern

Bertie Ahern

Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....

 once made a famous appearance on the show in 2001, providing analysis on a Manchester United

Manchester United F.C.

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...

 game, of whom he is a life-long supporter.

Commentators

Commentary on the games are provided by, amongst others, George Hamilton

George Hamilton (commentator)

George Hamilton is an Irish sportscaster born in Belfast. He works for Raidió Teilifís Éireann , and is a household name in Ireland where his voice and refined commentary style of football are familiar to sports fans. He also presents a show on RTÉ lyric fm and previously presented Know Your Sport...

, Stephen Alkin, Ger Canning

Ger Canning

Ger Canning is an Irish GAA hurling and football commentator with Raidió Teilifís Éireann .-Career:Born in Cork on August 1, 1951. Ger Canning was a secondary school teacher at South Presentation school in Cork City when he began his broadcasting career with Cork Local Radio in 1978.Two years later...

, Adrian Eames, John Kenny and Jimmy Magee

Jimmy Magee

Jimmy Magee is a longstanding Irish sports broadcaster. Known as 'the Memory Man', he has spent over half a century in sports broadcasting...

.