WBA v West Ham - Alistair Bruce-Ball and Steve Claridge (commentary)
Blackburn v Stoke - Alistair Yeomans (Ian Brown and Jimmy Armfield on SE)
Derby v Reading - Pat Murphy
C Palace v Liverpool - John Murray and David Pleat (commentary)
Bournemouth v Huddersfield - John Southall
Fulham v Ipswich - Gigi Salmon
Charlton v Brentford - Will Perry
Leeds v Millwall - Damian Johnson
Norwich v Wolves - Peter Drury
Bristol C v Sheff U - Naz Premji
Burton v Oxford - Seth Bennett
St Johnstone v Celtic - Roddy Forsyth
St Mirren v Inverness CT - Eilidh Barbour
5 Live - 15.2.15
With Jonathan Overend at Bradford
Aston Villa v Leicester - Alan Green and Jason Roberts
Bradford v Sunderland - John Murray and Kevin Kilbane
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Ian Brown and Pat Nevin
Sunday Exclusive: FA Cup Special presented by Mark Saggers from Villa Park (12noon-2.30pm) and Ian Danter from the Emirates Stadium (3.15-6pm), followed by Call Collymore with Ian Danter and Ray Parlour from the Emirates Stadium
FA Cup Fifth Round
Aston Villa v Leicester City - Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore (12.30pm commentary), with Mike Bovill producing
Bradford City v Sunderland - Jim Proudfoot and Danny Higginbotham (2.30pm commentary)
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Nigel Adderley and Ray Parlour (4pm commentary), with James Dodd producing
Rugby Union: Six Nations
Scotland v Wales - Stuart Cameron
talkSPORT provided full commentary on both the Aston Villa v Leicester City and Bradford City v Sunderland games, with Arsenal v Middlesbrough joined in-progress after 21 minutes at the conclusion of the latter game. There wasn't much breathing room between any of the commentaries!
Nigel Adderley and Ray Wilkins will be commentating on Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea on Tuesday. I've not heard who the commentator will be on Young Boys v Everton on Thursday, but the talkSPORT.com schedule indicates that Alvin Martin will be co-commentating.
talkSPORT Live
FA Cup Fifth Round
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Tom Rennie
Bundesliga
Bayer Leverkusen v VfL Wolfsburg (Saturday) & Hannover 96 v SC Paderborn 07 - Kevin Hatchard
Newstalk 106-108FM
Adrian Barry presented Off The Ball alongside Nathan Murphy
FA Cup Fifth Round (as IRN)
Bradford City v Sunderland - Grahame Lloyd
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Lee Stott
Hurling: Allianz League Division IA
Dublin v Tipperary - Oisin Langan
Galway v Clare - Dave McIntyre and Jamesie O'Connor
Going by Off The Ball, IRN didn't have a reporter at Aston Villa v Leicester City.
FA CUP: FIFTH ROUND
Aston Villa v Leicester City - Jason Bourne presenting from Villa Park, with Ian Stringer and Matt Elliott (FM, DAB and online commentary)
FA Cup Fifth Round
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Tom Rennie
It was actually Tom Rennie and Jason Euell on commentary on Arsenal v Middlesbrough for talkSPORT Live.
This was the only talkSPORT Live FA Cup commentary from over the weekend, although they'll be doing Preston North End v Manchester United tomorrow night.
[ I've not heard who the commentator will be on Young Boys v Everton on Thursday, but the talkSPORT.com schedule indicates that Alvin Martin will be co-commentating.
Mark Saggers presenting FA Cup Kick Off Live from Deepdale alongside Stan Collymore
FA Cup Fifth Round
Preston North End v Manchester United - Jim Proudfoot and Stan Collymore (7.45pm commentary)
FA Cup Sixth Round Draw
Deepdale - Mark Chapman presenting, with Brian Finney drawing the home teams and Roy Hodgson drawing the away teams (audio simulcast from BBC One)
Cricket World Cup Pool B
Ireland v West Indies - Jon Norman
talkSPORT Live
FA Cup Fifth Round
Preston North End v Manchester United - Tom Rennie and Kevin Watson
Thanks for confirming that Andrew McKenna will be commentating on Young Boys v Everton on Thursday George L. Good to see Macca getting a commentary game after not doing one over FA Cup Fifth Round weekend.
Preston v Man Utd - Conor McNamara and Chris Waddle
Good on talkSPORT for doing a Europa League commentary this week, disappointed it seems 5 Live aren't. I would have thought the fixtures were attractive enough to do a doubleheader myself.
Ray Wilkins an excellent addition to the talkSPORT summarisers line up as well.
Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off: Champions League Live
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg
Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea - Nigel Adderley and Ray Wilkins (7.45pm commentary)
Cricket World Cup Pool A
Scotland v New Zealand - Jon Norman
UEFA.com
Rob Daly presenting Champions League Matchday Live alongside Andy Brassell
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg
Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea - Adam Summerton and Andy Brassell (commentary)
Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich - Ian Danter (updates)
Ruud Gullit will be providing guest punditry at half-time in tonight's games.
BBC Radio 5 Live have Six Nations commentary of Ireland v England at 3pm meaning the first half of Chelsea v Tottenham will be on 5 Live Sports Extra. The second half will be on both.
I was wondering about that the other day. That's got to be the first time BBC Radio hasn't done full commentary on AM radio on a major Wembley final, er, since... ever? Since the League Cup Final moved to Wembley, perhaps?
To be honest I'm not sure it's the right choice, I know Ireland vs England is a big game, probably going to be the most important of the tournament, but it's live on terrestrial television, whereas the League Cup Final isn't. In a situation like this it would seem to make more sense to go for the latter. I know there's no other radio commentary on the rugby. Tough luck it's happened like this, I suppose.
I was wondering about that the other day. That's got to be the first time BBC Radio hasn't done full commentary on AM radio on a major Wembley final, er, since... ever? Since the League Cup Final moved to Wembley, perhaps?
To be honest I'm not sure it's the right choice, I know Ireland vs England is a big game, probably going to be the most important of the tournament, but it's live on terrestrial television, whereas the League Cup Final isn't. In a situation like this it would seem to make more sense to go for the latter. I know there's no other radio commentary on the rugby. Tough luck it's happened like this, I suppose.
I'm a football fan-- not that fond of Rugby, but I think 5Live have made exactly the right call here. Firstly, as you say, there is no radio commentary of the rugby, whereas Talksport are providing radio commentary of the football. doing it this way means that everyone is happy, if people want the football and don't have access to a DAB radio or online access, listen to the first half on Talksport. 5Live have, I believe, been told by the BBC trust to focus a bit less on football and more on other sport so I think prioretising the most important game of the 6 Nations is the right call.
BBC WM Sport with Mark Regan Live from The BBC studios in the Mailbox
FA Cup - 5th Round
Aston Villa v Leicester City - Tom Marlow (12:30pm Updates)
Just on this. I thought the BBC FA Cup deal allowed local radio to have commentary on all games. For example BBC Leeds did Bradford on Sunday and BBC Manchester did Man Utd on Monday when they don't normally do commentary on those teams. So why is Villa immune from that?
Radio Leeds didn't provide commentary on Bradford City's second round match this season, so I think it is fair to assume that just because a station can cover a team that doesn't mean it will. Radio Leeds did provide commentary on every Leeds United match they could cover when they didn't have the rights to their league matches.
One change I have noticed is that club websites provide FA Cup commentaries now whereas they didn't in the past. I don't know if this applies to all clubs.
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Mark Regan & Martin O'Connor (you know), (Live Commentary)
Steve Hermon is on loan to the sports team this week (he normal works with the WM News team), so it was a bit disappointing that he wasn't involved Tonight.
Free Radio 80s
Tom Ross's Goalzone Live from St Andrews
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Tom Ross & Kevan Broadhurst (Live Commentary)
I was wondering about that the other day. That's got to be the first time BBC Radio hasn't done full commentary on AM radio on a major Wembley final, er, since... ever? Since the League Cup Final moved to Wembley, perhaps?
To be honest I'm not sure it's the right choice, I know Ireland vs England is a big game, probably going to be the most important of the tournament, but it's live on terrestrial television, whereas the League Cup Final isn't. In a situation like this it would seem to make more sense to go for the latter. I know there's no other radio commentary on the rugby. Tough luck it's happened like this, I suppose.
I'm a football fan-- not that fond of Rugby, but I think 5Live have made exactly the right call here. Firstly, as you say, there is no radio commentary of the rugby, whereas Talksport are providing radio commentary of the football. doing it this way means that everyone is happy, if people want the football and don't have access to a DAB radio or online access, listen to the first half on Talksport. 5Live have, I believe, been told by the BBC trust to focus a bit less on football and more on other sport so I think prioretising the most important game of the 6 Nations is the right call.
Whatever side you come down on, it's definitely a very difficult call for BBC Radio 5 Live and you sympathise with the editor who had to make the decision. It certainly isn't one of those cases where you think it was just a straight forward good/bad editorial call.
Personally - and perhaps this is due to me being more of a football fan than a rugby union fan - I would have put the League Cup Final on Radio 5 Live and Ireland v England in the Six Nations on Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (and Radio 4 LW too if this is possible). I'd make that call on the basis that the League Cup Final is the decisive game in that competition, where a champion will be crowned, while Ireland v England from the third round of matches in the Six Nations - albeit it pits the two teams still able to win the Grand Slam against each other - will not decide that championship on that day. It'd be different and an even harder call if it was the final round of Six Nations matches with the title hinging on the match in Dublin.
However, I think perhaps what might have played a factor in Radio 5 Live going for Ireland v England ahead of Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur is because the former has the earlier kick-off. If Radio 5 Live weren't broadcasting the first half of Ireland v England from 3pm before Chelsea v Tottenham kicks off at 4pm, what else would they be broadcasting (probably cup final build-up, which in an ideal world they would be able to do)? By doing the first half of the rugby union on 5 Live, it'd sound poor to cut away from it at half-time, so I can see why they'd prioritise airing the conclusion of one big sporting event on 5 Live ahead of the beginning of another one.
It's probably also worth pointing out that as well as being live and in full on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, both halves of the League Cup Final will almost certainly be live on the BBC World Service, so if people without digital radio access can pick up that station it should be available on there.
On the subject of 5 Live's editorial calls, I was reading on the 5 Live Chat thread that 5 Live Sport confusingly dipped in and out of commentary on the first half of Bradford City v Sunderland on Sunday, only to take the closing stages of the game during the minutes when it overlapped with Arsenal v Middlesbrough. Did anyone listen to their coverage on Sunday, and if so is this a fair reflection of what happened? If so, I'm guessing 5 Live were hoping to do full commentary on Arsenal v Middlesbrough and would have done had Sunderland built up a comfortable lead by the final quarter of the game at Valley Parade, but given the upset being on the card they must have felt obliged to cover Bradford's win to its conclusion.
Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off alongside Ray Houghton
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg
FC Basel v FC Porto - Dom McGuinness
Schalke 04 v Real Madrid - Nigel Pearson
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Dave Rowe
UEFA.com
Rob Daly presenting Champions League Matchday Live alongside Paul Saffer
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg
FC Basel v FC Porto - Richard Connelly (updates)
Schalke 04 v Real Madrid - John Bradley and Paul Saffer (commentary)
Free Radio 80s
Tom Ross presenting The Goalzone from St Andrew's
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Tom Ross, Kevan Broadhurst and Darren Carter (7.45pm commentary, also on Blues Player)
BBC Tees
Alastair Brownlee presenting BBC Tees Sport from St Andrew's
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Alastair Brownlee and Neil Maddison (7.45pm commentary, also on BORO+), with Rob Law at pitchside
Pulse 1
Jason Thornton presenting Pulse 1 Sport from the Matchroom Stadium
League One
Leyton Orient v Bradford City - Jason Thornton and Ian Ormondroyd (7.45pm commentary, also on Bantams Player)
Orient Player's commentary on the above match is coming from BBC London's Dave Victor and Matt Hiscock.
On the subject of 5 Live's editorial calls, I was reading on the 5 Live Chat thread that 5 Live Sport confusingly dipped in and out of commentary on the first half of Bradford City v Sunderland on Sunday, only to take the closing stages of the game during the minutes when it overlapped with Arsenal v Middlesbrough. Did anyone listen to their coverage on Sunday, and if so is this a fair reflection of what happened?
No, that didn't happen at all. I was driving at the time and didn't hear it all but when I was tuned in - for the first half hour or so and the last ten minutes - they were doing full commentary. They certainly never made any reference to the fact they would be doing anything else during the game either. The Radio Times and EPG both billed full commentary on the Bradford game with them joining the Arsenal match in progress and that appears to be exactly what happened.
They did leave the West Brom game with ten minutes to go on Saturday because it was obviously becoming a rout and joined the rugby from the kick-off. But as far as I know, they broadcast the entire ninety minutes at Bradford, in full.
Thanks for the clarification on that Steve, I thought it sounded a bit odd that Radio 5 Live wouldn't give full attention to Bradford City v Sunderland at a time when it wasn't clashing with any other sporting event that they were covering live. Interesting to hear that they left the West Bromwich Albion v West Ham United game early in order to take the rugby union from the start, as you say they most likely wouldn't have done that had the game not been over as a contest by 2.30pm.
It's also fairly telling that Radio 5 Live prioritised England v Italy in the Six Nations over the 3pm football at the weekend. The Italy game is the one England Six Nations match that in past years has been put onto 5 Live Sports Extra in order to prioritise normal league football. That it went onto 5 Live at the weekend ahead of the football appears to endorse what Swansea Steve has said about 5 Live taking the BBC Trust's recommendations for them to give more airtime to sports other than football seriously. That said, it should be noted that at 3pm on that Saturday there was only two FA Cup games and no top flight matches, with the one tie pitting a Football League side against a Premier League side being the subject of a live commentary on talkSPORT, so that may have played a factor in that particular editorial call as well.
Just on Free Radio 80s tonight, I see Connor has posted details of their coverage of Birmingham v Middlesbrough as well (and I appreciate his regular contributions), but just to clarify as I'm able to listen that it's actually a three man team with the former Blues and current Northampton Town player Darren Carter making one of his annual guest appearances as the third man in their commentary box. And he's very much their third man, with Kevan Broadhurst dominating the analysis while Carts is only chipping in from time to time. Anyway, it's good to be able to listen to a Goalzone commentary for the first time in a while - Blues Player doesn't normally take their coverage, instead producing their own commentaries with Michael Johnson as co-commentator, but have decided to do so tonight.
talkSPORT have added Liverpool v Besiktas (following Young Boys v Everton) from the Europa League and Manchester City v Barcelona (both legs) and Arsenal v Monaco in the Champions League to their commentaries page.
Just on this. I thought the BBC FA Cup deal allowed local radio to have commentary on all games. For example BBC Leeds did Bradford on Sunday and BBC Manchester did Man Utd on Monday when they don't normally do commentary on those teams. So why is Villa immune from that?
BBC WM only have the rights to Commentary on a few Villa home games and this maybe why. I know that the BBC WM FA Cup commentaries don't go out online like the other BBC Local Radio stations ones.
Thanks for the clarification on that Steve, I thought it sounded a bit odd that Radio 5 Live wouldn't give full attention to Bradford City v Sunderland at a time when it wasn't clashing with any other sporting event that they were covering live. Interesting to hear that they left the West Bromwich Albion v West Ham United game early in order to take the rugby union from the start, as you say they most likely wouldn't have done that had the game not been over as a contest by 2.30pm.
To be honest, if that thread said my name was Steve I'd want to double check that. They were intending to do the whole of the West Brom game and in the Radio Times and on the EPG they had the rugby commentary starting at 2.40, but there was no point in carrying on.
I wasn't surprised they did the England match this weekend, the 3pm football was distinctly unglamorous and they had lots of other football commentaries that weekend. They were able to do a 5.30 commentary which they don't do every week.
Comments
Football
Presented by Richard Gordon from New Douglas Park on 810MW.
Scottish Premiership
Hamilton Accies v Aberdeen (3.30pm) - Liam McLeod, Mark Wilson and Willie Miller (commentary) with Chick Young pitchside
Rugby Union
Presented by Dougie Vipond from Murrayfield on 92-95FM, with Tom English.
Six Nations
Scotland v Wales - Bill Johnstone, Peter Wright and John Beattie (commentary) with Phil Goodlad pitchside
With Mark Pougatch at Twickenham
WBA v West Ham - Alistair Bruce-Ball and Steve Claridge (commentary)
Blackburn v Stoke - Alistair Yeomans (Ian Brown and Jimmy Armfield on SE)
Derby v Reading - Pat Murphy
C Palace v Liverpool - John Murray and David Pleat (commentary)
Bournemouth v Huddersfield - John Southall
Fulham v Ipswich - Gigi Salmon
Charlton v Brentford - Will Perry
Leeds v Millwall - Damian Johnson
Norwich v Wolves - Peter Drury
Bristol C v Sheff U - Naz Premji
Burton v Oxford - Seth Bennett
St Johnstone v Celtic - Roddy Forsyth
St Mirren v Inverness CT - Eilidh Barbour
5 Live - 15.2.15
With Jonathan Overend at Bradford
Aston Villa v Leicester - Alan Green and Jason Roberts
Bradford v Sunderland - John Murray and Kevin Kilbane
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Ian Brown and Pat Nevin
1400-1700
Nick Hatton, Dave Fletcher and Wayne Jacobs
The rugby league was on AM, DAB and online, and the rugby union was online.
Pulse 1 and official Bradford City website
1300-1700
Jason Thornton and Ian Ormondroyd
Dean Windass joined the team prior to the match for a chat.
BCB didn't have a reporter at the match, but the rugby league match they covered was eventful.
Sunday Exclusive: FA Cup Special presented by Mark Saggers from Villa Park (12noon-2.30pm) and Ian Danter from the Emirates Stadium (3.15-6pm), followed by Call Collymore with Ian Danter and Ray Parlour from the Emirates Stadium
FA Cup Fifth Round
Aston Villa v Leicester City - Sam Matterface and Stan Collymore (12.30pm commentary), with Mike Bovill producing
Bradford City v Sunderland - Jim Proudfoot and Danny Higginbotham (2.30pm commentary)
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Nigel Adderley and Ray Parlour (4pm commentary), with James Dodd producing
Rugby Union: Six Nations
Scotland v Wales - Stuart Cameron
talkSPORT provided full commentary on both the Aston Villa v Leicester City and Bradford City v Sunderland games, with Arsenal v Middlesbrough joined in-progress after 21 minutes at the conclusion of the latter game. There wasn't much breathing room between any of the commentaries!
Nigel Adderley and Ray Wilkins will be commentating on Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea on Tuesday. I've not heard who the commentator will be on Young Boys v Everton on Thursday, but the talkSPORT.com schedule indicates that Alvin Martin will be co-commentating.
talkSPORT Live
FA Cup Fifth Round
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Tom Rennie
Bundesliga
Bayer Leverkusen v VfL Wolfsburg (Saturday) & Hannover 96 v SC Paderborn 07 - Kevin Hatchard
Newstalk 106-108FM
Adrian Barry presented Off The Ball alongside Nathan Murphy
FA Cup Fifth Round (as IRN)
Bradford City v Sunderland - Grahame Lloyd
Arsenal v Middlesbrough - Lee Stott
Hurling: Allianz League Division IA
Dublin v Tipperary - Oisin Langan
Galway v Clare - Dave McIntyre and Jamesie O'Connor
Going by Off The Ball, IRN didn't have a reporter at Aston Villa v Leicester City.
FA CUP: FIFTH ROUND
Aston Villa v Leicester City - Jason Bourne presenting from Villa Park, with Ian Stringer and Matt Elliott (FM, DAB and online commentary)
Mike Bovill was also conducting the post-match interviews at Villa Park for talkSPORT.
It was actually Tom Rennie and Jason Euell on commentary on Arsenal v Middlesbrough for talkSPORT Live.
This was the only talkSPORT Live FA Cup commentary from over the weekend, although they'll be doing Preston North End v Manchester United tomorrow night.
Andrew McKenna
Mark Saggers presenting FA Cup Kick Off Live from Deepdale alongside Stan Collymore
FA Cup Fifth Round
Preston North End v Manchester United - Jim Proudfoot and Stan Collymore (7.45pm commentary)
FA Cup Sixth Round Draw
Deepdale - Mark Chapman presenting, with Brian Finney drawing the home teams and Roy Hodgson drawing the away teams (audio simulcast from BBC One)
Cricket World Cup Pool B
Ireland v West Indies - Jon Norman
talkSPORT Live
FA Cup Fifth Round
Preston North End v Manchester United - Tom Rennie and Kevin Watson
Thanks for confirming that Andrew McKenna will be commentating on Young Boys v Everton on Thursday George L. Good to see Macca getting a commentary game after not doing one over FA Cup Fifth Round weekend.
Kelly Cates hosting from Deepdale
Preston v Man Utd - Conor McNamara and Chris Waddle
Good on talkSPORT for doing a Europa League commentary this week, disappointed it seems 5 Live aren't. I would have thought the fixtures were attractive enough to do a doubleheader myself.
Ray Wilkins an excellent addition to the talkSPORT summarisers line up as well.
Preston North End v Manchester United - Bill Rice and Danny Webber - commentary
Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off: Champions League Live
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg
Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea - Nigel Adderley and Ray Wilkins (7.45pm commentary)
Cricket World Cup Pool A
Scotland v New Zealand - Jon Norman
UEFA.com
Rob Daly presenting Champions League Matchday Live alongside Andy Brassell
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg
Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea - Adam Summerton and Andy Brassell (commentary)
Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich - Ian Danter (updates)
Ruud Gullit will be providing guest punditry at half-time in tonight's games.
Hosted by Mark Chapman
PSG v Chelsea - John Murray and Phil Neville (commentary)
Rotherham v Derby - Peter Slater
I was wondering about that the other day. That's got to be the first time BBC Radio hasn't done full commentary on AM radio on a major Wembley final, er, since... ever? Since the League Cup Final moved to Wembley, perhaps?
To be honest I'm not sure it's the right choice, I know Ireland vs England is a big game, probably going to be the most important of the tournament, but it's live on terrestrial television, whereas the League Cup Final isn't. In a situation like this it would seem to make more sense to go for the latter. I know there's no other radio commentary on the rugby. Tough luck it's happened like this, I suppose.
Reading v Wigan Athletic - Liam Bradford and Paul Rowley - commentary
I'm a football fan-- not that fond of Rugby, but I think 5Live have made exactly the right call here. Firstly, as you say, there is no radio commentary of the rugby, whereas Talksport are providing radio commentary of the football. doing it this way means that everyone is happy, if people want the football and don't have access to a DAB radio or online access, listen to the first half on Talksport. 5Live have, I believe, been told by the BBC trust to focus a bit less on football and more on other sport so I think prioretising the most important game of the 6 Nations is the right call.
Just on this. I thought the BBC FA Cup deal allowed local radio to have commentary on all games. For example BBC Leeds did Bradford on Sunday and BBC Manchester did Man Utd on Monday when they don't normally do commentary on those teams. So why is Villa immune from that?
One change I have noticed is that club websites provide FA Cup commentaries now whereas they didn't in the past. I don't know if this applies to all clubs.
BBC WM
BBC WM Sport with Mark Regan Live from St Andrews
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Mark Regan & Martin O'Connor (you know), (Live Commentary)
Steve Hermon is on loan to the sports team this week (he normal works with the WM News team), so it was a bit disappointing that he wasn't involved Tonight.
Free Radio 80s
Tom Ross's Goalzone Live from St Andrews
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Tom Ross & Kevan Broadhurst (Live Commentary)
Whatever side you come down on, it's definitely a very difficult call for BBC Radio 5 Live and you sympathise with the editor who had to make the decision. It certainly isn't one of those cases where you think it was just a straight forward good/bad editorial call.
Personally - and perhaps this is due to me being more of a football fan than a rugby union fan - I would have put the League Cup Final on Radio 5 Live and Ireland v England in the Six Nations on Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (and Radio 4 LW too if this is possible). I'd make that call on the basis that the League Cup Final is the decisive game in that competition, where a champion will be crowned, while Ireland v England from the third round of matches in the Six Nations - albeit it pits the two teams still able to win the Grand Slam against each other - will not decide that championship on that day. It'd be different and an even harder call if it was the final round of Six Nations matches with the title hinging on the match in Dublin.
However, I think perhaps what might have played a factor in Radio 5 Live going for Ireland v England ahead of Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur is because the former has the earlier kick-off. If Radio 5 Live weren't broadcasting the first half of Ireland v England from 3pm before Chelsea v Tottenham kicks off at 4pm, what else would they be broadcasting (probably cup final build-up, which in an ideal world they would be able to do)? By doing the first half of the rugby union on 5 Live, it'd sound poor to cut away from it at half-time, so I can see why they'd prioritise airing the conclusion of one big sporting event on 5 Live ahead of the beginning of another one.
It's probably also worth pointing out that as well as being live and in full on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, both halves of the League Cup Final will almost certainly be live on the BBC World Service, so if people without digital radio access can pick up that station it should be available on there.
On the subject of 5 Live's editorial calls, I was reading on the 5 Live Chat thread that 5 Live Sport confusingly dipped in and out of commentary on the first half of Bradford City v Sunderland on Sunday, only to take the closing stages of the game during the minutes when it overlapped with Arsenal v Middlesbrough. Did anyone listen to their coverage on Sunday, and if so is this a fair reflection of what happened? If so, I'm guessing 5 Live were hoping to do full commentary on Arsenal v Middlesbrough and would have done had Sunderland built up a comfortable lead by the final quarter of the game at Valley Parade, but given the upset being on the card they must have felt obliged to cover Bradford's win to its conclusion.
Mark Saggers presenting Kick Off alongside Ray Houghton
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg
FC Basel v FC Porto - Dom McGuinness
Schalke 04 v Real Madrid - Nigel Pearson
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Dave Rowe
UEFA.com
Rob Daly presenting Champions League Matchday Live alongside Paul Saffer
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg
FC Basel v FC Porto - Richard Connelly (updates)
Schalke 04 v Real Madrid - John Bradley and Paul Saffer (commentary)
Free Radio 80s
Tom Ross presenting The Goalzone from St Andrew's
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Tom Ross, Kevan Broadhurst and Darren Carter (7.45pm commentary, also on Blues Player)
BBC Tees
Alastair Brownlee presenting BBC Tees Sport from St Andrew's
Championship
Birmingham City v Middlesbrough - Alastair Brownlee and Neil Maddison (7.45pm commentary, also on BORO+), with Rob Law at pitchside
Pulse 1
Jason Thornton presenting Pulse 1 Sport from the Matchroom Stadium
League One
Leyton Orient v Bradford City - Jason Thornton and Ian Ormondroyd (7.45pm commentary, also on Bantams Player)
Orient Player's commentary on the above match is coming from BBC London's Dave Victor and Matt Hiscock.
No, that didn't happen at all. I was driving at the time and didn't hear it all but when I was tuned in - for the first half hour or so and the last ten minutes - they were doing full commentary. They certainly never made any reference to the fact they would be doing anything else during the game either. The Radio Times and EPG both billed full commentary on the Bradford game with them joining the Arsenal match in progress and that appears to be exactly what happened.
They did leave the West Brom game with ten minutes to go on Saturday because it was obviously becoming a rout and joined the rugby from the kick-off. But as far as I know, they broadcast the entire ninety minutes at Bradford, in full.
It's also fairly telling that Radio 5 Live prioritised England v Italy in the Six Nations over the 3pm football at the weekend. The Italy game is the one England Six Nations match that in past years has been put onto 5 Live Sports Extra in order to prioritise normal league football. That it went onto 5 Live at the weekend ahead of the football appears to endorse what Swansea Steve has said about 5 Live taking the BBC Trust's recommendations for them to give more airtime to sports other than football seriously. That said, it should be noted that at 3pm on that Saturday there was only two FA Cup games and no top flight matches, with the one tie pitting a Football League side against a Premier League side being the subject of a live commentary on talkSPORT, so that may have played a factor in that particular editorial call as well.
Just on Free Radio 80s tonight, I see Connor has posted details of their coverage of Birmingham v Middlesbrough as well (and I appreciate his regular contributions), but just to clarify as I'm able to listen that it's actually a three man team with the former Blues and current Northampton Town player Darren Carter making one of his annual guest appearances as the third man in their commentary box. And he's very much their third man, with Kevan Broadhurst dominating the analysis while Carts is only chipping in from time to time. Anyway, it's good to be able to listen to a Goalzone commentary for the first time in a while - Blues Player doesn't normally take their coverage, instead producing their own commentaries with Michael Johnson as co-commentator, but have decided to do so tonight.
Or it may be something to do with Aston Villa.
To be honest, if that thread said my name was Steve I'd want to double check that. They were intending to do the whole of the West Brom game and in the Radio Times and on the EPG they had the rugby commentary starting at 2.40, but there was no point in carrying on.
I wasn't surprised they did the England match this weekend, the 3pm football was distinctly unglamorous and they had lots of other football commentaries that weekend. They were able to do a 5.30 commentary which they don't do every week.