Repeats for Fury and ‘box-office’ Scotland re-writing a Big Yin joke
Television these days, it’s all repeats isn’t it? Only Fools and Horses on Gold, Top Gear on Dave, Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder on BT Sport and Scotland v Israel – again – on Sky Sports.
Seen it, seen it, seen it all several times before.
But that doesn’t mean there’s not some sort of comfort in seeing it again. And as familiar as the latter two sporting events appear – they’re fresh, if familiar, match-ups due again this weekend.
The number of times Scotland and Israel have met recently could re-write Billy Connolly’s old Partick Thistle sketch. Rather than believing the Jags’ name to be “Partick Thistle nil” Saturday’s opposition are fast becoming known as “Israel again?” .
If Scotland and Israel have closed combining to conclude (we can but hope) a long-running saga that's beginning to rival the Fast and the Furious series, the appropriately named Tyson Fury completes his trilogy against Deontay Wilder on BT Sport’s box office channel a few hours later.
Wilder is an intense fighter and Fury always puts on a show in and outside the ring so there’s value for money to be found on a weekend where international football takes over elsewhere. Yes, like the Anthony Joshua fight
last month you’ll need to pay extra on top of the subscription to see this repeat - that’s what happens when you are literally box office entertainment – though there’s a bit less riding on it now after AJ’S defeat marked down a potential £200 million blockbuster to a £200 bargain-bin battle.
Describing Steve Clarke’s national team as box-office might be stretching it a bit but it’s testament to their current popularity that the ticket office will be closed with Hampden already a sell-out to see “Israel again” with the
basic Sky Sports subscription. That’s the only place left to go for the rest of us without a ticket and joining Eilidh Barbour, James Mcfadden and friends in the Sky Sports studio for a pivotal game in the group will be drier, at least. Games between the pair haven’t been classics so there is also opportunity to flick between the channels with plenty of options on the other side at the same time, or when it feels like you’ve seen it all before.
The other group game affecting Scotland – Moldomestic
dova v Denmark – is on at the same time as, is Switzerland v Northern Ireland and Andorra v England on terrestrial TV. If you can’t wait for the weekend though there’s also the climax of the UEFA Nation’s League with Spain facing Italy in the first semifinal on Sky Sports Football on Wednesday night.
Scotland’s Caroline Weir will be in action for Manchester City against rivals Manchester United – fresh from thumping Scott Booth’s Birmingham City – on Saturday lunchtime too.
football might be off but rugby continue and the penultimate weekend of the Super6 will have two games broadcast.
Friday night’s Southern Knights v Stirling County match is worth catching on BBC iplayer and third hosts first on Sunday when Watsonians play Ayrshire Bulls live on Freesports.
Throw in the Superleague Grand Final on Sky Sports Main Event and that’s a TV schedule busy enough to keep you well away from Del Boy and Rodney.