SKY Sports is being urged to make Scotland’s crunch World Cup play-off free-to-air.
Following a historic run of six successive victories, Steve Clarke’s side has earned a spot in a mini-tournament to make it to Qatar 2022.
The team will discover its opponent in the play-off, to be held in March at Hampden, at a FIFA ceremony in Zurich at 4pm on Friday (November 26).
If Scotland’s men’s team win that match they will progress to the play-off final a few days later for a chance to qualify for their first World Cup since 1998.
As it stands, only those with a Sky Sports subscription will be able to stream the game online or on TV. But the Daily Record reports that the SFA is now in talks with Sky to make the game “as accessible to view as possible”.
And the SNP are now calling on the broadcaster to make the game free-to-air, as they did with Scotland’s heroic Euro 2020 play-off victory against Serbia in November last year.
In a letter to Jonathan Licht, the managing director of Sky Sports, the SNP's Ian Blackford and Gavin Newlands said that fans should be able to enjoy the "truly national events" without "cost, constraint, or restriction”.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said: "Steve Clarke's team have brought us on a joyous journey that has united the Scottish public in support for these players and their dream of representing Scotland at the World Cup.
"Making these vital play-off matches involving Scotland available free to air would ensure that every Scotland fan has the chance to watch these matches without the need to pay a subscription fee. Households are already experiencing mounting bills across the board – they should not be forced to pay to watch this national event.
"I urge Sky Sports to do the right thing and make these games free-to-air so everyone is able to properly enjoy these huge games."
Newlands, the SNP's sports spokesperson at Westminster, pointed to the decision by Channel 4 and Amazon in September to broadcast Emma Raducanu’s US Open final on free-to-air platforms.
He said: "These play-off games are crucial and represent the final steps in the journey to the World Cup - and they deserve to be enjoyed without cost, constraint, or restriction.
"There are a number of precedents for taking this step, the most recent being the decision to broadcast free-to-air Emma Raducanu’s remarkable achievement in winning the US Open final in September. We believe it is only right that a similar decision is taken in terms of broadcasting this major sporting event."
While Sky did drop its paywall for Scotland’s trip to Serbia last year, that was at a time when pubs across Scotland were closed due to a coronavirus lockdown, meaning many supporters would have had no means of watching the game at all.
A spokesman for the broadcaster commented: "We are a few months away from a potentially decisive qualification fixture."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel