This Friday night BBC ALBA’s coverage of the Women’s Six Nations begins when Scotland take on Italy at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow (7.35pm kick-off) – and this exposure can “help take the women’s game to a new audience – and to another level – in this country”.
That is according to Margot McCuaig, an executive producer with Nemeton TV who will be working with BBC ALBA to bring the coverage from this game, the home one against Ireland on February 8, the one away to France on February 23, the home one with Wales on March 8 and the trip to Twickenham on March 16 to play England into living rooms up and down Scotland.
Back in November Scottish Rugby announced that they had reached a deal with BBC ALBA to televise an unprecedented number of women’s matches going forward.
The first Scotland match to be shown under the new deal was the Canada one that month – a very tight 28-25 loss after an entertaining 80 minutes.
Now all the Six Nations matches will be shown while at the domestic level, the Sarah Beaney Cup final will be shown live in April.
Margot said: “Previously we had covered the World Cup qualifier with Spain a couple of years ago, so we had some experience of women’s rugby and the Canada match in November was very well received.
“The result didn’t quite go the way the team wanted, but they scored some great tries, there was a great crowd out in force at Scotstoun and the grit and determination the team showed will have left lots of people keen to watch them again during the Six Nations.
“The games will make great showcases for live television, BBC ALBA has really positioned itself as a real champion of women’s sport in this country with the football coverage having grown and grown over the last decade and to bring the rugby coverage up to the same level is something great to be a part of.
“I believe it can help take the women’s game to a new audience – and to another level – in this country. These women have been marginalised for too long, but now they have a platform to showcase what they can do and become role models to aspiring youngsters.”
Nemeton TV and BBC ALBA have come up with a great presenting and commentating team for the matches.
Iona Whyte – herself a rugby player – will present the action while experienced commentator Hugh Dan MacLennan will be the man on the mic with Scotland cap Lindsey Smith offering expert analysis.
“The three of them work well together and all offer something different to the audience to really describe what is going on and make viewers feel a part of things,” Margot said.
“Iona and Hugh Dan know their stuff inside out while Lindsey has played at the highest level and knows a lot of the current Scotland squad so she can help us delve that bit deeper.
“We also want to promote the women’s game at grassroots level as well as getting to know more about the international players and our half-time features will help do just that.
“These are exciting times and we cannot wait until Friday now!
“The Scotland women’s squad has a real buzz about it and more and more people are keen to watch them compete against some of the best teams in the world and show what they can do.”
Thanks to Rugby People for the squad photo
BBC ALBA is the Gaelic language television service and it will be broadcasting all of Scotland’s games at the 2019 Women’s Six Nations.
Launched in September 2008 as a collaboration between the BBC and MG ALBA, BBC ALBA was the first partnership television service to operate under a BBC licence.
BBC ALBA broadcasts every day from 5pm, delivering children’s output, news coverage and a whole range of diverse programming to its dedicated and appreciative audience.
You can find BBC ALBA on these platforms:
Sky 141 (Scotland), Sky 169 (rest of UK)
Freeview / You View 7 (Scotland only)
Virgin Media 161 (UK)
Freesat 109 (UK)
BT Vision 8 (Scotland only)
Smallworld 170 (Ayrshire and North West England)
And BBC iPlayer, both live and on catch up
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