The Sunday Game

2RN, Ireland's first radio broadcasting station, was established on 1 January 1926 and, from the outset, sports coverage, albeit infrequent, was a feature of the schedules.

On that day former hurler and renowned Gaelic games journalist, P. D. Mehigan, carried a live commentary of Kilkenny's All-Ireland hurling semi-final victory over Galway.

The Gaelic Athletic Association, however, were wary the live television coverage would result in lower attendances at games.

The first time that Gaelic games were seen on Irish television was on 17 March 1962 when Telefís Éireann carried live coverage of the Railway Cup hurling final between Munster and Leinster.

On 5 September 1971 history was made again when Tipperary's defeat of Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final was the first game to be broadcast in colour.

[6] For the early years financial and logistical reasons restricted the programme to featuring just one full championship game and discussion about it.

The following day the Irish Press newspaper carried the headline: 'TV personality supports Jimmy Keaveney' on the front page.

Howard subsequently attended a Leinster Council disciplinary committee meeting and spoke on Keaveney's behalf, however, he received a one-month suspension.

The All-Ireland Ladies Football Championship senior and junior finals were also formerly covered, but are now shown on TG4 as part of a title sponsorship deal.

[9] An important development in 2014 was the live broadcast throughout the world of championship football and hurling matches by Sky Sports.

[14] In the early years, the programme's chief commentator was Michael O'Hehir, however, he only provided commentary for the senior All-Ireland finals.

In 1980, Ger Canning joined the commentary team, becoming the programme's chief commentator following O'Hehir's retirement due to illness in time for the All-Ireland finals of 1985.

In its very first season the makers of the programme made the brave decision to include Liz Howard as one of their main analysts.

These include: Hurling: Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Eddie Brennan, Jimmy Brohan, D. J. Carey, Éamonn Cregan, Anthony Daly, John Doyle, Michael Duignan, Cyril Farrell, Davy Fitzgerald, Paul Flynn, Pete Finnerty, Pat Hartigan, Pat Henderson, Liam Griffin, Thomas Ryan, Eddie Keher, Phil 'Fan' Larkin, Ger Loughnane, Tomás Mulcahy, Larry O'Gorman, Dónal O'Grady, Declan Ruth, Henry Shefflin.

Football: Kevin Armstrong, Joe Brolly, Martin Carney, Enda Colleran, Paul Curran, Tony Davis, Seán Flanagan, Coman Goggins, Kevin Heffernan, Joe Lennon,[15] Tommy Lyons, Jim McDonnell, Kevin McStay, Mick O'Connell, Mick O'Dwyer, Seán O'Neill, Anthony Tohill, Dave Weldrick, Eamon Young, Colm O'Rourke, Dessie Dolan, Lee Keegan,[16] Michael Murphy[17] For the 2004 season of the programme, RTÉ replaced the long-standing theme tune of The Sunday Game, Jägerlatein, composed by James Last, with a completely different composition.

This logo, used for the 2004 season, was replaced with the RTÉ Sport corporate style logo in 2005.