Women's World Cup viewers fume at 'absolute shambles' during opening matches

20 July 2023 , 10:45

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Women's World Cup viewers fume at 'absolute shambles' during opening matches

World Cup viewers in Ireland were furious after audio problems ruined their viewing of their first match against Australia in the opening day of the Women's World Cup.

Republic of Ireland faced co-hosts Australia who were without Sam Kerr after she sustained an injury in training the day before their opening match today.

Ireland enjoyed a bright start, but 35 minutes in there was a worrying sight with Katie McCabe down injured and needing treatment - however problems with the sound on RTE meant fans struggled to get coverage unless they tuned into ITV.

One fan said on Twitter they couldn't watch the match even 15 minutes in: "Over 16mins played in Ireland's WNT World Cup debut and our national broadcaster has still not fixed the audio and picture issue #COYGIG #FIFAWWC "

Another said: "Switched over to ITV because audio commentary on RTE is out of sync. Another own goal for RTE, a first World Cup for the women’s national team and the country is switching to a UK broadcaster."

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RTE Soccer have responded to the complaints on Twitter: "We're aware of audio issues and working to rectify them as quickly as possible."

However, the problem didn't seem to be resolved as the match went on, with tweets still being sent by fans in fury over not being able to watch their team play in their first Women's World Cup in two decades. One fan fumed: "Irelands first appearance in a football World Cup in 20 years and RTE Player can’t get the audio right It’s the never ending joke that writes itself."

The issue seems to be with the audio and picture completely out of sync with the sound several second ahead of the picture.

It wasn't just Ireland fans who had trouble, with Australian viewers were unable to watch the big game on 7plus.

Matildas fans said: "Geez, if only someone could have predicted that millions of people would all want to be using 7plus at the same time tonight..."

While another fumed: "What's the go with your platform @7plus??' a third fan said. '3 different browsers 3 different error messages saying why you can't broadcast."

Laura Hartley