29 Aug 2013

Frustrated fan buys TV rights to World Cup qualifier

7:36 am on 29 August 2013

Frustrated by a lack of television coverage of his team, a football fan has bought the Australian TV rights for Ireland's World Cup qualifier against Sweden to ensure that Irish down under don't miss the crunch clash.

Dubliner David Feeney says he was so frustrated at not being able to watch his team on television that he decided to buy the broadcast rights himself from German media company Kentaro.

Feeney, who also secured England's qualifier away to Ukraine, used his home as security to borrow the money to buy the rights and says they cost "in the tens of thousands of dollars" - but he's partnered with a horse-racing channel to show the match via a closed-circuit system at a number of venues across Australia.

The Irishman says the hardest person to convince in the whole process had been his wife - but he says if the venture makes any money, she gets to keep it.