''STV Sports Centre'' was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

regional sports stand, covering the two STV franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland. The strand was produced by the

STV News ''STV News'' is a Scottish news division produced by STV. The news department produces two regional services covering STV's Channel 3 franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland. STV News programmes are produced from studios in Glasgo ...

department in Glasgow (

STV Central Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

), with contributions from

STV North Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 (UK), Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes th ...

's news team in Aberdeen. Until May 2011, ''Sports Centre'' aired two different programmes: ''Friday Night Football'', broadcast on Friday nights at 10:30pm, and ''Magners League Rugby'' – airing on Sundays straight after the late ''

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

'' bulletin. Short ''Sports Centre'' news bulletins also aired on Monday – Thursday nights at 10:35pm during the late regional bulletins from ''

''. The first series of ''STV Sports Centre'', launched just two years after the long-running ''

Scotsport ''Scotsport'' is a Scotland, Scottish sports television programme, broadcast on STV (TV channel), STV in northern and central Scotland between 1957 and 2008, as well as on ITV Border in southern Scotland. It was first broadcast in 1957 as ''S ...

'' was axed, featured interviews, special reports, analysis, a preview of the weekend's football and competitions. Gerry McCulloch and Sheelagh McLaren were the main co-hosts, with Stefani Dailly and Chris Harvey as relief presenters in their absence.

Friday Night Football

The Friday night programme was relaunched on 13 August 2010 as the hour-long ''Friday Night Football'', focusing on previews and analysis of the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League and featuring action from midweek

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

and

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

fixtures. The series was introduced as part of a two-year production and archive services deal between STV and the SPL. A few weeks into the new series, STV decided to shorten the programme to the original 30 minutes. The programme was axed in June 2011.

Sports Centre Rugby

''Sports Centre Rugby'' was broadcast on Sunday nights after the late ''

'' bulletin. It featured highlights from the weekend's

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

games with extended coverage of matches involving

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

and

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

. Originally broadcast as ''

STV Rugby ''STV Rugby'' was a Scottish regional television programme featuring highlights of Pro12 rugby union matches involving Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors. The programme, produced by the STV News department in Glasgow, was first broadcast in the ...

'', the programme was introduced in September 2009 after a deal was reached between the Celtic League Association, Scottish Rugby and STV, following the closure of

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports Media is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland and in Tbilisi, Georgia, broadcasting throughout select Eurasian countries, and the Philippines. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Iris ...

' UK operations. The ''Sports Centre'' strand was discontinued in 2011, with highlights of the 2011–12 rugby season, now known as

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

airing under the ''

'' banner once again.

References

External links

* * {{col-end 2010 Scottish television series debuts 2011 Scottish television series endings ITV Sport Sports television in Scotland STV News 2010s British sports television series