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Sky Q pays homage to Sunday League Football giving it the Ultra HD treatment

Tuesday 23 August 2016 12:45, UK

Sky Q
Image: Recreativo Hackney FC and Rathbone Rovers FC get the Ultra HD treatment with Sky Q

To celebrate the launch of the UK’s most comprehensive Ultra HD service with Sky Q, the familiar and sometimes grubby world of Sunday League football has been given the full Ultra HD treatment.

Ahead of the launch, hundreds of amateur footballers from across the nation were asked to reveal their most iconic Sunday League moments, which have been celebrated by Sky Q for the first time in Ultra HD.

Titled "Ultra Beautiful Game", the new film takes a humorous look at the unglamorous details of Sunday League and transforms them into highly stylised and spine-tingling moments all football fans will recognise: the failed attempts at tackling, the half-time rituals, the emotions of the players and the crowd and the rare moments of glory.

Recreativo Hackney FC and Rathbone Rovers FC get the Ultra HD treatment with Sky Q
Image: The "Ultra Beautiful Game" takes a humorous look at the unglamorous details of the Sunday League

The film sees London's distinctly average Recreativo Hackney FC challenge Rathbone Rovers FC to a friendly, with every kick, tackle and tumble captured in the enhanced detail and clarity of Ultra HD.

Renowned Yorkshire poet, lifelong Barnsley fan and one-time poet in residence at the English National Opera, Ian McMillan, lends added drama with his distinctive voiceover, reciting a new poem that was composed especially for the film. The piece helps to capture the nation's love of the game as well as the team's spirit to play on.

Sunday League
Image: Renowned Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan lends added drama with his distinctive voiceover

Top 10 iconic Sunday League moments*

1. It is always wet and windy (29%)
2. Players copying goal celebrations badly (28%)
3. The goalkeeper is always fat (26%)
4. Someone bragging about how they had a trial at United (24%)
5. A dog running on the pitch to chase the ball (24%)
6. The manager is always really serious but talks in cliches (21%)
7. A goal is never, and will never be the goalkeeper’s fault, no matter how much it is their fault really (20%)
8. The ultimate half-time snack: orange slices (19%)
9. The referee always looks so old that s/he could do with a walking stick (19%)
10. Stripping down to your underwear in a car park in the middle of winter because the home team has no changing facilities (19%)
*Sky research with Censuswide, based on 500 Sunday League and amateur players responses. The percentage represents how many respondents agreed with the statement.

Jack Denyer of Recreativo Hackney FC commented: "Being filmed in Ultra HD has truly brought the best out of Recreativo Hackney FC. If Sunday League can look this awesome, just imagine what the Premier League in Ultra HD on Sky Q will look like!"

Sky Q, the next generation box, just got better with Ultra HD. Ultra HD is available to Sky Q 2TB customers, offering an unrivalled line up of 124 live Premier League games, exclusive blockbuster movies, award-winning documentaries and brand new dramas.

Also See:

Sunday League
Image: Every kick, tackle and tumble in Recreativo Hackney FC v Rathbone Rovers FC is captured in Ultra HD

Sky Q is a great new way for customers to experience TV on their terms, with brilliant new features like the ability to record and store more shows than ever before, watch TV and recordings on any screen around the home, and take recordings wherever customers go, in or out of the home, even without Wi-Fi.

Watch the Ultra Beautiful Game HERE!

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