The Serve

Did someone actually check this AFL TV deal

Remember back to that first monster TV contract. The one which saw all the bleating because the northern states didn’t have access to Friday night football. A promise that all 22 Swans matches would be played in full on free to air into Sydney, Brisbane the same with the Lions, yet it was somehow a crime that Fremantle versus St.Kilda couldn’t be seen until after the movie, because it happened to fall on a Friday. Matches that the vast majority of the northern public couldn’t care less about, but crisis meetings were needed and a snap resolution to have Foxtel replay it at 9:30.That was then. Now we have a scenario where barely half of a Swans match is replayed on Sydney free to air television.

Something has gone horribly wrong.

Today’s coverage of Sydney versus Port Adelaide by Channel Seven was hardly worth the effort. A Sunday afternoon Swans game has meant live free to air coverage in Sydney for well over a decade. Moments like Tony Lockett’s 1300th goal wouldn’t be seen any other way. Today was a generation off the pace. A V8 weekend, it meant Seven were locked away until 3 o’clock. Not ideal, but unavoidable.

So to the 3 o’clock replay we go, two hours after the first bounce. From the outset this doesn’t look right. Some bloke, who looks as AFL as a daffodil, awkwardly guides us through the first half highlights. Highlights? That’s right. No full game here. We apparently need to be out as soon as we can. The game is actually a Fox production and it shows, given Seven’s reticence to add anything. Perhaps that’s behind their insolence. A half of football later and it’s over. Thank you and goodbye.

The coverage cut short by an hour. And for what? A lifestyle show from England where drab women are told how pathetic they dress by slightly less drab women. One of the hosts looks like she has a carrot wedged so far up her behind, her facelift is on the verge of loosening.

This was seen as more viable than the Swans.

Today says two things. It says Seven has absolutely no faith in AFL in Sydney. Given up. In the late 90s, the home of football though so highly of this bubbling market, Bruce McAvaney, as chief caller, was despatched to each SCG game. How things have changed. To them, A Swans match is now like a trip to the supermarket. Has to be done once a week but the sooner we can leave the better. It also says, worryingly, that the league can’t do anything to stop it. While they’re out the back counting their dollars, they have let the networks run the asylum. It begs the question of how many more times Channel Ten will let themselves throw away Saturday nights in the ratings, when George And Mildred would probably pull better numbers. Seems only the goodness in their hearts is saving it. Not something to count on.

So while the folks in Sydney who can afford pay television are enjoying their six, seven, sometimes eight games a week live or very close to, the people who the AFL really want, the rank and file, the mummy’s and daddy’s in working class world who can’t afford such luxuries, are copping a mediocre highlights package.

The AFL have fought for the wrong people.