Carlos Hernandez of Melbourne Victory in action during the round one A-League match between Sydney FC and the Melbourne Victory in Sydney on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008. AAP Image/Jason McCawley
I’ve always thought that Channel Nine sports presenter Ken Sutcliffe would be a good bloke to share a beer with. Thirty years of covering everything from the America’s Cup to Wimbledon means he’s probably got plenty of tales to tell.
Admittedly my rationale isn’t based on the most scientific of premises.
One year for Christmas, my parents gave me a copy of Billy Birmingham’s “Still The Twelfth Man” on double cassette. It was probably the biggest mistake they ever made.
Aside from fostering a life-long love affair with comedy, it also fuelled an insatiable passion for sport.
And when you live overseas – as I currently do – it’s often necessary to check in with home base to keep up with the domestic sporting world.
But watching Sydney’s Channel Nine news after Newcastle Jets lost to Nagoya Grampus in the Asian Champions League last week, you’d think you’d tuned into an episode of the Benny Hill show.
“Soccer shocker,” promised our Kenny – as he and news reader Peter Overton salivated at the prospect of watching an Australian “soccer” player embarrass himself on the world stage.
The footage they chose to screen, naturally, was the poorly hit penalty from Sasho Petrovski that was comfortably saved by Nagoya keeper Seigo Narazaki.
That was it.
Just in case you failed to connect the dots, Channel Nine then screened Manchester United’s opening goal in their 2-0 win over Portsmouth, where “Ryan Gibbs” apparently crossed for Wayne Rooney to produce a “sublime finish.”
Rooney’s simple tap-in had Sutcliffe enraptured, prompting him to declare that his incredible skills were the reason he earned “billions.”
Gee willikers Channel Nine, you don’t hold exclusive TV rights to screen the National Rugby League or anything, do you?
The irony of Channel Nine’s archaic attitude towards Australian football is that I was watching their news broadcast via the free stream offered on website ninemsn.
And it’s the internet that makes Channel Nine’s news broadcast so redundant in the first place.
There’s not a single news story featured on any 6pm news broadcast that I haven’t already read about on the internet.
While large swathes of the Australian population are yet to be lured online, I’d venture to suggest that not many football fans are among them.
Having been driven underground by a mainstream media that at best fosters the perception that Australian football is “inferior,” and at worst seems to suggest that watching it is somehow “unpatriotic,” is it any wonder that Australian football fans turn to the internet for their news?
With so much happening in the world of football across the globe, Australian football fans are understandably net savvy.
That’s why Football Federation Australia recently revamped its website, not to mention the fact that football proves a consistently popular topic on The Roar.
Ken Sutcliffe may have played a starring role as the male model from Mudgee in “Still The Twelfth Man,” but the joke is on Channel Nine if they think that their old-school attitudes are going to win over young viewers.
As for the A-League, it clearly has the capacity to excite in the face of mainstream media indifference.
Two new teams, the high-profile capture of Robbie Fowler, the mysterious Vítězslav Lavička and speculation over the identity of new expansion clubs – there’s plenty to discuss if you’re a fan of an A-League club, despite the fact that the new season doesn’t kick off until August.
And with the Socceroos on the verge of booking a ticket to South Africa in 2010, football’s popularity is once again set to boom.
No doubt it will encroach on the more established winter sports in the process.
I won’t hold my breath for Ken Sutcliffe to learn our national coach’s name – presumably he’ll always be “Tim” Verbeek to Channel Nine news – nor do I expect to sink a beer with Sutcliffe any time soon.
But it would be nice to see Channel Nine stop treating Australian football fans as second-class citizens.
Over to you, “Benny.” The ball’s in your court.
Recommend this story.
Follow Mike on twitter @Mike_Tuckerman
April 30th 2009 @ 8:54am
Sam said | April 30th 2009 @ 8:54am | Report comment
I meant the AFL has more money to splash around and promote their game.
April 30th 2009 @ 8:57am
Redb said | April 30th 2009 @ 8:57am | Report comment
Sam,
“I can tell you that more people in NSW would be actually interested in the a-league news on NSW clubs, then any AFL coverage”
If that were true Sydney FC would be getting far more people to their games than the Swans.
Redb
April 30th 2009 @ 9:01am
Koala Bear said | April 30th 2009 @ 9:01am | Report comment
Mike,
good article and let me allude to Kurt and his ilk that a news report on TWG (SBS) said.. “There are now 900,070 registered football players in Australia” … They deserve better then what has been dished out by the TV media so far… The present Australian Football coverage for Australian football is a disgrace…
~~~~~~~~~
KB
April 30th 2009 @ 9:02am
Sam said | April 30th 2009 @ 9:02am | Report comment
Red B
Then so would the rugby league getting bigger crowds than the Swans. Remember just because people don’t attend games, it doesn’t mean the level of interest is low in a sport. Swans are also popular, but most of the AFL news comes from Melbourne. It is just something most people don’t understand as they are not familiar with Melbourne teams or players.
April 30th 2009 @ 9:04am
Chuq said | April 30th 2009 @ 9:04am | Report comment
Kurt, I don’t think anyone is suggesting that AFL isn’t more popular in Melbourne and NRL isn’t more popular in Sydney. The problem is that between them, those two codes get 99% of coverage.. which is extremely disproportionate to the levels of interest. To people that don’t follow the A-League/football in general, and only see the news reports or Sports Tonight, it only fuels the myth that people don’t care about the sport. The two highest rating Pay TV programs in Australia, EVER, are football – Australia v Uzbekistan earlier this year, and Australia v Japan at the Asian Cup in 2007. The Socceroos matches at the 2006 World Cup draw approx 3 million viewers each – despite broadcast times being 11pm, 2am and 5am. Clearly, the sport *IS* popular, and media coverage should reflect this.
April 30th 2009 @ 9:07am
The Answer said | April 30th 2009 @ 9:07am | Report comment
Sam,
More people do attend Rugby League matches than the AFL in Sydney. What is your point?
However seeing you believe “just because people don’t attend games, it doesn’t mean the level of interest is low in a sport” it doesn’t really matter. Sydney FC is clearly secretly Sydney’s number one team.
Live the dream.
April 30th 2009 @ 9:08am
Eamonn said | April 30th 2009 @ 9:08am | Report comment
Billo…last time I looked the A-League was the best football league in Australia.
But of course you can promote it or denigrate it as Mike T points out…and this is a familiar theme across many traditional media people…knock it while they can.
And while we’re on it..let’s face it the AFL may be “the best in the world,” but there are a lot of poor sides, poor players in that league. League has lost a heap of talent to Union and Overseas..but it’s still a “fantastic competition”…really…much better than if they had kept all those star players? There’s a lot of “ordinary” talent running into one another in that comp.
Mike is right. The Internet has given football a voice like we’ve never had before and we are using it pretty effectively.
Without it how much coverage would football fans have got about the highest level of football in Australia on FTA or in the papers over the last few years..not much….. and the A-League may have dead.
And Sam makes a pertinent point…AFL bigger interest in Sydney than A-League/football…hard to see really innit..despite average crowds
The Roar provides a great voice for football fans to come together share the passion and it’s great. Even better that we get MC and his mates discussing football….something they may not have done pre-internet.
What next…they’ll be off to the games. Great stuff.
April 30th 2009 @ 9:11am
Sam said | April 30th 2009 @ 9:11am | Report comment
The Answer
“Sydney FC is clearly secretly Sydney’s number one team.”
When did I say this? I am saying that people from NSW will want to know what is happening with any NSW teams over caring about any Melbourne AFL media coverage. It’s more you getting paranoid and putting words in my mouth. You always seem to have a go at everything I say.
April 30th 2009 @ 9:14am
Forgetmenot said | April 30th 2009 @ 9:14am | Report comment
Another whinge piece. “We are poorly done by”, “everyone is against us”, “people call it soccer”, “its the world game, we are superior”, “we are the world game, we deserve to be number one in every country” …
We have heard it all before.
April 30th 2009 @ 9:14am
whiskeymac said | April 30th 2009 @ 9:14am | Report comment
There is a disproportinate lack of media interest in NSW for a game that has massive particpation rates and a dedicated fan base. There is a large, not insignificant, portion of the sports market that is genuinely interested in football, and these people just aren’t getting any joy from the mainstream media. That’s not to say there isn’t also interest in AFL ( hell i even have a passing interest in), or the Tahs (who i must admit to also supporting) and obviously the NRL (again passing interest but thats what you get with Panthers), and of course they should get a decent slice of the coverage… but for football to get only 2 minutes of badly commented upon exposure is disproportionate to the status of the game. I think the criticism of the media is valid,and it creates a catch 22… less exposure means a lesser ability to grow, sponsorship etc (not that it will stop growth in the long term just fetter it).