By Michael C
May 9th 2009 @ 4:11am
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News Ltd has an agenda in attack on Western Sydney AFL
In war, the truth is the first casualty. The debate about a new AFL side in West Sydney has raised some interesting discussion, debate and media coverage. Interesting is being ‘polite’.
Outright lies by a NRL co-owning News Ltd appears more the truth.
It’s easy to illustrate.
I will do so, because, sadly, these un-truths continue to be trotted out.
On Monday, 21 March, 2005, then premier Bob Carr announced a $20 million dollar grant for major new sporting facilities.
It was announced that the State Govt would provide $15 million of this towards the Blacktown Olympic Park, along with the AFL indicating it would commit $2.5 million.
The other $5 million is to be directed to development of soccer fields between Rooty Hill Road South and the Western Sydney Orbital, to be home to the Blacktown and District Soccer Football Association.
A key comment: the $20 million for sports facilities is in addition to the $45 million already earmarked for the development of the Western Sydney Parklands over the next ten years.
How then has this been reported by News Ltd? Fast forward three years, and we get on July 17, 2008 this headline by Political Reporter Joe Hildebrand:“Blacktown Council uses almost all sports funds for AFL oval.”
It is just poor reporting. The first few lines make this obvious:
“Blacktown Council has siphoned almost all of a $20 million taxpayer fund for sports facilities across the area into its new AFL stadium, sparking a war with the State Government. Mayor Leo Kelly confirmed that $15 million of the fund would go towards the Rooty Hill oval, which has a 10,000 person capacity and will pave the way for a second Sydney AFL team. The remaining $5 million is to go towards new soccer facilities.”
Between May 2005 and July 2008, at what point did the Daily Telegraph not comprehend that the $20 million grant was specifically allocated for the projects? Why the shock and horror three years on for a project that was publicly announced and detailed?
The money was never siphoned. Three years they’ve had to get it right. And they couldn’t.
It should be noted that Blacktown Council committed $6.75 million to the project, and the AFL and Cricket NSW both contributed $2.875 million.
Remember, the AFL was initially reported to be looking at $2.5 million.
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(77)
sheek said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:50am | Report comment
Of course they do, which is precisely why we should ignore News Ltd.
Sometimes amusing, sometimes entertaining, rarely informative…..but it’s a free country (still)!
Spiro Zavos said | May 9th 2009 @ 12:45pm | Report comment
It’s too simplistic to blame ‘News Ltd’ for its support of rugby league in the Western Suburbs. News Ltd, through the Herald-Sun, the best tabloid in the world in my view, totally supports AFL in Melbourne. The newspapers go where their readers want them to go. In the western suburbs, the readers are rugby league supporters. In Melbourne, they are AFL supporters.
This is why rugby league and rugby union complain about the lack of coverage of their sports by the Melbourne papers.
Another factor is the allegiance of the sports editors to a particular sport.
In Sydney, the predominating allegiance of the sports editors in newspapers, radio and television is to rugby league. They then ensure that the sport they love is covered probably more intensely than it warrants.
The same applies for Melbourne.
And to television channels like SBS where football is the main winter game, even though, say, rugby has a big international focus. Why wouldn’t SBS, for instance, run the IRB Sevens tournament? Answer: because no one making decisions in the sports department of SBS with any clout is interested in rugby union. They are passionate football supporters, so football dominates.
Albert Ross said | May 9th 2009 @ 12:47pm | Report comment
The most appalling part of this is that Blacktown Council have breached their own environmental regulations by knocking down a stand of remnant endangered Cumberland Plain vegetation to accommodate the expansion of this white elephant.
Not content with frittering away the hard earned money of the NSW taxpayers and BCC ratepayers building and maintaining an Olympic sports that nobody cares about stadium we are now forced to have to put up with this expensive monstrosity plonked in the middle of nowhere bereft of proper public transport links.
Somebody remind me: what is planned capacity of this new edifice? How will those numbers support any kind of professional sporting team?.
Disclosure: I am a NSW taxpayer and a BCC ratepayer.
PS: The New Corp giveaway The Blacktown Advocate gives AFL a good run as per http://blacktown-advocate.whereilive.com.au/sport/list/category/australian-rules-footy/ but Mick is never likely to let the facts get in the way of a good tale.
tifosi said | May 9th 2009 @ 12:57pm | Report comment
Mr Zavos is 100% right.
The daily telegraph does a better job on covering AFL, then the Herald sun does on rugby and rugby league thats for sure.
John Ryan said | May 9th 2009 @ 2:37pm | Report comment
Just another load of old cobblers by the head of AFL cheer squad in here,who like the AFL has problems with people who don’t like AFL.
Just ask his opinion of Roy Masters,then settle back for a sleep inducing encyclical from the master of wordy BS Michael C the author of this rubbish, followed by the AFL mafia soon after.
BigAl said | May 9th 2009 @ 2:41pm | Report comment
Spiro . . . I f I read you correctly you say in the one article that media sports coverage is controlled by what they know their audience wants and then you say its controlled by the prejudice sports editors ?? – please explain !!
I’m sure ALL private enterprise media would go where they can make the money, which I assume you are well aware is becoming increasingly hard to do!
SBS is a species unto itself. To my observation they always lead off their Sports bulletin with in-depth English ( not multi-cultural, English) Soccer, then maybe Australian soccer, then some international gymnastics or Norwegian Cross country skiing etc… tailing off with a bit about the popular domestic codes competition.
Brian said | May 9th 2009 @ 2:43pm | Report comment
Well said Spiro
Its not a conspiracy just a lack of AFL interest in Western Sydney.
zach said | May 9th 2009 @ 3:16pm | Report comment
Spiro and tifosi you must be kidding. The Herald Sun OWNS Melbourne Storm and has promoted them way above any actual public interest for 10 years. They have never printed a negative article about the Storm despite the fact that they are still haemorraging money and drawing crowds as low as 7000. Compare this with the rabid treatment of the AFL in the Telegraph in the last couple of weeks. As for the Age, they are sponsors of and spruikers for Melbourne Victory and they have a dedicated rugby league section. Try finding AFL in the SMH. The Age is run by its Sydney masters ( yes, – Roy Masters)
Dave said | May 9th 2009 @ 4:08pm | Report comment
Spiro, you are right about SBS. It is meant to provide multicultural radio and television services. however its sports converge has a multicultural model from the 1960’ss when there was high immigration from Southern Europe.
Looking at immigration statistics from July 2007 to June 2008 http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/02key.htm
New Zealand 27 600 18.5%
United Kingdom 23 200 15.6%
India 15 300 10.3%
China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 13 000 8.7%
Philippines 6 100 4.1%
South Africa 5 200 3.5%
Sri Lanka 3 600 2.4%
Malaysia 3 500 2.4%
Vietnam 2 700 1.8%
Korea (North and South) 2 600 1.7%
Other than the United Kingdom, most immigrants are not coming from countries where Soccer is the number 1 sport. Maybe SBS can change with the times and their sports coverage can start to reflect that.
Carl U said | May 9th 2009 @ 4:08pm | Report comment
Come on Michael,
Conspiracies now?
If there really was a conspiracy there wouldn’t be the amount AFL coverage that there is. AFL gets more then enough. The thing is that Rugby League journos don’t like AFL because NRL fans dont like AFL. Big suprise!
tifosi said | May 9th 2009 @ 5:52pm | Report comment
Dave, did you know SBS are showing the ashes this year?
And what other sports could they show?
Besides in china, vietnam, malaysia, korea and south africa football is a very popular sport.
Even the Indians are starting to follow football in much larger numbers.
Only the phillipines which follows basketball nz with rugby and sri lanka with cricket are the countries with little football popularity.
Mick said | May 9th 2009 @ 7:46pm | Report comment
1 of the Indian blokes was saying they get over 105,000 at some football matches in India.
Do not know if it is bs or not
Midfielder said | May 9th 2009 @ 9:07pm | Report comment
Mick
It is true … never reported in Aus … but the again it can’t have happened could it otherwise the media would have reported it
Anand Antony said | May 9th 2009 @ 9:24pm | Report comment
A bit of reality check on football (soccer) in India. The sport has decent spectator support only in few states – West Bengal, Kerala, Goa and few north eastern states. Apart from Bengal where it is indeed a major sport and Kerala all other states are tiny. In Bengal (same as in Bangladesh) soccer was the most dominant sport 30 years ago. Now Cricket is much bigger even there. It is possible that the Indimonths ago an bloke was telling the truth albeit with an exaggeration – it could have happened in Calcutta (Kolkkotta) in West Bengal. But the reality is that overall in India soccer is a very minor sport. Also it has gone backwards in its strongholds or to put it better cricket has become strong in those pockets as well. The reality now is that total revenue in Cricket is much bigger than all other sports combined (including Tennis, Hockey which is still the official “national game”, Soccer). The total dominance of Cricket is seen to be belived. It is the biggest sopectator sport by a mile and it is the largest participation sport by a mile. Some quarters even suggest that there should be government intervention to protect other sports.
John Ryan said | May 9th 2009 @ 10:45pm | Report comment
/Dear zach buy a SMH turn to the sports pages and look hey presto there are articles about AFL,or if your in Melbourne go online type SMH and click sports hey presto there,s generally about 3 to 4 articles plus a link to Real Footy.
So I,m not sure where you come up with that one,or read Wilson in the Telegraph she enjoys kissing the AFL backside as welli
Anand Antony said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:01pm | Report comment
BigAl, I can’t agree more with you. SBS is the real villain in biased reporting by the points mentioned in your comment. Why? They can afford to do so because of the government funding. Have you ever found an article similar to the crap “Can you smell the fear?” by Simon Hill. If SBS is really about the tastes of various ethnic communities in Australia then they should report more RL matches in their news bulletin rathen than theEnglish Soccer.
JF said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:02pm | Report comment
AA – football not the most popular sport in India? Surely not, the biased Indian media must have it in for the sport. A lack of fair media coverage must be the reason for the sport’s minor status.
Midfielder said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:09pm | Report comment
JF
It actually a very interesting study of culture .. it is not media bias at all… Cricket is years ahead of anything else as we all know. But cricket is played backed and watched by the upper / middle class they fund it and as AA has said above cricket is becoming more powerful in India… Football is played in the main by the poor and the very poor so even in India it does not get much media it is argued because of those who play it… A friend of mine who comes from India and a mad cricket fan was telling me this one afternoon at a BBQ
Anand Antony said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:25pm | Report comment
JF, my comments are not based on media coverage. I am of Indian origin, has travelled and observed what people do there and talked to Indians of various cultural backgrounds(culturally India is not a single entity rather a mixture of different cultures underpinned mainly by different distinct languages). For records, I do not follow cricket and honestly don’t know how people can follow this game while admitting that there is some skill involved. Another thing to remember is Cricket matches may not produce big crowd numbers India. However the matches are watched all over the place on Television – by young and old. It is the game that is discussed in work places, schools or you nmae it. Another interesting fact is that “code war” do not exist there between football and rugby there. Rugby union is now getting some presence in some urban centres even though most Indians in Australia are unaware of this and it is interesting to note that there is no antagonism between the two sports. In fact there is a Football/Rugby academy in Pune and if you go to their website they encourage players to try both games. Check this site http://www.kfandra.com/abouttheacademy.htm
JF said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:42pm | Report comment
AA, Midfielder,
I realise that cricket is by far the most popular sport in India and an integral part of society, I was just having a dig at the football folk on this site that believe the only reason football cannot be the no.1 sport in a country must be due to unfair media treatment. Yes, I was unaware of any rugby existinging in India, thanks for the link.
Anand Antony said | May 9th 2009 @ 11:42pm | Report comment
Midfielder, What your friend told is not correct. I am not at all saying he is lying. I can in fact see where he is coming from. Many of the cricketers, except guys like Gangully or Pataudi of the past, were just ordinary guys. But they became rich through cricket. The moral of the story is – poor guys playing cricket get money and support while poor guys playing soccer languish. Your friend’s comments may be based on this. I suspect your friend may be from Bengal, Kerala or Goa where is some soccer presence. By the way it is interesting to note that the devlopment of Rugby Union in India, though of modest scale is taking place in slums and among poorer sections. In Mumbai there is a charity called Magic Bus India which looks after the recreational needs of the slum children like excursions and sports. They are heavily into Rugby. Likewise in Chennai an American expatriate called Patrick Davenport (among others) started popularising Rugby among slum kids.
Any way take my word – cricket played by rich/middle class, soccer by poor – absolutely not true.
Anand Antony said | May 10th 2009 @ 12:08am | Report comment
JF, As you can see from my previous post that Rugby is taking a very “unRugby” like path to development (in its modest capacity though) in India. It is being developed in modest sections of the society. What is interesting is that now some companies are now seeing it as a “corporate game” too. They say that the “controlled agression” in Rugby is the trait they really want their in business to succeed. One another note Rugby indeed has a few parts in common with thier traditional game called’ Kabbadi. This is a non-ball game but involves holding a offensive “runner” from the opposite team who holds his breath and says “Kabbadi, Kabbadi, Kabbadi”. You need to “hold” the player (I deliberately refrain from using the term “tackle”) so that the player cannot run back to his base line before he starts to inhale again. Then the offensive runner is out. On the other hand the offensive runner can make clever side steps and avoid being held and run back to his base. In that case all the players the runner has touched or the players who had touched are out. I have seen many players with amazing side steps. This game is more run as atraditional game in villages.
tifosi said | May 10th 2009 @ 8:47am | Report comment
Bayern Munich played in india to over 120,000 fans:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aEXHLMfjxpTY&refer=latin_america
The English Premier League is getting bigger in india, and the affinity with britain will see it grow even more.
Like most asian countries, the local leagues are crap, but the EPL reigns supreme. Chelsea are planning to play more and more in india as well.
If india ever became a world power in football, i would be sure they would follow the sport just as much as cricket. Unfortunately i dont see it happening in the near future.
BTW India have qualified for the 2011 Asian Cup, something Australia hasnt done yet.
MVDave said | May 10th 2009 @ 9:05am | Report comment
The Kolkota Derby attracts 100,000 crowds so there is significant interest in Football and the interest in World Cups, EPL is growing rapidly. They do need a few players of Indian heritage to make the top level before the game would start to move towards Cricket’s level of popularity.
Michael C said | May 10th 2009 @ 10:53am | Report comment
Geeze,…..how’d this evolve onto soccer in india?!?!?!?
back on topic – -
the notion of ‘conspiracy’ or ‘ineptitude’ is based on having 3 years to know a story and having no shortage of correct information via google or a simple phone call to get it right. It’s one thing to rehash a story, it’s quite another to still not get it right.
Full marks to Albert Ross – - as I’ve mentioned before to someone who was whinging about other sports’ fields being ’sacrificed’ for AFL fields I mentioned that the area being developed was either poorly ‘developed’ fields used for cricket (so, upgrading existing cricket fields…….damn shame that!!) and an area of undeveloped ‘bush’. The loss of this ‘bush’ might be the bigger issue – - although, in realiyt – it’s a bit late now to get too concerned and no doubt this whole wedge of land has been zoned for sports/rec development for quite sometime unless AR can illustrate were BCC pushed through a midnight zoning amendment to facilitate the project.
There’s unfair media treatment by way of ‘ommission’, and then there’s what can only be negligent or deliberately untrue media reporting.
I find it interesting to investigate the odd specific example. It SHOULD help all of us to do this now and then, I reckon theRoar is a good spot for it. If we can’t work together to establish some truth then we’re as big a part of the problem as anyone. (this is a challenge to the negative folk on this site and threads to actually offer some VALUE.)
Dave said | May 10th 2009 @ 11:10am | Report comment
Tifosi, Excluding New Zealand and The united kingdom because I don’t think English comes under the multilingual part of the SBS’s charter, China’ most popular sports are table tennis and basketball, Philippines basketball, south Africa cricket and rugby Sri Lanka cricket , India cricket and hockey.
SBS should be showing some coverage of all Indian and Sri Lankan cricket games , the problem being is I’d say Fox has them under wraps, Fox also have the ICL and ten HD has the IPL. So unfortunately there is not much left for SBS except the Ashes.
Though come to think of it the New Zealand immigration would include a lot of people from Samoa, Tonga , Fiji so for them Rugby and League.
I can understand tin the old days when the NSL was ethnic based why SBS would lead there sport with news form it. However now the A-league doesn’t have ethnic based teams and immigrants aren’t interest, The A-league should come after Cricket ,AFL and rugby league in their sports news.
Crosscoder said | May 10th 2009 @ 11:26am | Report comment
What a load of codswallop.News Ltd as a case in point has their GC paper the GC Bulletin sponsoring the new AFL team.This is the same mob that knocked back the Titans for sponsorship claiming”conflict of interest”.What the hell is the Storm then.
Zach
You really need to sit down and have a look at the Sun Herald in sydney ,day after day and weekend.Today 2 full pages on the AFL,ditto the telgraph.Then we get Rebecca Wilson writing a page on a saturday edition of the Telegraph on why she likes Brett Kirk etc etc.
MVDave said | May 10th 2009 @ 11:33am | Report comment
Dave
Arent Chs 2, 7, 9 and 10 enough to have AFL, RL and Cricket rammed down your throat…surely having SBS as an alternative the ’same old’ reporting on the other 4 is not too much to ask?
Your assessment of the countries and their sports is a little skew if…South Africa’s no 1 sport played and watched by the vast majority is football…Cricket and Rugby are largely for the whites. There are 40 million non whites v 4 million whites in SA.
China whilst TT is there think you’ll find football is as popular if not more so than Basketball.
India as stated already is warming to football which will overtake Hockey, soon.
Dave said | May 10th 2009 @ 12:03pm | Report comment
Mick there were example of 100,000 crowds back in the 90’s but not now. The I League only has teams in couple of teams. Crowds are continually falling as a-league crowds are also falling.
Dave said | May 10th 2009 @ 12:07pm | Report comment
Kolkata used to be the centre of soccer in India. but has fallen behind Goa. Goa was a Portuguese colony so cricket was never popular. However now even Goa the old men are angry because the young people all want to play cricket and are ignoring soccer . the same thing has happened in Bangladesh where soccer was once the main sport now it is the old man’s game and cricket is for the young people.
Dave said | May 10th 2009 @ 12:17pm | Report comment
MVDave, the point is most immigrants to Australia from South Africa would be more likely to be cricket or rugby fans than soccer fans
Dave said | May 10th 2009 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
MVDave, if basketball is not more popular than soccer in china it is not far away Yao Ming has taken it to another level. It was huge at the 2008 Olympics. I think the Chinese would rather watch China play the USA in basketball than China v the Socceroos where player were shooting at goal and hitting the corner post
some reports say that close to a quarter of Chinas population plays basketball.
Anand Antony said | May 10th 2009 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
Michael C, still the Indian connection keeps coming…… Last few years I have noticed that the AFL has been involved in Indian community events in Sydney. AFL has for some reason identified the Indian community among potential converts. Most people were thinking that this is a wild dream. Come this year Geelong has the promising rookie Ranga Ediriwickrama
from Pennant Hills in Sydney on the ranks. We should look at this in the context that there is no single subcontinental player playing top cricket here. So while most Indians/Sri Lankans/Pakistanis/Bangladeshis here enjoy watching cricket it is not improbable that a lot of their second generation will start liking Australian Football if they see more of their own as players.
Back to Kolkotta connection – there is an AFL India now and it is based in Kolkotta More details here -http://www.afl.com.au/india/tabid/12097/default.aspx. Incidently this site refers to the Indian game of Kabbadi mentioned in my previous post in this thread
Dave said | May 10th 2009 @ 1:56pm | Report comment
AFL is playing a game in Shanghai next year. It looks like the reason they chose China instead of India was last year’s massacre in Mumbai.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25451020-23211,00.html
The 1 and Only Master said | May 10th 2009 @ 6:21pm | Report comment
I think you will find over the next 20 years, the worlds biggest sporting war will be Basketball taking market share from soccer
MVDave said | May 10th 2009 @ 6:33pm | Report comment
Dave
You are joking right?
Sokkah had the largest attendances at the 2008 Olympics and its only an u?20 comp. The Womens WC in China in 2007 ave around 37,000 per game. The biggest TV audience in China before the Olympics was…yep a Sokkah game China v Japan Asian Cup Final 2004 from memory, nearly 300 million.
“the point is most immigrants to Australia from South Africa would be more likely to be cricket or rugby fans than soccer fans” ??? You said the main sports in SA were Cricket and Rugby what does this statement have to do with that?
“some reports say that close to a quarter of Chinas population plays basketball.” Show us the report!
The following link directly contradicts what you say about the young people not interested in Sokkah;
http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?tp=on&autono=38661
Football is still very popular in Bangldesh…if only they had a decent team to follow.
Millster said | May 10th 2009 @ 6:59pm | Report comment
What a bizarre detour this has taken.
My view? $20mill is peanuts. If any of the major codes gets a good new facility out of it then good and well. Even more so if a deal is struck (and I believe this should be the case with all predominantly public grounds) so that other codes can book and use the facility as appropriate and in accomodation with the primary tenant and with the facility custodian/owner.
How can creating another venue for people to enjoy sports – whether as spectators or as participants – possibly be a bad thing?
Tifosi said | May 10th 2009 @ 7:03pm | Report comment
Dave,
The immigrants who came to this country in the sixties are still alive and their kids and grandkids who will most likely follow football as well are a large number of people who dont get to see great coverage from the other networks.
Also the large number of poms which are still coming here after all these years will need to be forever catered for. Once the network televisions have better coverage of football results then SBS can show less of it no doubt.
I Also dont want to go on about Indian football but here are two interesting articles: The I-league might stink but the EPL is doing wonders for football in india. ( like most of south east asia)
http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/137/england/2008/08/12/814770/why-is-the-premiership-so-popular-in-india
http://www.southasiablog.com/2009/02/epl-in-india-growing-popularity-expanding-market-and-tv-rating/
Even the son of the guy who started the IPL Lilat Modi is a big Man Utd fan
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Soon-IPL-teams-would-be-as-popular-as-EPL-teams-Modi/448139/
Forgetmenot said | May 10th 2009 @ 8:36pm | Report comment
The 1 and Only Master,
Cricket will be taking over market share from soccer also, and soccer will likewise take over market share from cricket in places like India. I think that will be much bigger than the Basketball vs Soccer war currently being played out in China.
Michael C said | May 10th 2009 @ 9:23pm | Report comment
Millster -
How can creating another venue for people to enjoy sports – whether as spectators or as participants – possibly be a bad thing?
Exactly – - and especially an AFL full size oval – - you can fit two parallel games of lacrosse on that!!!
Dave -
irony of China and Shanghai is that an oval is being built in Tianjin.
Anand Antony -
absolutely true.
The thing I looked at recently with the ICC WC qualifiers for the affiliates was the number of Indian/Pakistani born players representing various nations. In England, we’ve had English born children of Indian immigrants already representing, and heck, in a tour match recently for England a fast bowler from Denmark with a very Indian name.
Ranga, with Sri Lankan parents and from Sydney could be an interesting ‘promotional’ opportunity should here succeed.
Crosscoder -
Brett Kirk is a good NSW boy – - well, Albury, and captain of the Sydney Swans which is the team in Sydney with probably the highest average attendance…..so, why the heck ought Rebecca Wilson or anyone else NOT write such an article about him – - especially given his personal belief structures (being a practicing buddhist). However, having read the 17 comments around that story – it showed how thin skinned some RL folk are who went the code wars straight away rather than actually reading the piece. Did you read the piece? (let alone the 2005 reproduction of the Kirk speech that Wilson refers to?)
Point is – - does someone have to keep score all the time? There were people wanting a similar ‘tribute’ to the next RL/RU players to hit 200 games………that wasn’t the point. It wasn’t so much about his 200games, it’s about the person.
Michael C said | May 10th 2009 @ 9:26pm | Report comment
xcoder -
granted, Wilson is or has been a Swans ‘ambassador’.
bias?
or, increased opportunity to get to know the people behind the jumper numbers.
jimbo said | May 10th 2009 @ 9:46pm | Report comment
Spiro,
I think you might be a bit guilty yourself of being “too simplistic” saying SBS is run by “passionate football supporters” to show football.
SBS has an independent board just like the ABC.
SBS was set up as a multicultural television station and shows news from all around the world, not just Australia and America,
SBS shows movies and television programs from all around the world, not just Australia and America,
SBS shows sports programs from all around the world, not just Australia and America.
SBS is just as big on cycling and the Eurovision song contest as it is on football. SBS shows what ITS audience wants to see.
Foxtel shows more football than SBS and is the biggest media supporter of the A-League.
Why – the same reason News limited push NRL – because of commercial interests.
The Tour de France, the FIFA World Cup, the Champions League, the Eurovision Song Contest have been big winners for SBS and so they will continue to show them.
SBS even showed the Ashes cricket, because there was demand and 9 didn’t want to show it.
When 9 had the AFL TV broadcast rights, they gave AFL “a red hot go” in NSW.
But when they lost out to 7/10 (deliberately or otherwise because they didn’t make much money on it anyway) they gave it the cold shoulder again.
In Sydney, the Iron Chef consistently out rates the AFL on 10 anyway and I’d doubt if the Rugby could beat the Iron Chef ratings either.
SBS shun plenty of international sports like baseball, basketball, hockey, sailing and not just Rugby, because ITS viewers don’t want to see them.
Football is the most popular major football code in the world and no doubt SBS’ viewers, who have a broader global outlook than the other stations’ viewers combined, are not surprisingly more interested in watching football than rugby.
Midfielder said | May 10th 2009 @ 11:01pm | Report comment
Jimbo
Well said
Kurt said | May 10th 2009 @ 11:19pm | Report comment
Jimbo – I love the fact that you are comparing the Eurovision song contest with le Tour, the WC and ECL. That is the only time each year I watch SBS, and I am grateful for its ongoing support of this wonderful global contest.
BigAl said | May 11th 2009 @ 12:37am | Report comment
Ah yes , the Eurovision Song Contest – and what about those FIFA award type shows ! – great tele.
Not quite up there with ‘The Simpsons’ but definately the best on SBS
ps. I am not a fan of SouthPark.
Redb said | May 11th 2009 @ 8:03am | Report comment
Some have expressed the view that there is a natural balance behind News Ltd’s Daily Telegraph giving mass coverage to NRL in Sydney like The Herald Sun does with AFL in Melbourne. No-one would argue each should dominates its own market with 9 and 10 teams respectively.
However, it misses the point. The Daily Telegraph have been running an anti AFL agnenda for some time now publishing a litany of big bad AFL stories along with talk of invasion and war. In the last two weeks they published a suite of articles firstly making false claims that the NSW Govt is backing out of the 2nd Sydney team by withdrawing funding for a stadium refit (when no deal existed to begin with) then a fluff piece of RL juniors storming the AFL fortress, followed by the declaration by the paper that rugby elague was won the battle of the codes.
There has never been an anti Melb Storm or rugby league in article in the Herald Sun.
News Ltd owns 50% of the NRL and 100% of Melbourne Storm.
The evidence of bias is overwhelming and the numbers above provide the reason.
Redb
Redb
Redb said | May 11th 2009 @ 8:05am | Report comment
Errors & omissions excluded….
Some have expressed the view that there is a natural balance behind News Ltd’s Daily Telegraph giving mass coverage to NRL in Sydney like The Herald Sun does with AFL in Melbourne. No-one would argue each should dominate its own market with 9 and 10 teams respectively.
However, it misses the point. The Daily Telegraph have been running an anti AFL agenda for some time now publishing a litany of big bad AFL stories along with talk of invasion and war. In the last two weeks they published a suite of articles firstly making false claims that the NSW Govt is backing out of the 2nd Sydney team by withdrawing funding for a stadium refit (when no deal existed to begin with) then a fluff piece of RL juniors storming the AFL fortress, followed by the declaration by the paper that rugby league was won the battle of the codes.
There has never been an anti Melb Storm or rugby league in article in the Herald Sun.
News Ltd owns 50% of the NRL and 100% of Melbourne Storm.
The evidence of bias is overwhelming and the numbers above provide the reason.
Redb
Simmo said | May 11th 2009 @ 9:15am | Report comment
I believe the Vatican is at the heart of this conspiracy. The links are obvious once you know who deeply embedded RL is in Catholic schools right across Sydney.
But I can’t talk now. Meet me in the Blacktown City Council carpark at 9pm tonight. Come alone.
Redb said | May 11th 2009 @ 9:25am | Report comment
Ahhh…Opus Dei.
Simmo, you haven’t been castigating yourself again?
Redb
Millster said | May 11th 2009 @ 9:42am | Report comment
MC – glad you see my view. The interesting thing to me is actually how one can properly set up the ‘usage terms’ of a community/government owned or funded asset to allow proper/sensible use by the primary tenant who justifies the existence of the facility in the first place, but also allows a range of other sports and passtimes to be accomodated.
Obviously if $20mill of my hard earned dollars are going into this ground I want it to be used fully and sensibly and by a cross section of public/sporting interests.
But again good on this for happening and I have no probs with the building of a facility that may be good not only for AFL (and good on it for that) but also for football, league, union, athletics, hockey, and all sorts including – yes – lacrosse.
Pippinu said | May 11th 2009 @ 9:56am | Report comment
Lacrosse has missed out on its fair share of funding for far too long now.
Michael C said | May 11th 2009 @ 10:42am | Report comment
Jimbo -
but, SBS WAS given a mandate to cover soccer – - rightly or wrongly, a European bias too.
Which makes SBS and it’s soccer coverage a wolf in sheeps clothing for the local variant of the game – - I’d presume?
Now and then SBS and ABC have curious cross overs where you look at something and figure it to be on the wrong network.
THe Ashes from England was one – - I loved being able to see it,……..but was SBS really the ‘vehicle’ for it?
jimbo said | May 11th 2009 @ 11:55am | Report comment
Pip,
its the Vatican in Rome that carries La Crosse.
Why can’t SBS viewers in Australia vote in th Eurovision Song Contest – another global iconspiracy.
“And now weee haave Sam Newman in Mellebooouurne with the Australia votes.
Hellloooo Melllbourne! . . . “
Pippinu said | May 11th 2009 @ 12:06pm | Report comment
Sam would be in good company if we could engineer his involvement in the Eurovision comp!!
For once, we might welcome his inopportune and tasteless remarks (which he could unleash on the other Eurotrash hosts).
jimbo said | May 11th 2009 @ 12:50pm | Report comment
http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/index.php?id=378
SBS’s mission is to contribute to a more cohesive, equitable and harmonious Australian society through the provision of multilingual and multicultural radio and television services . . . and to show as much Soccer as possible.
Simmo said | May 11th 2009 @ 1:22pm | Report comment
Soccer Broadcasting Service. I see nothing wrong with that, except maybe they don’t show as much as Setanta. I like channels that appeal to my ingrained prejudices. Conversely, maybe I should submit an article “News Ltd has an agenda in attack on the whole of the A-League”?
Michael C said | May 11th 2009 @ 2:07pm | Report comment
Simmo -
Setanta are in trouble, with a reduction in their access to EPL matches (I think reduced to 23). It may well effect their capacity to continue – - which ironically would be bad for other codes – - – i.e. AFL is seen in the US on Setanta (or via it’s feeds to MHz and One America), likewise NRL.
Michael C said | May 11th 2009 @ 2:36pm | Report comment
Simmo -
ah, News Ltd…..in Sydney were Rebecca Wilson mangled some truths, half truths and opinions.
funny – - we get all these ‘opinion’ pieces from opinion provides and we complain that they have an opinion.
The challenge for anyone these days is to find the facts upon which to build ones own ‘opinion’.
Dave said | May 11th 2009 @ 5:06pm | Report comment
MvDAVe looks likely that the Chinese were more likely to be watching table tennis and basketball at the Olympics
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/sports/olympics/22cctv.html
I was talking about SBS and immigrant to Australia being more interested in other sports other than soccer. And I think you would find that most South African immigrants are more interested in Cricket and Rugby
Wikipedia says there are 400 million players in china
The NBA is also excited about the 400 million kids under 20 in China
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/v-print/story/20951.html
Michael C said | May 11th 2009 @ 5:12pm | Report comment
jimbo -
yep – re as much soccer as possible,
they really let us down on the lack of basketball and winter olympics, oh, but we get the tour de france and speedweek or whatever….
and lots of soccer.
It’s good to have a mandated sports bias.
Dave said | May 11th 2009 @ 5:13pm | Report comment
Tifosi
The SBS chater does not cover, Poms who want to watch soccer.
If it did, I’m sure the tax payer of Australia would be interested to hear that.
Dave said | May 11th 2009 @ 5:23pm | Report comment
Jimbo
When 9 had the AFL TV broadcast rights, they did not give these rights up deliberately. Under a $20 million first and last rights option purchased by Seven in 1995, Seven was able to match the Nine offer and secure the rights on identical terms. Meaning channel 7 always were able to make the last bid and if they matched any other offer they got the rights
Channel 9 willl be bidding for AFL rights next itme it comes up
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25435810-662,00.html
Michael C said | May 11th 2009 @ 5:33pm | Report comment
Channel 9 desperately needs the footy to have anything in Perth especially – - they are a basket case there otherwise, that said, of course, Perth is only so relevant to even West Sydney,
interesting to see the NBL is falling over for next ’season’ largely because sponsors don’t want to touch it without a SYdney side in – - and given that it resides on FOxtel and Foxtel has highest penetration in NSW, that makes sense.
Reality is though, NRL gives much of NSW and QLD, AFL gives most of the rest and parts of NSW and QLD.
Crosscoder said | May 11th 2009 @ 6:51pm | Report comment
MichaekC
The point plainly is Wilson is hardly anti AFL ,as she has written a stack of fluff pieces(including Brett Kirk) about anything to do with the Swans.The same journalist had no qualms saying she and her girlfriends would steer clear of ever going to a Bulldogs match.Of course I read the piece ,but according to you, don’t believe everything you read LOL.
Therefore you can’t claim the paper is anti AFL,just because it has stated its views on WS.After all they know the area a tad better ,than I dare say most Melburnians.Anti WS more likely not anti AFL.
I would suggest their readership consists of many ratepayers in that area,
Yeah we know the largest crowd average,although last week in Sydney their crowd was about the same as Dogs v Tigers at ANZ.The TV ratings continue to fall in Sydney,and the crowds are sliding .Yet the paper as do the Herald give AFL more than adequate coverage,when one considers the totallity of the other major codes and their popularity in NSW.
The paper that is supposedly the 50% owner of the NRL,gives AFL plenty of positive cover to AFL/Swans in Sydney.Hardly the sign of a newspaper pushing the rl barrow.More so with recent headlines are a guide.
Crosscoder said | May 11th 2009 @ 6:54pm | Report comment
Dave.
Suggest there will be less money in the TV honepot this time.Kerry Stokes(ch7) has also intimated he will be bidding for rl TV rights.Why not when 57% of the advtg market is in the northern states.
Should be a decent catfight.
MVDave said | May 11th 2009 @ 7:26pm | Report comment
Dave
http://www.fifa.com/mensolympic/organisation/media/newsid=858088.html As usual football best attended sport at the Olympics and its an U/23 tournament with very few top players! 2 million spectators with Mens comp ave 42,000 per game. If only China had a decent football team.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDP/is_2004_August_16/ai_n6281190/ When their football is half decent they watch in big numbers 300 million for the Asian Cup final 2004.
Big audience when Chinese footballers play in the top Euro leagues http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/48/48443_chinese_soccer_star_draws_record_tv_audience.html
jimbo said | May 11th 2009 @ 11:00pm | Report comment
MC
the only “mandated sporting bias” comes from you AFL anti-soccer hooligans.
SBS is set up by the government and is controlled by an independent board.
As a taxpayer you can write to your local member or other avenues of complaint to the government.
The fact is that the SBS TV audience which is mainly European, Asian or South American prefer to watch football.
westy said | May 11th 2009 @ 11:34pm | Report comment
Jimbo I am not seeking to debate your general points but interestingly the audience of SBS is skewed to middle class whose first language is English. SBS radio has amore traditional ethnic mix.
must be those “dirty’ movies but the evidence is quite clear. it explains the english speaking car show doing very very well The Ashes also rated very well on SBS.
The ratings winners on SBS are generally English speaking shows.
I offer this not only as relevant information. please note the FIFA World Cup on SBS was in English and rated the roof off.There were a lot more than a few narrow ethnic communities watching. It was awhole cross section of the Australian population.
jimbo said | May 12th 2009 @ 12:07am | Report comment
Westy,
yes maybe I’m generalising and its more a question of cause and effect.
a. SBS is biased towards football and only people who like football can watch SBS.
b. The majority of SBS viewers prefer watching football and so SBS program more football than other sports.
c. SBS is not biased towards football – it shows a lot of different content including aboriginal programs.
d. None of the above.
Redb said | May 12th 2009 @ 8:16am | Report comment
CC,
Using Rebecca Wilson as News Ltd’s only defence is weak she is a part timer only and hardly influences editorial direction at the Telegraph.
The facts are clear for those who pay attention.
Jimbo,
Nah the soccer hooligans are far far worse.
Redb
Redb said | May 12th 2009 @ 8:32am | Report comment
CC,
re TV rights…
NSW and QLD are 57% now eh? – you assume of course no presence of the AFL in NSW or QLD.
1. We are talking about the sports market and the biggest TV ratings for any sport in any captial city are in Melbourne despite the fact it has 10% less population that Sydney. That is neither a boast about AFL or Melbourne but the reality.
eg: 2008 Grand Finals – AFL rated 1.3M in Melbourne, NRL rated 1 million in Sydney.
So the Melbourne TV rights alone are worth the biggest TV Ad dollars.
2. All 3 FTA networks have AFL content and value it very highly. Ch 9 the NRL TV rightsholder has four AFL dedicated TV programs: Footy Show, Sunday Footy Show, TAC Future Stars and Footy Classified. For those who think Ch 9 aren’t interested they’re kidding themselves.
3. The Global Financial Crisis is likely to mean less TV dollars if still having a major impact in 2011 onward. Remember though we are talking about 2012-2017. This is the main reason the dollars may not be able at the same level, however the AFL will offer more product in terms of additional games and possibly a floating fixture. This is the one factor that may mean elss money but could also be used as a ratigns wagon to lift Ad revenue – you would think Ch 9 would be very eager.
4. The Packer myth – nobody can prove it, it was spat out by a disgruntled RL journalist. It ignores the fact that Packer wanted to retain the AFL TV rights, the Nine network has been a ratings loser on a national basis ever since it lost the rights.
So lets just put the NSW and QLD argument to bed, 57% does not mean 57% NRL 43% AFL.
Redb
Michael C said | May 14th 2009 @ 10:15pm | Report comment
Crosscoder –
and all you get in Melb papers on soccer (Age) and rugby (H-S) are ‘fluff’ pieces – effectively advertorials.
any day, just check out the Herald-Sun website sports ‘home’ page -
tell me how often one of the roughly ten thumbnails on the left is AFL related.
tell me how often you see AFL amongst the rotating 2 or 3 main pictures.
Right now – the 2 main pictures are “Tevez double joy” and Ando’s sports quiz.
Not one single AFL thumbnail -
oh, a heap on Matty Johns, and Hernandez, Denver Nuggets, Renault…..etc.
compare the Sports home page of the Daily Telegraph to that of the Herald Sun – - tell me which is ramming the ‘local dominant code’ down peoples throats.
No – seroiusly, just do it.
Crosscoder said | May 16th 2009 @ 2:57pm | Report comment
RedB
Who is using Wilson as the only defence ,try Morrissey for starters.
You obviously don’t pay too much attention,if you bother to look at the press this week viz a viz News Ltd,and show me an anti AFL agenda.
Part time/ full time WTH ,they get their articles and agendas printed.The readers some intelligent,some naive.many trust the content.Ever heard of the power of “the pen”.
Tifosi said | May 16th 2009 @ 3:19pm | Report comment
At the end of the day News Ltd has only one agenda.
To make as much money as possible.
To do this with sport in newspapers they:
a)pander to the afl folk in afl dominated areas
b)pander to the nrl folk in nrl dominated areas.
But i will point out something
I buy the Herald Sun every friday, only because they have an excellent motoring section.
Yesterdays edition had the sport section starting back page on page 96.
The storm isn’t mentioned until page 78, even netball is on page 79.
Just saying…..
Crosscoder said | May 16th 2009 @ 3:25pm | Report comment
RedB
Reminder this year 2009,ch9s NRL coverage of rounds 1-5 attarcted an average cap city audience of 761,000 per match,up (5 on last years average,based on Oztam’s figures.ch9s 2nd match on fridays up 42% in Sydney and brisbane on last year.
Conversely the AFL sFTA audiences this thiis year after 3 rounds (7s Frid game 717,000.10s Saturday 536,000 and evening 774,000 and sunday 529,000 Oz wide are down across all matches on teh previous year and well under 2007.
Bear in mind NRL is only in 2 cCap cities whereas AFL in 5
Yet the regional figures in Qld and NSW(rl strength) which are more than SA and Qld combined are not included.
Pay TV
2/3 of the top 100 matches were NRL.the AFL had 10,and the most popular game Freo v Essendon came 26th.
this year Foxs figures for the 5 NRL rds(sat evening av 279,000,Sunday 210,000 Monday 268,000 is well ahead of the AFls 182,000 av for the 1st 3 rds.
The viewing for NRL on Pay is up 3% and the AFL 8% on last year for the rds stated.
Funnily enough last year a ru test came fisrt out o the 100,2 football WC qualifiers ccame 2nd and 3rd,then the nRL game Cows v Storm.
Lets take the 100 top Pay spots last year
NRL 66
Test cricket 12
AFL 10
union tests 4
Next top model 4
WC football qualifiers 3
S14 1.
And 57% of the northern markets doesn’t doesnt include the Vic market for the Storm either,which has has excellent G/F ratings.But continually decreasing TV ratings for AFL in teh nthn markets.
As a matter of fact it was the Tv ratings for the NRL G/F in Melbourne,outrated the AFL G/F in Sydney.
BTW you are telling me nothing new about AFL having the biggest sport market in Melbourne: its like saying there is more ice in Alaska than California.And guess where these dedicated channels are most watched for AFL not in NSW or Qld.
And you are presupposing the NRL will not have 2 addtional teams in the NRL,not a wise thought.
I repeat Stokes has expressed interest in rl,as have ch10.You ignore the major nthn markets at your peril.
The Packer myth,no I can’t prove it,just as you can’t prove the NRL was not paid unders in their Tv deal .More so with their TV ratings.These comments came from people at 9 not a rl journo.Even some within the media industry thought it was extrememly generous,except of course that media fella in Melbourne.
You see RedB the NRL really has only been shown on FTA at decent times in 2 states,whereas AFL has the 5.The next Tv contract for the nRL will almost assuredly require transmission to all mainland states at decent hours.ie room to expand the media coverage.
Crosscoder said | May 16th 2009 @ 3:39pm | Report comment
MichaelC
Champ really! open your peepers.Every day of the week the DT and to a lesser degree the SMH have a page or a couple of pages on AFL,negative pieces other than a couple on West Sydney(and we have argued that one monotonously )are hard to come by.
Morrissey(Mr Tsunami),Wilson,Tugwell to name journos off my scone,have done and continue to do fluff pieces on the AFL.
The interesting point made in the court case involving ch7 and Fox/9 et al,was a documented claim by 7 and Stokes that News write x number of fluff pieces for the code,as a prerequisite to the Tv contract.
Rest assured if the Swans win,the front page of the sport will show big bad Barry doing something,or another player.
Of course we will have the H-S in Melbourne doing something similar should the Storm win a NRL match.
Yeah right MC.
If the DT has an agenda to push rl in a favourable light,they sure as hell are doing an ordinary job of it the last week.
macavity said | May 24th 2009 @ 9:13pm | Report comment
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25528095-948,00.html
yet another example of News Ltd’s agenda against AFL
everyone knows this only happens in Rugby League….