With Johns’ axing, Channel Nine finally gets it right

Roar Pro

By Gabriel Knowles, 14 May 2009 Gabriel Knowles is a Roar Pro

Tagged:: ABC Four Corners, Channel 9, Matthew Johns, NRL, Rugby League

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We all know who really runs the NRL. Like any big business, the boss is never at the coal face, so it can’t be David Gallop, whose performance under extreme pressure this week has been admirable.

As is the case for most professional sports around the world, television runs the show, in this case Channel Nine and, to a lesser extent, Fox Sports.

Just last week we saw the farcical situation where Nine’s controlling demands resulted in two representative matches being played on the same night. As it turned out, the game that appeared to have been relegated to second best status for eternity ended up being the one fans were talking about.

Shows what the executives at Nine know.

But that was last week. The same week they got Matty Johns to apologise to all and sundry except the one person that really mattered on air.

Last week wasn’t a good week for the league department at Nine.

This week they got it right, though. The Nine supremos summonsed Johns back from his hideaway in Western Australia and gave him the axe. No mean feat considering Nine have been a very public face for the misogynist culture in some sectors of the game for so long.

When Gallop took a hard line in response to the Four Corners program, it wasn’t immediately clear if Nine would toe the line and follow suit. Fortunately they did.

The mouth has finally caught up with the brain.

It still remains to be seen just how much Nine have caught up, though. If they’re serious about bringing about a cultural change in rugby league, then the dated content and hosts of the Footy Show need to go as well.

Fatty’s reaction to Johns’ on air apology was deplorable, to say the least. It’s little wonder Sterlo called it quits a few seasons back.

They don’t even talk about footy these days. As it stands, the Footy Show is nothing more than a trumped up version of Hey Hey It’s Saturday.

Nine should be investing their time and money into a real show about league, with informed analysis and opinion. They’ve been doing it for a while on Fox Sports and it’s actually quite entertaining.

Nine need to keep their eyes. and ours, on the ball, and not on the man.

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The Crowd Says (116) | Page 1 of Comments

oikee said | May 14th 2009 @ 7:46am | Report comment

Maybe a cleanout right across the entire game, you know my opinion about dinosaurs running our game. Whats the political add, its time, time for change.

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sledgeross said | May 14th 2009 @ 8:01am | Report comment

Gabriel, I suggest you actually watch the Footy Show before you start towing the Daily Telegraph line. There has been a concerted push to include more “footy talk” but it obviously isnt working.
You might have to better than copy/pasting something Rebecca Wilson has written mate

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ken howard said | May 14th 2009 @ 8:30am | Report comment

watched footy show one night recently and wondered why any channel in their right mind would run with one brother involved in sex scandle , the other brother involved with drugs and a queenslander who barracks for NSW. i like football articles not interested in these jerks. will never watch again.

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Justin said | May 14th 2009 @ 8:32am | Report comment

The most intriguing part about all of this is that the only reason Johns has been axed is because the story has gone public big time. I am of the opinion that those in power would have know about this already. When police get involved you generally find those within the game have a pretty good idea what has happened and who were involved.

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Hammer said | May 14th 2009 @ 8:38am | Report comment

After watching that staged farce on ACA last night I wondered if Tracy Grimshaw felt like having a shower ….

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Worlds Biggest said | May 14th 2009 @ 8:43am | Report comment

The Footy Show has recently made a more concerted push to actually discuss the game with Fatty leading off a couple of shows pleading players to pull there heads in. However the root of the problem is Fatty, his boofhead persona is what the NRL are trying to rid. The Footy Show of old was a complete embarrasment, how this rated was beyond me. The Footy Show needs a complete overhaul. Get rid of Fatty, have Vossy and Sterlo ( pay the vault to get him back ) as hosts and bring in some new faces as guest hosts, not necessarily players like another boofhead Willie Mason. There is plenty of good TV talent around, Jim Smith and Adam Hawse to name a couple to bring back some respectability to the Show.

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oikee said | May 14th 2009 @ 8:54am | Report comment

I would also like the NZ warriors game caller to take over from Rabbits Warren and Gus the blue pill Gould… Bring some real excitement into the game calls. Anyone know his name. He has got what it takes to call a game.

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Jerry said | May 14th 2009 @ 9:05am | Report comment

Jason Costigan. The main reason why I generally don’t watch Warriors games – he annoys the piss out of me.

“Faumaui-NAAAH!” as if someone has kicked him in the shin just before he says the last syllable.

“JO-UO-OA-OU-AH-ONEZZZ!” somehow turning Stacey Jones’ surname into a multi-syllable beast of a word.

“VAH. TU. VAIII!!!!” with a glottal stop between each syllable.

His vocal tics annoy me, as does HIS INABILITY TO SPEAK AT A VOLUME OF LESS THAN 11.

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znotty said | May 14th 2009 @ 9:27am | Report comment

Not all have the privilege to go on National TV & have their case pleaded,its yet another example of special treatment for football players,it`ll be 60 minutes next.

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znotty said | May 14th 2009 @ 9:28am | Report comment

so who`s playing this weekend?

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