There has been much said about Channel 7 buying the telecast rights for the upcoming matches between the A-League All-Stars vs Man Utd, and Melbourne Victory vs Liverpool.
Like many supporters I’m thrilled with sell-out crowds and a commercial channel interested in a friendly, and essentially meaningless, pre-season football game in the middle of the AFL season.
Of course, the commercial reality is that Seven are paying for the EPL gun teams, but those gun teams are here to play ‘us’ so it’s clear the A-League has come a long way.
However, I’m nervous about the potential outcome of such high profile matches for the A-League.
I’m not worried about the obvious potential of Channel 7 to botch the entire telecast.
We know that they have no expertise whatsoever in football; add breaks mid-match would not be a surprise; there will be no end of mispronounced names and uninformed commentary; and we may even get drivel comparing soccer unfavourably to AFL, especially if somebody goes down following a head-clash or late tackle.
Let’s be clear, if Channel 7 makes a hash of proceedings it will simply reinforce already held views among football followers that they should never have been trusted with the coverage in the first place.
It won’t hurt Channel 7 or their viewership, and as long as their commercial partners’ adverts hit the airwaves, their commercial partners won’t care much about the coverage either.
The issue that makes me nervous is the real pressure that now lies on Ange and the A-League players to perform.
This is not LA Galaxy revisited – the last visiting football team to be covered on free-to-air TV. Give or take, you could argue that the A-League is on a par with, or not quite off, the MLS level.
In a one-off match against an MLS side, I’d back a top A-League side to hold their own and look reasonably solid.
Win or lose, I’m confident that a curious or semi-interested viewer would be left a good impression of what the A-League has to offer relative to that competition.
Manchester United and Liverpool are entirely different beasts.
I doubt that anybody expects the All-Stars or Victory to win their respective matches, but there is a real need for Ange, the All-Stars and Melbourne Victory to perform and perform well.
Playing in front of full stadiums and on free-to-air makes these ‘big’ games.
If the A-League teams perform poorly it will provide ammunition for the naysayers, the Euro snobs, the undecided, and the football knockers to denigrate the A-League and the playing standard of our premiere football competition.
The Channel 7 AFL wags will say they should have stuck to the AFL, the Euro snobs will say ‘I told you so’ and SBS will be left to ponder how to talk up their new free-to-air coverage of the A-League for next season.
There will be no leeway given that the A-League players are pre-season and unprepared; after all the EPL are out of season as well.
The knockers won’t make allowances that the All Stars are without some of their brightest stars, either withdrawn or on national duties.
Melbourne Victory is without Thompson, Milligan, Rojas (and to a lesser degree Flores and Traore). Let’s not forget that Victory struggled during the regular season when their key players were missing on national duty.
A poor showing, and especially if we see two poor showings, will be a serious negative for the A-League as a whole.
Granted, it won’t affect the supporters who have followed the A-League and made it so successful in recent years, but it will cast a cloud over that success and hamper the continued growth among those who are not yet converted to the local game.
While these games might otherwise have been pre-season friendlies with nothing riding on the outcome, the free-to-air telecast has ramped up the pressure several notches on Ange and his support staff to ensure that the All Stars and Melbourne Victory treat these matches with serious contemplation.
Regardless of what the matches mean for the visitors, the home sides will not have time to indulge in ‘wow’ thinking, distracted by the hope of securing Robin Van Persie’s or Steve Gerrard’s shirt.
They will need to bring an A-game on the night(s) because they will be playing for all of the A-League.
Theirs is an opportunity to show the broader Australian public that the A-League is a creditable level and we are more than capable of putting on a good show against quality opposition.
These matches provide an opportunity to put a big tick mark alongside the A-League’s name when the free-to-air moguls are looking at future broadcast rights of one-off fixtures or the entire regular season.
The matches could provide a boost to SBS’s potential audience on the back of a good A-League showing.
Channel 7 has the luxury of botching the matches with no consequence. Ange and the players don’t have such a luxury. A win isn’t necessary, but a grand failure would be a major set-back.
On the up-side, a first class performance will heighten everyone’s awareness as to what the A-League can offer and give us another surge of interest and anticipation for the new season ahead.
Let’s all hope that the A-League put on a special performance.
Neil
Guest
Just enjoy the experience and don't over analyze the importance of the event.
Towser
Guest
WIll be interesting for football in Australia to see how the chicken & the egg pendelum swings back & forth because of the type of dynamics you mentioned. This match on Saturday & the Liverpool one next week are clear examples of a sort of midway house between the established(ManU/Liverpool even in Australia) & the as yet unproven(commercially at least) A-League I'm a novice in the ways of TV networks, but if I could add my two bobsworth, I would imagine that decent ratings for both matches may encourage C7 with a push from the FFA to do it again with the proviso's that the best (Overseas club/Allstars) players are always on the park barring injuries & its an annual event(s) Maybe a bit of this(FTA) & a bit of that(pay TV) are the way to drive football forward.
Michael
Guest
Kane AFL is on Channel 7 not Channel 9.
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
In the UK they were fanatics for football first and then the sport migrated from FTA to pay TV. You should note that there was a huge uproar about it but people paid for pay TV because (a) they had no choice if they wanted to watch football and (b) they had no choice of an alternative popular sport. In Aust we are not mad for football (and we are not EPL quality) so years of exclusivity on pay TV is a huge handicap especially when the two other popular sports AFL and NRL are very much FTA based.
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
It may be outsourced broadcasting crews but the station could choose a crew and, most importantly, a producer/director that usually covers the races and has no idea about football. If there are a dozen cameras at the ground, it's the director who decides what camera is going live to air and I'm not interested in tight shots on Ryan Giggs 3 day growth, or a good looking couple in the crowd, when there is a match being played in the background. The stations also decide on the commentators (in this case we seem to have two that are knowledgeable football people so this should be ok), and the stations decide on the ad breaks or the quantity and size of the rolling adverts on screen promoting their next soapy or reality tv show. If Ch7 are not using the usual FoxSport broadcast crew then the coverage could be vastly different to what we are used to seeing.
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
Over the head completely. We're not talking about botching the actual filming of the game, just the commentary and worrying if they'll have in game ad breaks, things like that aren't up to those filming.
James
Guest
Dismissing the article as 'whinging, whining and jumping at shadows' is a little rich coming from the most argumentative person on The Roar football articles.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Completely agree the capt (particularly about your 2nd paragraph re TV). In most european countries, if you get one UCL game per week, some cup games (at least the final) and the national team matches on FTA you can consider yourself lucky. Everything else is on pay TV. The only domestic games i have ever been able to watch in 28y there on fta were on Basque channels when i was living near the spanish border. I also remember pre-season friendlies to be broacast live on spanish channels (tve) in summer time (who could forget spaniards with portable tvs watching football in camping grounds!?) My 2 cents on the aussie fans being more demanding than euros: they see that some NRL games and some (i presume as i dont follow afl at all) AFL are on fta and they simply want the same treatment. ('why them and not me' stuff). Anyway, if they want to fight this battle good on them, am more than happy for them to do so! But with at least 2 UCL games a week on fta live, the national team too and now this w-e friendly vs Man U i feel spoilt! And in any case, as you say, the best sports coverage has always been and will always be on sports dedicated channels so fta or not, i dont really care tbh.
Chairman Kaga
Guest
People do realise that exactly the same broadcasts crews work for 7, 9, 10, Fox Sports and SBS not to mention a host of other broadcasters? I used to help setup the AV vans and we were instructed we had to wear the correct tv stations t-shirt for the fixture depending on who was showing the game. It is ludicrous nowadays. The tv companies just outsource, outsource, outsource, but you need the right t-shirt. Also, these games are friendlies. Did anybody here watch it when United played an Indonesian team the other day? A nice holiday for the players to enjoy.
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
What I reminded them is that we were also without our star players. They loved that one. And if that doesn't work try mentioning the war.
Kane Cassidy
Roar Guru
I actually think the people at Channel 7 have more reason to make a good showing of it rather than botch it up. Channel 7 has been without a sport to call its own since 9 is the home of AFL and 10 is always looking to boost its sporting content and constantly bidding for AFL games. 7 are dipping their toe in the water to see if our game is profitable and if enough people tune in I don't think they'll mind if our teams get thrashed. When they screwed over the NSL they had extensive AFL coverage and it was in their best intrest to keep us down, that was then this is now, they're probably sick of being the weaker arm in a three man tug of war. As long as they treat the coverage with respect they'll be putting away those demons.
The Capt
Guest
Im hoping for a good match all round on Saturday night and hoping for a win by the All Stars, so I can rub it into the family back in the UK of how an A League Team could beat the might of Man U. A seperate item that I find interesting is why is it that everyone raves on that the matches have to be on FTA? The EPL doesn't play the 3pm matches on FTA or TV in the UK, and no one complains? I agree that for some, playing a match on Saturday night will attract those who would otherwise would not have access to sports (unless you had fox), but reality is that all the best coverages are produced by PTV.
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
I'm not whinging, whining or jumping at shadows. I'm just saying that the FTA component has made these important games for the A-League and giving my reasons why I think that to be the case.
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
Thanks Bondy, my thoughts exactly.
Melange
Guest
I love the justification of friendly results. When we beat Germany a few years ago thanks to that magician D Carney (wtf is Dave nowadays?) a couple of German friends reminded me it was just a friendly, Germany don't take them seriously, it was an experimentaly team/formation. Not long after and Germany beat Brazil in a friendly and you could hear the German crowd singing How Sweet It Is in very ABBA-like English.
Bondy
Guest
Nice read Phil , if we beat Man U Phil they'll say its rigged if they beat us they'll say what's the point to it all though ?. I hope we get a solid 60-70 mins of good quality football from both teams and yes I'm expecting Man U and Liverpool to both win like everyone else but somewhere near 2-1 score lines and a great sense of professionalism to the occasion than its worked a treat, we've never been this professional as a sport in this country, lets make use of it. And if D Moyes loses he's first two games in charge that would make for good copy.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Totally with you Fuss and what happens if the All-Stars win? If it isnt a blip on MU's radarscreen it will certainly be a big one domestically
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
In football, anything can happen within a 90' match. On Saturday night in Bangkok (mmm... could make a song out of that line!), an All Stars team from the Thailand Premier League, played ManUnited, the biggest & most popular football team in the World. I doubt anyone would know a single player from the Singha All Star team. The Man United team, who played at least 30 minutes, had names that are known around the world, including: Ferdinand, Rafael, Giggs, Evans, Cleverly, Carrick, Anderson, Zaha & Welbeck. France's captain, Patrice Evra played 22'. Final score: Singha All Stars 1-0 Man United 7 Network has already stated they will not be interrupting the match to show commercials & the commentators are Michael Zappone & Robbie Thomson. Let's just relax & enjoy the game; rather than whinge & whine & jump at shadows?
pete4
Guest
I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of cross promotion these matches have been getting from Channel 7. I agree I went to the Celtic v CCM match in Sydney last year. CCM won the match 1-0 but none of the Celtic supporters would recognise the result. All wrote it off as it's only an exhibition match etc
Philip Coates
Roar Guru
At the extreme level, you are right. Nothing the A-League do will be good enough for those who don't want to be converted. But I'd argue there are plenty of uncommitted who are still ready to be convinced that the A-League has something to offer. I hear plenty of people say, "is the A-League any good? All I ever hear about is the trouble at matches." These friendly matches provide the opportunity to show them the quality of the league and to show FTA execs that the league provides financial opportunities.