Rugby union broadcasts need to get the basics right

A key part of the discussion in regards to the future of Super Rugby is financial viability. If we forget about cost base for the moment then we are obviously left with revenue.

Revenue is derived from a number of streams, however broadcasting rights is a hot topic given the disparity between the earnings of the different sporting codes within Australia.

Surely it is unrealistic to think that rugby union would ever reach the lofty heights of where AFL and NRL sit, but a common theme when discussing potential new structures is the creation of more, in both quantity and quality, ‘content’. From an Australian point of view, this thought lends weight to a competition where local derbies and time zone friendly matches are paramount.

Why is quantity and quality important however? Simply put, by themselves they aren’t. The key driver of value is ratings or ‘eyes on screens’. This allows market penetration to increase the value of pay TV subscriptions, advertising and sponsorships. There is a fairly direct relationship, obviously, between ‘eyes on screens’ and quantity/quality however.

Stepping away from various competition models and structure hypotheticals, which have been done to death, I’d like to focus on the ‘quality’ aspect – in the sense of quality broadcasting rather than quality of rugby. Quality of rugby is important, however I feel there is some ‘low hanging fruit’ available to increase the quality of broadcasting in Australia.

So let’s look at Fox Sports’ broadcast in Australia.

First, to the positives … for some reason my mind has gone blank. After sitting in front of the keyboard for a while I have decided that a better approach may be to look at negatives, which will then provide an opportunity for improvement.

Quite simply, there must be opportunities to improve the coverage.

From what I see, camera angles and valid replays are not always managed that well. Often, in breaks in play, the relevant piece of action (be it a penalty that has led to the breakdown) is not shown. More often things such as the explanation at the top of the screen when a penalty is given, is incorrect.

Commentary often gets things wrong or is blatantly one-sided. One of my favourite calls is when the ball is passed one way and a certain commentator exclaims “trouble here!” with no further explanation or analysis. The commentators simply explain what is shown on the screen.

Also, when watching a number of games involving the same team, the same ‘colour fact’ (e.g. “Sias Ebersohm played with the South African under-19s and then the Cheetahs before moving to the Western Force”) is trotted out with no new or interesting information or research.

The team introduction is also a farce, with an ex-forward reading through the forwards, often completely out of time, before handing to an ex-back who does exactly the same thing. There used to be options when the Waratahs played at home to choose camera angles and commentary options (such as field noise only), but this has disappeared.

The other area sadly lacking is the analysis outside of the games.

Rugby HQ, the premier … well the only show on the code is ably hosted by Nick McArdle. But it is essentially a group of old mates representing the insular private school mentality that rugby needs to shake off if it is to have any chance of raising its profile in Australia.

For an hour show I often wonder where exactly the hour goes. Apart from the odd piece of analysis by Rod Kafer (which generally involves one aspect of one team’s game) the rest seems to be fairly lacking in substance.

It starts with an ego-centric introduction, where they give themselves nicknames like “The Magician” and “The Boss”, and doesn’t move far from there. What happened to John Eales now that I think of it? When you compare this show to either of the other codes’ “Footy Show”, which have a broader appeal than the sport purist, it really begins to show how far rugby is behind the other codes, and why.

It is easy to criticise and I think that there are plenty more examples of areas for improvement.

There are plenty of things outside of the control of Australian rugby, so why not get the basics right?

There are plenty of examples of codes that do it well, so let’s borrow from these and get a solid base for how we present our game.

I throw the following questions to the forum:

What would you like to see in the Fox Sports telecast? What would you like to see in addition to the actual telecast to support the code? Can you think of any particular howlers worthy of note?