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Being born and bred in Penrith, NSW, and having moved to Adelaide, South Australia, around three years ago, it’s hard being a league fan over here. Not for lack of trying though.
I get that there may not be interest from the clubs in bringing a live game here, but how awesome would that be at the new Adelaide Oval?
That stadium rocks, and I’ve only been for a cricket Test when it was almost finished. Pick any two NRL teams and they’d fill it with 20,000 people at least.
How can I possibly say that? 20,000 in Adelaide for an NRL game? Is he mad?
Well, at my day job, there are about 40 out of 160 people who are NRL supporters, and only six of us were born outside South Australia. Now, I know that’s not easily extrapolated out, statistically, to the rest of the state, but there has to be enough fans here to make at least Channel Nine wake up and show games live.
Oh wait, GEM, you say, does just that? Nope, not here. Last year, from Round 8 onwards, we got both Friday night games and the Sunday game live on GEM.
This year? Wanna stay up until 12:45am to watch? That’s on GEM. On Foxtel? 1:30am for the first Friday game. The score has already been spoilt on Facebook, the NRL app, and SMS from my Sydney mates. No dice.
So Channel Nine and GEM show games that late, and would rather stick on a third or fourth repeat of the Block, or a movie for 10-year-olds. They aren’t going to get any more viewers here than an NRL game. In fact, I’d be confident in saying GEM and Channel Nine would get more views with the NRL.
Thankfully, the 2013 State of Origin was shown live on Channel Nine, but as I said, so was every Friday and Sunday game in 2013, right through to the finals and the grand final. But 2012 or 2014? Nothing. Not a single game before midnight, any day of the week. It’s insulting. I highly doubt it rated as poorly as they would have claimed to warrant pushing it back so late.
Heck, mates over in Victoria and Western Australia get the games live on GEM, and they are states more AFL mad than this one. So why not here?
If the NRL is serious about making itself the number one sport in Australia, they need to remember that while three quarters of the population live on the east coast, the Adelaide Rams had the highest number of memberships in the game the year they booted it.
Why’d they boot them? It wasn’t about money or crowd figures. I think, and even though at that time I was a young ‘un in Sydney, that they were scared of the AFL. And I believe, regardless of all the talk, that they still are.
I mean, the Adelaide Crows and Greater Western Sydney can pull 50,000 at Adelaide Oval…and they both suck. Imagine what Port versus Fremantle could pull? I dislike the AFL, but in this conversation they are relevant.
What makes it barely tolerable here is Foxtel, especially being a Panthers fan. Why’s that, you might ask? Because Channel Nine think we don’t rate and can’t cram enough advertising into the game, so don’t give us Friday night matches or the main Sunday game.
Before anyone tries to claim that the NRL sets the scheduling… check how many Friday night games the Broncos get, and then calm down.
So at least I can watch my team every day because I have Foxtel. But not every league fan in South Australia can get or afford Foxtel. After all, 6500 of them are about to be unemployed when Holden closes in a few years, and not everyone can afford even the basic $74 to get Foxtel Essentials with the sports channels.
My main concern is that I won’t be able to watch Queensland beat NSW for the ninth consecutive time in a few weeks, especially if the NSW team is picked as speculated. Yep, as my parents were die-hard Queensland fans, I was raised that way, too. Moving on.
So far, neither Channel Nine or GEM are showing Origin adverts. So I highly dubious that a repeat of last year is on the cards at all. Thank god for the NRL app, which I can screen-share from my phone to my Smart TV, giving me live State of Origin if Channel 9 and GEM don’t show it live.
Yep, I pay my $14.99 monthly charge, and I pay my Platinum HD Foxtel subscription, just to watch league and UFC. It’s the only way, in 2014, that I can watch every game of the NRL live.
C’mon Channel Nine, give us back live games on GEM. You’d better pray you show the State of Origin live in Adelaide if you want even a remote chance of becoming the number one sport in Australia.
Right now, in Adelaide, the NRL rates behind the AFL, A-League, rugby union, cricket, MMA, and golf. I’m pretty sure ET’s fishing show classes as sport here, and is doing better for public knowledge.
You’ve got some work to do, fellas, and you might want to put that billion dollar contract with Channel Nine to good use outside of the east coast, otherwise you’ll fade to oblivion elsewhere.
You started to make progress, what changed? I think you got spooked by the AFL, and pulled back, or did you just forget about us again?
Sure, there are less people in the whole state than there are in the Penrith City Council area, but in the 1.6 million residents of South Australia, surely there are enough NRL supporters to show the games live on GEM, at least?
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