Thursday’s announcement that SBS will move their Friday night A-League coverage to their main channel, SBS ONE, has been met with an overwhelming positive reaction.
Now, it’s time for football’s “home” to get the rest of their coverage in order.
When SBS first declared that Friday night games would be screened on their digital channel, SBS Two, for the 2013-14 season it was a bit of a surprise.
Why the station that had championed football for years wasn’t putting the game at centre stage was a mystery. Subsequently ratings weren’t spectacular last season, and many used it as evidence of football’s continued struggles. In truth, many people probably just didn’t know it was screened.
Yet now that initial folly has been rectified, SBS have to also deliver a relevant and quality football show to replace the abysmal Thursday FC.
In February, SBS put everyone who watches television on a Thursday night out of their misery by shutting down their attempt to bring football to the mainstream. It was due to poor ratings, and was replaced by South Park re-runs. A brilliant decision in my eyes, you can never have too much South Park.
There’s no other way to describe the show but as simply embarrassing. Actually, I’ll give it a crack. It was a train wreck, cringeworthy from the very first show, and just as bad as it went on.
Awkward interactions with the audience, terrible live music and shocking banter between the hosts were just some of the down sides. The up sides? Well, I’ve been told it improved towards the end of its short-run tenure, but its cancellation speaks for itself.
Some fans will disagree, but I have no idea why. Perhaps just because it was a football show. Thursday FC was partially based on England’s Soccer AM, a light-humoured football program that doesn’t take itself too seriously at all.
I think that was the aim anyway. I’m still not sure. Either way, it failed. Spectacularly.
But Soccer AM is a show for the younger generation, you grow out of it with time. In Britain, the most popular programs are MOTD (naturally), Goals on Sunday with the enigmatic Chris Kamara and Monday Night Football, which offers tactical analysis from the surprisingly brilliant Gary Neville. Football fans like and respect analysis, which can then be mixed with humour. Australia may not be ready for hardcore analysis on free-to-air, but a happy medium can be found.
The first mistake of the SBS directors was their choice of presenters. David Zdrilic may be an okay alternative to Craig Foster’s rants, but give him the spotlight and he’s lost. He was like a rabbit in headlights, completely out of his depth.
His co-presenters, Matt Okine and Lucy Zelic, were similarly lacking, and there was no chemistry between the three. It was just an awkward roundabout.
Okine may be a comedian, but he wasn’t funny.
He may well be entertaining thousands on Triple J now (I wouldn’t know, I stopped listening when Richard Kingsmill became music director and started ordering generic tunes for presenters’ playlists) but he was woeful on SBS.
Okine’s role was just confusing. From asking pro footballers cringey questions, who fed back appropriately baffled answers, to looking goofily at the camera every 10 seconds, his presence was awkward.
And as for Lucy? Perhaps it’s a bit harsh to write her off, and maybe she deserves another chance. But I can’t help but think that the SBS directors chose the wrong Zelic. Lucy’s brother Ned would’ve been ideal for a show with a more organised format.
I did try to watch Thursday FC, I really did. But there’s a point where so much cheese is just too much. It was like The Office, but real life. The cringe factor was at breaking point. Dad jokes are aptly named. They’re for dads, not footy shows.
Switching to Thursday FC was like a car crash, or was it a train wreck?. You couldn’t quite believe what you were seeing, and it was hard to compute, but for some reason you also struggled to look away at times. I’m aware that I’ve already used this word too often, but cringeworthy is just too fitting.
Football fans don’t want a version of the AFL and NRL’s Footy Show. We want a show we can be proud of. We don’t want forced comedies, we want in-depth discussions about matches and decent previews, mixed with a bit of humour and friendly banter. Can we please have that for the 2014-15 season?
What the hell happened to Damien Lovelock? Get him on board. He was brilliant alongside straight man Les Murray back in the day. What was it called? Fan’s Corner. Brilliant.
Lovelock brought the perfect amount of knowledge, wit and humour to the screen. Everyone bangs on about Santo, Sam and Ed (who are great), but Lovelock was the benchmark that no one has yet been able to reach.
As we know Santo, Sam and Ed are with Fox Sports now anyway, and won’t be coming back. They’re killing it on pay TV, and offer a fantastic accompaniment to Fox Sports FC.
But for anyone who followed the game in the 1990s, SBS and football were one and the same. Monday nights were for the English Premier League, and Sundays were an excuse to be a slob all day and settle in for a mammoth marathon of footy action.
Thursday FC was a major disappointment for those who grew up with SBS’s excellent coverage of the world game. Bring that same standard to the mainstream now. Bring an insightful football program to the masses. One which previews A-League games, has a look at the weekly squads, crosses over to players and journalists and has panel members that can hold their own in conversation.
It’s not bloody hard, or at least it shouldn’t be. Get in Lovelock, get in N. Zelic and perhaps give Mariana Rudan a more prominent role. Once that show kicks off, then have another crack at comedy.
SBS missed the mark last season, both through demoting Friday night football to their digital channel and through their production of a mediocre football program, unbefitting of their immaculate history in covering the world game.
This season has to be better. Moving A-League matches centre stage is a great start, now give us a footy show to be proud of. Is that too much to ask from the self-described home of football?
bob
Guest
GET RID OF BASHEER.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
The thing about prime time TV is the networks base a lot of their content around the idea that lots of people just turn on the TV in the evening and leave it on and watch whatever you put on. They are mostly not programming for the discerning viewer, which is why they so often shift decent shows around all over the place knowing that once they've got a decent audience, those who want to watch them will watch whatever time they are on or (like us) record them and watch them in our own time. Much of prime-time programming stems from people watching the news and then never changing. So you are more likely to get ratings numbers from people who almost don't care what they are watching, while you are less likely to get that on the secondary channels. Discerning viewers who don't want to spend all their time watching TV but rather just watch the shows they want to watch will watch it on whatever channel it's on.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
They tend to win the logies for the most popular sports panel shows on FTA TV. Look around and they don't have a lot of competition in that space. So it doesn't necessarily mean a lot. It's generally just a competition on whether NSW/QLD managed to get more voters than VIC/SA/WA/Tas this year or not as to which one got the Logie.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I don't get why people are so worried about whether it's on SBS ONE or SBS TWO. Before the Analog signal was switched off it made a difference, because only the "main" channels were on Analog. Now that's past, it makes ZERO difference. They showed it on SBS HD, some of the only FTA sport on HD. I'd be happy if every network went to showing their sport on their HD channels. 7 putting all sport on 7Mate, 9 putting all their sport on GEM and 10 putting all their sport on ONE HD. We should get away from thinking of things as being second-rate because they are on the other channels and simply use them for what they are best for. It was rather annoying how 10 would have Comm Games coverage on ONE HD, but then once they are out of Prime Time they switch it to being on 10, as if somehow being on their "main" channel is better, but actually all they've succeeded in doing is switching from HD coverage to SD coverage.
Anthony Ferguson
Guest
I read books. But apart from that, moi telly is rusted onto Ch7 & moi favourite shows, loike Straya's Biggest Bogan, Straya's Fattest Bogan, Bogan Rules, Underbelly Masterchef, Straya's Got Talent-Factor-Voice-Idol, and of course the ubiquitous Footy Footy Footy Footy Footy Footy Footy. Gee, for a bunch of homophobes those blokes on the Footy Show sure like dressing up in drag hey?
Tom
Guest
Those are probably German engineered and expensive :)
Fadida
Guest
Hahahahhahaha. Classic! At least it was "for me" :D
yewonk
Guest
Dont get me started on big sports breakfast tk hates football and the wanderers success in sydneys west andy p does well when he is on there they often try to derail what he talks about.
Leonardo
Roar Guru
http://www.budde.com.au/Research/2012-Australia-Broadcasting-and-Pay-TV.html "While the free-to-air counterparts have delivered many new digital channels since 2010, the subscription TV companies have also added new channels so as to maintain and increase subscription levels. Unfortunately the subscribers have been leaving, churn increasing and now into 2011-12 revenues now also decreasing and expected to continue this way in the short term."
Leonardo
Roar Guru
http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/02/26/tens-hairy-chested-bid-for-sport-a-losing-game/?wpmp_switcher=mobile "AFL has more states covered, but Foxtel and Fox Sports have failed to boost subscribers with the Fox Footy channel and joint live-to-air rights they won with Seven in the current deal." Where are you getting your info from, the AFL Media Department? The highest rating programs on Fox Sports are actually the Socceroos, Cricket, NRL, Rugby Union and AFL in that order. We're talking Australia here, not just Melbourne.
MarkfromCroydon
Guest
Janek, I reckon you've missed the mark by a long way in describing what football fans want in a tv show that talks about football. You've criticised the AFL and NRL footy shows, but they have both been ratings winners for years, and I reckon a similar type of format is what we need. Get a'straight man' host (ala Eddie McGuire type) and a panel of ex footballers. Let them dissect the previous round, and talk tactics, but throw in a few jokes. It's worked for years in other codes and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work of football if it was done properly. I reckon Zdrilla has been good and would be a good panel member, along with Aytek Genc, Ned Zelic, Michael Bridges. Give Les and Fozz a rest, and let them focus on the world game. As for a host, maybe a team of Lucy (who i reckon shows a lot of football knowledge) and someone like Dave Davutovic. He's good on radio and can combine the 'serious' business with a hint of humour.
AR
Guest
Ok, we'll stick with the Fuss reduction of "everyone is too dumb to work their remote". Stupid is stupid does.
AR
Guest
So...FoxFooty is the No.1 rating channel on Foxtel, yet Foxtel have *lost* subscriptions since re opening the FoxFooty channel..? Righto then.
Batou
Guest
Thanks Leo. I was starting to wonder if it was just the crowd I hung around with who used that one. ahh good times watching football (which is sure to send Mrs Batou straight to bed) before enjoying some titillating French drama with frequent (and unnecessary yet welcome) erotic scenes...
Leonardo
Roar Guru
Fussball, SBS stands for Soccer Before Sex. Usually you can watch a bit of round ball and then follow up with some saucy European movie with gorgeous women doing what commercial media has been doing to football for years. :)
Leonardo
Roar Guru
Fox Footy has been a failure. With their $530 million gone to AFL, Foxtel actually ended up with less subscribers because of AFL, not more. The 24 hour AFL channel failed when it was first introduced a few years back and is set to be axed yet again. Watch Marngrook on SBS 34, cheaper and better.
Arto
Guest
@ Fadida: Don't be surprised if they trot out the line "we just need to give the audience a bit more time to get used tese guys"!!! ;-)
Glenn Innes
Guest
Brian- You raise a very good point..one of the things the commercial networks have been very good at doing in recent years is "feminising" their coverage. Look at nine with NRL and all the focus on the Burgess brothers and their mum.and the players as people rather than just athletic machines.You also have female hosts of other programmes pretending they are really interested.Hardcore League people hate this kind of stuff and bitch and moan about it on the League threads all the time,but nine don't care about them because they know they are going to watch no matter what. They are keen to interest women, who otherwise would be just as happy to watch a movie on Friday night by introducing them to the players as people,something hardcore fans could not care less about.This is something SBS iust don't do because it is just not in their football coverages DNA.They are puritans who broadcast for the puritan,no womans day style crap for them. Remember up until the seventies sport and tv had an uneasy relationship,sport feared tv because it was worried about the effect on gate receipts it's main source of income.Tv was also reserved about sport because it was seen as very much a male thing,'ok if it was quarantined to weekend afternoons but not prime time because women were seen as not being interested in it.
Arto
Guest
@ RBBAnonymous: What's the official capacity for Pirtek this season? I'm just wondering whether the increase in capacity is going to be ready in time, and also whether the mooted planned expansion to something like 30K has actually been approved by the various parties involved...
1860melbourne
Guest
Becareful what you wish for! The day might come where we watch the world cup only on PAY.TV! Re. 2002 worldcup Nine network didnt do a bad job of it. They did make the mistake of sharing the so called less attractive games with SBS which rated very well.