Finally! After years of complaining, my biggest pet peeve in regards to rugby league has been corrected. Sunday arvo football will now be shown live!
That is, unless you live in Queensland. Even if you do live north of the border, when daylight saving finishes by Round 5, you too will have live Sunday footy.
Channel Nine and the NRL were living in the stone age when it came to Sunday afternoon footy.
There were so many reasons that delayed coverage ruined the game. You couldn’t go on social media for three hours (3pm-6pm) without the score flashing before your eyes.
If you’re in the car, then don’t have the radio on a station that does score updates.
Following your fantasy team along with the game is dangerous as big jumps in points can indicate tries being scored.
You can’t watch it at the pub because some random punter will blurt out the score after he checks his phone. And don’t forget to turn your phone off in case one of your mates sends through a text to let you know his team is beating yours.
All in all, there were so many reasons to have the game on live and only one to keep it on delay – the 6pm news.
Now with the 4pm kickoffs, everyone is happy. Everyone, that is, unless you think a six pm finish to a game is too late for the kids.
In saying that I have seen plenty of kids attend Monday night matches, which finish significantly later – so it shouldn’t be a problem.
There is also the 2pm game each Sunday for those who want their footy finishing a tad earlier.
Earlier in the year, Gus Gould stuck up for the delayed telecast with this tweet “People say going to games too expensive. But when we say Channel 9 is servicing people who can’t afford Pay TV with Free coverage they snort”.
I was upset with this as I attended all of Manly’s Sunday afternoon games in Sydney, regardless of if they were live on Fox or delayed on 9. If Manly played interstate at 3pm on a Sunday, I obviously couldn’t attend. Why then was I forced to watch the game on one hour delay? All this is now rectified.
With more Thursday night footy set for 2015, we may have also seen the end of the delayed Friday night game. This was another pet peeve of mine as I believed that the delayed game on 9 should have been shown live on Gem.
In a day and age when we can watch any sporting code in the world live, why were we forced to watch the game closest to home with one or two hour delays?
Fixing the delayed Sunday afternoon game was at the top of the list of changes I hoped to be made for 2015. Now that this is achieved, it’s time to focus on the others. A video ref bunker, more footy at suburban grounds, a re-configuring of the on report system, Manly in the top eight and more Vossy commentating on TV are all things I hope to see follow this great change into the new year.
Roarers, what are your pet peeves that you hope to be rectified ahead of 2015?
The RiffMarn
Guest
The issue now is how do we get all games to live coverage. Do we trade in a Friday night game for a Thursday night game? Or do we go down the path of 1 Fri night, 3 on Sat (4pm 6pm 8pm - 8pm works given most Fri night games dont start until 8pm anyways) 3 Sun - 12pm (appease NZ audiences) 2pm 4pm & MNF
The RiffMarn
Guest
Penrith copped the worse deal out of all Sydney teams - its a minor miracle they grew crowds considering they were given Sar arvo games in the heat of March, 4 Monday night games no Sat 7:30pm or Sunday afternoon games & just 4 home games involving other Sydney teams. If they want to grow crowds perhaps a fairer allocation of all time slots between 1-20 is requred.
The RiffMarn
Guest
not if they played out in the heat of Sydney's west in March
Paneer
Guest
Yay, now we can see how horrid NRL jerseys look......during the day :)
ac
Guest
Create a reason to go - atmosphere. Playing club song of winner is a start
Harry
Guest
I'm sure Channel 9 will want something in return
pat malone
Guest
NRL crowds are just fine compared to most football leagues around the world
Haradasun
Roar Rookie
Rule 1 of marketing is to create a scarcity of supply. Problem is that its not the NRL running the game, its channel 9 and they want as many eyes watching on tv for as long as possible. Like Johnno says, crowds and what fans want is irrrelevant.
Edward Kelly
Guest
True, HD has not been mentioned not even simulcast in HD on GEM! Who doesn't have a HD TV these days?
baldie
Guest
That's the problem with a massive 24 round. They could learn a lot from the NFL and have a 16 game round, than every game matters and you get bumper crowds for your 8 home games a year.
Johnno
Guest
Outside of the NRL grand final and maybe state of origin and Test footy, Rugby league is a game for TV, deal with it not a game, where can be bothered to attend regular season matches or should I say fork out. It's a marquee event sport now, in other words bandwagon fans and lazy sydneysiders only wanna go to the big games each year as said above. Like super rugby waratah fans only come out of hibernation to live-attend for a super rugby grand final,that's it. No one cares about about a boring round 10 match between West Tigers V Manly at campbelltown, or Penrith V Titans at Penrith.
Louis McIntyre
Roar Guru
I have pay TV, I will also go to all of my teams home games regardless of what time slot they are in. My issue was having to watch my team play on one hour delay when the match is interstate and I am unable to attend. You could even watch the games live from overseas on the net, which made the whole situation more ridiculous.
boonboon
Roar Pro
Thier is already 3 games on most sat nights how many more do you want
Dufeyz
Guest
The biggest change I would like to see, as a Penrith supporter is less Monday Night games for us (at home at least) and more Sunday arvo games (at home). We didn't get a single sat 7:30 pm game this year, and no Sunday arvo 9 games at home either. Keep in mind this is a team in an area that is attractive to families. Also, just for the entire NRL, each team should play their closest teams twice. Penrith missed out on Tigers at home this year. If it was a Sunny Sunday arvo, you would have got 16000 through the gates. Instead we get cowboys, storm, broncos on cold, miserable Monday Nights. WTF is the NRL thinking? I don't know if other fans experience these same problems, but they are problems. If the NRL is fair dinkum about trying to raise crowds, they need to get the scheduling right. Have local derbies in extremely convenient time slots. This way you can maximise crowds that way. Aim at less home games for teams playing interstate teams. (Easier said than done for that one probably) Anyways, rant over.
Andrew
Guest
As I wrote beforehand, thank you Ch 9 not covering live Queensland Sunday footy at 4pm for 5 weeks. Bravo ..9!
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Hook, line and sinker.
Muzz
Guest
It'll probably be the Broncos Holden Cup side or feeder club that will be on live at 4pm Sunday. Also, how rigid are some parents if they won't take the little tackers to the footy if it's on an hour later.Seriously folks, footy is more important than school work, routine etc.
AdelaideWill
Guest
I wonder if the NATIONAL Rugby League will be shown NATIONALLY? Otherwise rename it to East Coast Rugby League or the ECRL. Its 2014 and the NRL can't even get the attention of areas outside of their own backyard. Showing two games live on FTA a week is not far enough
Hez
Roar Rookie
Everything you have said here is awesome.
Haradasun
Roar Rookie
Won't it be dark by 6pm middle of winter? Will they just play in the dark? Surely having games go from afternoon sun to lights on isn't in the best interests of creating good conditions for attractive footy. Maybe this is how they propose to cover up for a lack of HD coverage?