Festival of the boot
Easter
is over, and with that the thoughts of thousands of Australians
turn to the national winter obsession, football. If however you’re
planning on immersing yourself in a six-month festival of all
things boot-related, you may be out of luck – unless you
fork for pay TV.
Of course, there’s no single national football
code in Australia. In the southern States, AFL (the sport formerly
known as Australian Rules) reigns supreme. In the northern States
of NSW and Queensland, the NRL (the sport formerly known as Rugby
League) holds sway. Meanwhile, rugby has its following in NSW,
Queensland and WA; and while the domestic A-League is now over,
there’s still a fair amount of football (the sport formerly
known as soccer) to be had as well.
So you’ve got your favourite team’s
jersey, knitted a beanie in team colours and chilled down a few
bottles of your favourite tipple. What can you expect on the tube
when you flick it on to catch the game? Well, it largely depends
on where you live.
Public holidays aside, most of the regular season
rounds in AFL and NRL premiership and rugby’s Super 14 competition
kick off on Friday night. If you live in Victoria, SA, WA or Tasmania,
you’ll most likely have the AFL’s Friday night game
on Channel 7. If you’re in Queensland or NSW, you’ll
have an NRL double-header. As a general rule, the game deemed
the “best” will be shown first.
As
always, there are exceptions. If you’re in Brisbane or Sydney
and the Lions or Swans are playing on a Friday night, you can
expect to see that game albeit on delay.
The new deal for AFL sees the 8 games each week
split between Seven, Ten and Fox Sports. As a general rule, Seven
and Ten each carry two games, while Fox has the remaining four.
The free-to-air channels will normally have one game on a Friday,
two on a Saturday and one on a Sunday; although you’ll have
to check local guides to see who has what. Fox’s games are
usually spread over Saturday and Sunday.
The
two channels will also go toe-to-toe for big games marking anniversaries
in both sports (150 years of AFL and 100 years of league).
Saturdays largely belong to pay-TV so far as league
is concerned. There’s no live NRL on free-to-air on a Saturday,
and you’ll have to tune into Fox Sports for any live Saturday
action. Nine also has one game on a Sunday, but any other Sunday
games, as well as the much-touted Monday night football, are on
Fox.
For those who like their rugby to be of the 15-man
variety, there’ll usually be at least one if not two Super
14 rugby games on a Friday night during the season (which runs
till the end of May); but if you want them – and indeed,
any Super 14 action – you’ll need to have Fox Sports.
The southern hemisphere provincial rugby championship is basically
locked into pay TV, so if you’re into the ruck-and-maul
game, you’ll have to pay for it.
That will change come June when the international
Test season starts in June. You can see at least some of the action
on free-to-air on Channel Seven; although Fox Sports will still
hold the primary rights. The Wallabies play Ireland and France
before the annual Tri-Nations series against the All Blacks and
Springboks kicks off. At this stage, Seven are committed to broadcasting
the Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations series, although it’s
unclear where the Ireland and France matches will end up.
If
the round ball is more your style however, again, you’ll
probably have to put your hand in your pocket. Fox Sports has
the rights to Socceroos matches, including the crucial World Cup
qualifiers coming up through June – August; as well as to
the Asian Champions League in which Australian teams Melbourne
and Adelaide are competing. They also have a stranglehold on English
Premier League; while their affiliates at ESPN have FA Cup football,
UEFA Champions League and most of the other international matches.
Actually, there are two ways to see live soccer
on free-to-air. First up, you can catch games from the Euro 2008
tournament on SBS in June. Mind you, they only have the rights
to 8 games – but that includes the tournament opener and
the final. The other option is to tune into Seven’s coverage
of the Beijing Olympics. Australia’s Olyroos have qualified
for the Olympic tournament and you should be able to see the matches
(clashes with other sports permitting) during August.
It’s beyond the scope of this article to go
into the pros and cons of what’s happening with sports broadcasting
in this country. It is however apparent that live sport on free-to-air
TV is dying a slow and rather painful death. All the anti-siphoning
laws can’t prevent the economics of the marketplace dictating
what gets seen and when.
The pay TV option is a good one for footy fans –
if you can afford it. If you don’t have Fox Sports, about
your only option is to head down to your local pub or club to
catch a game, but let’s face it, that could end up being
even more expensive - in more ways than one.
Phil James
