Seven's AFL coverage in 1997

[Supersonic]

I must admit our day time coverage up in Sydney was pretty good, but I remember in 2001 Sydney being dudded any Friday or Saturday night football early in the season in favour of three hour delayed coverage of Super 12 matches. This left a bad taste in my mouth, and for all the promises of live or "near-live" coverage this year, having channel seven anywhere near football again is a scary thought

 

[pazza]

What's to complain about that coverage? Nothing...only the 9 sychophants are the ones complaining.

Footy coverage back then was about making sure that even the replay times were accessible to as many as possible.

 

[spell_check]

MONDAY May 19
8:30 AFL Football: Round 8. Richmond v West Coast. Delayed telecast from the MCG.

I remember that match being on TV then, one team was on 1 goal at half time (can't remember off hand) but it was on late at night (10.30ish it started)

Edit: It was West Coast - 12.4 to 1.8 at 1/2 time.

That's what happened the following year on a Monday night when Lockett kicked his 100th for the season against Melbourne.

 

[magilla]

I was looking through some old TV guides from 1997 this morning and thought it might be interesting to look at the level of coverage Channel Seven was giving to AFL ten years ago.

Here's Seven's schedule from a few random rounds...

ROUND 8

FRIDAY May 16
8:30 AFL Football: Round 8. Collingwood v Western Bulldogs. Delayed telecast from the MCG.

SATURDAY May 17
4:00 Interfooty.
4:30 Rex Hunt's Fishing Adventures.
5:00 Around The Grounds.
5:30 Seven News.
6:00 AFL Winners. AFL news and highlights from today's games: Melbourne v Geelong, North Melbourne v Port Adelaide.
8:30 AFL Football: Round 8. Adelaide v Sydney. Live from Football Park.

SUNDAY May 18
9:00am Sportsworld. Live.
11:00 Footy Panel with Rex Hunt. Live.
12pm AFL Gameday. Live.
2:00 AFL Football: Round 8. Fremantle v Brisbane. Live from Subiaco.
5:00 AFL Football: Round 8. Highlights from Essendon v St Kilda, Carlton v Hawthorn.

MONDAY May 19
8:30 AFL Football: Round 8. Richmond v West Coast. Delayed telecast from the MCG.
11:30 Talking Footy. AFL panel discussion show hosted by Bruce McAvaney, with Mike Sheahan and Leigh Matthews.


ROUND 12

FRIDAY June 13
7:30 AFL Football: Round 12. Sydney v Richmond. Live from the SCG.

SATURDAY June 14
4:00 Interfooty.
4:30 Rex Hunt's Fishing Adventures.
5:00 Around The Grounds.
5:30 Seven News.
6:00 AFL Winners. AFL news and highlights from today's games: Western Bulldogs v Port Adelaide, Collingwood v West Coast, Geelong v Hawthorn.

SUNDAY June 15
9:00am Sportsworld. Live.
11:00 Footy Panel with Rex Hunt. Live.
12pm AFL Gameday. Live.
2:00 AFL Football: Round 12. Fremantle v Essendon. Live from Subiaco, followed by Adelaide v North Melbourne. Live from Football Park.
10:40 AFL Football: Round 12. St Kilda v Carlton. Replay of today's match of the day from Waverley Park.

As you can see, Seven only ever aired three or four games per round in full, with many games only being allocated up to an hour in highlights packages.

Don't forget that there were live games in full being shown on Optus Pay TV at this time.

Fans did get more than just the Channel 7 coverage.

thought i bump this oldie now the tv deal is done. Why is everyone whinging about fox when afl has been on pay tv for a decade now it seems?

 

[acker]

Seven were great for footy in the 70's & 80's
lost the plot in the 90's
lost the game in the naughties
But hopefully have regained the passion from now on.
Thankfully C7 is now a distant memory.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Seven were great for footy in the 70's & 80's
lost the plot in the 90's
lost the game in the naughties
But hopefully have regained the passion from now on.
Thankfully C7 is now a distant memory.

What was wrong with C7? For $40/month in Sydney I got Friday night live, one Saturday game and one night game live and was guaranteed the arvo game from Perth live to complement 7s FTA coverage. I didn't need a 24/7 channel like FFC.

 

[AndyD]

What was wrong with C7? For $40/month in Sydney I got Friday night live, one Saturday game and one night game live and was guaranteed the arvo game from Perth live to complement 7s FTA coverage. I didn't need a 24/7 channel like FFC.

There was a 24/7 Channel on Optus when 7 had the rights.

 

[parano1a]

There was a 24/7 Channel on Optus when 7 had the rights.

Yes, that's right. Optus SportsAFL. Everyone has long forgotten about that.

 

[Fabulous]

There were more games live with that fixture on 7 than 7 and 10 combined this year. See the trend.

 

[Sedition]

Me thinks that a lot of people spend too much of their time sitting on their ar$$es watching TV.

The more important issues are:

1. Fairness - Supporters of all teams, all States, etc get to see their teams play.

2. Promotion of the game - that as many people as possible get to see a game - maybe even parts of it as they are flicking channels.

3. Recognition that we are not all wealthy and can't afford $600 subscription (pensioners, students, underemployed, etc) and even if we could simply don't want pay TV because we don't spend our lives watching TV. Recognition that there is a drought affecting the livelihoods of country people. Unemployment mayb statistically low but that is masking the real level of under-employment. Recognition that people are struggling to pay morgages. etc etc. AFL has never been the rich man's game.

Think of the game as a whole - what's best for the game. Some people can't get past the number of hours they sit in front of the shYte box.

 

[Great_Unknown]

We won that game against the Dogs. Robbie Ahmat kicked a few from memory.

Pretty good season that was for the Pies, only missed the finals by half a game.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Not 100% im afraid mate.

Friday nights were 830, then there was Saturday Twighlight (Hawks were in nearly all of em) followed by Saturday night

Suday alternated each week, with one game being a 2pm start one week, and a 3pm the next

 

[cammo78]

Not 100% im afraid mate.

Friday nights were 830, then there was Saturday Twighlight (Hawks were in nearly all of em) followed by Saturday night

Suday alternated each week, with one game being a 2pm start one week, and a 3pm the next

i think you'll find the twilight was introduced the following season in 1998...

 

[gnomey]

Yes, that's right. Optus SportsAFL. Everyone has long forgotten about that.

Correct - The very underrated Sports AFL usually had two live and exclusive games per week. Commentators included Peter Donegan and Drew Morphett. Those with excellent memories would recall Mark Harvey doing special comments from behind the goals (often at a windswept Waverley).

They also had a Monday night live show (Football Feedback) and a Thursday 'League Teams' style show (Footy Focus)

Ahhh - remembering when Rohan Connolly called the then-Docklands CEO Jarques Murcos a 'tosser' then cutting to Tim Lane going a pinker shade of red with embarrassment...

From memory the station died around 1999...

 

[jonesy86]

Correct - The very underrated Sports AFL usually had two live and exclusive games per week. Commentators included Peter Donegan and Drew Morphett. Those with excellent memories would recall Mark Harvey doing special comments from behind the goals (often at a windswept Waverley).

They also had a Monday night live show (Football Feedback) and a Thursday 'League Teams' style show (Footy Focus)

Ahhh - remembering when Rohan Connolly called the then-Docklands CEO Jarques Murcos a 'tosser' then cutting to Tim Lane going a pinker shade of red with embarrassment...

From memory the station died around 1999...

yeh one of their shows had peter donegan, daics and mark harvey, with the 'deep throat' segment....from memory they were the first sports show that had garry davies from tab sportsbet as a regular giving the odds each week

i also remember them doing monday night football coverage of the VFL @ waverly with massive crowds of about 250 people....i actually considered going to a game, it was while collingwood were on their own in the VFL, but wisely decided against giving myself pneumonia

 

[Smokin]

Ah, the memories of the old C7 shows. Had to love em!

I dunno why, but I used to watch Footy feedback and footy focus religiously -taped them when I had to. I reckon if I pulled a tape out now it would look so cheap and nasty, but it was fun at the time.

Extremely early in the piece I had sports AFL on the Optus cable tv platform - what year did Sports AFL start then end, anyone remember?

It is amazing that Sports AFL back in the day had live games, but nobody bar a few thousand footy nuts knew about it - still dont to this day. Most are convinced Fox was the begining of this evil pay tv monster.

 

[pazza]

I had it as well and it ran 1997 to 1999 when C& became it's own little baby (based out of outback Queensland as someone once put it!)

I think because 7 itself carried the replay rights from the Sports AFL games as well as what they were doing, most people didn't actually know the original source.

Sports AFL was quite different to what we saw on Fox Footy Channel...every club had a show (I have some vivid memories of Alessio, Misiti and Wellman doing Essendon's show even back then!) Plus the VFL/SANFL/WAFL were given better timeslots (even the old TFL Statewide got a run) and it came as an added extra of about $6.95 a week!!!!

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I had it as well and it ran 1997 to 1999 when C& became it's own little baby (based out of outback Queensland as someone once put it!)

I think because 7 itself carried the replay rights from the Sports AFL games as well as what they were doing, most people didn't actually know the original source.

Sports AFL was quite different to what we saw on Fox Footy Channel...every club had a show (I have some vivid memories of Alessio, Misiti and Wellman doing Essendon's show even back then!) Plus the VFL/SANFL/WAFL were given better timeslots (even the old TFL Statewide got a run) and it came as an added extra of about $6.95 a week!!!!

As I said above I purchased C7, after the 1st game of 1999 season. I was never given the option to purchase Sports AFL. Well I can't remember being given the option otherwise I sure I would have considered it for $6.95.

 

[puddingfactor]

I loved Sports AFL, particularly in its early years when they actually still had some money to spend.

Footy Feeback, the Monday night show, had Tim Lane, Dermie, Garry Lyon and Rohan Connolly as well. Think Patrick Smith would also pop up from time to time. (The slightly lower profile summer edition had Rob Gaylard as host)

The Deep Throat segment was great, with Andrew Maher as the journo getting the goss from some bloke in a trench coat in a dimly lit underground car park.

Club Nights, where Optus Vision would broadcast a Sportsmans Night type show. Hosted by Craig Kelly and Nicole Livingstone.

Terrific match day coverage, including being the first station to interview coaching staff during one of the breaks between quarters, plus a bunch of special comments men who would be earning huge coin in the years to come.

And there was even slightly left of centre decisions. Ian Collins (who I think was still at the AFL at the time) did special comments for one game, as too did Trevor Marmalade.

Cost something like $6 extra a month, but was worth it.

And this was in the day when Ch 7 cracked the sads about Optus getting 1 game a week!

It also was around this time that Fitzroy were not able to get a sponsorship with a certain company because of a conflict with Channel 7. The name of the company? Galaxy Pay TV.

 

[Connar]

I saw a couple of Microfilms for Perth TV Guides for Season 1997.

Round 9, Sunday's Games:

10:30am - Brisbane v Geelong
1:30pm - St Kilda v Richmond?
4:30pm - West Coast v Essendon 1st Half
6:00pm - News
6:30pm - West Coast v Essendon 2nd Half

Round 20, Sunday's Games:

10:30am - Sydney v Hawthorn
1:30pm - Adelaide v Western Bulldogs?

Finals W1:

Saturday's Games:

12:00pm - QF Western Bulldogs v Sydney

Sunday's Games:

10:30am - QF Adelaide v West Coast
1:30pm - QF St Kilda v Brisbane
5:00pm - QF Geelong v North Melbourne 1st Half
6:30pm - News
6:50pm - QF Geelong v North Melbourne 2nd Half

I also noticed that Saturday Night Games were not broadcasted until 8:30pm.

 

[jackdanielz3]

I liked when they would show the scores from other games "If you don't want to know the scores, look away now"

 

[numchuks]

Always wanted to go on the Rex Hunt footy show as a kid for the free meat pies they gave to the audience.

 

[Murraj1966]

As recent as 2009 the Preliminary final was on an hour delay. In terms of options we're blessed these days.

In terms of commentators that's another story

 

[Whats a Battle]

Seven 1997 footy coverage > Nine 2015 rugby coverage

 

[ZEV]

We won that game against the Dogs. Robbie Ahmat kicked a few from memory.

Simon Minton Connell kicked 6.6