24 Hour NRL channel

[undertaker]

Absolutely baffling that Fox can't see the solution staring them in the face. Overheads too high, people just want to watch old games without the blather of (mostly) idiots - voila! The next person to take out a Fox or Kayo subscription to see three heads sitting around a table reciting what's in the papers, recounting hackneyed old memories or awkwardly chatting to a current or ex player on Skype will be the first person.

Same can be said for watching three guys commentating a game that's already been played!! This ridiculous concept may have had an iota of merit with a bit more historic "what-if" analysis, but no, there's pretend as if it's happening now interspersed with pathetic "jokes" about players in said old game who are now colleagues.

Speaking of old games, I'll say it like I have countless times before on here - SHOW US SOME 1997 SUPER LEAGUE GAMES. I know they exist in the Fox archives, this isn't like World Series cricket, where the stats do not count towards players' official records. And full replays, not 60 or 30 minute cut down jobs.

PS welcome back undertaker, your insight on here has been missed.

Thanks for your compliment.

I agree with your post on several points:

- Overheads are too high. Mad Hatter made a similar comment on this issue. A lot of dead wood can be removed from the line-up:

Fox talks about the NRL being bloated with staff and wasted $$$.

FMD...take a look at your own house first.

They've railroaded some of their non ex player commentators and got that many ex-players in roles now.

Still have Voss, Smith, Speed, Raymond, Russell, Ginnane.

ATM the footy players are...
Matty, Fletch, Hindy, Tallis, Hodges, Ennis, Brandy, Ikin, Toovey, Blocker, Cronk, Mal Meninga, Parker, Walters, Braith, Buderus, Sammy, Jame Graeme, Benji...

Along with Hooper, Kent, Crawley, Rothfield, Emma Lawrence...

And Vonny, Hannah, Jess, Megan, Lara, Shirvo. And the Professor and Barney.

Only recently just got rid of Gaz, Finch, McKinnon, Kimmorley.

- During this time when the season has been suspended, most fans want to see old matches. As I've mentioned in a previous post,

Seriously, if the NRL lockdown goes on for months, Fox League (as well as Foxtel in general, since NRL fans comprise a large portion of Foxtel's overall subscriber base) is well and truly screwed....

there's only so much the Fox League presenters will be able to crap on about before the whole team and conversation becomes obsolete, and even the most diehard RL fans will eventually switch off whilst the profile League "personalities" such as Slothfield/Kent/Hooper etc. fade into insignificance and irrelevance (they think they're somebody when they are nobodies trying to get attention off the back of people who are already getting attention, that is the players who are the stars of the show). Not to mention, the majority of the presenters have the personality of a brick wall, or have close to zero media presenting skills, which comes across with the constantly stuttering, ummmming and ahhhing ad nauseum. It's a very boganish (a.k.a. pub talk) look that reflects poorly on the public image of the game.

Their programs simply serve no purpose nor context at all without any matches being played. It's a completely different scenario is this were the off-season (October-February), where filler content is used while the cricket season takes centre stage in Australia during that time of the year, and the league wouldn't be haemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars as the NRL season would've been completed (like the recent 2019/20 cricket season which pretty much finished just before COVID-19 cases started increasing exponentially. Only the final round of the Sheffield Shield, the Sheffield Shield final and 2 ODls of a useless New Zealand tour of Australia were canned, that would've been played in front of no more than 15-25% full stadiums maximum during the NRL season without the COVID-19 crisis. So, no major loss at all to Cricket Australia with those matches being scrapped).

However, with no other sporting comps taking place in the country and it's during their NRL footy season, I just don't see how Fox League can justify continuing to produce hours of "live discussion programs" over the next few months. There's only so many stories ex-players can tell and reminisce about from the good old days, so many jokes and stupid pranks they can share etc.

Now, you see segments such as this on the Matty Johns Show, which is really scraping the bottom of the barrel and is nothing more than filler content to chew up time



- I agree, Fox Sports does have those matches in their archives and only the Lord knows why they haven't been released. Although I was an ARL (Knights) supporter and the Hunter Mariners were like the bastard child of the Hunter Region at the time, there were a few memorable matches from the 1997 Super League season, most notably the NSW vs QLD tri-series final, which went a marathon 104 minutes (the longest top-tier match).

Also, there was the controversy in the NSW vs NZ match in Canberra, where NZ were denied a fair try right on full time by Steve Clark due to the NZ try-scorer being incorrectly penalised for being off-side. Had the try been given, NZ would've had a conversion attempt after the siren to eliminate QLD from the tournament, which would've been a PR nightmare for promoters given the tri-series final was going to be played in Brisbane the following week.

Then, how could I forget the infamous 1997 World Club Challenge, where Penrith were eliminated despite winning all 6 of their group matches, yet Bradford qualified for the finals despite LOSING all 6 of their group matches, ROFL! No wonder the tournament was a big financial disaster, and that was before Kerrod Walters renown 'chicken dance' he performed after scoring a try against Salford at Adelaide Oval, and Gordon Tallis' brawl with Terry O'Connor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_World_Club_Championship

Biggest upset of the tournament was the Hunter Mariners winning their semi-final match at Shark Park to make the final (especially since they never won an Away match during the SL season)

 

[Perth Red]

World Club Challenge was only time I got to see Reds play. In Sheffield, and they lost lol. One of the few games Australian teams lost. Be good to see some of the 1995,1996 and SL games with some of the lost clubs They could do a "Lost Boys" round on Fox lol

 

[Brutus]

I know for a fact they have all these games at their disposal.

Totally sick of the shit Fox is throwing up at the moment.

 

[nrlnrl]

I know for a fact they have all these games at their disposal.

Totally sick of the shit Fox is throwing up at the moment.

Do you know someone who works there or used to? Can they help with selection of games?

I thought they've improved in the last couple of weeks with different games from a variety of years. I've been recording quite a lot of games & watched a fair few, but keeping some to spread them out - at least 7 more weeks, who knows if that will increase or not?

 

[Monday Roast]

Do you know someone who works there or used to? Can they help with selection of games?

I thought they've improved in the last couple of weeks with different games from a variety of years. I've been recording quite a lot of games & watched a fair few, but keeping some to spread them out - at least 7 more weeks, who knows if that will increase or not?

I know someone who used to work at Fox, told me once they have 97 SL games in the archive and no *explicit* agenda not to show them, just not many great games from that season.

Not sure if any of you watched the Fan this week, on the archive segment there, it was somewhat longer than usual with some great 70s tries. With a bit of help from Rugby League Project, the tries shown were from the following matches: Balmain Penrith R1 1978, Souths Canterbury R5 1978, Parra Balmain R15 1978, Manly Wests R1 1975, Saints Manly R20 1975 and Easts Manly finals 1975. Can be pretty sure Vossy's not scouring Youtube for these highlights, so add these to the list of games Fox isn't showing so we can see the umpteenth repeat of the 97 grand final.

Re: the re-calling of classic games, something hit me last night - they are putting fake crowd noise underneath the new commentary. Once you notice it, you just can't un-notice it. It's so off-putting since the crowd noise is annoying generic and doesn't cheer during tries or big moments, it's just background noise!!!!!

 

[LeagueXIII]

Just on a side note, Rex Mossop called the 1979 grand final from the studio on the ABC feed due to a strike by Channel 7 crews over back pay. If you compare the broadcast to the ABC coverage, it sounds flat, probably due to the lack of atmosphere.

The ABC version of the game comes across well and does justice to an exciting game.

You can see at the 7.40 mark of this Youtube clip that the 7 logo pops up with the ABC commentators listed.

 

[The Marshall]

Fox have really missed a trick trying to commentate these old games like they are live. They have enough former players in there that could talk their way through the games they actually played. How much better would this 97 GF be if they had Matty Johns and Toovey giving insights into what was going on during the game instead of this lame “live” commentary.

 

[LeagueXIII]

I know someone who used to work at Fox, told me once they have 97 SL games in the archive and no *explicit* agenda not to show them, just not many great games from that season.

Not sure if any of you watched the Fan this week, on the archive segment there, it was somewhat longer than usual with some great 70s tries. With a bit of help from Rugby League Project, the tries shown were from the following matches: Balmain Penrith R1 1978, Souths Canterbury R5 1978, Parra Balmain R15 1978, Manly Wests R1 1975, Saints Manly R20 1975 and Easts Manly finals 1975. Can be pretty sure Vossy's not scouring Youtube for these highlights, so add these to the list of games Fox isn't showing so we can see the umpteenth repeat of the 97 grand final.

Re: the re-calling of classic games, something hit me last night - they are putting fake crowd noise underneath the new commentary. Once you notice it, you just can't un-notice it. It's so off-putting since the crowd noise is annoying generic and doesn't cheer during tries or big moments, it's just background noise!!!!!

I missed it. Where can I watch it.

 

[nrlnrl]

I know someone who used to work at Fox, told me once they have 97 SL games in the archive and no *explicit* agenda not to show them, just not many great games from that season.

Not sure if any of you watched the Fan this week, on the archive segment there, it was somewhat longer than usual with some great 70s tries. With a bit of help from Rugby League Project, the tries shown were from the following matches: Balmain Penrith R1 1978, Souths Canterbury R5 1978, Parra Balmain R15 1978, Manly Wests R1 1975, Saints Manly R20 1975 and Easts Manly finals 1975. Can be pretty sure Vossy's not scouring Youtube for these highlights, so add these to the list of games Fox isn't showing so we can see the umpteenth repeat of the 97 grand final.

Re: the re-calling of classic games, something hit me last night - they are putting fake crowd noise underneath the new commentary. Once you notice it, you just can't un-notice it. It's so off-putting since the crowd noise is annoying generic and doesn't cheer during tries or big moments, it's just background noise!!!!!

Great detective work there working out those games from just 1 try. I wonder how much footage of each game there is though? I remember Channel 7 & Channel 10 used to just show 1 hour edited versions on delay in the 70s, 80s & 90s. I wouldn't mind seeing some more of those (have seen quite a few old Channel 10 games on Fox League). I don't know how many of those or the Saturday ABC games are available?

Also, pretty good hearing to pick up the crowd noise. Maybe just for older games? The 2010 & 2009 games they showed on the weekend seemed 'normal' to me - untrained ears though. I didn't watch enough of the 1997 GF or 2001 game to tell.

At least there are 5 hours of Easter games on from 11am today.

 

[African Monkey]

Fox have really missed a trick trying to commentate these old games like they are live. They have enough former players in there that could talk their way through the games they actually played. How much better would this 97 GF be if they had Matty Johns and Toovey giving insights into what was going on during the game instead of this lame “live” commentary.

Fully agree. It's a weird vibe having them trying to commentate it like that. Matty Johns is the only one who saw it for what it was during the 09 Parra v Wests game where he just started taking the mickey where you could tell that he couldn't be bothered trying to commentate it live.

 

[Usain Bolt]

Haha who saw Braith asking if Corey Parker had seen the doco about Michael Jackson being a pedo after CP said MJ was one of his heroes. Holy shit the producers told Jess to shut that shit down and she changed the subject straight away

 

[African Monkey]

Haha who saw Braith asking if Corey Parker had seen the doco about Michael Jackson being a pedo after CP said MJ was one of his heroes. Holy shit the producers told Jess to shut that shit down and she changed the subject straight away

Yeah got a bit awkward after Corey Parker took Anasta's sledge seriously haha.

Anasta and Burgess try too hard to be like Fletch and Hindy.

 

[Xcalibre]

“I’m retaining fox sports because these fox league shows are so entertaining “.... said no one ever!

What a sad and pathetic attempt at making subscribers want to keep paying by putting that trash on.

I only wish I’d cancelled in late March when my last billing date was, instead of the today, but maybe the comp being shut down wasn’t evident back then. Anyway, glad to see the back of those tryhards.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

I'm trying to find the FB Page that said Dan Ginnane has been a breath of fresh air.

Flmao.

I'm not that old but I watch the 89 GF. And yeah, I suspect this team with be "special" for the next five years or so. And yeah...that Stuart, Daley and Clyde fella will probably play SOO and for Australia. Not sure if they'll remain one club players though. And yeah...Balmain...lemon was squeezed. Prolly merge with Para one day...you seen the caps?


Off topic the one with Elias Blocker and Sirro was great. Was never a huge fan of Benny except at SOO but geez he was gracious. Other two too.

I'd rather hear Ainscough tell me he fked up or that Braith is dirty on foot in touch or the Broncos go FIGJAM than ever hear Dan Inane again.

 

[mozza91]

Watching these classic games gives you a real warm sense of history and how much better Rugby League was when Dan Ginnane wasn’t commentating it.

 

[Perth Red]

They’ve got all day to fill and they are only showing highlights of games, wtf?

 

[TheFrog]

Then, how could I forget the infamous 1997 World Club Challenge, where Penrith were eliminated despite winning all 6 of their group matches, yet Bradford qualified for the finals despite LOSING all 6 of their group matches, ROFL!

I went to the last pool game, when Penrith had to beat St Helens by 47 points. For a time, it looked possible, but St Helens lifted in the second half, and in the end there was only a few points in it. Absolutely bizarre tournament rules.

 

[Perth Red]

I went to the last pool game, when Penrith had to beat St Helens by 47 points. For a time, it looked possible, but St Helens lifted in the second half, and in the end there was only a few points in it. Absolutely bizarre tournament rules.

it was to try and keep interest in uk knowing the English clubs weren’t full time and largely outclassed. They needed some of them to make the finals.

 

[TheFrog]

it was to try and keep interest in uk knowing the English clubs weren’t full time and largely outclassed. They needed some of them to make the finals.

I understand why they did it, but the gulf was just too wide at that time. Considering they were by no means the strongest Australian sides (outside the Broncos) the gulf was perhaps wider than now. At least the WCC annual match is mostly competitive.

 

[Perth Red]

I understand why they did it, but the gulf was just too wide at that time. Considering they were by no means the strongest Australian sides (outside the Broncos) the gulf was perhaps wider than now. At least the WCC annual match is mostly competitive.

in 97 only Wigan and Leeds had a full time team. Rest of the clubs had all been part timers until the SL money came in. It was really the first full year of full time RL in UK.