Sports media in Australia is all kind of bush league in my opinion. Say what you will about the over-saturation and commercialisation of American sports media - but their analysts treat the game with respect that borders on reverence. We could use a dose of that professionalism here.
I agree that America has some of the best, but I guess it's a big pool. Alot of American sports coverage is still garbage (see first take) with similar horrible personality's. But there are plenty of good ones there as well, some of the baseball stuff I listen to is great. Really good broadcasters who don't get in the way of the action, merely complement it.
I think some of the stuff on the ABC was good but I'm not a huge fan of the direction they've gone in recent seasons.
I'm not sure this is the right way to go either TBH, that's how you get the no-questions-asked fawning the Victorian game enjoys.
It's funny how this is criticised on here, and I agree that it's not great. Yet apparently this is what people want regarding rugby league coverage as well, because anytime ridiculous incidents come up the first port of call is to blame the people for reporting it, not the people themselves.
It's hard and it's unfair sometimes life. Yes the media beat our scandals up like meringues. Yes the media ignore AFL scandals (on a related note I see BunniesMan defending his beloved AFL again like the ignorant f**king bellend he is despite the RAPE charges laid today) and certainly suppress them in NRL states. But of we as a code don't give them things to beat they'll eventually lead themselves down the path of ridicule trying to beat up nothing.
I mean for f**ks sake HE PISSED IN HIS OWN MOUTH. The fact that we as a community aren't pointing Carney to the exits as one is absolutely mindblowing and kind of sad.
If footy players don't piss in their own mouth, shit in hallways, punch each other at mad Mondays, drink drive, go the gash grab and beat their girlfriends, and equally if the NRL comes down like a tonne of bricks on each and every incident (including automatic life bans when assaults against women are involved) our game will be so much better for it.
The media won't stop their behaviour because they're merkins, so we have to give them nothing to report on.
I agree with alot of this.
AFL has several incidents similar to ours, but they haven't been having shitting in hallways, pissing in their own mouths, simulating oral sex from a dog or anything as almost comically ridiculous as that. They also don't have current players moaning about not being able to beat each other up or laughing over mad monday fights.
I generally agree with the article. Mascord isn't my favourite ever journalist, but to doubt his passion for the game is ridiculous and he, unlike say Weidler, Rothfield, Wilson, writes with the best interests of the game in mind. He's particularly passionate about the future of the international game, one of the few voices in that regard.
The American sports example mentioned earlier is probably where Mascord was going with his frustrations at lack of access to players. There is a heap of access with american sports players and as noted elsewhere in this thread it helps connect the fans to the teams and the players, enhancing the game.
This is where part of rugby leagues image problem comes in. Say what you want about the respective sports, personalities or whatever (and frankly the AFL guys are generally just as boring as the RL guys) but the AFL players when interviewed are generally clear and articulate. I don't think public speaking as it is necessarily equals intelligence but it certainly projects a better image.
With a few exceptions most RL interviews are horrible, a mixture of cliche's and Yeah and Umm and "the boys dug in" and such. There are some good players out there, Mannah is one, but not many.
The blaming of the media for simply reporting both the relatively harmless but incredibly stupid behaviour of some players to go with the genuinely poor behaviour (the assaults and the gropes and such) is pretty embarrassing, frankly. Whilst it's obviously far, far from a majority, there is some poorly behaved players. High profile sportsmen doing poor things will make the news - the best defence is probably learning a bit of common sense on not carrying on like a f**kwit in all walks of life.
The AFL thing is very funny as well. If you don't care or dislike the sport so much why do so many keep bringing it up at every turn. If someone does something poor it's not condemnation of there actions, it's "Oh if an AFL player did this he'd probably be knighted or some shit." It's all just a diversion from facing up to terrible behaviour from players that should simply be condemned. Honestly, the like of El D and the fight club regulars are
exactly the same as the AFL obsessives they love mocking.
Rugby League is a great game but it has thrived on a chip on the shoulder element for a large portion of it's history, and it really lets us down in addressing these sort of issues that Mascord has outlined.
