Media and the Swans (merged / renamed thread)

[Swansongster]

It's not cheap it's fact. Ask any south Aussie, west Aussie or Tasmanian what they thought pre afl days n they'll tell you exactly the same. If you thought people from WA, SA n Tas worshipped the VFL back then your seriously deluded. The great vfl was a passing interest that you'd glance at the scoreboard at north Hobart oval to see how the sides over there were going. If you were born before the afl came about you'd know this. I spoke with a player who won premierships in the WAFL and SANFL n he said exactly the same. He was offered a contract from Footscray n turned it down n said "it's nothing special over there".

Fair point. I have a good friend from Adelaide (avid Sturt fan to this day) who didn't give a rat's about VFL (or any other league) until Crows came along (although VFL GF day was always celebrated). He subsequently switched to Port when they were created at AFL level.

However, IMHO, AFL Grand Final belongs at MCG. Magical place (will be better this weekend than GF day).

* Next weekend

[Boddo]

Fair point. I have a good friend from Adelaide (avid Sturt fan to this day) who didn't give a rat's about VFL (or any other league) until Crows came along (although VFL GF day was always celebrated). He subsequently switched to Port when they were created at AFL level.

However, IMHO, AFL Grand Final belongs at MCG. Magical place (will be better this weekend than GF day).

* Next weekend

Id prefer it to stay there with the proviso that the ground gets configured to the highest ranked sides dimensions home ground for grand final day where possible. But I don't think it will stay there long term cause there's to much money to be made out of bidding place to hold the grand final in other states.

[goswannies]

It's not cheap it's fact. Ask any south Aussie, west Aussie or Tasmanian what they thought pre afl days n they'll tell you exactly the same. If you thought people from WA, SA n Tas worshipped the VFL back then your seriously deluded. The great vfl was a passing interest that you'd glance at the scoreboard at north Hobart oval to see how the sides over there were going. If you were born before the afl came about you'd know this. I spoke with a player who won premierships in the WAFL and SANFL n he said exactly the same. He was offered a contract from Footscray n turned it down n said "it's nothing special over there".

It's why guys like Russell Ebert, Graham Cornes, Chris McDermott came came over so late in their careers. And why Austin Robertson Jr (who could have been sensational for South Melbourne) left to return to WA in his prime.

South had Cornes' signature in about 1975, but he opted not to come and later went to North a little too late to taste any premiership success (he was too old by then and North's success was over)

[KTigers]

+1 I grew up south of Hobart in the glorious 70s and besides playing and supporting our local team in the Huon Valley league, my brothers,
friends and I would hitchhike or scam a ride into Hobart and walk up to North Hobart Oval, which truly was the centre of the known universe
at the time, to watch TFL games. Grand finals would regularly pull 23,000 or 24,000 back then, this was at a time when Hobart's
population was about 140,000. It was a very big deal. We barracked for teams in the VFL but they all came a distant second after local footy.

It's not cheap it's fact. Ask any south Aussie, west Aussie or Tasmanian what they thought pre afl days n they'll tell you exactly the same. If you thought people from WA, SA n Tas worshipped the VFL back then your seriously deluded. The great vfl was a passing interest that you'd glance at the scoreboard at north Hobart oval to see how the sides over there were going. If you were born before the afl came about you'd know this. I spoke with a player who won premierships in the WAFL and SANFL n he said exactly the same. He was offered a contract from Footscray n turned it down n said "it's nothing special over there".

[aardvark]

Page after page about Richmond in the Hun this week. The new fairy tale begins......

[Boddo]

It's why guys like Russell Ebert, Graham Cornes, Chris McDermott came came over so late in their careers. And why Austin Robertson Jr (who could have been sensational for South Melbourne) left to return to WA in his prime.

South had Cornes' signature in about 1975, but he opted not to come and later went to North a little too late to taste any premiership success (he was too old by then and North's success was over)

Exactly a lot of superstars from WAFL & SANFL used the VFL as a super fund. Plus then you had some absolute champions, it's gets thrown around to much, in Barry Robran n Stephen Michael who never left.

[Boddo]

+1 I grew up south of Hobart in the glorious 70s and besides playing and supporting our local team in the Huon Valley league, my brothers,
friends and I would hitchhike or scam a ride into Hobart and walk up to North Hobart Oval, which truly was the centre of the known universe
at the time, to watch TFL games. Grand finals would regularly pull 23,000 or 24,000 back then, this was at a time when Hobart's
population was about 140,000. It was a very big deal. We barracked for teams in the VFL but they all came a distant second after local footy.

I barracked for Norfick growing up n loved the Hunnibell brothers n baldy Fox. It's sad how it's gone because the AFL have whitewashed a lot of history n most under 40 have no idea that Victoria n the vfl was not the centre of the universe. Perfect example is open mike "why did it take so long to come to the afl" ffs cause a lot of people didn't give a @@@@@ about the vfl, it wasn't n never will be the afl to me, n like the great Phil Carmen said in his interview that he didn't think it was a standard above what he was leaving. It was where the money was. The NFC wanted a true national common the vfl got wind of it n hijacked it all. Do people seriously think clubs like Footscray n North Melbourne deserved to be in a national comp ahead of say a great club like Norwood? I don't.

- - - Updated - - -

Page after page about Richmond in the Hun this week. The new fairy tale begins......

m8 first mistake was buying the HS, 2nd was buying the HS, 3rd mistake was buying the HS. i wouldn't buy or read that toilet paper

[barry]

I don't think the AFL will be taken seriously by the northern states until there are more teams from outside Victoria than in, and the grand final is movable. Until then it's to easy to dismiss the comp as the VFL+.
It's a credibility thing. I bet if AFL HQ were based in Sydney the transition to national comp would be fast tracked.

[Boddo]

I don't think the AFL will be taken seriously by the northern states until there are more teams from outside Victoria than in, and the grand final is movable. Until then it's to easy to dismiss the comp as the VFL+.
It's a credibility thing. I bet if AFL HQ were based in Sydney the transition to national comp would be fast tracked.

It's the media that does my head in the most. In Melbourne they appear to make up anything but as soon as a non Melbourne media personality says he's been told Lyon to Collingwood all hell breaks loose n then Gill the dill talks of taking accreditation off him but Barret n Hutchinson can sprout the biggest load of garbage n nothing's said. Those 2 are clowns masquerading as journalists. They go by theory of if they throw enough darts eventually they'll hit the bullseye. Pfft Melbourne media

[Boddo]

+1 I grew up south of Hobart in the glorious 70s and besides playing and supporting our local team in the Huon Valley league, my brothers,
friends and I would hitchhike or scam a ride into Hobart and walk up to North Hobart Oval, which truly was the centre of the known universe
at the time, to watch TFL games. Grand finals would regularly pull 23,000 or 24,000 back then, this was at a time when Hobart's
population was about 140,000. It was a very big deal. We barracked for teams in the VFL but they all came a distant second after local footy.

To add on I miss sitting down as a kid on Sunday listening to Peter Sharpe doing his Sunday review of the Saturdays games. People in Victorian just don't get that a lot of us didn't get world of sport from Melbourne. We had our own thrills, high marks, controversy n excitement. and from what I've heard it was the same in SA & WA. This is why I said earlier to a lot of us older people the MCG was not our home of footy.

[wolftone57]

Everyone outside of Melbourne regularly complains about the Melbourne media bias but is it any surprise when you predominantly have media personalities that support Victorian based clubs. Here is a link from bf that shows how much of the media support Victorian based clubs

Who do they barrack for? | BigFooty AFL Forum

The worst part is that they can't leave their club allegiances at the door when commentating/writing.

Gillon McLachlan is a Saints supporter and he can't leave his bias at the door either.

[crackedactor]

Gillon McLachlan is a Saints supporter and he can't leave his bias at the door either.

Not even one Swans Supporter, disappointing. However we have won the award for the most Bias Commentator over the years. (For those people over 50 yrs old). Gentleman Jim Cleary was WOS commentator and his description of a victorious Red and white South Melbourne side was GOLD!!! Wish I could find some audio.

[Doctor J.]

Are you talking about the commentary during the matches themselves, or the pre and post game discussions?

For the prime time games (ie all Friday night games, including our games against Adelaide and Geelong), the match commentary is the C7 commentary - ie we get Broooce, BT, Carey and Ling (most weeks). The pre and post game commentary and analysis is content generated by Fox.

Where Fox broadcast a game not also broadcast by C7, they do provide their own commentary teams.

I agree that the Friday night C7 commentary team is bog ordinary. It irritates me even when it's not a game involving the Swans. Maybe it irritates me even more, because I'm not so emotionally invested in the game and block out the commentary less.

For games outside the Friday night showpiece, I think it depends on who you get and what your preferences are. I quite like Dunstall, for example, and he does seem to get rostered on quite a lot of Swans games that Fox covers. Roos (also another Swans regular) is OK but I find him somewhat dull. I enjoy Anthony Hudson and find Sandy Roberts unobtrusive (which is a good thing). Alistair Lynch isn't too bad, while Dermie is a mixed bag - some of his insights are really good but then he gets caught up on something bizarre and won't let go for the rest of the game.

I am not a fan of any of the C7 regulars - Friday nights or other games - but I do enjoy Richo's self-deprecating humour.

This is the only thing I enjoy from any current footy commentator - Fox or C7.

[Boddo]

It was very evident how insular thinking some of these media personalities can be by last nights comment on afl360 from Robinson that Kennedy should be named captain over Selwood for the all-Australian side. the look on Gerard's face was a combination of disgust n horror.

[wolftone57]

It's the media that does my head in the most. In Melbourne they appear to make up anything but as soon as a non Melbourne media personality says he's been told Lyon to Collingwood all hell breaks loose n then Gill the dill talks of taking accreditation off him but Barret n Hutchinson can sprout the biggest load of garbage n nothing's said. Those 2 are clowns masquerading as journalists. They go by theory of if they throw enough darts eventually they'll hit the bullseye. Pfft Melbourne media

Haven't you heard Hutchinson does not call himself a journalist any more. Mind you if I was head of the Journo's association I would have objected to him calling himself a journo in the first place.