Tribunal hearings to go live to air

[Bleed Red Blood]

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/05/05/1083635204647.html?oneclick=true

Tribunal hearings to go live to air
By Caroline Wilson
May 6, 2004





Related:
Tribunal: Your say



AFL tribunal hearings will be televised live for the first time next season from a new studio at Telstra Dome.

The league last night revealed plans that will pave the way for weekly live telecasts from 2005, despite the continued misgivings of footballers worried about the extra pressure of being filmed giving evidence.

Fox Footy boss Rick McKenna confirmed that his network would film at least two pilots of tribunal hearings this season to try to alleviate concerns associated with what has been described as football's ultimate reality series.

"It won't be Survivor Part Six and it won't be Judge Judy," Mr McKenna said.

"I'm confident we can show that the manner in which we produce it will ease a lot of concerns.



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"We aim to be respectful to the broader aspects of the competition, which we believe Fox Footy has demonstrated from day one."

It is believed that tribunal chairman Brian Collis and his panel have signalled their unofficial approval of televised hearings, while the AFL's general manager of broadcasting, Ben Buckley, has indicated that the ultimate approval rests with the AFL.

Of the new tribunal room - which will be virtually double the size of the current area in the News Ltd building in Southbank - Mr Buckley added: "The primary motivation for doing this is to create more space and a better-configured area, which will also be more media-friendly.

"It's obviously more practical if it's literally at our back door. The live telecasts and the new venue are not directly correlated, but that's the general plan. We didn't feel we'd addressed the specific issues to televise the hearings this year.

"There were broadcasting protocols to look at, and player concerns about the vision and how it's used and how it portrays the competition as a whole. A final decision has not been made."

Foxtel technicians have been working with a Telstra Dome-appointed design team to build the tribunal venue in the basement of the Docklands Stadium in between the two players' changing rooms.

The present media room will have a wall knocked out to expand what will also ultimately be a media venue and studio for AFL and Telstra Dome press conferences.

Foxtel, the AFL's pay-TV network, shares the football media rights with channels Nine and Ten but contributes about $30 million a year of the $76 million cash component paid annually by the consortium.

Continually looking for new ways to televise the game and its off-field issues, the Fox Footy channel will televise the AFL's first evening Mothers' Day game this Sunday, when Hawthorn and Geelong kick off at Telstra Dome at 5pm.

Before the start of the season, every AFL captain questioned by The Age said he opposed a televised tribunal, but all believed the broadcasts would go ahead.

"The AFL have reasons that they'd like to televise the tribunal," Fremantle captain and AFL Players' Association chairman Peter Bell said.

"But I think it's very intimidating to be in a tribunal in the first place, even more so when there's extra people watching your performance."

Hawthorn skipper Shane Crawford said he believed 80 per cent of footballers were against it, but that it would be pushed through.

"As long as they show everything that's involved," he said. "When the three judges go and discuss their feelings about it, they need to take the cameras in there. You can't just show certain bits. It's the only fair way it's going to work."