Channel 9 sucks arse, and it sucks arse in many different ways. This list could have a thousand points, but here are just the main ways Channel 9 screws things up!
1. Bombarding Us With Betting
When I’m watching the football, I don’t want to know what the betting odds are. i don’t care if some idiot has put $20,000 on some option. I don’t care about first and last try scoring betting, I’m actually sitting down to watch the football! The worrying thing for me is, for 6 hours every weekend, kids are being told how everyone is gambling on football, even though thats not true! So when they grow up, they are going to think its normal to drop huge amounts on money on the last trying scorer of a game. Its madness!
2. Not Showing The Game Across Australia
I love it when Ray Warren boasts about how the game he is calling will be seen across Europe, into North America, through Africa and even the Middle East. I love it because I know that people in Melbourne and Perth aren’t able to watch the game for another 6 hours, if they are lucky. That in South Australia and Tasmania, they hardly get the games at all! Channel 9 refuses to show games in these areas at decent times, even though they have the exclusive rights. Then, they have the nerve to get upset that changes to the Sports Anti Siphoning list may for them to show these games at decent times, or lose the rights to Pay Television!
3. Broncos and Dragons Games Every Friday Night
Imagine being a Broncos fan that has to work early on a Saturday morning. Chances are you have only see a few games this year because nearly all of the Broncos games are shown on a Friday night! Same with the Dragons, they are on every bloody week! Channel 9 likes to make sure it has a game to cater for its Sydney audience, and a game to cater for its Brisbane audience. That kinds screws the Broncos who don’t get to play many Saturday, Sunday or Monday night games.
4. Not Showing The Canberra Raiders or New Zealand Warriors
Imagine if you had to sell the major sponsorship on the Canberra Raiders jersey. You go to a sponsor and tell them that, if they are lucky, their jersey will get seen, maybe three or four times over the course of the season on Free To Air TV. Do you think any potential sponsor is going to pay top dollar for that? The Warriors have it a bit easier because they have all of New Zealand to work with, but seriously, why don’t we see these two fantastic clubs more often? Why to we see these two teams with decent sized supporter bases ten times less than the Roosters, who have no fans!
5. The Non Stop Praise Of The Sydney Roosters
The heavies at Channel 9 are almost involved with the Sydney Roosters and friendly with the people that run the club. Phil Gould is obviously a former coach and Brad Fittler a former coach and player. Thats fine, but when a club with no supporter base and no junior league keeps getting thrown on the TV and praised none stop, despite the terrible player behavior issues they have, its ridiculous!
6. Danny Weidler
In between acting as Anythony Mundines public relations go to man, this bloke tosses up more rumours that don’t eventuate than any hack running around! This is a guy who will lead his stories with something a player has written on Twitter! Thats quality journalism right there! he’s tag line of “My mail is” has become a punch line across the game.
7. The Sometimes Footy Show
I tune into the Footy Show, not so much for hardcore Footy talk, but to get a bit of entertainment on a Thursday night. Even so, there are times when I wonder “What does this have to do with Rugby League?”. Anthony Mundine, Sonny Bill Williams, Soccer players, Rugby Union players…..no. No! This is the Footy Show, if we wanted to watch these other sports, we wouldn’t tune into The Footy Show for it! The funny thing is, by far and away the best stuff the footy show does is when they have serious discussions, usually headed by Phil Gould. Yet it happens very rarely!
8. Kickoff Times Are Terrible
State Of Origin and Test Matches kick off too late. They should kick off at 7 pm. The Grand Final kickoff is dictated by Channel 9. Then through the season, their Sunday game is delayed, as is one Friday Night game. Then we get to the finals, and they mess with all the kickoff times again! What a stupid situation!
9. We Should All Be Thankful For Their Bullshit
Despite the fact they are terrible, Channel 9 believes they give us fantastic coverage and we should all be thankful for their service! Forget the fact they user pay the game by hundreds of millions of dollars, they restrict the use of footage by rival networks and they publicly blasted the NRL this year for daring to hold talks with Channel 7 in regards to the next TV deal, Channel 9 believe it owns the game of Rugby League.
Channel 9 are bloody hopeless, just as League Freak said! Join the web site and make a comment in the box below and bag them out!