On the Couch - What a joke......

[Dave]

Originally posted by Nico
I care because it is part of the psyche of an avid footy follower. It is not a matter of making up you're mind for you, it is getting as much of what you love whenever you can.

I grew up with:

Thursday night teams on 3DB.
Friday night footy panel previewing the games on both ABC and CH7.
Game on Saturday.
Footy panel at 7.00pm on ABC after matches.
World of Sport on Sunday.

Couldn't get enough of it and still can't.

I guess when you are indoctrinated from an early age then it is a bit like religion, it sticks. But then footy is my religion.

You forgot to mention The Big League (CH7) and The Winners (CH2)

[Dave]

Originally posted by Damien
I am dissapointed with Fox Footy because they are Melbourne centric but are a national network.


In terms of News Ltd conspiracies....I can bet you that the Swans would get more coverage in Sydney during these finals than the Storm will get in Melbourne during their finals....this despite the Storm being owned by News Ltd.

Fox is News LTD so there are no suprises there.

The difference with the Storm is that even people in Sydney think it's a waste of time and would probably rather see a team on the Central Coast. Their days are numbered.
The Swans however have a stable fan base and AFL is a growing market in NSW which could be enhanced by more media attention.
On 2UE's sports show the closest thing they have to an AFL segment is one or two 5 min interviews a week with Roosey or one of the boys.
The other games for the week are never mentioned. God help you if you dont follow the Swans!
They even give more coverage to national soccer by having Johnny Warren come on and give a rant about the weekend's games.
And this is the highest rating nightly sports show in Sydney!
Even in Brisbane Akermanis and McCrae have their own footy show on the radio.
I will also note that I have been listening to SEN1116 on the net and they have a League segment which goes through all the teams.
So on the radio, League gets a better deal in Melb. than AFL does in Sydney.

Thank god for the internet is all I can say!

[bloodboy]

What is all this whingeing about the Melbourne media for? I think we need to whinge more about how little coverage our apparent home state give us before whingeing about Melbourne's media!!!

[Tooth Fairy]

Originally posted by Dave
They were on the back page of the Sun Herald on Sunday.

If there is no bias from the Melb media then why would there be only 4 photos allocated to the Swans game in the HUN gallery when the other three matches got 12 each?

News LTD would rather let league prosper up here.

Derr Dave! Exactly my point. Why would the Melbourne media be interested in a team from sydney when that team from sydney won't sell melbourne papers. Let me put it simpler... Melbourne papers = Melbourne news, Sydney papers = Sydney news.

And I still stand by my comments (going from what I've read on RWO only, so I'm probably wrong) Sydney papers do not give a rat's cracker about the Sydney Swans and the Swans very rarely get back page. Hmm, the "Sydney Media Mafia" are an outrage, No?

[lescygnes]

christ, does anyone here actually read the herald in sydney? afl coverage is definately OK for me in that paper.

who still buys the murdoch rags anyways???? shame on you!!!

and as for wallsy, didny he coach Fitzroy to the finals? anyone who did that has to be good. and the 87 carlton team was one of the most dominant teams of its time too. his opinion is worth it IMHO.

bring on the saints.

john

[jixygirl]

This year I was in Sydney for the Swans/Collingwood game and bought the Sydney papers to have a look at the coverage of the game. I think Sydney got the back page on one of the papers, and the coverage was pretty good, compared to what the Storm get in Melbourne. However, most of it was covered with Rugby League. After looking at the Sydney papers, I believe that the supporters of other teams in the AFL who live in Sydney should be crying bloody murder, because they get nothing.

Even though the coverage of Sydney in Melbourne ain't fantastic, especially because of a couple of consistent offenders (mainly channel nine), it is better than all of the other interstate teams, except for Brisbane. As a supporter of an interstate team, I have learnt to live with incredibly biased or non-existent reporting of Swans games as part of life, and applaud when channel 10 show small segments of Swans training.

As for the disgrace of On the Couch, there is no way known that they should have given the Swans and WCE game hardly any time compared to the other matches. It is a national broadcaster and there should be an equal distribution of the time to cater for all fans.

[dendol]

If you look at it proportionally, does AFL really get a bad deal in Sydney? Theres always at least one story on the Swans every day in both the SMH and DT. Of course League is going to get more coverage - there are 15 teams in the NRL, 9 of which are in the greater Sydney area. So really, would it not be fair to say for every 9 NRL article, there should be one Swans article?

And like a few have already mentioned, not having any Swans news in the Melbourne papers is nothing we should be getting upset about. I would have thought most of us would have gotten used to that by now.

Im not saying that I wouldnt like more news on the Swans, but to me, its not really as bad as everyone is making out to be.

I understand how this On the Couch thing rubs the wrong way with us Swans fans, but like Leigh Matthews has recently said, its nothing but VFL Victorian parochialism.

[NMWBloods]

I don't think recently there has been so much Victorian parochialism. The Hun has had a bit on each of the games, and has focussed heavily on the Brown report, as did On the Couch.

[dendol]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I don't think recently there has been so much Victorian parochialism. The Hun has had a bit on each of the games, and has focussed heavily on the Brown report, as did On the Couch.

There doesnt need to be - at least not for another 30 odd years.

[Dave]

Originally posted by Tooth Fairy
Derr Dave! Exactly my point. Why would the Melbourne media be interested in a team from sydney when that team from sydney won't sell melbourne papers. Let me put it simpler... Melbourne papers = Melbourne news, Sydney papers = Sydney news.

Then you might as well go back to the VFL. It's no use you just dont get it.

[Dave]

Originally posted by lescygnes
christ, does anyone here actually read the herald in sydney? afl coverage is definately OK for me in that paper.

who still buys the murdoch rags anyways???? shame on you!!!

I dont have a beef with the herald. Considering they are a flagship for union, they give us a reasonable amount of coverage.

Murdoch papers are a joke. They just tow the right wing line of their owner.

[EMJ]

Just written a letter to Telegraph asking for more coverage probably will not take any notice of it but I feel better for writing my feelings to them.