Fox vs Seven: where footy analysis trumps inanity.

[Topdog]

Great little article looking at the fundamental difference between 7 and Fox footy

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/fox-v-seven-where-footy-analysis-trumps-inanity-20190720-p5294z.html

[Sedat]

This encapsulates Ch 7 in a nutshell. Their commentators don't give a shit about the players or the game, they are there to make the coverage all about themselves. And we are all like hostage victims being forced to watch their self-indulgent garbage because there are no other choices.

The sooner those pricks lose the rights (forever I hope), the better.

[bornadog]

Glad someone has actually commented on the differences in the media and called them out.

I think people watching the game want to just hear the calla mnd give us an analysis of what the teams are doing, the moves they are making and how they are winning the ball etc.

[azabob]

I don’t think this is on the commentary team. The channel 7 producers would be giving direction on what the conversations should be around.

So Sedat it’s channel 7 who don’t give a hoot about the audience.

[soupman]

So Sedat it’s channel 7 who don’t give a hoot about the audience.

Well clearly they do because they obviously want to maximise their ratings.

I have barely met a person that likes the channel 7 commentary style, so you'd assume they know that they are almost universally disliked by the football world.

But maybe it's simply that for 80% of the people watching the game it doesn't really matter. I know personally I can bitch about how bad Cameron Ling is all night but I have never not watched a game because of him. Maybe for the vast majority of people they just like watching the footy, and will do so even if the commentary is a bit shit. But for the next tier of people, that it does matter for, maybe they aren't as into the footy as the rest of us and enjoy the "colour" the channel 7 style brings to the coverage.

Maybe if you had both sets of commentary teams available for the same match on the same night the core 80% would prefer Fox but would still tune in to watch either, but the rest would only watch 7. So 7 can choose to appease the masses and bank a happier 80% of their current ratings but lose the 20%, or have a less satisfied 80% that still tunes in and grab the remaining 20% as well.

This is the only reasoning I can think of.

(For the record I don't think Fox Footy's coverage is overly fantastic, but it is better than 7's).

[Sedat]

I don’t think this is on the commentary team. The channel 7 producers would be giving direction on what the conversations should be around.

So Sedat it’s channel 7 who don’t give a hoot about the audience.
Yep, they are definitely led to their loathsome self-indulgence by the arsehole execs. As an example, have a listen to BT on Fox Footy around 2011 - it is like a different person altogether.

Ch 7 are a stain on footy that needs to be eradicated forever.

[Remi Moses]

I find myself yelling at them to commentate what’s in front of them . Way way to often self indulgent most of them
Like Jason Bennett but I guess he’s not in the boys club , hence he doesn’t get a gig much

[Doc26]

This encapsulates Ch 7 in a nutshell. Their commentators don't give a shit about the players or the game, they are there to make the coverage all about themselves. And we are all like hostage victims being forced to watch their self-indulgent garbage because there are no other choices.

The sooner those pricks lose the rights (forever I hope), the better.

It staggers me how Hamish McLaughlan landed such a prime gig. His contribution is completely inane and sycophantic. As a reluctant viewer his contribution to the call is cringeworthy. What a shame that archival coverage of games will be forever tainted.

Leave him to do the AusKick interviews at half time where he seems most suited.

[Cyberdoggie]

I think it must be part direction from their producers. I'm sure when the game might be slowing down in parts that they are fed instructions to engage in banter. It's been obvious the direction they are increasingly taking. They are trying to create their own personalities as being the show and the football is just on in the background.

While I don't know anyone that enjoys them, i'm sure there must be people out there that do, they would of done their research for their focus groups.

[mjp]

I just wish there was an option which allowed noise to come through but muted the commentary.

I actually don't need the commentators to tell me which player is which nor do I need them to tell me what is happening.

In the article, the 'positive' examples of the commentary on Foxtel are amongst the sort of stuff I find particularly annoying...they seem determined to teach me the game through what is happening and TELL me who is playing well and exactly why. Don't get me wrong, the examples of the channel 7 guys talking about things other than the game are annoying as well, but can't we be left to interpret the game our own way?

[Mofra]

I actually find MMM commentary the worst of the lot - talk about themselves in stupid nicknames constantly, any danger in actually describing the play?

[Topdog]

It staggers me how Hamish McLaughlan landed such a prime gig. His contribution is completely inane and sycophantic. As a reluctant viewer his contribution to the call is cringeworthy. What a shame that archival coverage of games will be forever tainted.

Leave him to do the AusKick interviews at half time where he seems most suited.

The answer to your question is in his surname

[bornadog]

I just wish there was an option which allowed noise to come through but muted the commentary.

I actually don't need the commentators to tell me which player is which nor do I need them to tell me what is happening.

In the article, the 'positive' examples of the commentary on Foxtel are amongst the sort of stuff I find particularly annoying...they seem determined to teach me the game through what is happening and TELL me who is playing well and exactly why. Don't get me wrong, the examples of the channel 7 guys talking about things other than the game are annoying as well, but can't we be left to interpret the game our own way?

The Old fox Footy channel use to have options like that. They had four different camera angles, plus you could watch with just the crowd noise.

[hujsh]

The Old fox Footy channel use to have options like that. They had four different camera angles, plus you could watch with just the crowd noise.

It's a shame they don't provide the option anymore.

[Hotdog60]

The camera work leaves a lot to be desired as well. Why do we have to put up with constant crosses to the coaches box or following an injured player way longer than is required please focus on what's happening on the field.

[Twodogs]

The camera work leaves a lot to be desired as well. Why do we have to put up with constant crosses to the coaches box or following an injured player way longer than is required please focus on what's happening on the field.

The default camera angle (the mid range one) is bloody awful. It's just far enough away so you cant make out who has the ball and just close enough so that you can't see what the next link in the chain is going to be or who is manning up on who. I think they changed it just a little bit this season in anticipation of the 6/6/6 rule thinking the ball would move quicker but that didn't happen.

[Twodogs]

The Old fox Footy channel use to have options like that. They had four different camera angles, plus you could watch with just the crowd noise.

Really? I didn't know that and I've been banging on about it ever since I read about them doing it in the States back in the '80s. I'm spewing that I missed it.

[Ozza]

Its a tough call.

Watching a game on 7 - you have to put up with their commentators.
Watching on Foxtel - in non-Dwayne Russell games, the commentary is a bit better - but its a struggle to actually see the game, as they can't seem to show whats happening in between bad camera work and showing replays during play.

[Twodogs]

I'm happy to ignore the commentators but for some reason I just can't ignore Cameron Ling. His voice grates on me something shocking.

[bornadog]

Watching in 4K on foxtel is the ultimate in picture quality. Not all games are broadcast on the 444 chanel, none of the Seven games and only a few of the normal Foxtel games. and

[westdog54]

The camera work leaves a lot to be desired as well. Why do we have to put up with constant crosses to the coaches box or following an injured player way longer than is required please focus on what's happening on the field.

During our game against Carlton at the height of the crowd behaviour controversies, there were shots of the security guards walking up and down the aisle, as though it somehow had some sort of impact on the match itself.

It was totally unnecessary because there was enough happening on the field to keep the viewer enthralled.

i've lost count of the number of times I've yelled at my TV for the Channel 7 commentators to 'shut up and call the game for *!*!*!*!s sake'.

[Rocket Science]

My favourite Seven routine is when there's a marginal/confusing free plucked resulting in a set shot, and instead of an instant explanatory replay you get a camera close-trained on the bloke taking the free while he gets up, dusts himself off, strolls back from the mark, puts the ball down, pulls the socks up, pops the mouthguard away, fixes the hair, picks the ball up again, checks the mark with the ump, looks up at the scoreboard, gets some advice from a teammate, checks the mark again, spins the ball a few times, takes a deep breath and then finally ambles in to take the kick you're still none the wiser why he was the recipient of -- because you don't want to forgo any of the aforementioned *action* -- then whether the ensuing kick is a goal or a behind THEN you get your belated replay over the top of the resumption of live play which they charitably cut back to and suddenly the ball's mysteriously out on the wing.

Two thumbs up.

[Happy Days]

Seven's commentary is a banal experience but at least they don't roll out Dwayne Russell to actively ruin games. There is nothing in world sport as detrimental to the product than Dwayne chiming in with an "OH BABY" after a neat piece of play.

[Happy Days]

Also when you strip back all of the extra nonsense (which Seven go out of their way to increase admittedly) BT is the best caller in the game. His call of Caleb's goal in the 2016 prelim is without peer.

[jeemak]

Also when you strip back all of the extra nonsense (which Seven go out of their way to increase admittedly) BT is the best caller in the game. His call of Caleb's goal in the 2016 prelim is without peer.

He was actually good that game, he's pretty much useless unless it's a massive occasion.

Here's the unfortunate reality about Ch7's commentary and coverage. It IS what the broader public wants. We in this thread think our echo chamber and its views is representative of what everyone wants......and we're dead wrong. Australian sports fans love jingoism and banality more than anything else, they don't want analysis, they just want to feel good, feel included, know who the good guys are, and most importantly, know who the bad guys are.

I really hate the Ch7 and broader commercial network attitudes towards everything, and I mean, everything. But you've got shows like My Kitchen's Bogans, Master Bogans, Off Bogans, Dr Bogan, Dancing with the Bogans, Australia's Got Bogans....the list goes on, and the reason why these shows are popular is because they appeal to the same type of person the coverage of AFL does. The Bogan.....but not the Bogan of the old nomenclature the traditional name referred to, the new aspirational Bogan that has become so prevalent in our society that the niche funny web page of the late naughtie's, Things Bogans Like, is now an historical view into a dystopian future we are now all living.

I've gone pretty hard here, sorry if I've offended anyone.

[Happy Days]

He was actually good that game, he's pretty much useless unless it's a massive occasion.

Here's the unfortunate reality about Ch7's commentary and coverage. It IS what the broader public wants. We in this thread think our echo chamber and its views is representative of what everyone wants......and we're dead wrong. Australian sports fans love jingoism and banality more than anything else, they don't want analysis, they just want to feel good, feel included, know who the good guys are, and most importantly, know who the bad guys are.

I really hate the Ch7 and broader commercial network attitudes towards everything, and I mean, everything. But you've got shows like My Kitchen's Bogans, Master Bogans, Off Bogans, Dr Bogan, Dancing with the Bogans, Australia's Got Bogans....the list goes on, and the reason why these shows are popular is because they appeal to the same type of person the coverage of AFL does. The Bogan.....but not the Bogan of the old nomenclature the traditional name referred to, the new aspirational Bogan that has become so prevalent in our society that the niche funny web page of the late naughtie's, Things Bogans Like, is now an historical view into a dystopian future we are now all living.

I've gone pretty hard here, sorry if I've offended anyone.

Pretty much - if the world's political climate has shown anything in the last 3-4 years it's to never underestimate the silent majority.

[jeemak]

Pretty much - if the world's political climate has shown anything in the last 3-4 years it's to never underestimate the silent majority.

Correctomundo Brad (Brett)!

[Ghost Dog]

Turn off sound. Turn on Radio. Fixed.

[Bulldog4life]

He was actually good that game, he's pretty much useless unless it's a massive occasion.

Here's the unfortunate reality about Ch7's commentary and coverage. It IS what the broader public wants. We in this thread think our echo chamber and its views is representative of what everyone wants......and we're dead wrong. Australian sports fans love jingoism and banality more than anything else, they don't want analysis, they just want to feel good, feel included, know who the good guys are, and most importantly, know who the bad guys are.

I really hate the Ch7 and broader commercial network attitudes towards everything, and I mean, everything. But you've got shows like My Kitchen's Bogans, Master Bogans, Off Bogans, Dr Bogan, Dancing with the Bogans, Australia's Got Bogans....the list goes on, and the reason why these shows are popular is because they appeal to the same type of person the coverage of AFL does. The Bogan.....but not the Bogan of the old nomenclature the traditional name referred to, the new aspirational Bogan that has become so prevalent in our society that the niche funny web page of the late naughtie's, Things Bogans Like, is now an historical view into a dystopian future we are now all living.

I've gone pretty hard here, sorry if I've offended anyone.

Only the Bogans.

[Twodogs]

He was actually good that game, he's pretty much useless unless it's a massive occasion.

Here's the unfortunate reality about Ch7's commentary and coverage. It IS what the broader public wants. We in this thread think our echo chamber and its views is representative of what everyone wants......and we're dead wrong. Australian sports fans love jingoism and banality more than anything else, they don't want analysis, they just want to feel good, feel included, know who the good guys are, and most importantly, know who the bad guys are.

I really hate the Ch7 and broader commercial network attitudes towards everything, and I mean, everything. But you've got shows like My Kitchen's Bogans, Master Bogans, Off Bogans, Dr Bogan, Dancing with the Bogans, Australia's Got Bogans....the list goes on, and the reason why these shows are popular is because they appeal to the same type of person the coverage of AFL does. The Bogan.....but not the Bogan of the old nomenclature the traditional name referred to, the new aspirational Bogan that has become so prevalent in our society that the niche funny web page of the late naughtie's, Things Bogans Like, is now an historical view into a dystopian future we are now all living.

I've gone pretty hard here, sorry if I've offended anyone.


Only the Bogans.

Border Security Bogan, New Zealand Police 10-Bogan-7.

[Mofra]

Turn off sound. Turn on Radio. Fixed.
I'v tried, the broadcasts are 2-3 seconds apart which makes it annoying.

[Twodogs]

I'v tried, the broadcasts are 2-3 seconds apart which makes it annoying.

A DAB (digital) radio may fix that. It used to be aligned but maybe they have adjusted because I don't think the TV likes us ignoring the ads.

[mjp]

Turn off sound. Turn on Radio. Fixed.

Ummm. Right. Cos the radio commentary is sooooo much better!

Crowd noise would be best.
Silence is second best - well, a musical soundtrack!. Commentary last.

[Grantysghost]

Ummm. Right. Cos the radio commentary is sooooo much better!

Crowd noise would be best.
Silence is second best - well, a musical soundtrack!. Commentary last.

I actually turn the sound off. It's the only palatable option. If I had crowd noise I'd go for that.

[Ghost Dog]

Ummm. Right. Cos the radio commentary is sooooo much better!

Crowd noise would be best.
Silence is second best - well, a musical soundtrack!. Commentary last.

Sound down, laughing at my elderly dad commentate and make highly questionable calls ( Holding...the...BALL! ) is best.
He's not even that much into footy, but when it's on he gets really fired up. It's hilarious.

In other news, Great Western defeated Ararat North last week. The final score was 79.41 (515) to 1.0 (6).
So @MJP when you think things are pretty bad at Whitten Oval, things are never as bad as they are for Ararat Eagles fans. ;)
A couple of Tiwi Islander blokes kicked 45 goals between them....
Ararat only had 15 blokes on the ground but they had to play for comp reasons.

My Dad has a point in that in days gone by you could have the game on the TV, and just by listening, understand what was going on. No hope now and even when two people have the same last surnames they don't bother helping anyone listening to figure out who is who. They don't even regularly call out the score.

[mjp]

Sound down, laughing at my elderly dad commentate and make highly questionable calls ( Holding...the...BALL! ) is best.
He's not even that much into footy, but when it's on he gets really fired up. It's hilarious.

In other news, Great Western defeated Ararat North last week. The final score was 79.41 (515) to 1.0 (6).
So @MJP when you think things are pretty bad at Whitten Oval, things are never as bad as they are for Ararat Eagles fans. ;)
A couple of Tiwi Islander blokes kicked 45 goals between them....
Ararat only had 15 blokes on the ground but they had to play for comp reasons.


Ummm - at least they kicked a goal.

I may or may not have been involved in a team that didn't kick a goal last weekend.

[Twodogs]

Ummm - at least they kicked a goal.

I may or may not have been involved in a team that didn't kick a goal last weekend.

I'm going for 'definitely was '

[Ghost Dog]

Ummm - at least they kicked a goal.

I may or may not have been involved in a team that didn't kick a goal last weekend.

Yeah but I am assuming that you had a full team. That's something to be grateful for now? :D

[mjp]

Yeah but I am assuming that you had a full team. That's something to be grateful for now? :D

I found very little to be grateful for last weekend.

- Son number 1 lost (after the siren)
- Son number 2 lost (3 goals - and he was sent off for the 4th time this season).
- Freo WON.
- West Coast WON.
- I had to endure a 5 hour bus ride to the game in which we scored 0.4. Then make a thankyou speech in front of the town at a dinner that night. Then stay overnight. Then endure the bus ride back the next day. And it rained the ENTIRE TIME.

Did I mention we didn't score a single goal...though at one point a player was running into an open goal (20m in the clear) - but the umpire stopped the game because another of our players (the only other player in the camera shot on the replay) was down in the goal square being attended too. THEN, rather than award us a free kick - as he should have - he decided to ball it up, from which the opposition knocked it through for a point. The umpiring department has further acknowledged that the free kicks leading to 3 of the opposition goals were incorrect and should not have been awarded....aaaahhhhh, duh - I, like, KNOW they weren't free kicks (I was there!). Apparently umpires are people too and make mistakes - in particular for the opposition when the ball is 15m away from goal, directly in front. I'm not bitter though.

Oh - and I don't want to hear about goal-kicking. Our goal-less game came with 43 inside 50's (the opposition had 51). We were beaten - and beaten well, but....

[Topdog]

Also when you strip back all of the extra nonsense (which Seven go out of their way to increase admittedly) BT is the best caller in the game. His call of Caleb's goal in the 2016 prelim is without peer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPZJsg1jz7w

Damn that brought back some tingles.

[bornadog]

I found very little to be grateful for last weekend.

- Son number 1 lost (after the siren)
- Son number 2 lost (3 goals - and he was sent off for the 4th time this season).
- Freo WON.
- West Coast WON.
- I had to endure a 5 hour bus ride to the game in which we scored 0.4. Then make a thankyou speech in front of the town at a dinner that night. Then stay overnight. Then endure the bus ride back the next day. And it rained the ENTIRE TIME.

Did I mention we didn't score a single goal...though at one point a player was running into an open goal (20m in the clear) - but the umpire stopped the game because another of our players (the only other player in the camera shot on the replay) was down in the goal square being attended too. THEN, rather than award us a free kick - as he should have - he decided to ball it up, from which the opposition knocked it through for a point. The umpiring department has further acknowledged that the free kicks leading to 3 of the opposition goals were incorrect and should not have been awarded....aaaahhhhh, duh - I, like, KNOW they weren't free kicks (I was there!). Apparently umpires are people too and make mistakes - in particular for the opposition when the ball is 15m away from goal, directly in front. I'm not bitter though.

Oh - and I don't want to hear about goal-kicking. Our goal-less game came with 43 inside 50's (the opposition had 51). We were beaten - and beaten well, but....

The things parents have to do

[Twodogs]

What did the other mob score Mike?

[mjp]

What did the other mob score Mike?

10.8

[Mofra]

My Dad has a point in that in days gone by you could have the game on the TV, and just by listening, understand what was going on. No hope now and even when two people have the same last surnames they don't bother helping anyone listening to figure out who is who. They don't even regularly call out the score.
Too true.
I find the VFL commentary far superior.

[westdog54]

In other news, Great Western defeated Ararat North last week. The final score was 79.41 (515) to 1.0 (6).
So @MJP when you think things are pretty bad at Whitten Oval, things are never as bad as they are for Ararat Eagles fans. ;)
A couple of Tiwi Islander blokes kicked 45 goals between them....
Ararat only had 15 blokes on the ground but they had to play for comp reasons.


I know its off topic but I lived in Ararat for 3 years and its absolutely heartbreaking to see what is happening to the Eagles.

There are two clubs in Ararat, the larger of the two plays in the Wimmera League and get most of the love from big name sponsors in the town. The Eagles have held on by a thread for a while but I don't like their chances of survival longer term.

[Ozza]

Sound down, laughing at my elderly dad commentate and make highly questionable calls ( Holding...the...BALL! ) is best.
He's not even that much into footy, but when it's on he gets really fired up. It's hilarious.

In other news, Great Western defeated Ararat North last week. The final score was 79.41 (515) to 1.0 (6).
So @MJP when you think things are pretty bad at Whitten Oval, things are never as bad as they are for Ararat Eagles fans. ;)
A couple of Tiwi Islander blokes kicked 45 goals between them....
Ararat only had 15 blokes on the ground but they had to play for comp reasons.

My Dad has a point in that in days gone by you could have the game on the TV, and just by listening, understand what was going on. No hope now and even when two people have the same last surnames they don't bother helping anyone listening to figure out who is who. They don't even regularly call out the score.

I'm struggling to get my head around 79 goals in a game. 30 in the last quarter.

I played in a game once where we beat the opposition by 240 points - and it felt like we were kicking goals constantly - whereas these doubled that! 79 goals in 80 minutes of game time!

[Twodogs]

I'm struggling to get my head around 79 goals in a game. 30 in the last quarter.

I played in a game once where we beat the opposition by 240 points - and it felt like we were kicking goals constantly - whereas these doubled that! 79 goals in 80 minutes of game time!

Yep a goal every minute is really digging the screws in isn't it?

[jeemak]

The last quarter probably went for forty minutes or so!

[mjp]

The last quarter probably went for forty minutes or so!

A country footy game with Time On?

I wouldn't have thought so!

[jeemak]

A country footy game with Time On?

I wouldn't have thought so!

We used to have time on in the ammos.

[Rocket Science]

This is peak Channel 7 can get comprehensively f**ked.

https://i.ibb.co/PN5rvHb/Screen-Shot-2019-08-16-at-9-11-54-pm.png (https://ibb.co/JKzcwJb)

The only people at risk of enjoying this schtick are confined within this shot, with Dermott at the head of the queue.

Christ they're insufferable.

[Twodogs]

This is peak Channel 7 can get comprehensively f**ked.

https://i.ibb.co/PN5rvHb/Screen-Shot-2019-08-16-at-9-11-54-pm.png (https://ibb.co/JKzcwJb)

The only people at risk of enjoying this schtick are confined within this shot, with Dermott at the head of the queue.

Christ they're insufferable.

Bring it back to Whitten Oval where it started and still belongs. The extra costs involved in hiring Marvel Stadium must be astronomical.

[KT31]

A country footy game with Time On?

I wouldn't have thought so!

Country footy I've been involved in still has Seniors with twenty minute quarters plus time on.
All lower grades have no time on.

[Twodogs]

The last quarter probably went for forty minutes or so!

Back in the '701s and '80s VFA quarters always went at least 40 minutes. They had to allow enough time for all the fights.


At Yarraville they would have to find local kids to do the scoreboard and we worked out that if you added a bit to the away team's score then sometimes they would slacken off toward the end. We, sorry that should read whoever was working the scoreboard, never managed to get the opposition so far in front that Yarraville swamped them and ran over the top but a couple of times the goal umpires got the central umpires to stop the game while they checked on the scores.