Nine axes The Footy Show after 25 years
Nine is axing its NRL Footy Show after 25 years.
The show, which is most popular in Sydney and Brisbane, will not return next year, as Nine is ‘revolutionising’ its coverage of the game, it said today.
The show has been running for 25 years
At its peak, Nine’s NRL Footy Show pulled audience numbers as high as 370,000, but in recent years, those numbers have fallen below the 100,000 viewer mark.
Last Thursday, the show attracted audiences of 78,000 and 51,000 in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.
Nine’s decision to axe the show comes a year after the show sacked host Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin after 24 years, replacing him with Nine presenter Erin Molan. Shortly afterwards, NRL Footy Show panellist Darryl Brohman revealed his contract had not been renewed. This year, The Footy Show has been hosted by Molan, Ryan Girdler and Andrew Johns, as well as with contributors Beau Ryan and Brohman.
At the time, Nine said the show would have a new “format, look and feel”, following its deal with the NRL for digital rights.
Today, Nine’s Wide World of Sports said it would launch a “new look’, feel and sound” to NRL in 2019, with two new post-match shows to follow the Thursday night and Friday night matches. The shows will have a “strong emphasis of being at the ground, and interacting with players, fans and coaches”.
Tom Malone, Nine’s director of sport, said it had been an “incredible ride” for the show.
“A quarter of a century of laughs, controversy and first-class footy analysis. I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this amazing era of live sports-entertainment television – from producers, editors, camera operators, the players, guests and of course the legendary hosts,” Malone said.
“Fatty holds the record for the longest serving host of any prime time Australian TV show – a tribute to both his understanding of the game, his authenticity, and not to mention his incredible comedic timing. In recent years, Erin has equally brought a new energy, perspective and showed her passion for the game.”
Malone said Molan would be taking on a “more prominent role” in Nine’s sports broadcasts moving forward, across various sports including netball, tennis and cricket as well as NRL.
In a post on Instagram, Molan described her time with the show as an “incredible privilege”.
No mention has been made of Nine’s AFL Footy Show, despite the departure of veteran commentator Sam Newman several weeks ago. Last year, Eddie McGuire returned to the AFL Footy Show to work alongside Newman and Rebecca Maddern.
Sounds like they over-paid for the Aus open and now there is no money left in the kitty for the NRL footy show…
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The main problem with Erin Molan seems to be that she didn’t use her nick-name as her middle-name. This also rules out any future in radio.
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It’s peak audience would’ve been many times greater than 370k.
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Perfect example of misreading the market. The scratchiness , the blokiness and the down-lo humour was tightly packaged for twenty years! Clients lined up to be featured,
So what happens when program managers don’t wear footy scarves at home, think Erin Molan beats a totally authentic legend footballer like Fatty V and put themselves above research?
The market kicks you out of the game.
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Another example of how the industry misreads the market by listening to only the vocal minority.
How many people did they stand to gain by dumping Fatty and making it a feminist empowerment show? Nowhere near as many as they were going to lose.
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I’m no rugby fan, (in fact i don’t like it) but Fatty, Beau, Daryl etc made the show entertaining and i enjoyed watching it with my teenagers. Ch9 bosses through the baby out with the bathwater in a mistake akin to Top Gear losing Clarkson Hammond and May. Dumb.
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The show had become increasingly saccharine over the years. Not that it should have returned to the low-brow “blokiness” of a bygone era, but it needed a bit more truth and realism to the commentary. Like Matty John’s show on Fox or Willie Mason’s show on Skipi.TV:
http://www.skipi.tv/nrl-grand-.....ryd-hayne/
Give us all a break.
Why was Erin Molan touted as some sort of superstar?
She was a community presenter working at WIN TV before coming to Sydney in 2012. When did she report on Rugby League and how many stories had she broken?
What about all the other hard working journalists, men and women, who bust a gut day in day out and are not afforded the free ride she got.
And now Tom Malone suggests she can take on a bigger role in Tennis or Cricket.
I have a better suggestion. If she is that good, she should replace Tom Malone, he hasn’t set the world on fire since taking over 60 minutes and then Sport.
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Any show in the modern era of FTA to last 25 years is extremely rare so somewhere along the line they did something right. I am not a NRL fan nor did i watch the show but from listening to people better informed than me the show has become “tired and emotional” for many years so has hung on it there it would seem.
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