The Footy Show

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Footy Show is an Australian sports television program, shown on the Nine Network and its affilates.

There are two versions of the program, one dedicated to the NRL and Rugby League, and the other concerning the AFL and Australian Rules Football. They are officially respectively referred to as The NRL Footy Show and The AFL Footy Show, though most fans will just refer to either one as "The Footy Show".

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Scheduling

Each version of the show airs twice each week in the form of a:

A Thursday night program, shown at 9.30 PM AEST, and
A Sunday morning program, shown at 11:00 AM AEST

Both the Rugby League and Australian Rules version are aired nationally. However, in states such as New South Wales where Rugby League is the more popular football code, The NRL Footy Show would air at these times, taking precedence over the AFL version. In a state more favorable towards Australian Rules such as Victoria, The AFL Footy Show would air instead, taking precedence over the NRL version.

The "alternate" version of Thursday's Footy Show (in New South Wales' case for example, The AFL Footy Show) would then go to air later that Thursday night. The "alternate" show on Sunday will generally not air in addition to the regularly scheduled version.

The NRL Footy Show on Sunday is usually followed by Boots N' All, a show replaying old footage and revealing the lighter side of Rugby League.

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The NRL Footy Show

The NRL Footy Show began in 1994, presented by former players Paul "Fatty" Vautin, Peter "Sterlo" Sterling, Steven "Blocker" Roach and radio broadcaster Ray Hadley. Hadley left the program for a year, but returned in the mid 1990's.

The Thursday night program was, and still is largely entertainment-based, with some football-related content included, such as previews of the weekend's fixtures. This is often ridiculed by those in the industry, including Hadley himself.

Hadley and Roach did not have a good relationship with the rest of the team, and left by the late 1990's. For around two or three years, Vautin and Sterling presented the show by themselves, often with guest hosts such as Phil Gould, the Johns brothers (Andrew and Matthew) and Ryan Girdler with his highly popular segment, "Their House".

In 2001, a contest was held to find a new co-host, via a parody of the hit show Survivor (also shown on Nine), and former Knights forward Paul "Chief" Harragon was selected. In 2003, fellow former Knights player Matthew Johns joined as the forth host, following the success of his appearances as alter egos Reg Reagan and Trent The Flight Steward the previous year. A new character, Randy Bugatelli, based upon a American fitness instructor, was introduced in 2005.

In May 2005, due to declining ratings, former host Ray Hadley was invited back to the show. However, he declined this offer due to his radio commentiments on 2GB. Rebecca Wilson was also invited to be part of the show and she accepted. However, Vautin and Sterling disapproved of this move. Wilson appeared for only one episode.

The show has spanwed 2 "best of" video/DVDs, a compliation CD, the Reg Reagan "All of Me" DVD and the single "Am I Ever Gonna See The Biff Again?" by Reg Reagan and the Knucklemen.

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The AFL Footy Show

In the same year, the AFL version began, hosted by former Network Ten reporter Eddie McGuire, and joined by former Geelong player Sam Newman and comedian Trevor Marmalade. They are joined by several current and former AFL players in a panel format.

An interesting footnote is that before 2002 no footage of any AFL games could be aired by the show as the rival Seven Network held the broadcast rights at the time. Nine currently has access to the rights and footage is now used liberally during the show.

Unlike the NRL version, there is actual talk about football matters and less entertainment features. In recent years, some members of the show have made short 5 minute parodies of daytime soap operas. These shorts are aired during the show.

The AFL Footy Show has also had its fair share of controversy, especially because of the on-air antics of Newman who has been the subject of many a complaint directed at the Nine Network. Some of these incidents include:

Having his face painted black in response to an on-field incident of Nicky Winmar, an Australian Aboriginal player
Pieing David Neitz in the face, then getting whacked by him.
Being 'dacked' (having his trousers pulled down, exposing his genitals) on air by Shane Crawford
Drinking a full bottle of what appeared to be Jim Beam over the length of a show. After around 400 calls about the incident during the course of the show, 6 people called Channel 9 and bet that he couldn't drink the rest (which was half a bottle). He then proceeded to finish off the bottle in one go.

Newman has also had a number of well-publicised off-screen incidents that are often brought up during the show.

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Awards

At the 47th Annual TV Week Logie Awards held on May 1, 2005, the NRL version of the program won the Most Popular Sporting Program award, beating the AFL version for the first time in several years.

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