Friday Night Football (Australia)

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In Australia, Friday Night Football is the broadcasting of both the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) Friday night matches on television. Friday Night Football is generally considered to be the biggest stage and generate the most publicity for the clubs involved in both codes. It is for this reason that clubs involved generally want to perform at their very best to avoid large-scale criticism from the media.

Both codes are shown in all states and territories, with the dominant code being shown in primetime at 8:30pm, and the other code shown afterwards in a late time slot. The only exception is in the Northern Territory where the NRL is shown at 7:00, with the AFL being shown at 8:45, both generally accepted as being in primetime.

The dominant codes are Australian rules football in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania; and Rugby League Football in New South Wales, Queensland and Australian Capital Territory. Hence the Australian rules football states get AFL and the rugby league states get NRL.

The Nine Network currently broadcast both codes, which necessitates the broadcasting of one after the other. When Nine lose the AFL rights from 2007, the Seven Network will most likely regain Friday Night AFL. As part of the new television rights, Seven is expected to show AFL at an earlier timeslot in New South Wales and Queensland in an attempt to boost popularity in those states.

As part of the new NRL contract, from 2007 the Nine Network will show 2 NRL games in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory on Friday Night - one live at 7:30, and the second match replayed at 9:30.

Friday Night Football is regularly one of the highest rating programs in Australia.

[edit] Australian Football League

The first Australian rules matches on Friday nights were introduced in the 1980s when the North Melbourne Football Club pioneered the initiative. The Seven Network, who broadcast football for around 40 years before losing the rights after the 2001 season, took a punt on showing the football on Friday Nights and it paid off.

Friday Night AFL is generally played in Melbourne, at either the Melbourne Cricket Ground or Telstra Dome. On a few occasions each season however, it may be played at either AAMI Stadium in Adelaide or Subiaco Oval in Perth with one of the two Adelaide or Perth based sides hosting the match. In 2005, a Western Derby between West Coast and Fremantle was played on Friday Night for the first time.

The current commentary team is Dennis Commeti and Dwayne Russell, with special comments from Garry Lyon and Dermott Brereton. Tony Jones is the boundary reporter. Nine also introduced Dr. Peter Larkins, a reporting doctor on the boundary to update injuries throughout the telecast.

[edit] National Rugby League

Regular non-weekend football started life as Monday Night Football in 1985, with Canterbury meeting Manly on the 24th June, 1985. However moderate attendances and a night game prior to a working day eventually saw the game shifted to Friday from 1988 on. With the 2007 season, MNF is set to return to the NRL.

The Friday night game is considered to be the most watched game of the week and many NRL clubs have openly stated that they appreciate the publicity given by these matches. The Nine Network choose the game they consider to be the "match of the round" 5 or 6 weeks in advance. This system has both positive and negative consequences, as it increases the likelihood of a good game played between two in-form sides, but does not allow fans or clubs a large amount of time to know on which day they will play in any given round. In 2007, two games will be played on Friday night.

The current commentary team is Ray Warren, Peter Sterling and Phil Gould, with Andrew Voss on the sideline. Matthew Johns and Paul Vautin provide analysis before and after the match.

[edit] Criticism

A large criticism within the AFL telecast has been the predominance of larger clubs featuring on Friday Night Football. Despite underperforming, Collingwood have previously frequently participated on Friday Night, when better-performing clubs would make the match a much more worthwhile watch. The AFL have addressed this by awarding Friday Night matches to clubs who have performed well in the previous season. Due to the clash in local markets with the NRL, the Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans don't play Friday night matches. This too is hoped to be rectified with the new broadcast deal, meaning those two clubs can also participate on the biggest stage. Similarly, the Melbourne Storm rarely play Friday Night matches in the NRL, however in 2006, after leading the competition, they have been allocated 3 Friday Night Matches in the space of 5 weeks.

Another major criticism surrounding AFL was the commentating of Eddie McGuire in Collingwood matches. As Collingwood president, he was often considered to be biased in his calling, and although he frequently denied that he was, he could often be clearly heard to be barracking for the Magpies when they were playing well, or groaning when they weren't, to an extent further than he would any other club. After Eddie was appointed CEO of the Nine Network prior to the 2006 season, he was replaced by Dwayne Russell in commentary.