By DANIEL EASTWOOD
I had a Twitter conversation with Penrith Panthers General Manager Phil Gould a fortnight ago. It didn’t end well.
The discussion was centred on the broadcast (or lack of one) in Australia for the current England versus New Zealand series.
At the time of corresponding with Phil the series was not on Australian television. It wasn’t on Fox Sports, it wasn’t on Eurosport – the game didn’t exist for Australian viewers.
I wasn’t happy with that. Test series between two of the top three rugby league nations need to be broadcast.
I wondered what Phil though about it.
“Showing this game in Australia at 4am would not help International RL one iota .. Please”
Sure, I can see that – I wouldn’t watch it at 4am either. But I would sure as hell record it and watch it while I was getting the kids ready for school – 7am till 8.30am on my own customised delayed telecast. Perfect!
But not having it available at all will hinder the game. We see NRL live all weekend and international league hardly ever. A delay is not a consideration in weird timezones where I want to see the product rather than ‘experience’ it live.
Gould responded: “If it was financially viable don’t you think they would do it? Or do they not show it just to piss you off? Please.”
My reply: “Nobody has any idea of its viability if it’s not televised. Gus, please – don’t get too fired up.”
“I’m not fired up .. Quite relaxed .. And it’s TV execs job to know what is viable or not .. Obviously this is not.”
That really annoyed me. A person on the payroll of a free to air network now making a comment on pay tv – a service that caters to niche viewers. I pay for Foxtel so that I can see all sorts of sport outside the big guns of AFL, cricket, tennis in the summer. And now I’m being told the number of viewers for the biggest sport in the northern states doesn’t justify a nominal outlay?
I replied: “A clear illustration of why television is an old model. Free TV will survive; pay TV gives way to streams.”
I can then view what I want to see, such as a live stream of the Rugby League World Cup qualifier that I watched that same night – South Africa versus Lebanon – with a commentator and multiple camera angles!
Not for Phil though: “For people of your age .. Majority of population a lot older than you though ..”
When questioned if Phil was passionate about international rugby league: “I am. Love international football. But not being able to watch this game doesn’t concern me one bit. Not even close.”
My comment: “You have previously stood up for international RL, esp. Pacific Tests. I’m dismayed with your stance on EngVNZ.”
Gould: “They are playing. We just aren’t watching it tonight. It ain’t that big a deal. I don’t care that I can’t watch it.”
Phil Gould doesn’t care, because he works for Channel 9 and runs an NRL club. By design he has no desire to watch the game. He also has no interest in promoting it.
As it transpired a last-minute deal was done with Fox Sports where the First Test was shown the Monday evening of the game and the second and third matches scheduled for live broadcast plus replays. I tuned in to the game and enjoyed the contest, providing my opinion with others via Twitter and found many like-minded folk watching the game as well.
Then the defender of Channel 9’s decades-long policy of delayed telecasts chimed in with a tweet at the 70th minute of the Fox Sports broadcast. It was the same story about Jamal Idris that Phil had tweeted that morning, when there was no rugby league on, delayed or otherwise.
I again was annoyed but thought that I would be received in good humour.
“Gus you’re polluting my @IntRL timeline with local matters. Please – consideration needed.”
A glib, flippant reply was forthcoming: “There you go .. No more problems ..” [blocked]
So that annoyed me too. We have a prominent media personality rubbishing a top-tier international series because of timezone and pay TV broadcast, then not taking any criticism.
Anyway, it was good while it lasted. Incidentally, Phil Gould presented me with my match official’s jersey prior to Origin 3 in 2011. He had some very kind words to say. I’ll remember those instead.
*****
On to the games and while the first England versus New Zealand Test was a very entertaining affair with England overcoming an early deficit to win the game, the second Test’s 9 – 2 result had much less flowing action.
The scoreline kept viewers interested with converted penalties exchanged before a Sean Kenny-Dowell try gave the Kiwis what was to become a decisive advantage.
The main talking point was the ‘no try’ decision late in the game after England’s James Graham chased through a grubber kick only to miss it and ground it with his upper leg. Australian referee Gerard Sutton’s live decision was correctly overturned on review by the video referees, denying the English their try.
It was close though – Graham could have grounded the ball with his hand, arm or torso from the waist to the neck and he would have had his four-pointer. Plenty of target areas – only to dive over it and have only his legs contact the ball.
This interpretation of a try – like so many other grey areas – only game in with the video ref and the slow-motion replay in the past fifteen years.
The problem we had was the attacking player looked like he had grounded the ball (and in pre-video days would always have been awarded the try). However on closer inspection the hand or arm wasn’t on it so we ended up with having to try to maintain what had previously been allowed, while acknowledging the scrutiny of the replay.
So we ended up with the ‘torso grounding’ rule. Hand or arm grounding the ball – great! Torso instead – close enough.
The game’s hierarchy drew the line at the waist, so below that – no dice. It’s not perfect at all, yet a compromise has been struck.
Most interesting to me though was the way Referee Sutton positioned himself for that crucial decision. Gerry was stationed just in-goal when the kick was put in and almost hit him.
However, instead of running backwards towards the dead ball line, in which case he would have been in the way of defenders and almost certainly barreled by the oncoming attackers, Gerry pivoted and backed up towards the posts. In this situation he had the awareness and poise to do the exact opposite of what his instincts would have been telling him. It showed experience, confidence and game sense. Bravo!
Bring on the sold-out game three of England versus New Zealand – the series decider!
Dan Eastwood is a blogger and former NRL match official
