That makes no sense as there is a Bledisloe Cup test match in 1994 which 7 Sport did.
Why?
Way off topic, but the NZRU refused to sign the hosting agreement around guaranteed âclean stadiaâ free from advertising and Sold corporate boxes.
3 Likes
Nope⊠that game was on ten from the SFS and Gordon Bray called the game. Then he went to Seven as they had the ARU rights from 1995 aside from the World Cup which was still on ten and David Fordham was lead caller.
3 Likes
Donât let that stop you
7 Likes
I thought they dropped the âATNâ name earlier in the 90s
Western Australian Television History (WA TV History) » Blog Archive » Update on documenting our TV heritage suggests that Quintex had purchased both 7 Perth and 7 Adelaide (the former owning the latter at the time) in 1988 - and was part of the Seven Network when listed on the stock exchange after the Quintex collapse [@TelevisionAU may be able to confirm]
News had some investment at some point in that period - the ABA investigated concerns over control of Seven by News after concerns from Optus
I forgot about that - good pickup
2 Likes
IIRC Qintex initially bought only the Syd-Mel-Bris Sevens. I think TVW Perth and SAS Adelaide were added at a later stage before it all went to ruin.
The âAustralian Television Networkâ branding was initiated in 1986/87 when Fairfax owned ATN and BTQ and had just bought HSV. It lasted until sometime in the early 1990s IIRC.
I would not be surprised if News Ltd had some minor investment in Seven coming out of receivership but I doubt enough to have a controlling interest. Especially given that Murdochâs US citizenship was reportedly the reason he had to sell his Channel Ten interests in 1987.
Like I say my memory is a bit rusty, but I am not aware at all of Telecom/Telstra having any minor or major interest in Seven.
1 Like
Thought Gavin Rich did some of the RWC that year.(he was Superpsortâs lead caller in South Africa).
I am trying to track down the 4 Corner episode where both Super League & Wordl Rugby Corp were both heavily mentioned, there is a video in it where Greegen is on the microphone at the SFS and its clear as day on the microphone the & Sport (old) logo from a Bledisloe Cep test match, this was the same day that both the ARU players and NZ players signed up to WRC and it was well before the 95âs RWC that year.
It was on Youtube but no longer on Youtube.
Just to clear up a little bit about the rugby rights history from my equally dodgy memory, Seven had winter wallaby matches from at least 1996. I donât have much recollection of anything before the 1995 World Cup.
Bruce McAvaney was host from 02-06 (when 7 didnât have the AFL) as seen here. Dan Crowley and Tim Horan calling with Gordon Bray too. Interesting that 7 presented the whole thing from NZ.
They kept those rights up until 2010, with Matt White hosting post 2006. You can see some of their work in 2010 here. I donât know who hosted pre 2002, but I would guess it was Bray.
The score ticker in the 2010 video seems to go back to 2006 and looks like a forerunner to what 7 used for itâs AFL coverage from 2007.
9 got the rights in 2011 and was hosted by Ken Sutcliffe from a studio (presumably Sydney?) with just Tim Sheridan at the ground. I assume they took foxâs commentary of the match. They also aired matches in 2012.
In 2013 Ten picked up the rights and still have them today. It meant Gordon Bray was working on Aus TV again.
In terms of the Spring tours, theyâve been on 7, 10 and SBS as far as I remember.
As mentioned, the 1995 World Cup was a 10 affair.
The 1999 World Cup was shown on 7. The host broadcaster was ITV and they copped a lot of criticism over in the UK at the time for their efforts.
The 2003 WC was on 7 as well. I assume they were the host broadcaster. McAvaney hosted a fair bit of it. There was also âThe Cream with Roy and HGâ which aired after the final match of the night.
The 2007 WC was on 10. Someone mentioned remembering Bill Woods hosting matches, and whilst he may or may not have done so in the pre 7 days in the 90s, he definitely hosted 10âs coverage from France for the 07 WC. The coverage was weird. As 7 still had regular rugby rights until 2010, Gordon Bray wasnât available for 10 and ditto with Greg Clark and Fox. It meant they went with an untried caller in poet Rupert McCall and ex wallabies Ben Tune and Ben Darwin as match commentators. None of those three have gone on to have any real career in rugby broadcasting since. Hereâs a snippet of their coverage.
The 2011 and 2015 World Cups were done by 9. You can see who was involved and which games 9/ GEM covered here.. You can see here it was significantly more matches than the 2019 World Cup which 10 showed.
Should also be noted that fox have been showing most, if not all of this stuff too.
I vaguely recall 7 dabbling with Super Rugby back in the late 90âs, but this could very well be a figment of my imagination. Would be great if someone knew.
Also George Gregan wouldnât captain the wallabies until the early 2000âs so Iâd say he was man of the match if heâs on the microphone at the SFS in 1994.
Probably a few errors in there but generally thatâs whatâs happened post 1995.
4 Likes
I do recall Seven showing one Super Rugby game a week on delay in a 10:30pm Saturday timeslot.
According to this, it ended prior to the 2004 season
I vaguely recall 7 graphics for the Super 12 final in 2000 between the ACT Brumbies v Crusaders in Canberra in 2000. Unsure if it was taken live though.
Youâre absolutely right. This is that match with 7 graphics and Gordon Bray as caller. No idea if it was live or not though.
So there was a period where 7 would produce the coverage of Aus super 12 games. Gordon would call for seven and fox. Gordon would wear the maroon Fox Sport blazer for the live coverage and hostings and then that same game would air on seven late night and Gordon would wear the seven sport blazer. Not sure how long this arrangement lasted. The graphics package during this time were the same as the seven produced wallabies games.
2 Likes
Roy and HG was part of 7âs RWC coverage in 2003. The final saved 7 from losing 40 weeks in a row
Ok it was the 1995 Bledisloe Cup Sydney match played at the SFS.
That match was 100% broadcast by Seven Network.
After this match the players from both ARU and NZRU sides went to the guy house that was running WRC with Kerry Packer backing.
Those players mostly all signed the agreements which were similar to the WSC agreements that Kerry Packer had Cricket players sign in 1977.
However it all came down to SARU, those players were taken to Sin City (lavish resort / casino somewhere in the Pretoria region of South Africa) and they rejected the deals and as such WRC never got off the ground as Packer withdrew support.
From memory what ever Works Rugby Union is called then did a deal with News Corp but not the players themselves to form Super Rugby.
Kind of what happened when Fox aired a couple of Wallabies home matches live due to Seven airing The Ashes cricket. One was on Main Event due to Fox having NRL, A League and AFL at same time. Gordon would call for seven and fox⊠but he didnt wear the maroon Fox Sport blazer for the live coverage and hostings since it was live on seven in nsw and qld.
Maybe it was the cricket, since Fox and Seven, both had Ashes rights in 05. A league was already over by then.