Wow great find. I don’t believe we have ever had a video posted of SportsWatch.
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What a great find! Such an interesting concept for a show.
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I guess Bruce needed something to do at the network as Seven had very little sport to broadcast on a regular basis during the winter months for the next few years (not including quadrennial events such as the Olympics, 2002 Commonwealth Games and 2003 Rugby World Cup, which they did broadcast in the period they didn’t have the AFL or Supercars).
This lack of sports broadcasting was a major factor in them lagging behind Nine (and sometimes Ten) for most of that 2002-06 period.
From what I could recall, Sportswatch lasted only one season and there were complaints from rival networks (especially Channel Nine which had the AFL and NRL at the time) that the show aired footage from delayed games before they actually aired on Nine.
In terms of that bleak 2002-06 period, 2005 would’ve been a mostly quiet year for Seven Sport after the Australian Open, which earned high ratings (and probably set the network up for a resurgent year for that matter) thanks mostly to Lleyton Hewitt reaching the final which he lost to Marat Safin. Apart from that, I can’t remember what other sporting events Seven would’ve televised that year, though I think they had Sydney to Hobart?
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Interesting concept, like a proper Fox Sports News but I can understand why 9 would be annoyed when they are showing highlights of possibly delayed games.
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Great to hear Ray McGregor’s voiceover too.
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I wonder if perhaps the inspiration was from Soccer Saturday, seems to deal with a similar issue with the format of “commentary” over sports they aren’t able to show live.
Amusingly the clip I found of Soccer Saturday to refresh my memory on exactly how close of a format it is, has a clip of an AFL match in the background.
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I believe Ten had the Sydney to Hobart Race.
Seven had Golf, Tennis, Rugby, Olympic and Commonwealth Games during this time.
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Yes, would have impacted some ratings for 4pm Sunday games on Nine with some viewers inadvertently seeing live scores they didn’t want to see (ahead of intending to watch the delayed game).
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not just in AFL but also NRL too.
If I also remember correctly, Sports Tonight on Ten would avoid mentioning the scores/progress of the delayed Sunday matches on Nine on their 5:30pm bulletin though I can recall at least one occasion when they revealed the final score of an NRL match before it had reached full-time on Nine’s delayed telecast.
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Thankfully the days of delayed telecasts are over. With the internet and smartphones it’s almost impossible to avoid spoilers
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They’ll be back next year for AFL fans outside of Victoria without Foxtel/Kayo, with Saturday matches to be delayed on FTA in the first half of the season.
Delayed matches still remained prominent even after Seven became the sole FTA broadcaster of the AFL from 2012, with the Saturday afternoon match in Melbourne delayed by 90 minutes, and in other markets some matches would be delayed by at least 30 minutes.
Which means, for those viewers, avoiding social media and the AFL website for live scores.
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I wonder if that was a key reason why the Nine match was moved to 4.05pm in 2015- with some viewers inadvertently seeing live scores they didn’t want to see (ahead of intending to watch the delayed game). I’m amazed Nine never asked for it before 2015, even with 3 Sunday matches. Although for the weeks of City/Country and the Anzac Test, maybe add a 3pm Saturday game to compensate or even Sunday night 6pm.
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You have to wonder why 7 never thought about airing some Super 12 games live on Saturday nights, especially when Fox would need to show the cricket live (only would 1 or 2 games, but wouldn’t be too much a hassle), but Fox found a solution with the Main Event channel for those weeks.
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Sportswatch was on back in 2002, I think Nine moved it because the feedback from viewers was that they wanted sport to be live.
Probably the same reason why the 9.30 delayed Friday night game is no more.
I think the prevalence of internet and social media made it difficult for people to avoid live scores ahead of a replay.
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That’s true. Or just some dufus blurting out the score. Back in 1985 when Aotearoa only had two TV channels, the whole country was waiting for a delayed test from Carlaw Park on TV2 (Kiwis v Kangaroos ) so we were watching telethon on TV1. The Rev Bob Lowe’s loose lips dropped the score, and the whole country let out a collective groan.
Kayo has a ‘no spoilers’ feature, but I’ll freely admit I don’t bother.
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I think 9 held out as long as possible as they could insert more ads in a delayed telecast.
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The inspiration for ESPN to have a score ticker with results on its non-live programming.
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Yeah and with smartphones too. Often if the Knights play on a night that I’m at work and i try to stay away from scores if i can’t hear the radio broadcast so i can watch the game back at home
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For Wallabies matches back in the day, did Seven show them only in Syndey and Brisbane or were they seen everywhere live, i know that Fox once aired a Wallabies match from NZ because Seven didn’t want to drop their movie in Melbourne.
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Perth Western Reds v Canberra at the WACA 1997 - the Reds’ final match
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