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Girls join the pack

Last week the Footy Show added a female announcer to its team, while Seven has a regular female as part of The Bounce next week.

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Last week when the (AFL) Footy Show returned to Channel Nine it introduced a female announcer in the form of MMM’s Mieke Buchan. After years of being defiantly testosterone, had the male bastion finally succumbed to questions on its single-gender indentity? And if so, is it a case of too little, too late?

Next week Seven’s competitor The Bounce adds former ABC Behind The News reporter Catherine Ellis (pictured) to its line up.

She joins Peter Helliar, Matthew Richardson, Peter Rowsthorn and Dave Lawson in what is pitched as a “family friendly” look at AFL.

Ellis tells the Herald Sun she’s even been playing the game, in the AFL‘s Recreational Football competition.

“I like to head straight into the pack with my shoulder first,” she said.

“I often walk away with bruises and cuts. You are not meant to have contact with anyone, but I’ve been sandwiched and flattened by guys on several occasions.”

Of course, other females have been joining the AFL fray in recent years.

Caroline Wilson is terrific on Footy Classified. Before the Game has Samantha Lane and Kelli Underwood commentates for ONE.

These are gradual changes to a male-dominated sport but in commentary, gender or an ability to play the game shouldn’t be the deciding factor when balance is far more important.

Photo: Herald Sun

8 Responses

  1. @Steve
    I agree… to bring gender into this situation is ridiculous. Men have commentated women’s only sports for years.
    For me, Sam Lane from Before The Game is one of the best post and pre match voices you can wish for. So she never played… who cares? She knows her stuff

  2. The AFL footy show should be axed. It’s the same rubbish week in week out & Sam Newman has passed his use-by date. When i want to know the latest team selections i tune into Fox league teams on thursday 7:30pm (Fox Sports 1) which is by far the best footy show on TV.

  3. For me, gender doesn’t matter. If they know what they are talking about and aren’t boring to listen to then I don’t think it matters. Christi Malthouse is the best boundary reporter on TV, she’s quite informative, smart and talented. Kelli Underwood, on the other hand is probably the worst commentator in the game (followed very closely by Robert Walls), her comments are generic and quite bland and she doesn’t bring anything new to the game.

  6. Heh, didn’t actually say what I was going to say, either 🙂

    The Offsiders on ABC (the only sports panel show I tend to watch not being interested in the footy) has been using female panellists for ages.

    I guess it’s a very different show to The Bounce and Footy Show, but will be interesting to see how female talent and points of view are utilised as they settle in.

  8. Err, is it just my bleary eyes, or did you miss the name of the reporter in this sentence?

    I’m sure it’s me, not you, but I can only see her referenced as “Ellis” in the article.

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