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Rugby Union fans protest to Nine

The 2011 Castrol Edge Rugby Test plays live on Sunday in Sydney & Brissy, but interstate sports fans are not happy.

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Rugby Union joins Nine this Sunday afternoon in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup 2011.

Nine will broadcast the 2011 Castrol Edge Rugby Test between Australia and Samoa at ANZ Stadium.

The game will play live from 1.45pm in Sydney and Brisbane.

But viewers in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth will have reruns of The Block instead, with the game not scheduled to play until 11:25pm.

That’s angered sports fans, some of whom have protested at Rugby Union fansite rebel-army.com.

“Everyone should have the right to watch Rugby live on Free to Air (FTA) television. Especially when their national sporting team ‘the Wallabies’ are competing in the toughest international Rugby competition in the world, the Tri-Nations,” they note.

TV Tonight enquired about the programming of the game by Nine but is yet to receive a reply.

Excitement is building for the Rugby World Cup 2011, with fans counting down the weeks until the New Zealand All Blacks open the six-week tournament against Tonga on Friday, September 9. The Nine Network will broadcast the Rugby World Cup and the lead-up campaign of the Australian Qantas Wallabies on free-to-air television.

After the Australia-Samoa match on Sunday, Nine will present the Castrol Edge Tri Nations tournament between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. This blockbuster series commences on Saturday, July 23, when the Qantas Wallabies take on the South African Springboks live at 7.30pm from ANZ Stadium.

Former Wallabies captain George Gregan joins the Wide World of Sports team as the face of rugby union on Nine in 2011. Joining him for the coverage areKen Sutcliffe and Tim Sheridan, along with Brisbane’s Nine News sports reporter Andrew Slack, who captained the Wallabies in the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup.

38 Responses

  1. I find Nein contemptible in so many ways. It’a a two-way street. They are no longer at the top of the ratings, yet are “Still The One” to exhibit arrogance, and contempt for viewers. I understand they are a business, and therefore advertising/revenue “comes first” – but in not finding a balance, I hope they don’t see a (ratings) win for a long time to come. Oh, and their ultimate contempt for us? I bet tvtonight/we don’t get a response (or if so, not the honest one that I have just indicated) explaining their decision…)

  2. Why did Nine even bother getting the rights? What a joke. I’m not staying up until 11:30 on a Sunday night. I guess I will just miss out.

    What are Nine showing instead?

  3. People, it’s only Samoa. I don’t get angry when (ARL) PM XIII vs Papua New Guinea isn’t on the telly.

    These kind of “tests” (the equivalent of Australia vs Zimbabwe in the cricket) should be put on a secondary channel or should be covered by the ABC anyway.

  4. yes, you would expect repeats of The Block to beat Rugby Union in the southern states. The Block repeats have been doing fantastically while no one cares about rugby. Smart move, 9.

  5. Come on… .Melbourne now have our own …..Rugby Union team in the Super 15……and people in victoria do support our Australian team… Go the Wallabies!!!!!!………….Move forward…. the Super 15 final….had massive ratings!!………
    Rugby in victoria is here to stay …Support it….!!! We want to see it Live!

  7. Man isn’t there enough sport on telly already? Sport like this should be segregated to 11 pm plus, out of the way. Why can’t they just have a dedicated sports channel to show this stuff.

  8. Ian I’m not surprised the channe has changed but thetv execs attitude hasn’t. The game is broadcast live into Hobart, Darwin and Pt Augusta and I would like to bet that the number of Rugby supporters in Melbourne or Perth or Adelaide would be bigger than those 3 Combined. This is really bad when you consider the large ex-pat Bokker community that lives in Perth.

  9. Funny stuff.

    No one watches Yawnion all year, the protests about super 14 (or whatever its called) not being on FTA TV can be counted on one hand, but now you’re whinging.

    The bottom line is, more people will complain if the NRL semi is treated like the red-headed step-child and Nein are well aware of that.

  10. Perth and Melbourne both have Super15 sides, and enjoyed strong support all season. Surely they deserve the test live.
    I think 9 just realise that most union fans in Australia have foxtel.

  12. I enjoy rugby, much more enjoyable to watch than League. But when was the lst time Seven broadcast live into Victoria aside from maybe a South African match which often starts late anyway? I know One HD had the spring tour last year but again that was overnight.

  13. Nine is basically simulcasting Fox Sports’ coverage (but with its own team of commentators) so fans outside NSW, ACT and QLD may as well watch the match on Fox Sports instead.

  14. Wouldn’t WIN be able to show the match live in Per and Ade if they wanted (haha)? Either way, Nine/WIN have conflated Rugby (Union) with Rugby League. While it’s true that there are not many fans of NRL in those three cities, international Rugby is a completely different matter, and I thought Wallabies matches rated well.

    I would’ve thought that, in Perth at least, it would provide a good lead-in to their 6pm News. How many people do they think are going to watch repeats of The Block and In Their Footsteps in those cities anyway? International matches of major sports should be sacred. If you’re not going to show them live, give them to someone who will.

  15. The networks job is to makes profit, not to please viewers. Nine know for a fact that reruns of the block will rate better than union in AFL states, so they would be silly to show it live, as disappointing as it is for the 10 rugby union fans in afl states.

    If there was no anti siphoning list, then the only way to watch union would be on pay tv (as it is in New Zealand)

  16. It is a farce that nine have the rights to an international test match in the build up to a World Cup year and refuse to show it to a market that has been shown to be growing, particularly with Melbournes’ new team in the Super 15 this year. If I was cynical, I might say that nine was protecting their interest in Rugby League by deliberately making sure no one can watch Union.

  17. Also, the following week’s Saturday night test is being delayed in the southern states, with Nine airing The Cat In The Hat instead.

    More proof that Nine (in Melbourne at least), is still bitter about not having any AFL rights and is trying to promote the game at every single opportunity (is it any coincidence that last night, their 6pm news gave the Collingwood betting scandal three times the amount of coverage that Seven did?)

  19. What a disgrace. I hoped when Nine took over rugby we’d get live tests in Adelaide, but no. Please can we have an explaination from Nine as to why? If NWS 9 is now owned by WIN in Woolongong. Surely if its being shown in NSW live they could at least give us the courtesy of the same. Put it on Gem! Anything. So it’s up against the AFL on 7. Do they expect to beat that with repeats of the Block? If Imparja can show it live why not Adelaide! I am being forced to get Foxtel and I’m not happy!

  20. Nine are in a lose – lose situation, if they don’t play it live people complain, but if they do play it live in Mel, Ade and Per then they will get terrible ratings then people on tv tonight will comment “that was a bad decision by nine.”

  23. Win Television in Victoria has it scheduled 2pm – 4pm, so some people in the outer suburbs of Melbourne might be able to pick it , unfortunately the NRL game following it is not so lucky as it will be delayed to 12:20am

  24. Rugby fans and the administrators should have realised that when nine got the rights they would treat their viewers with contempt.

    The Super League used to be in prime time on fox sports and i used to enjoy a couple of games a week. Nine then decided to get the rights and showed it from 2pm to 4pm on Sunday before the NRL game. After about 4 weeks they punted the super league to late at night and i haven’t watched a game since it was moved. I don’t understand why sporting bodies let nine take the rights to sports becaus they treat it and the viewers with such contempt.

    Nine will never get back to number 1 while there current short term programming approach remains and they can’t build any viewer loyalty.

  25. The big bosses sit back in their Sydney bunkers deciding what the rest of Australia will watch without the slightest intelligence in place. Just because NSW and QLD are the Rugby and Rugby League capitals of the world, doesn’t mean the rest of the country is as naive as the television executives who shove their heads up their you know what. Seven gets it so wrong with the AFL, you have to be an insomniac to find where they schedule the AFL in Sydney and Brisbane and then you get the Nine Network doing the same to League and Union lovers in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Program managers and television executives need to move out of the little bomb shelters in Sydney and rotate the intelligence through the rest of the country and then maybe, just maybe they might get it….. but don’t hold your breath!!!

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