Good Weekend
This was published 10 months ago
Craig Hutchison is building a sports media empire – but not everyone’s a fan
Shallow, manipulative snake-oil salesman or “horribly admirable” builder of Australia’s version of ESPN? Meet Craig Hutchison, the university dropout turned journalist who’s not playing games.
By Konrad Marshall
APRIL 12, 2021
Craig Hutchison: “It can be easy to criticise when your name is not attached, I get that. I’ve dished it out along the way on air and need to accept that goes with the territory. I am clearly not everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s okay.”
Craig Hutchison: “It can be easy to criticise when your name is not attached, I get that. I’ve dished it out along the way on air and need to accept that goes with the territory. I am clearly not everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s okay.”CREDIT:KRISTOFFER PAULSEN. STYLING BY ELLA MURPHY. BASKETBALLS BY AUSA HOOPS, OTHER SPORTING EQUIPMENT FROM REBEL SPORT AND THE CRICKET WAREHOUSE.
SaveShareNormal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size
In a private bar at the “Paris End” of Collins Street in Melbourne, the Stella Artois is flowing and the banter is blowing as a server with strawberry blonde curls, wearing a pink cheerleader uniform, is handing out mini hotdogs. It’s 10am on a Monday in February, and as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Kansas City Chiefs in the US Super Bowl, a girthy middle-aged viewer goads his mate into another schooner: “C’arn, ya soft cock!”
The room is well-fed and well-lubricated, well-heeled and well-connected, filled with alpha males from real estate and finance, Lottoland and McDonald’s, and the sprawling tentacles of the sports industry. Former AFL executive Richard Simkiss chats with retired Philadelphia Eagles punter Saverio Rocca. Heavyweight player agent Paul Connors catches up with veteran broadcaster Dwayne Russell. Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Danny O’Brien says g’day to Melbourne Racing Club chairman Mike Symons.
They’re here because of their mate, their host, the big bald guy in the blue suit, 6 foot 3 with a waistline he’s trying to tighten, who has more power than all of them combined. It’s Craig Hutchison, known in this city since the 1990s as a dogged and combative journalist, now a canny and ruthless businessman.
“Hutchy”, 46, is chief executive and majority shareholder of the Sports Entertainment Network, a company he created 15 years ago as a tiny PR agency named Crocmedia, which later morphed into a prolific creator of syndicated sports radio content and is now a byzantine beast that owns and operates 21 radio stations across Australia, with broadcast rights to the AFL, NRL, soccer, cricket, basketball and more. With about $70 million in annual revenue, it has turned this country boy and university dropout into a millionaire media mogul.
His portfolio is busily diversifying, too, including into TV production (Rainmaker) and talent (Bravo Management), boutique events (Ballpark Entertainment) and publishing (AFL Record). It also now, inevitably, owns part of a sporting team (National Basketball League club Melbourne United). After more than a decade of incremental acquisitions and mergers, Hutchison has built a national sports media empire – from scratch, by stealth.
When Hutchison started his journalism cadetship at the Herald Sun in 1993, he was the odd man out among his peers, says one former colleague. “Look where he’s at now – a millionaire, and the most high-profile of us all.”
When Hutchison started his journalism cadetship at the Herald Sun in 1993, he was the odd man out among his peers, says one former colleague. “Look where he’s at now – a millionaire, and the most high-profile of us all.”CREDIT:COURTESY OF CRAIG HUTCHISON
But what of the man himself? To some he’s just another loudmouth in Melbourne’s vaudevillian sporting tradition – the front-bar pundit who throws the first punch then sits back and watches the fight. “He’s a superb contrarian,” notes Monash University sports academic Tom Heenan. “There’s actually something horribly admirable about him.”
His niggling, needling persona – on full display in programs like Footy Classified (produced by Nine, the publisher of Good Weekend) – draws more than a little ire, as do the commercial grievances against his company, from exploiting interns to mass sackings (more on those later). Just ask a few of his sports media contemporaries about old mate Hutchy.
They spit their insults: “He’s a corporate thug.” They bemoan his influence: “He’s a shallow, manipulative snake oil salesman, whose ascent is actually doing irreparable damage to the sporting media.” The aggrieved often seem amused by him ... until they’re not: “He picked me off in the most offensive way,” mutters one journalistic target. “It confirmed what I’d always thought of him but had never had said – that he’s a piece of shit.”
For Hutchison, such attacks seem to bemuse more than aggravate. “Those whacks are a little sharper than I expected, but I would assume they’ve come from footy journalists, and unfortunately our media can be a contact sport at times,” he says. “I would be certain those quotes don’t come from anyone we’ve ever worked with from a partnership and business perspective. And everyone’s entitled to a view – it can be easy to criticise when your name is not attached, I get that. I’ve dished it out along the way on air and need to accept that goes with the territory. I am clearly not everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s okay.”
He also seems an unknown quantity, even to some who know him well. “I had this unsubstantiated theory that he’s actually a Scientologist, because there’s this utterly secretive nature to what he does,” says one former colleague. “He’s one of the smartest people I’ve met, but a total mystery.”
“The only way to underestimate him today would be not paying attention, or be set against him for reasons of jealousy or bitterness. Doubt away, but watch him build it.”
Hutchison once mused of his nascent company, “I’d love to be News Corp.” Facetious perhaps, yet industry watchers ponder what this chaos-maker can do in our fractured media landscape, as he gobbles up cheap radio stations in capital cities and regional towns, fills them with sport – not just the big leagues but lawn bowls, hockey, athletics and more – then streams and podcasts and digitises the lot, stitching it all together into a vast patchwork quilt of frequencies, apps and “synergistic value propositions” for advertisers keen to align themselves with the games Australians play.
Once primarily a Victoria-centric operator, Hutchison’s business has in the past year pushed north, heavily, with new stations in NSW and Queensland chasing audiences that follow the Steeden and the Gilbert more than the Sherrin, while securing the rights not just to Super Rugby and the rugby league season but State of Origin, too, the latter to feed a growing appetite for programs under his “NRL Nation” banner.
His endgame is not so much world domination as constant, creeping growth, like a weed insinuating itself into every monetisable open patch of the national media landscape. “It’s trying to see how far we can go, how far we can take it,” he says. “Sport is our fairway, and I feel like we’re just getting started.”
He has momentum. “There are people in play who are taking him very seriously,” says Jake Challenor, publisher of trade website Radio Today. Australian radio programming doyen Craig Bruce won’t bet against Hutchison either: “If anyone can sell the vision of an Australian version of ESPN, it’s him.”
With new scale and reach, perceptions are shifting, at least according to his star employee, Australia’s preeminent sports broadcaster, Gerard Whateley. “The sum total of Hutchy just isn’t the shop window,” Whateley says. “The only way to underestimate him today would be not paying attention, or be set against him for reasons of jealousy or bitterness. Doubt away, but watch him build it.”
And Hutchy himself? He knows he polarises. People like him, he says, or they really, really don’t. “No one seems to sit on the fence,” he says, smiling apologetically. “I guess I’m running at a hard pace? Maybe I miss some cues along the way? I probably played up to it a bit at times, too? But it’s not really who I am.” He pauses. “At least, I don’t think it is.”
Hutchison is now part-owner of NBL team Melbourne United.
Hutchison is now part-owner of NBL team Melbourne United.CREDIT:COURTESY OF CRAIG HUTCHISON
I first spoke to Hutchison in winter last year, as Melbourne’s hard lockdown briefly lifted. It was 6pm on a Tuesday, high in his South Melbourne office. He seemed nervous, shifting uncomfortably in a caramel leather seat, rubbing his hands on his knees and thighs. “It’s not really my cup of tea to sit down and chat, but I’ll find a way.”
He certainly found a way last year. His business has pushed all its chips in on sport, one of the domains most interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this gleaming building – the headquarters of flagship station 1116 SEN – had a coronavirus scare, two cases prompting a shutdown, deep clean and the relocation of 30 roles (organised in about two hours) to home offices. Of the 17 sports he has rights to, 16 were dormant.
“It was tough,” he says. Yet once sport restarted, talk radio surged, offering the angry and the despondent a place to natter or vent. Consumption of his radio programs through mobile platforms went berserk, with about 60,000 texts a month flowing through a button on SEN apps. “Sport was a way of returning a regular rhythm to your life, even for a few hours,” he says. “Escapism in dark times.”
He was lucky, too. The “essential business” of “chasing, pacing and racing” (greyhounds, harnesses and thoroughbreds) kept going, supplying his expanding “SENTrack” racing stations with constant content. Rather than ducking for cover, the company has purchased 28 radio licences in the past 18 months, and is steadily relaunching them as sports stations stocked with Hutchison’s preferred talent. There’s 1170 SEN in Sydney (with NRL identity Matty Johns and popular caller Andrew Voss), along with 1053AM Brisbane (featuring former Australian Test cricketer Ian Healy), as well as SEN Spirit 621AM Southwest in Perth with “Gilly and Goss” (cricket great Adam Gilchrist with journalist Tim Gossage). That’s not to mention this year’s acquisition of 29 licences in New Zealand, where “SENZ” will be headed by former Kiwi cricket skipper Brendon McCullum.
Buying licences in bulk might look scattershot, but the launches themselves are staggered and curated – more by necessity than indulgence. “I use cricket
analogies too much,” says Hutchison, “but we’ve had to transform ourselves from being a T20 player into Steve Smith, where shot selection is everything.” Care is required. No one has ever built an Australian sports media network, let alone from such beginnings.
Craig Hutchison lives in a plummy terrace in affluent South Yarra, with partner Clare Hazell Wright, a part-time model, part-time entrepreneur, and her two children Ava, 13, and Nicholas, 11. He grew up in rural Warragul, east of Melbourne in Gippsland. His dad, Ken, was the hardware shop manager, the loyal servant with the 25-year silver watch who left his job when he refused to fire someone. “You won’t find an enemy of Dad’s in eight decades on the planet,” Hutchison says, “whereas I’ve probably got a new one before lunchtime on Monday.”
Hutchison knew early that he wanted to work in sport. “Dad says it was from the age of three, when I ran around with the lead of a toaster, pretending it was a microphone.” He was 12 when Ken offered to write sport stories for the Warragul and Drouin Gazette, then told young Craig to write them instead. A year later Ken went back to the Gazette and told them Craig was taking over. Too young, they replied. “And Dad said, ‘Well, he’s been doing them for a year under my name.’ ”
But he wasn’t an academic star, nor did he work hard. In year 12 at the local high school, Hutchison applied to RMIT’s prestigious journalism program – his only preference – but missed the cut wildly. “That was a shock,” he says. “I was just in a little bubble, with people recognising my name in the local paper making me think I was on my way.” He enrolled in a creative writing degree at Victoria University, but dropped out, lacking interest or drive.
In 1993, not much more than a year after leaving high school, he sat the Herald Sun cadetship exam. The last candidate accepted into the program, he was miles off the pace. Within weeks the cadet counsellor, Kim Lockwood, gave it to him straight. He wasn’t as educated, worldly or ambitious as the others: “They’re going home and reading literature, you’re going home and watching Lethal Weapon videos,” Hutchison recalls being told. “I’m going to give you three more weeks, but I don’t know if this is gonna last.”
Journalist Gabriella Coslovich remembers Hutchison as the odd man out in her cadet year “yet possibly also the most suited to the place”, she reflects. “Look where he’s at now – a millionaire, and the most high-profile of us all. He’s developed this blustering, blokey persona perfect for mainstream TV, talkback radio and social media. In hindsight, if anyone was going to make it big, it was him.”
He did it on the back of a newfound work ethic. When Hutchison learnt that Lockwood started work at 5.30am, he decided to arrive earlier. “Classes didn’t start until 9am, but I would get to work at 5.15am and say, ‘Good morning Mr Lockwood,’ as he walked past.”
That meant he had a few hours of free time, in which he started being a journalist: making calls and pitching stories. Then he thought, “Well, if I can do that at the start of the day, I can do it at the end of the day, too.”
Classes finished at 4pm, so he stayed until 8pm, bookending his daily cadet duties with a day’s worth of journalism. “That’s just how I’ve been ever since,” he says. “I’ve always thought, ‘I’m not going to be as good as everyone else in eight hours, so my day has gotta be 12, 13 or 14 hours to be competitive.’ ”
“As a 19-year-old he was standing on people’s toes breaking stories. Now he’s standing on people’s toes buying radio stations.”
He also began rubbing people the wrong way. There was an old-school newsroom territoriality – this guy writes cricket, that guy writes soccer –which Hutchison ignored. Phil Gardner, then sports editor, later editor-in-chief, laughs at the way the rookie rankled his peers.
“As a 19-year-old he was standing on people’s toes breaking stories.” Gardner says. “Now he’s standing on people’s toes buying radio stations.”
He was, in truth, on a personal warpath. His mum, Pauline, a humanitarian who supported every local mission and cause, passed away from leukaemia when Hutchison was 21. “It took four or five weeks from diagnosis to ...” his voice trails off. “We took for granted how wonderful she was. That was the biggest moment of all time, and my response was – in a weird way – to get determined to make something, and turn a bit combative.”
His brother chose to lock down, and ended up working in insurance. His sister chose to travel, and now lives in Amsterdam. Hutchison himself upped the ante, switching from print to the airwaves, first as a sports producer at radio station Magic 693, then RSN927. “That was part of the healing from Mum – constantly looking for a distraction.”
Planning segments and wrangling guests, volume was again pivotal to his success: “I might not be able to convert as many calls as everyone else, so I’ve gotta make more calls to start.”
He was 23 when he moved to TV, joining Network Ten as a sports reporter. It was another baptism of fire: “I was ill-prepared. My screen test was embarrassing. I was inarticulate. Just rough and nervous.” He moved to Seven next and was its chief football reporter for seven years, before hitting a wall in 2005. His girlfriend had left him and moved to America, prompting a “complete meltdown” at the age of 30.
“I’d just been going so hard at journalism; crash or crash through, every day. I got up one morning and got on a plane, landed, had a formal break-up with my partner in Los Angeles that day, kept going to New York, found an apartment uptown, and threw my bag in the cupboard. No plan or purpose, heartbroken, lost – I was just completely cooked.”
He started doing radio crosses to stations back home, about Australians playing in the National Basketball Association, or “Only in America” sports stories. During a trip across to LA he met freelance Australian entertainment journalist James Swanwick, who was similarly burnt out. “We were shooting basketball in his backyard and said, ‘Why don’t we start a business? Maybe PR?’ ”
They came up with the name Crocmedia, and found a client through the Australian consulate, but Hutchison admits he didn’t remotely know what he was doing. They pivoted to television distribution, crashing international TV fairs and convincing bodies such as America’s national lacrosse association to let Crocmedia represent it in broadcast rights negotiations. “But we were terrible at that, too.” Hutchison laboured on the business each winter in America, from September to March, then returned to Australia to cover every AFL season in multiple roles for Nine. “I didn’t see summer for five years.”
He landed a daunting reporting gig in 2007 for The Footy Show (AFL) and was “forever anxious” over the pressure to come up with a big story each week. Yet it lit a fire. The first story he broke was about the notorious drug culture at the West Coast Eagles, for which he won a Walkley Award. Ten years on, he would host The Footy Show but be sacked after a month (in fairness, when the carcass of the program was already beginning to smell). “You need to have gravitas, X-factor, screen charisma, and I don’t. It’s a high-profile thing to lose, but the thing I’ve learnt about myself – and it’s a flaw – is that I’m not much good when I’m not in control.”
Still, that ouster follows him. Hutchison recently implied on radio that basketballer Andrew Bogut is overpaid by the Sydney Kings. Bogut fired back on Twitter, suggesting Hutchison focus on his professional shortcomings, adding a dose of fat-shaming: “I know VIC is in lockdown and you couldn’t grab your box or 10 of Krispy Kremes for breaky, but keep my name out of your mouth.” The following weekend, 10 cases of donuts arrived at SEN HQ.
Hutchison shrugs: “I took a photo, had a laugh, and gave them to staff.” Being a sports reporter in Melbourne, he adds, ranks somewhere between used-car salesman and personal injury lawyer. He’s been punched in a pub. Had his car blocked in his driveway by an irate fan.
With his “Off the Bench” co-host in Melbourne, former AFL player Liam “Pickers” Pickering
With his “Off the Bench” co-host in Melbourne, former AFL player Liam “Pickers” PickeringCREDIT:COURTESY OF CRAIG HUTCHISON
And yet he traffics in antagonism, particularly on Nine’s weekly Footy Classified, a conflict-heavy AFL panel show where, since 2007, he’s been the resident devil’s advocate, initially because he felt “unworthy” sitting alongside retired AFL superstar Wayne Carey and pioneering journo Caroline Wilson. “In my head I was like, ‘What’s my role in this room?’ I had nothing to do but cause an argument.”
That pantomime persona – “like a wrestler”, he says, “your own personality dialled up by 10 per cent” – also saw him sacked from 3AW in 2007, where he had been hosting a weekly AFL show called Off the Bench. “They wanted warmth,” he explains. “No one has ever called me ‘warm’.”
It became a crisis-begets-opportunity moment. That same day, 3AW axed a show that was syndicated into regional Victorian stations in Horsham, Hamilton, Swan Hill and Colac. Hutchison called those stations and immediately offered them Off the Bench, which he would continue producing, independently. He knew exactly how. When taping his live crosses from America to stations back home, he only got paid by finding his own sponsors. That model – giving stations free content, or paying them to take it, then selling advertising yourself – became the bedrock of his network, leading The Australian Financial Review to eventually describe Crocmedia as “redefining football broadcast economics”. He still hosts Off the Bench every Saturday, 14 years on. “We now make nine versions of that show, into 70-odd radio stations around the country. That show built our business.”
Hutchison with AFL legend turned commentator Malcolm Blight at Adelaide radio station 1116 SEN.
Hutchison with AFL legend turned commentator Malcolm Blight at Adelaide radio station 1116 SEN. CREDIT:@HUTCHYCRAIG/INSTAGRAM
In some ways that’s also when the light bulb lit up about the commercial potential of rural Australia, where the local footy/netball club is the centre of every town, followed by the cricket club, racing track, or bowlo. “Regional Australia is 37 per cent of the population, and no one makes content for them,” he says. “No one.”
He’s not wrong, says Megan Brownlow, an independent media analyst and former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner. One-third of our population lives in regional Australia, but only a tenth of advertising expenditure occurs there, even though country customers have demonstrably better brand loyalty. “Their income might be lower but so is the cost of living, so they have more discretionary spending, too,” says Brownlow. “Brands often miss a trick there.”
It was also a less expensive way to start building. Hutchison had a map on his wall for years, colouring in dots where he could syndicate content. “It doesn’t matter whether you live in Swan Hill or Sydney, you’re a quantifiable part of the puzzle. You still drink beer, eat McDonald’s, go to the bank, drive a car.”
Things got serious in 2017 when the owner of SEN radio, Pacific Star Network – backed by Perth rich-lister Rhonda Wyllie, who’s married to one-time AFL legal eagle Jeff Browne – raised the capital through its Viburnum Funds to orchestrate a merger with Crocmedia. Hutchison was installed as managing director of the listed company (Pacific Star Network Limited) with an annual salary of $883,752 and controlling shares worth about $12 million, from where he began a round of mass sackings referred to by others as the “summer of carnage”.
Program host Kevin Hillier, now with RSN927, understood cultural change was the nature of the beast, but his own perfunctory phone call from HR disappointed. “No one likes to be sacked, but I do think there is a respectful way of finishing someone’s employment, and I don’t think that was the way.” David Schwarz, who co-hosted the popular afternoon talkback show The Run Home with Mark Allen, was left “numb” when told their contracts would not be renewed. “We came off air at 7 o’clock, and we had five minutes to get our stuff and get out of the building,” Schwarz said on a podcast last year. “Hutchy had pulled the trigger, and we were out.”
“You’ve got to build a product for a bunch of shareholders, of which I am one. It’s not a job where you can just pick and choose your friends.”
No one was safe. Kevin Bartlett, an official AFL “legend” and long-time friend of Hutchison’s – his first mentor in radio – found his high-rating show unceremoniously shifted from mornings to afternoons, prompting his exit. They no longer speak.
I prod Hutchison about the fallout. “They had been great contributors and were emotionally attached to what they helped build, so it was worlds colliding.” Does it sting, though, to torch such personal, established bridges, so thoroughly? “I’m a human being. I’m not immune. But you’ve got to build a product for a bunch of shareholders, of which I am one. It’s not a job where you can just pick and choose your friends.”
Take Mark Allen, for instance. Hutchison says he actually wanted Allen to stay, hosting a golf show, podcast and additional broadcasting duties – just not the old afternoon job that he had. “Unfortunately he declined – which is his right. We respect Mark, and wished him every success, and have never closed the door on opportunities.” Allen, now back on radio with Schwarz at 3AW, remains clipped in his characterisation of the man. “My advice to anyone doing business with Craig Hutchison is simple: be very careful,” Allen says. “Do your due diligence and see what he’s unfortunately capable of. Many, many people have found out the hard way.”
In the summer of 2012 and 2013, Gemma Lee Smith was a 21-year-old aspiring sports journalist and casual employee of Crocmedia, a graveyard-shift producer earning $75 a night, from 11pm to 6am. “You’re trying to get your foot in the door, so you don’t want to make a bad impression,” she says, “but I got the sense that they would get interns in and use them, maybe pay them a little bit and then get rid of them and get new ones in.”
Smith contacted Fair Work Australia, and a lawsuit was filed with the ombudsman in June 2013. Crocmedia was forced to pay her about $7000, and also fined $24,000 for breaching minimum wage conditions. Judge Riethmuller of the Federal Circuit Court noted that the conduct of the company was “at best dishonourable” and “at worst exploitative”.
By the time of the merger with Pacific Star Network the company was a slicker unit, cashed up with Wyllie’s funds to make its most audacious play – convincing the best sports caller in the nation to leave the ABC.
With SEN sports caller Gerard Whateley. After a fallout in 1999, the former colleagues didn’t speak to each other for more than a decade.
With SEN sports caller Gerard Whateley. After a fallout in 1999, the former colleagues didn’t speak to each other for more than a decade.CREDIT:COURTESY OF CRAIG HUTCHISON
“Gerard Whateley just embodied what we wanted to build, with a tone reflective of a modern sports fan. Dream caller, versatile, lifting the tenor of conversation,” says Hutchison. “The complication was that he and I hadn’t spoken much in 15 years.”
The pair had been incredibly close once, first at the Herald Sun (where Whateley was Hutchison’s cadet mentor) and also later, helping each other lay down footy commentary demo tapes, or practising TV elocution and projection. Firm friends, they ended up in direct competition, and in 1999 fell out badly on the job.
At that time, Leigh Colbert had stood down as captain of Geelong to join North Melbourne, and was flying overseas. A standard airport stakeout ensued. Hutchison arrived early, got the interview, and watched Colbert head for his flight to Los Angeles, via Sydney. Whateley arrived next and asked Hutchison if he’d seen Colbert yet. If Hutchison conceded he had, it would give Whateley a chance to get a crew to intercept Colbert in Sydney, so Hutchison kept shtum.
Whateley suggested they search the airport, which they did, for two hours, Hutchison pretending to hunt for a footballer who was already long gone. In his mind his job was war, every single day – and his obligation was to his employer, not his friendship. “It sounds silly,” he says. “But I couldn’t promise you, looking back, that I would do much differently.”
Hutchison’s story led the Channel Seven news that night: “Exclusive: Captain of Geelong quits” and Whateley fumed. The pair didn’t speak for more than a decade.
“When you’re young, you take to heart these things more intensely than you should, and that rests with me,” Whateley says now. “I carried that for too long.”
Hutchison won him back with a simple pitch. Victorians turn on Neil Mitchell or Virginia Trioli to feel the pulse of Melbourne, and Sydneysiders listen to their closest equivalents in Ray Hadley or Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck: SEN would offer Whateley an equivalency in sport. Once the coup was complete, Whateley’s opening monologue was hardly the talkback tone of the old SEN. It was a soaring oration –almost a sermon – a highbrow flip given the more prevalent view of SEN radio as “80 per cent bullshit, 20 per cent ads”.
The latter characterisation is based on Hutchison himself, and his gift for inflating and inflaming any and every spurious wedge issue – turning a footballer’s hairstyle into a 24-hour cycle of hot takes and outrage.
Rohan Connolly, who runs the sport and lifestyle website Footyology, says he regards Hutchison as “without doubt one of the best news breakers” among his peers. “I suppose the downside of that ability,” Connolly adds, “is the idea that you can frame everything in terms of headlines and talking points, and that no issue is too silly if you can create some angst and friction between opposing points of view, no matter how contrived.”
Whateley, though, believes this instinctive understanding of hot-button trigger points is just the minutiae. A broader example is the morning Australian cricket’s Sandpapergate broke, when Hutchison called Whateley to suggest he go on air, immediately, on his day off. “We broadcast for three hours, and people were just riveted to this national conversation about what the cricket team had done,” Whateley says. “His instincts were spot-on in capturing the national mood before it had declared itself.”
Yet there are those who wonder how far Hutchison can stretch his resources to meet his grand national vision. Licences, talent and marketing are costly. The ratings aren’t great so far, although that’s somewhat mitigated by the narrowness of his advertising target, 25- to 35-year-old males. The key questions that crop up are, “What sort of cash-flow runway does he have until it becomes profitable?” and “Who’s funding this, anyway?”
Speculation abounds. It’s his mate, racing expert and investor John “Dr Turf” Rothfield. No, Westpac’s backing him. Nup, there’s a shadowy American financier bankrolling the whole thing. The truth is a more mundane mix of individuals and banks, but also Viburnum, the West Australian fund manager. Its managing partner of public equity, SEN chairman Craig Coleman, says the sense of scale betrays the reality of SEN. The network has mostly bought stations with small earnings and little content, with a view to developing them. “It’s not like we’re buying Triple M,” Coleman says. “We’re creatively reusing licences and leveraging them across our footprint. We think that’ll be valuable one day, whether that’s next week or in three years.”
The other theory floated about Hutchison’s rapid expansion, that he’s plumping the pig up for sale, is one he dismisses without debate. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he insists. “If you were fattening a business you’d be trying to extract profits and dividends, rather than investing in the future. I’m here for the long haul.”
Indeed, some believe his logical next move would be to capitalise on the deep AFL affiliations he’s fostered – co-owning a racehorse with league boss Gillon McLachlan, for instance – and make a bold play for part of a future broadcast rights deal. If the question ever becomes “Go big or go home?” , Challenor can’t see Hutchison answering with the latter: “I just cannot imagine him building it up to sell, and sailing off into the sunset,” he says. “Ego plays such a big part in this whole vision.”
“I’ve always thought, ‘I’m not going to be as good as everyone else in eight hours, so my day has gotta be 12, 13 or 14 hours to be competitive,’ ” says Craig Hutchinson.
“I’ve always thought, ‘I’m not going to be as good as everyone else in eight hours, so my day has gotta be 12, 13 or 14 hours to be competitive,’ ” says Craig Hutchinson.CREDIT:KRISTOFFER PAULSEN
Back on the screen at the Super Bowl party, the teams are trotting onto the astroturf to play but the atmosphere in this basement bar is subdued, perhaps because the men here would normally be over in the US, watching the game live. Hutchison goes every year. He’s done so for almost two decades, at first with a few mates, then a few dozen. Eventually he had to start formally organising these man-cations, and now he takes as many as 90 friends and clients every year, each guy paying about $15,000 for the experience.
RELATED ARTICLE
Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan says, “We’re on the ground floor of a complete rebuild for rugby. But it’s taken a long time getting to this point, and it’ll take quite a few years to get out of it.”
Good Weekend
Zero scrum game: is it too late to save rugby union?
It’s that rare spot on the calendar when he can cut loose a little, and also a chance for him to watch the pinnacle orgy of American sports media up close. He visits all the expos and digital suites, learning the latest promotional gimmicks and product-placement techniques, not to mention the carnival of coverage they call “Radio Row”. A working holiday, it simultaneously releases a pressure valve and gets him juiced. After every Super Bowl Hutchison quits drinking for 100 days, so he can harness all that inspiration and capitalise with clarity.
“It’s really kind of inspiring, looking at what people are doing,” he says. “It just gives you a shot of enthusiasm.”
He stares at the screen now, where the pixelated players are standing for America the Beautiful. “Everyone in that world is thinking much, much bigger,” he says, pointing at the wide open field. “I don’t want to put a ceiling on what’s achievable either. I don’t want to put a limit on what we can be.”
To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.
Have a Good Weekend all week
We deliver the best of Good Weekend to your inbox so it’s there when you’re ready to read. Sign up for the Herald's Good Weekend newsletter here and The Age's here. Sent every Saturday.
Thank you for reading the Herald. This article is complimentary.
Register or log in now to read more articles and unlock extra benefits.
No payment required
READ MORE
https://www.smh.com.au/national/craig-hutchison-is-building-a-sports-media-empire-but-not-everyone-s-a-fan-20210304-p577u1.html
Post by Morrissey BreenPost by Morrissey BreenPost by Morrissey Breen‘Ruining the sport’: What readers want the AFL to change
February 20, 2022 — 1.50pm
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/ruining-the-sport-what-readers-want-the-afl-to-change-20220220-p59y01.html
In late 2021, the AFL Fans Association undertook a survey of more than 800 people to find out what they felt the burning issues were for supporters. The results? More than a third were worried about the proliferation of gambling advertising; some called for the stand rule to be abolished; others were tired of rule changes and wanted clearer umpiring interpretations.
Those topics were far and away the most common response when The Age opened the floor for readers to have their say on the issue they most wanted the league to address. An overwhelming majority wanted an end to gambling advertising and sponsorships. Some responses have been edited for brevity.
Gambling advertising was a key concern for many readers.
Gambling advertising was a key concern for many readers.CREDIT:AFL PHOTOS
‘Cruel and greedy’
“Remove the gambling ads. How disgraceful that the one of the biggest financial generators for the AFL is this insidious gambling industry. You cannot watch the game or any sport without the gambling ads and promoters peddling the wares. Gambling is a personal choice, but unfortunately there are consequences, and when so much money is involved, the only ones to profit are the vested interest. Horses, dogs are also victims.” - Paula
“Gambling ads need to be dropped. It is at such a high level that it will be encouraging many of our young and people in general to gamble.” - Derek
“No more advertising of gambling ‘opportunities’. If people want to gamble, they will, but it is cruel and greedy to advertise it in the high emotion atmosphere that surrounds live games or televised games. Please get rid of it. It targets problem gamblers and young people with anonymity.” - Victoria
“Gambling advertising – it endorses an activity that causes great social harm in Australia. One of the attractive aspects of attending an AFL match or watching/listening to an AFL broadcast is to see that for many fans it is still a family activity. Gambling ads normalise ‘having a punt’ as part of following AFL and there will be a section of the audience who are introduced to gambling in this way. Although I think that the prospect of match fixing in AFL is low, being able to bet on who will kick the first goal etc could lead to the corruption of some players.” - Jay
“Stop gambling promotion about odds being part of commentators’ information to public. It just normalises gambling.” - Deborah
“Ban betting advertising on television, print, radio and at stadiums, it is not having a positive impact on young children and young adults. I no longer enjoy watching it; as a parent it is irresponsible to allow my child to see consistent advertising/commentary on betting. They are normalising gambling and encouraging it as if it is necessary to enjoy the game. I don’t understand how this is allowed. ” - Teresa
“Remove gambling adds – it is exactly the same as tobacco advertising in sports in the past when that was banned in 1976 due to the enormous societal impact. Even my teenage children notice them and think they are harmful and there are too many.” - J
RELATED ARTICLE
Fan survey
AFL 2022
‘Stop promoting gambling:’ Betting ads a burning issue in AFL fan survey
Some readers thought the problem with advertising gambling extended to other areas, including alcohol and junk food.
“Gambling advertising in media and hoardings around grounds to cease immediately. AFL to cease advertising junk food and junk drinks. The same goes for gambling sponsorship. Also, all of the above should apply to alcohol sponsorship.” - Warwick
And the sentiment was that sponsorship as well as advertising should be addressed.
“Cease all association with gambling, including sponsorship deals and advertising. Eradicate it from the sport, please. It is ruining the sport.” - Richard
“Advertising on gambling in any form should be banned. The AFL should mandate this in its commercial arrangements.” - Ron
“I appreciate the AFL needs sponsors, but facilitating gambling agencies to hammer kids with these adds, simply in order to line their pockets, is abhorrent. The consequences of this will last generations.” - Mark
‘Rules change every year’
Rule changes and officiating were also hot topics among readers, but the sentiment was mixed. Some people wanted rules changed, while others have had enough of modifications.
RELATED ARTICLE
Umpiring and rule changes formed a key concern in the AFL Fans Association survey.
AFL 2022
Fans take a stand on rule changes, commentary and curtain raisers
“[The AFL should change] the stand rule and nominating for ruck contests, it slows the game down and goes back to Auskick rules.” - Ian
“Remove the stand and ruck nomination rules, remove ‘six-six-six’ ... Scoring has reduced since these rules came in.” - Brendan
But not everyone was opposed to the stand rule.
“The stand rule is to me probably the best rule for opening the game up that has been tried and works – game flow is decluttered and better to watch.” - Patrick
Some wanted a change to 50-metre penalties.
“Fifty-metre penalty is excessive and punishes what are often very minor infringements to a ridiculous degree often resulting in a certain goal. Spoils the spectacle for me. Twenty-metre penalty would be more appropriate.” - Carlos
Others had different solutions for similar problems. Sam wanted the league to get “more flow or movement into the game, opening up play so talented players can display skills”. But John called for more free kicks to be paid. “Push in the back, holding the ball. Too many instances where these result in ball-ups.”
And how to relieve the pressure on umpires? Stop making so many changes and remove the need for interpretation.
“It’s no wonder the umpires are criticised so frequently, when rules change every year. They are forced to adjudicate new or changed rules every year. No more rule changes unless it is absolutely necessary.” - Masher
“Scrap prior opportunity, just give ball possessor three seconds to legally dispose of the ball when legally tackled. No interpretation needed.” - Dave
“... Confine ‘prior opportunity’ to only a bad memory.” - Bill
“... There have [been] more changes to rules in the last 20 years than the previous 50 years. Now we have rules made to undo the consequences of previous rule changes.” - David
“Overall, if a rule can’t be applied ‘by the book’ and not subject to a myriad of interpretations it would be better off being scrapped. Often former player commentators talk about a play being “technically” a free kick, but suggesting the umpire could have let it go. If it doesn’t matter, scrap the rule. The closer we can get to a simpler decision the better off we will be.” - Rod
And some readers had other suggestions.
“The running through the protected area rule should only be applied if it clearly has impeded the ball carrier. Even if a player was impacted the 50-metre penalty is too great and should be reduced to 25 metres.” - Marshall
“Give the player who attacks the ball a chance to make the play. This reward the tackler approach is rubbish! If I want to watch a game of no stop tackling being ‘rewarded’ I will become a rugby league fan.” - Ian
Readers had an issue with interpretation of rules as well as rule changes.
Readers had an issue with interpretation of rules as well as rule changes.CREDIT:GETTY IMAGES
“Scraping the post or touching the ball as it goes through the goals. The camera work and quality is not good enough for the purpose and it makes little sense to agonise through the process. If it goes through the big sticks it’s a goal. If it goes through the small sticks it’s a point. If it bounces back into play it is play on. Simple.” - Ron
‘Reduce the volume’
Lots of readers were unhappy with how quarter- and half-time breaks are filled with noise. Nick‘s No.1 concern was “incessant, high-volume ‘entertainment’“. Matt’s was “loud music and ads between quarters”. Most just wanted to be able to chat to family and friends.
“Reduce the volume of the ‘entertainment’. Time was we used to like talking before the game and half-time. We can also get rid of the constant changes in fluro advertising, plus we don’t need three tiers of illuminated banners to tell us a goal has been kicked.” - David
“Noisy entertainment which interferes with ability to socialise with family and friends because we can’t hear each other. Revolving advertising is disturbing for people with migraines and other sensory disabilities.” - Bernadette
“Stop the loud, LOUD ‘entertainment’ at the end of each quarter. Just let us interact and chat and be social with people in the crowd around us. We can’t, because there’s non-stop music and announcements at high decibel levels ruining our time at the footy. It’s a total turn off. I know many people who don’t go any more because of it. God help people with tinnitus, hearing aids or brain injuries. It’s noise pollution, is what it is, not entertainment.” - Mary
‘Members do the hard yards’
RELATED ARTICLE
Rule changes have irked footy fans.
Opinion
AFL 2022
Footy fans have spoken, and they’ve had plenty to say
Greg Baum
Greg Baum
Sports columnist
Many readers also took issue with ticketing and grand final access.
Linda wanted the grand final moved around the country (it is contracted to be played at the MCG until the late 2050s). Noreen wanted a more simple way to buy tickets for her team’s away games. Christine wanted more grand final tickets available for members of competing clubs, “NOT funnelled off to corporates who don’t necessarily support either team. We long-term (and long-suffering) members do the hard yards all season, every season, and should be able to see our team’s ultimate triumph in person.”
“Stop selling tickets for finals and go back to first in, best dressed until the ground is full. This means those who are there are real fans and not corporates or once-a-year attendees.” - John
And some wanted the fairness of the fixture addressed.
“A good start would be to arrange fixtures so all teams play all others an equal number of times. I don’t suppose there’s any hope that some protected [Victorian] teams will be forced to play away from their hallowed grounds the way interstate teams must? It’s still the VFL with other states invited to help fill the coffers.” - Wally
“Fixture fairness – so called ‘traditional’ blockbuster games [reduce] the fairness of the competition. With the odd number of teams in the competition if they can’t play each other once or twice per season the top six teams should play each other twice and each of the other teams once. The middle group of six should play each other twice and the others once. The same for the bottom six.” - Michael
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.
Save
Share
License this article
AFL 2022
MOST VIEWED IN SPORT
‘Stop promoting gambling:’ Betting ads a burning issue in AFL fan survey
‘Stop promoting gambling:’ Betting ads a burning issue in AFL fan survey
Fans take a stand on rule changes, commentary and curtain raisers
Fans take a stand on rule changes, commentary and curtain raisers
Footy fans have spoken, and they’ve had plenty to say
OpinionFooty fans have spoken, and they’ve had plenty to say
‘Ruining the sport’: What readers want the AFL to change
‘Ruining the sport’: What readers want the AFL to change
James Faulkner banned from PSL after angry contract dispute explodes
James Faulkner banned from PSL after angry contract dispute explodes
Capping him isn’t enough - Australia must get to the bottom of Volpato’s rise at Roma
Capping him isn’t enough - Australia must get to the bottom of Volpato’s rise at Roma
TV View: Unleash Graeme Souness on these animal-hating low-lives
Divine intervention in Kilcoo; Shane Horgan worships at the altar of Johnny Sexton
Mon, Feb 14, 2022, 09:47
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/tv-view-unleash-graeme-souness-on-these-animal-hating-low-lives-1.4801333
Mary Hannigan
2
“That cat hadn’t done anything wrong,” he added, a line that none of us - and be honest here - ever anticipated hearing on Sky Sports Super Sunday. Photograph: AMA/Corbis via Getty Images
“That cat hadn’t done anything wrong,” he added, a line that none of us - and be honest here - ever anticipated hearing on Sky Sports Super Sunday. Photograph: AMA/Corbis via Getty Images
“Sometimes, maybe, God’s on your side,” said Kilcoo’s Eugene Branagan when TG4’s Micheál O’Domhnaill asked him to explain, for all that’s good and holy, how his team had managed to beat Kilmacud Crokes in the All-Ireland club final when their hopes had been given the last rites more than once in the course of the contest.
And divine intervention, as it proved, was kind of the theme of the sporting day, not least when it came to analysing Ireland’s what-might-have-been trip to Paris.
The learnings?
Rob Kearney, doffing his cap to Joey Carbery’s efforts, had no doubt. “I think the most important thing we’ve learnt is that Ireland have a rugby team without Johnny Sexton, which is a big plus,” he said.
Shane Horgan?
“With Sexton at 10, Ireland would have won that game.”
Rob and his Virgin Media teammate Matt Williams thought this was decidedly harsh, not least on Joey, but Shane wouldn’t budge from his belief if the deity that is Johnny was on the pitch instead of spectating, then Ireland would have been home and hosed.
“A missed opportunity,” he said of the game, although Matt pointed out that Ireland “went toe to toe with the heavyweight champion of the world” and only lost on points. “That’s all you can bloody lose on in rugby,” Shane didn’t say, but he was thinking it.
Joe Molloy tried to cheer Shane up by telling him that the final of The Masked Singer was coming up on Virgin Media, but while that had Rob and Matt quite excited, Shane was unmoved.
“A missed opportunity,” he said again, Ireland’s Grand Slam hopes down the Swanee, but come Sunday Rob tried to reassure him that most probably France wouldn’t win the Grand Slam either because “they were no outstanding shakes themselves yesterday”.
Souness sticks up for the cat
The outstanding shakes, as it turned out, were to be found in Sky Sports’ Super Sunday studio where Graeme Souness pulverised the wretched excuse for a human being that is Kurt Zouma.
It was last September, when Sky brought us “the world’s first ever net zero carbon football match”, that Graeme revealed himself to be a highly passionate animal lover, a revelation that some of us never saw coming. It’s not that he isn’t most probably a good man, it’s just that you wouldn’t necessarily expect this level of empathy from someone who saw opposing shins as legitimate targets in the course of their playing career. Although, admittedly, it’s hard to find a seamless link here.
The mere mention of Zouma’s name, then, was never going to go down well.
“We don’t know what he’s been through,” said Jamie Carragher when news filtered through that Zouma had dropped out of the West Ham team due to play Leicester. “Not as much as the cat went through,” said Graeme, his cheek muscles flexing so violently, Jamie looked scared. Micah Richards too.
“That cat hadn’t done anything wrong,” he added, a line that none of us - and be honest here - ever anticipated hearing on Sky Sports Super Sunday.
“I wouldn’t have played him again this year,” he said, “if I was a player I wouldn’t want to be in the same dressing room with him, I would not want him around the place.”
His emotions hadn’t eased come full-time in the game - “I’d love to see him pursued in court, I think what he’s guilty of is outrageous behaviour that goes beyond the pale” - Micah, quite heroically, daring to debate him, pointing out that there are convicted murderers back out on the streets again. He did, then, believe banning Zouma until the end of the season would be too harsh a punishment.
“Would you allow him to have another cat in his house,” Graeme asked him. By now, Micah would have been afraid to enter Graeme’s house.
Graeme Souness? Legend.
Meanwhile, over on Sky Sports News, word was filtering through about a video showing former eventing Olympic champion Sir Mark Todd whipping a horse 10 times with a branch to try and force it through a water obstacle.
Truly, our world is screwed. It needs divine intervention. Or Graeme Souness to be allowed deal with these low-lives.
Eugene Branagan
Graeme Souness
Jamie Carragher
Joey Carbery
Kurt Zouma
Matt Williams
Rob Kearney
Shane Horgan
READ MORE
Rafa turns into the weekend’s two-legged version of Paisley Park
All in the Game: Yes - Gianni Infantino really did say that
All in the Game: Rafael Nadal’s Real Madrid allegiances
Guinness references flow as Leona Maguire wins US commentators’ hearts
Performance to be proud of from Carbery despite adversarial conditions
Subscribe.
MORE FROM THE IRISH TIMES
English Soccer
When you think about how good Romelu “seven touches in 90 minutes against Palace” Lukaku looked in Conte’s team at Inter, you wonder what the ceiling might be for Harry Kane. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images
Ken Early: Antonio Conte threatening to unlock very best of Harry Kane
Racing
The IHRB has rejected any claim of singling Mahon out over his allegations of doping in the sport. Photograph: Morgan Treacy
IHRB stands over Stephen Mahon animal welfare investigation
Soccer
Jota and Celtic to enter into an altogether different European competition? Photograph: Mark Runnacles/Getty Images
All in the Game: Celtic best warm up the singing voices
Rugby
Leinster’s Harry Byrne is presented with the United Rugby Championship player of the game award following the win over the Ospreys. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
The Offload: Harry Byrne glad to be back in action no matter the position
SPONSORED
For us here in Ireland, wearing a mask was a brand new behaviour we had to get used to, but it has been commonplace in East Asia since the SARS outbreak of 2003. Photograph: Getty Images
Health lessons we’ve learned from the pandemic
Antalya is Turkey’s biggest international sea resort and is a gateway to the Mediterranean region which is known as the Turkish Riviera for its shimmering blue waters
Discover all that Antalya in sunny southern Turkey has to offer
For medium and large business customers, SSE Airtricity offers a funded solar project in the form of a five- or 10-year contract with no upfront cost
Start your business on a sustainability, carbon and cost saving journey
Gary Hynes has four children: Lauren, Rosie, Caitlin and MJ (as well as Amy the dog). Securing their educational future is a priority. Photographs: Conor Mulhern
Building a nest egg for the children’s third-level education
YOUR COMMENTS Sign In
We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from this Community, including without limitation if it violates the Community Standards. We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the Flag link next to the offending comment or by filling out this form. New comments are only accepted for 3 days from the date of publication.
Conversation
Jump to log in or sign Up
The conversation is now closed
ALL COMMENTS 2
newest
All Comments
VJ
VJDevine
6 DAYS AGO
Souness, hard man but top cat, great analyst.
3
SHARE FLAG
MI
michael1
6 DAYS AGO
There was none of the "Wretched Excuse for a Human Being" when one of our own "Media Darling" Jockeys was caught punching a Horse in The Head several times.
As for Souness... hes done more damage to Human Beings on the Pitch than Zouma did to the unfortunate Cat... what he did was grossly wrong..but that doesent make him Jack the Ripper.
0
SHARE FLAG
Powered by
‘Due for another realignment’: Retired great weighs in on AFL’s major umpire move
Melbourne thump Roos by 88 points!
Melbourne thump Roos by 88 points! | 01:29
Tom Morris
Tom Morris from Fox Sports
@tommorris32
February 25th, 2022 1:16 pm
The VFL/AFL games record holder for umpires has called on the league to punish “subtle” acts of dissent from players with 50 metre penalties and free kicks.
Earlier this week the AFL sent a memo to clubs outlining the importance for respect towards umpires.
Stream every match of every round of the 2022 Toyota AFL Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free In Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now.
The instruction was interpreted by some clubs as a crackdown, with umpires instructed to uphold a less tolerant approach when players dispute decisions.
Round 1
Pointsbet
AFL
Mar 18 7:25pm AEST
FT
Richmond
Richmond
105
Carlton
80
MATCH CENTRE
*Odds are current as of 25th February 2022, 2:10pm AEST
VIEW ALL SCORES
AFL
Mar 19 7:50pm AEST
FT
Collingwood
53
Bulldogs
69
MATCH CENTRE
*Odds are current as of 25th February 2022, 2:10pm AEST
VIEW ALL SCORES
AFL
Mar 20 1:45pm AEST
FT
Melbourne
80
Fremantle
58
MATCH CENTRE
*Odds are current as of 25th February 2022, 2:10pm AEST
VIEW ALL SCORES
AFL
Mar 20 4:35pm AEST
FT
Adelaide
103
Geelong
91
MATCH CENTRE
*Odds are current as of 25th February 2022, 2:10pm AEST
VIEW ALL SCORES
AFL
Mar 20 7:25pm AEST
FT
Essendon
91
Hawthorn
92
MATCH CENTRE
*Odds are current as of 25th February 2022, 2:10pm AEST
VIEW ALL SCORES
AFL
Mar 20 7:45pm AEST
FT
Brisbane
94
Sydney
125
MATCH CENTRE
*Odds are current as of 25th February 2022, 2:10pm AEST
VIEW ALL SCORES
AFL
Mar 21 1:10pm AEST
FT
North Melbourne
North Melbourne
65
Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide
117
MATCH CENTRE
*Odds are current as of 25th February 2022, 2:10pm AEST
VIEW ALL SCORES
AFL
Mar 21 3:20pm AEST
FT
Greater Western Sydney
Greater Western Sydney
78
St Kilda
St Kilda
86
MATCH CENTRE
*Odds are current as of 25th February 2022, 2:10pm AEST
VIEW ALL SCORES
AFL
Mar 21 6:10pm AEST
FT
West Coast
West Coast
83
Gold Coast
Gold Coast
58
MATCH CENTRE
*Odds are current as of 25th February 2022, 2:10pm AEST
VIEW ALL SCORES
Shane McInerney, who umpired 500 matches between 1994 and 2019 including two Grand Finals, praised the memo as a necessary “reset.”
Speaking to foxfooty.com.au, McInerney detailed three scenarios which he believes should now result in a penalty.
“We are due for another realignment I think,” McInerney said.
“The players have worked out what demonstrative abuse looks like and I think we need to reset what we actually mean by good umpire/player relationships.
MORE COVERAGE
No. 1 AFL draft pick’s heartbreaking hug says it all
Secret weapon in Blues’ $3m move; Saints seesaw continues to confuse
Dees ‘add strings to their bow’ in devastating flag statement; Roos admit ‘serious wake-up call’
Retired umpire Shane McInerney believes the new memo sent from the AFL was needed. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Retired umpire Shane McInerney believes the new memo sent from the AFL was needed. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Source: AAP
“In a situation like deliberate out of bounds where three or four players will stand around appealing with their arms out, that’s not a good look for the game and not what we want to see. I’d penalise that.
“We see forwards getting free kicks and the defending standing and pointing at the big screen. That’s not a good look for the sport.
“I think it is important that players can ask questions on why certain decisions are made. By and large that does happen. There are a few more habits that have crept in that the game doesn’t need. It’s a distraction that serves to embarrass or undermine an umpire’s authority.”
And the third example?
“Sometimes there are two or three defenders wanting to have their two bobs worth,” McInerney continued.
“That’s not on. The umpire has a job to do at that point in time.”
In the AFL’s note to clubs, executive general manager Andrew Dillon praised the sacrifices players and staff have made across the past two seasons.
But in reviewing the 2021 season, he said there were “a number of instances” where the “AFL community” fell short of certain standards relating to sportsmanship and respect for umpires.
“The AFL and its clubs have a unique leadership role in the community, and with that role comes responsibility. Disrespect towards umpires is an issue at all levels of football and has no place,” Dillon said.
McInerney is hoping to see more respect displayed to umpires. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
McInerney is hoping to see more respect displayed to umpires. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Source: Getty Images
“We are 6,000 umpires short at the community football level and it is incumbent on us to set the right example at the elite level so we can encourage and retain umpires across the country to best support the rapidly growing player participation base.”
While McInerney believes a correlation exists between the top level and local football, he argued the issue is not finding umpires, rather it is retaining them.
He also declared the changes made by the AFL have the potential to filter down quickly.
“I think what happens at the AFL level plays a role in umpire shortage, but I don’t think there is a direct correlation,” he said.
“There has been an explosion in women’s footy and that has placed a demand on all sorts of components with grounds, facilities, coaches and so forth.
“In my view, I’ve always understood that it’s not about attracting people to umpiring – lots of people like to give it a go – I think it’s more around the retention. The match day experience goes a long way to ensure that you can have retention of umpires.”
He added: “The response is a pretty quick response. Invariably when the AFL makes a change to a Law or an interpretation, spectators think at the lower level think that’s how their games will be officiated. Those competitions pick up really quickly.
“It’s something that could be achieved this coming season.”
On Friday morning, North Melbourne great and Fox Footy expert David King cautioned against any significant changes to interpretations around umpire feedback.
David King cautioned against major changes to interpretations around umpire feedback. Picture: Hamish Blair
David King cautioned against major changes to interpretations around umpire feedback. Picture: Hamish Blair
Source: Herald Sun
“The abuse of the umpire being an instant 50m penalty, I don’t believe AFL players ever abuse an umpire, they may be angry with a decision at a given point in time and they may be frustrated and say something but it’s not to abuse or belittle an umpire,” King said on SEN Breakfast.
“It’s an act that’s gone in three seconds, it’s always been a part of our game and it’s never been a problem, don’t tell me that if it comes from over the fence in lesser games or at junior footy, this is something in my opinion that has been overplayed.
“There were two 50m penalties paid yesterday that I thought ‘gee-whiz that’s really tough’, the players not standing there abusing the umpires, they’re questioning the decision, it’s going to bring significant backlash.
“Put it right in your diary now, it’ll be the most talked-about thing on a Monday morning in three weeks’ time about someone getting a 50m for saying ‘you can’t pay that Ray’.”
McInerney said one of the challenges for umpires is disregarding their own subjective perspective on player feedback.
“In our game, yes we can have personalities,” he continued.
“But everyone is interpreting the same part of the law as each other. This area is no different. It’s not about what certain personalities can or can’t handle. No. It’s about the role of the umpire and how the players engage with that person in their role.
“There is no room for umpires to take into account whether they can handle it or can’t. I can’t stress that enough. That is not what this is about.”
18.8.2 Free Kicks – Umpires
(a) uses abusive, insulting, threatening or obscene language towards an Umpire;
(b) behaves in an abusive, insulting, threatening or obscene manner towards an Umpire;
(c) intentionally, unreasonably or carelessly makes contact with an Umpire;
(d) disputes a decision of an Umpire;
(e) fails to follow the instruction of an Umpire; or
(f) intentionally or carelessly engages in conduct which affects, interferes with or prevents an Umpire from performing their duties.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/due-for-another-realignment-retired-great-weighs-in-on-afls-great-umpire-debate/news-story/c8319c342aff5f772e15f13d8fee78bd