20 replies to this topic

[polaris]

I have deliberately headed the topic a little dramatic as I want to draw attention to the issue.

Next its Dear Mark Webber, as I would think he would be looking at this site

Mark, I recall meeting you at Aussie Legends a couple of years ago in Dubai prior to the first Bahrain GP. I totally agree with you regarding the sorry state of F1 affairs in Aus. The whole traditional world of F1 is being undermined and overtaken by nations willing to put up government funds to get the race and put their nations on the map. I promoted the idea in Abu Dhabi with a venue and a design backed by the best engineering from Aus and everyone said no chance that the UAE would host F1, but eventually another rival developer whom we now know took the show and roll on 2009!

I have the same view about Aus and I recall my time in Aus with the web site "F1 fans vs channel 9" where we argued the merits of showing the GP live and showing qual. I argued till i was blue in the face on the site and on the phone to ch9 to no avail only to be told by their program manager that there was "too much sport on tv anyway".quote. I hope that person has found a new career!. anyway we know the outcome of that attitude and now its with Ch 10, but from what I can see at a distance nothing has really changed.

Something has to be done in Aus to recognise that F1 is one of the most followed sports on the planet and many developing (and developed eg Singapore) nations are giving thier left proverbials to host a race. And in Aus we are so complacent, we have the race and we are willing to let it go?!

On a trip to Aus earlier this year I wanted to let my 2 young kids, absolute motorsport nuts and go karters extreme, watch a race on tv. I was shocked to see the event laced with adds for very unsavoury sex adds and it spoilt the whole occasion. I was so p*&%$#d off i wrote a letter regarding the the development of kids in sports to the (now former, hope you got a new career too) prime minister and the minister of sport, only to get a reply acknowledging the receipt but ultimately no response. I take it they would rather kids in Aus develop drug habits!

Its got to start at the start. Kids need to grow up with things they aspire to. people need to follow something to take there minds off their daily pressures. In Aus we have footy, cricket and rugby...and thats about it! Australia is in serious danger of becoming parochial to the point of being xenophobic if they dont open up to the stuff the rest of the world is doing

Im writing this to appeal to all Aussie F1 fans to talk it up, politicians and the media. If every Aussie on this forum suddenly called ch 10 complaining at the lack of coverage, dont you think something would happen?!

Mark you got the support, take it to the top
cheers, see you in Dubai/Abu Dhabi

[alfa1]

Originally posted by polaris

Im writing this to appeal to all Aussie F1 fans to talk it up, politicians and the media. If every Aussie on this forum suddenly called ch 10 complaining at the lack of coverage, dont you think something would happen?!

No, nothing would happen.
Companies like ch10 are rather good at spotting 'organised' letter campaigns and completely disregard them as not being representative of the population at large. What only matters to them is the number of viewers they get during each show, measured in the normal way by 'people counters', and other ratings gathering methods.

As for myself, halfway through the year I simply gave on Ch10 completely, and actually preferred to watch via the internet, *CHINESE* tv live and the F1 live timing screen.

[Mat]

The Age are reporting Mark's comments on the front page of their website.

[Racer Joe]

Originally posted by Mat
The Age are reporting Mark's comments on the front page of their website.

Has someone told Mark that it is really difficult for a population to embrace (and henceforth pay for through tax) an F1 event when the vast majority of the season is shown unnecessarily late on TV?

Seriously, how many bozos will tune in at 11:30pm, an hour and a half after the race started when it is a work morning the next day?

[woftam]

I wish Fox would get the tv rights.
At least we'd get it live.

Motogp & Superbikes are always live on fox.
Channel 10 still delay the motogp race late at night, but by then I've already watched the 125's 250's and motogp races in their entirety on Fox sports. It's all an attitude. Fox give their motorsport viewers what they want and Channel 10 don't give a fat rats what we want.

[loz67]

Originally posted by Racer Joe


It is really difficult for a population to embrace an F1 event when the vast majority of the season is shown unnecessarily late on TV?

Seriously, how many bozos will tune in at 11:30pm, an hour and a half after the race started when it is a work morning the next day?

Couldn't agree more.

Does it strike anyone else, as a little odd that there are no adverts in the paper, on radio, anywhere for that matter, or even run at anytime during Channel 10's normal broadcasting, letting people know firstly that F1 is still on TV, and secondly, that it could be something interesting and exciting to watch. I mean, ride on Lewis Hamilton's coat tails (people seem to be genuinely interested in this kid), or play up the tightness in the championship positions....do something...because realistically, nobody is promoting or attempting to increase the audience of F1. Have Mark Webber do a promo spot telling everyone to watch him beat the best in the world...(ok he isn't sponsored by 10, so that may be a bit of a stretch...but still!!)

How many of us have friends, (who are maybe not as in depth viewers as some of us), that constantly ask, "Is there a race this weekend??....who won the last race....??...what time is Channel 10 showing the race..." I mean, FFS, if people don't even know if and when the races are on, how can we expect to grow the sport in Oz. How many ad's do we see for bloody AFL or the cricket....seriously, do we really not know that it is being broadcast??

Anyway...all the best to Mark, I have said it before, and I hope I don't need to say it again: here's hoping the 2008 RBR is worthy of his considerable talent.

[Mat]

Originally posted by loz67
How many ad's do we see for bloody AFL or the cricket....seriously, do we really not know that it is being broadcast??

How many ad's do we see on tv for any sport except for AFL and cricket? Apart from local Tennis Opens, Golf tournaments, Melb GP, or Spring Carnival, then it really doesnt get a mention no matter what it is.

It's just the way it is here, small population, restrictive tv anti-siphoning laws, not many channels. the list goes on...

[JForce]

I'd help you guys out, as a kiwi we're blessed with full coverage, even qualifying, live and uninterrupted.

Hell, it's satellite, maybe you guys should try getting our SkyTV coverage....

[Mat]

Originally posted by JForce
Hell, it's satellite, maybe you guys should try getting our SkyTV coverage....

Ive actually looked at that before. Can't be done.

[GregAU]

Nothing IMO will save the Australian GP so Aussies get there why you still can. The support over here for any kind of international sport shown outside of Australia is pathetic.

You only have to look at motorsport as a prime example...over here we used to have a pretty good touring car series, which has now been turned into the most commercialized and regulated POS series that you would have ever seen, full of the biggest egotistical wanker drivers ever put behind a wheel. It's advertised and flogged constantly and the drivers even have their own panel show where they get on TV and just trash talk each other until they are blue in the face. (yawn)

Anyway...the reason support will go nowhere is like I said...Australia has little to no support/coverage of International motorsport and it doesnt matter HOW WELL an Aussie is doing (so Mark is barking up the wrong tree by indicating if he does well it will help).
I remember when Mick Doohan was riding over the top of the motorcycle grand prix series for 5 years.
Sure he made back page news (occasionally) when he won a race and the championship (again and again), but the only race that was televised at any decent hour was Phillip Island. The rest were always on at 3 oclock in the morning, leaving only the hardcore fans learning how to figure out how to set their video timers to watch the race.
When Doohan retired, motorcycle racing over here was dead...sure they showed the races over here at 3 in the morning but no one knew about them.
We now have Casey Stoner...same result. Races on at 3 am.

Thats about all we get. We get the occasional bit of rally and the local Indy GP but nothing else.
Heck I'm an ex dirt bike racer and I'd love to watch some of the stadium stuff. In 2004 Australian Chad Reed won the AMA supercross title and 99 percent on the population over here would never have heard of him!!! That title is THE BIGGEST DEAL in dirt bike racing!!!

So yeah...you can kind of see why most people over here couldnt give 2 shits about some once a year event that blocks off half the city, causes a heap of noise and stops people from walking in their precious park for a couple of weeks.

If there's one thing that royally ticks me off though is the insane licensing fee. I for one do in fact object to my tax dollars been squandered on pure greed when it would be better spent on something like water infrastructure in this dry old place, so based on that alone Bernie you greedy little bastard can **** off and root the camels with your GP thx. I'll just set the video like 99 percent of all my other motorsport thats on after midnight.

[peanutslab]

Originally posted by JForce
I'd help you guys out, as a kiwi we're blessed with full coverage, even qualifying, live and uninterrupted.

Hell, it's satellite, maybe you guys should try getting our SkyTV coverage....

That's a bit of a change from when I was there a few years ago. It was the race only, on TV One. And on those rare ocassions when the race was at a sensible time (e.g. the Japanese GP) it wasn't shown live!

[repcobrabham]

great rant, greg i will try to get to an oz GP next year or 2009, then bernie can go root camels.

[ClubmanGT]

Originally posted by JForce
I'd help you guys out, as a kiwi we're blessed with full coverage, even qualifying, live and uninterrupted.

Hell, it's satellite, maybe you guys should try getting our SkyTV coverage....

Bah, Sky still leaves a lot to be desired. We miss the first five minutes of most qualifying sessions, and we don't see practice sessions or any pre-show. Which is probably just as well, as it would most likely be hosted by Darcy Watergrave - at least it's not the NZ V8s...Clint Brown is going to make this a long, painful season that I will most likely be watching with the sound turned off.

[GregAU]

Hehe cheers Repco.

Was rather late when I posted it

Nothing better than having a good old pointless rant on the boards eh ;)

[OssieFan]

Originally posted by GregAU
You only have to look at motorsport as a prime example...over here we used to have a pretty good touring car series, which has now been turned into the most commercialized and regulated POS series that you would have ever seen,

+1

It seems the only thing that Australia (or at least the media) cares about are ball sports, i.e. football = winter, cricket = summer.

[WDC1992]

I could not agree more! When i moved to Canada from Australia i was shocked to see practice and qualifying telecast live as well as the race of course, sometimes replayed in the evening and on 2 english channels and 1 French channel. The state of F1 in Australia is a disgrace and if it does not improve we really dont deserve a grand prix.

[repcobrabham]

sadly this is true ... i too grew up loving touring cars but couldn't give a rat's arse now

anyway, by the time the aus GP contract runs out MW might be out of F1 and local interest will plunge

[GhostR]

Originally posted by GregAU
great rant

Yup. Add in Speedway bikes in recent years ... how many Aussies know about Crump and his titles ('04 and '06, not to mention 2nd in '01, '02, '03 and '05 and 3rd in '07)?

(And I only know because 1. I occasionally pick up a bike mag, having been a long time rider, and 2. I lived a couple years in the UK and watched a few races over there).

Malaysia A1GP race was shown at something like 3am in the morning when there was nothing but dross on during the day.

[Mat]

Originally posted by GhostR
Malaysia A1GP race was shown at something like 3am in the morning when there was nothing but dross on during the day.

It was live on Fox Sports.

[GhostR]

Originally posted by Mat


It was live on Fox Sports.

That would be useful ... if I had Fox.

[Mat]

Originally posted by GhostR
That would be useful ... if I had Fox.

You should try your local pub then.