From our favourite journo at the Fairfax.
I find it a somewhat one-sided argument. They are trumpeting the record TV ratings and largest crowd at ANZ. What's not mentioned is that Souths were in it against another Sydney team with a large following. You could have played the game at 9 in the morning and got the same results.
The night grand final means a lot of children can't watch the game, the future supporters of the code. Unfortunately the NRL are too short sighted to see this. I will be keen to see in years to come how support for this once great game goes after too many night GF's and the watering down of the rules to make it aNational OZ Tag competition
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Spot on. I wonder what the TV ratings would have been for a North Queensland v Melbourne GF. I bet you they wouldn't be shouting about those ratings any time soon.
Why do they have entertainment before kick off which is rubbish anyway. Who does that apply to? If I wanted to watch crap, I would tune into X Factor and Australia's got talent.
I read this article but don't really think the facts they used can be seen as the reason for success in a night game, I am confident tv ratings would be the same no matter the time as well as attendance. Attendance won because two big Sydney teams were in the finals.
Infact, the group I watched it with were stuck just waiting around for the start. Making it a night game takes away from the family feel.
My 4 Year old missed the game as he was in bed. He is a mad Parra fan (yes, my work here is done) but he was devastated. I tried to console him by saying that Parra weren't playing but he said, "Mummy supports the Poodogs and I wanted to see what it looks like when a Bunny destroys a Dog, then I can laugh at Mummy".
Hence, another young dream shattered.
It sounds corny I know, buit one of my fondest GF Day memories was back in 1989 when I was 13, I was over a friends house watching the Raiders V Tigers epic that went in extra time. We were all going for the Raiders so we were all pumped when they got the win and won their first premiership. As soon as the game was over, we all raced outside and had our own game of footy in the park across the road...
Try doing that at 9:30 at night...
Such a shame that a TV broadcaster gets to make these decisions and scrap a young rugby league fans rite of passage and render those days to history... Disgraceful really....
Day time is so 1980. Move on guys ratings don't lie.
Like the Night GF
Bring back 3:30pm kickoffs