The footy TV shows we loved and lost

IT would be the end of an era for The Footy Show if the out-of-contract Sam Newman fails to return to our screens next year. Could “The Foss” join this list of footy panellists whose shows vanished from our screens?

ALMOST since the dawn of television in Melbourne in 1956, TV executives have understood and been willing to exploit our fascination with the indigenous football code.

From the organised chaos of The Footy Show on Nine to the serious football discussion of panel shows like Seven’s Talking Footy or Fox Sports’ On The Couch, there is plenty on the tube for footy fans to enjoy.

MORE FOOTY:

WILL SAM BE BACK ON THE FOOTY SHOW NEXT YEAR?

FOOTY MEDIA WATCH: COMMENTARY HIGHS AND LOWS

SECRET TAPE IN FREO SEX SCANDAL EMERGES

And with Sam Newman’s contract negotiations in limbo with the Nine Network, it could seem like more change could be on the way.

But these programs are the latest in a long line of footy-themed shows stretching back to the early days of TV.

Here are some of the long lost footy shows we loved, and few that didn’t quite work.

LEAGUE TEAMS

This is the granddaddy of Aussie rules footy on our TV screens.

Decades before Eddie, Sam and the Footy Show crew hit the airwaves, Jack Dyer, Lou Richards and Bobby Davis delivered the team lists and a whole lot more late Thursday nights on Channel 7.

Melburnians tuned in for 30 minutes of mayhem to hear the line-ups for the all important matches on Saturday afternoon, with hints of footy insight and an anarchic stream of corny jokes.

Jack Dyer, Bob Davis and Lou Richards on League Teams in 1978.

Their set was adorned with the image of three wise monkeys: “see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil”.

League Teams kicked off in the early 1960s and the simple formula continued until the show was axed by Seven in 1986, although there were some retrospective specials in later years.

The League Teams name was revived on Fox Footy in 2002, hosted by Jason Dunstall, and remains to this day with hosts including Brian Taylor, Dermott Brereton and Paul Roos.

FOOTBALL INQUEST

League Teams may be VFL football’s most memorable early show, but Football Inquest arrived in 1957 on GTV 9, and was simulcast on 3KZ, in 1957.

Hosted by Ian Johnson, Phil Gibbs and Jack Mueller, and with a cast of VFL players, it aired on Saturday night to discuss the afternoon’s matches.

It lasted only for the 1957 season, but was revived on Seven in 1960 with legendary caller Mike Williamson at the helm of the panel. The show survived into the 1970s.

WORLD OF SPORTS

For decades, World of Sport was a Sunday morning TV staple in Melbourne.

It covered all sports but footy was a big part of its winter line-up.

Lou, Bob and Jack were regulars on the footy panel along with the show’s creator/host Ron Casey and some more contemporary stars such as Bob Skilton and Peter McKenna – and some bloke called Sam Newman.

Along with the wood chop and the static cycling sprints, a highlight was the handball competition that featured contemporary players.

And Uncle Doug Elliott was always on hand to hand out the Patra orange juice, Ballantyne chocolates and the Hutton Footy Franks to the handball winners.

World of Sport aired from 1959 until 1987.

The World of Sport footy panel thrashes out the issues of the day in this 1984 clip.

A handball comp with Barry Cable (then North Melbourne coach), Ron Barassi (then coaching Melbourne and Geelong legend Graham “Polly” Farmer.

THE BIG LEAGUE/SEVEN’S BIG REPLAY

In the days before live footy broadcasts on TV, the only way to see your team in action was at the ground on a Saturday or if your team was one of those featured in what was colloquially known as “the footy replay”.

Between 1962 and the late-‘80s, HSV 7 would feature quarters from some of the day’s matches on Saturday night — just late enough for supporters to get home and throw on some tomato soup and toasted sandwiches before settling into the show.

Peter Landy was the familiar host through the 1970s and into the ‘80s, with sports journalist Scott Palmer’s Punchlines each week.

There was a time scores from local leagues were also featured. Here’s the opening of Seven’s Big Replay from 1985.

And here’s a Scotty Palmer live cross from the Sunday Press newsroom late in season 1983.

THE KELLOGG’S JUNIOR SUPPORTERS CLUB

Kevin Bartlett wasn’t only the hungriest man in VFL football. He was a TV host too.

KB played king of the kids on the weekend with the Kellogg’s Junior Supporters Club.

Watch these clips of KB at his slapstick best, followed by an interview about the show with the great footy caller Sandy Roberts.

AFL SQUADRON

It’s hard to remember Garry Lyon as a young TV host with a country drawl, but Lyon hosted the kids-oriented AFL Squadron on Seven in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

It aired early in the morning on weekends and featured both child footy fans and a few footy heroes helping kids with demonstrations of basic football skills.

Here’s a fresh-faced Lyon, with Saint Nicky Winmar, with a cameo from Danny “Spud” Frawley from a 1990 episode of the AFL Squadron that includes a quiz.

Watch for the question about who wore number 3 for Melbourne at the time.

THE HEY JIMMY AFL VARIETY HOUR

Lyon wasn’t the only Demon on the tube. Jim Stynes had a show of his own on SBS in 2002.

The Hey Jimmy AFL Variety Hour lasted four episodes and was really a comedy vehicle for co-hosts Anthony Eales and Chris Hawthorne, with panellists Jimmy Krakouer and Bianca Peters adding to the mix.

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY

This show began in 2005 to bridge the gap between Nine’s Sunday Footy Show and its match of the day, with Garry Lyon, James Brayshaw and Sam Newman straddling the well-worn line between analysis and humour.

But when Eddie McGuire became Nine’s CEO, the trio was shifted to host The Footy Show and replaced by Mick Molloy, Nicole Livingstone and a rolling roster of guest panellists including Dermott Brereton. It was axed after the 2006 season.

BEYOND THE BOUNDARY

Host Christi Malthouse took us in an unusual direction for a TV footy show, taking us away from the game and into the lifestyles of current and former players and the characters of the game for the Seven Network back in 2006.

Program reporter Andi Lew has some fun with Collingwood cheer squad stalwart Joffa in this clip.

TDave Hughes, Mick Molloy, Anthony Lehman, Andrew Maher, Sam Lane and Strauchanie from Before the Game.

BEFORE/AFTER THE GAME

This panel show combined comedy with serious analysis of the game and lasted from 2003 to 2013 on Network Ten.

It was hosted by Peter Helliar, Anthony Hudson and Andrew Maher throughout its decade on air.

Comedian Dave Hughes stayed for the duration as a panellist but other panellists included footy reporter Samantha Lane, Mick Molloy, Ryan Fitzgerald, radio personality Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann, netballer Eloise Southby and comedian Damian Callinan.

It was also the birthplace of Helliar’s Magpie alter ego Strauchanie, who meets a few teammates and WAGs in this 2006 clip.

Kylie Minogue on the set of Live and Kicking with Dunstall and Hawkins.

LIVE AND KICKING

In 1998, Jason Dunstall and Doug Hawkins, who made their TV names on Nine’s The Footy Show, defected to Seven to host Live and Kicking, a variety-style show that included footy banter and musical guests including some big-name AFL players.

The Footy Show’s Harvey Silver was executive producer, and Essendon’s James Hird and the Bulldogs’ Brad Johnson — both Footy Show panellists — were among the regular guests.

It aired on Wednesdays but never came close to The Footy Show’s heights. It was axed in 1999.

Here’s a funny segment from Live and Kicking.

Here, host Jason Dunstall announces his retirement from footy on Live and Kicking in 1998.

THE GAME

The Game took over on Seven in 2000 where Live and Kicking left off, with former Footy Show favourite Dermott Brereton hosting.

Dermie controversially left Seven and returned to Nine when Nine won a share of the AFL broadcast rights alongside Ten.

The Game bit the dust in 2001.

THE WINNERS

This Sunday end-of- the round review program just keeps coming back.

Its first incarnation, hosted by Drew Morphett, ran on the ABC from

Here’s Drew introducing a segment in September 1980 of highlights of Richmond’s qualifying final win against Carlton at VFL Park.

This is from the days when the ABC and Seven shared replay broadcast rights for VFL games.

It lasted from the late-‘70s until the late-‘80s on the ABC, but returned in 2002 with the launch of the Fox Footy Channel, hosted by Clinton Grybas.

The show, which aired highlights from all matches in each round, was switched to Fox Sports in 2007.

It continued following Grybas’ death in January 2008 until the end of 2011.

Then Morphett returned with The Winners Rebooted, a retro program that showed highlights from historical VFL/AFL matches. It was cancelled in 2016.

WHITE LINE FEVER

Grybas hosted a groundbreaking footy chat show in the style of a talkback radio program every weeknight on the Fox Footy Channel from 2002 to 2006.

Callers could phone in to most editions, except on Fridays later in its run to allow Grybas to host without impinging on his live Friday night footy calls on 3AW.

ONE WEEK AT A TIME

This Network Ten Monday night review show was fronted by Ten sports guru Stephen Quartermaine, with panellists including Robert Walls, Matthew Lloyd, Matthew Richardson, Tom Harley, and Luke Darcy. It aired on One from 2009 to 2011.

GRUMPY OLD MEN

The folks at Fox Sports busted out some Chesterfield lounges for this program, which featured Kevin Bartlett, Bobby Davis and a rolling cast of former players including Doug Hawkins and Stan Alves chewing over current footy issues from an old-school perspective. Davis, Bartlett and Hawkins analyse modern goalkicking in the clip below.

@JDwritesalot