Friday Night Football (Australia)
| Friday Night Football | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | 'Friday Night Football (1985-2013, 2015–present) Friday Night Footy (2014) |
| Genre | Sports broadcast |
| Starring |
Hamish McLachlan (Host) Bruce McAvaney (Chief Commentator) Brian Taylor (Commentator) Luke Darcy (Commentator) Cameron Ling (Commentator) Nick Maxwell (Field Commentator) Matthew Richardson (Field Commentator) Mark Stevens (Chief News Reporter) |
| Opening theme | "The Boys are Back" |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 30 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 180 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network |
Seven Network (1985-2001, 2007-present) 7mate (2012-present) Nine Network (2002-2006) Network Ten (2002-2006, finals only) Fox Sports Plus (2007-2011) Fox Footy (Simulcast) |
| Picture format |
576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 29 March 1985 – present |
| External links | |
| www |
|
Friday Night Football formerly Friday Night Footy, is an Australian sports broadcast series is currently airing on the Seven Network on 29 March 1985 in VIC & SA and on 7mate in March 2012 in NSW, QLD, NT & WA.
Non-weekend night matches of Australian rules football first emerged in the late 1970s/early 1980s with the Night series, a knock-out tournament featuring teams from across the country and run in parallel with the league seasons.
The first Victorian Football League matches on Friday nights were introduced in 1985 when the North Melbourne Football Club pioneered the world first initiative. At this time, these games were irregularly scheduled, and all matches featured North Melbourne, but by 1987, Friday Night Football was played on a more regular basis, and other clubs began to host the games.
Friday Night AFL is generally played in Melbourne, at either the Melbourne Cricket Ground or Docklands Stadium, but Sydney, Adelaide and Perth will generally host a few matches each year. It is less common for the games to be played in Brisbane or the Gold Coast in order to avoid clashes with the National Rugby League, which is more popular in those cities. As it is the most lucrative broadcast timeslot of the weekend, matches between the better-performing clubs are scheduled on Friday night to ensure the games are of high quality. As recently as 2014, however, the Gold Coast Suns have pushed to be featured on Friday nights in 2015, citing their improved form in 2014.
Seven's commentary team includes Bruce McAvaney (or Basil Zempilas for matches in Perth) and Brian Taylor providing the play-by-play commentary, Wayne Carey and Cameron Ling with special comments, and field commentary from Tim Watson and Matthew Richardson. Hamish McLachlan anchors both the pre and post-match shows.
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