Fallout Grows Over Shute Shield Coverage Cut

By Marcus Braid on January 13, 2015 in News

The blame game over the ABC’s decision to cut its Shute Shield Saturday afternoon rugby coverage has started, amid concerns that club rugby won’t receive sufficient exposure without televised matches, and will thus lose essential sponsorship revenue.

Matt Thistlethwaite, the Federal Member for Kingsford Smith, said he was concerned grassroots sport had been neglected.

“It will definitely reduce the value of Shute Shield rugby,” he said. “The Shute Shield is the entry point and the foundation of first class rugby in Australia. You look at the rugby nations throughout the world: New Zealand and increasingly France have very good and a very strong grassroots rugby movement.

“If you undermine the first level, then you undermine the whole structure. The foundation of the structure becomes weaker and that’s the great shame and the great disappointment with what’s occurred here. You’re undermining the foundation of strong rugby in Australia.”

Mr Thistlethwaite pointed the finger squarely at the Abbott government for ending the ABC’s 57-year coverage of Shute Shield rugby. The ABC’s decision to cease Shute Shield coverage was made after the Federal Government cut the ABC’s funding by one percent.

“A lot of people in our community, particularly around Coogee, Randwick and Clovelly, are avid supporters of the ABC and are very disappointed,” Mr Thistlethwaite said.

“We have one of the highest responses to an online petition about the ABC cuts of any electorate with over 10,000 signatures. That’s ten percent of the community in Kingsford Smith who signed a petition opposing the cuts to the ABC that have been undertaken by the Abbott government. I think that’s a pretty good indicator of who they blame for these cuts.”

Both Eastern Suburbs and Randwick rugby clubs will be affected by the ABC’s decision. While these local clubs are steeped in history, their future is looking uncertain.

“I can remember in the late 80s, early 90s seeing Randwick play the All Blacks down at Coogee Oval,” Mr Thistlethwaite said.

“Randwick led at half-time and there was a massive crowd there, and it was televised on the ABC. That’s the great romance of rugby in our community; the Galloping Greens, Shute Shield rugby on a Saturday afternoon on the ABC, and that’s been decimated by these budget cuts.”

Eastern Suburbs coach Matt Barlow said the lack of coverage would affect rugby all over the state.

“It is going to be tough, and obviously it’s going to affect other things like sponsorship and sponsors aren’t going to have that exposure,” he said.

“I doubt the ABC coverage will be returned. We received an update from NSW Rugby last week that they’re now putting it out to other free to air networks and trying to secure a new deal there. It’s a product; I saw some figures the other day that it out-rates the Swans on Saturdays at some points in time.”

Malcolm Turnbull, the Federal Member for Wentworth, is adamant the savings announced by the government did not require the ABC to change programming.

“All of the savings can be found within operational efficiencies of the kind canvassed in the Lewis Efficiency Study,” Mr Turnbull said.

“The ABC will change programmes because it thinks something else will rate better, or it might think that the money spent on programme A can better spent on programme B, or it might think that money spent on television can be better spent on online. This is the normal business of a media company. The alternative (which some might like I grant you) is that nothing ever changes; a recipe for eventual irrelevance.

“There is a temptation for management to blame the government for some of these programme changes. That would be cowardly.”

Mr Thistlethwaite said he is hopeful the Shute Shield will be covered on another network.

“Given that many of the other networks are increasing their coverage of sports on their secondary channels, I would hope that it goes somewhere else,” he said.

“The beauty of the ABC covering the Shute Shield rugby is that it’s free to air and everyone knows where to go to view it. How many people in our community sit down on a Saturday arvo and turn on the ABC to watch the Shute Shield at 3pm? It has been a part of our community for many, many years and will be sadly missed.”