From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli

IT is impossible to believe the moving of Saturday night football from free-to-air to streaming television is exactly what the followers wanted! According to the AFL CEO Andrew Dillon it is the consequence of a decision to “…listen to the fans!”

Unequivocally, everyone loved Saturday night football. It represented a national E/W/N/S spirit-of-togetherness. It is arrant nonsense to suggest its demise is what audiences wanted. It could be posited, with surety, the reasoning is about maximising revenue. The AFL’s $4.5-billion media contract, which extends to 2031, grants pay-services Fox Footy and Kayo exclusive rights for Saturday AFL live-games.

I love the spectacle, but I am no expert. I telephone Ed McGuire, Sam Newman, or Dermot Brereton for advice; however, I am not ignorant of the important role the game plays in society. I had no inkling Ed McGuire and the Footy Show were gifting me the one of the richest periods of my career. My ten-years on the show brought me into contact with a whole range of devoted and engaging ‘footy desperados’ whom I would never have met.

I use public transport. During the time I appeared on the television I talked on trams with hundreds of men and women. It was fascinating. I like people, and it was reciprocated. They discovered we had more in common than was realised. We sat together and chatted about the game; the players; the Footy Show; Sam and Ed; their lives; how much the game to meant to them, especially those souls who were struggling on the fringe of society; and a bit of harmless gossip to spread about.

Unlike anything I have done in the theatre, footy has an inordinate capacity to bring together people. Good fortune had not smiled so kindly on some whom I met, but many were more aware than one might suppose. While it represented no impediment, in 7-cases-out-of-ten the opening gambit was: “I’m sorry, Roland, I am not educated like you!” It was the magnitude of ‘football’ which imbued them the daring to say, “hello”, and to engage in an equal exchange. Fame is a parasite. Celebrity is much over-rated — it is the cannon of the work which counts. While it is gratifying to be recognised for creative effort, it does not set you apart. Conversely, it takes very little time-and-effort to change the colour of someone’s day. The Footy Show achieved that. It was the social leveller.

These are financially straitened times. Subscription football is not everyone’s alternative. Sadly, the AFL has become élitiste and budgetarily out-of-reach for many grassroots supporters — those parents with young children who are struggling to balance the housekeeping. A $25- or $40-monthly Kayo subscription may seem trifling to those who move in a rarified fiscal atmosphere, but for some it is the difference between having, or not. Those punters whom the AFL has slighted should think about transferring their loyalty and supporting a local regional team. The games are family affordable and there is a real spirit of community ­ — as footy should be!

The AFL’S spurious decision to deny many the joy of Saturday night footy is wrong and lamentable.

Roland is heard with Brett Macdonald — radio 3BA Monday at 10.45 a.m. Contact: [email protected]