Footy on the airwaves

By Jessica Howard

Cross town football rivals Darley and Bacchus Marsh will receive equal airtime on Apple 98.5fm this season.

The community radio station will cover the two football and netball teams equally, with all home games broadcast live throughout the Ballarat Football League season.

Bill Mansell, Apple 98.5 Secretary and Treasurer, said it was a huge decision to give the BFL coverage a shake-up.

“For a number of years, we have been doing Match of the Round, where we co-broadcast with Melton,” he said.

“That meant we were often broadcasting two Ballarat teams, or two Melton teams; so this year we decided to just really focus on our town”.

Mr Mansell said the schedule created by Apple 98.5fm meant both teams received equal air time.

“The way this year’s fixture works is that sometimes the two teams play at home together, both away in Ballarat or both at home in Bacchus Marsh. We have therefore made the decision of which team we would choose for that match, with both teams receiving the same amount of broadcasting time”.

The broadcasting team consists of Todd Whelan, an experienced broadcaster from multiple different stations; Wayne Miller from Apple 98.5fm, Bill Lucas and students from Ballarat Grammar School.

“We decided to put a call out for any students who may be interested in sports journalism, or anything else in the field,” Mr Mansell said.

“We got a few responses back and a couple of students from Grammar will be helping; one will work in the box and the other will be on the ground, and if they want to swap they can. This will be a good experience for them as they can get right into the game, taking scores for both football and netball, and sticking the microphone in the face of the coach when they can”.

The live broadcast will kick off with the senior grand final replay between Darley and Bacchus Marsh on Saturday April 21 at 2pm Maddingley Park.