OPINION

LIKE many others my children were hanging for the NRL season to kick off again.

For weekends to be spent watching the footy and for the family tipping comp to cause regular arguments over dinner each week.

But already another argument has started in our house.

“Can we go to the footy?”

It’s local derby day and as a family split down the middle with Cronulla Sharks and St George Illawarra Dragons fans this is generally a big affair in our house.

Well it would have been, if the local derby wasn’t being played in the infamous 8.05pm Thursday night spot.

For us it’s an hour trip to and from most grounds and with an 8.05pm kick off that means not getting home before 11pm — at the absolute earliest. Something that for us, and most other families, is just unrealistic on a school night.

While staying up to watch the game at home is hard enough, getting to the game in person is absolutely out of the question.

In a world where TV is king and actual game attendance numbers seem of little concern to those who call the shots, fans find themselves left to be sucked into the TV vortex that pushes sporting coverage to after dark and beyond.

So here we are stuck in a Thursday evening limbo, not headed to the game, but forced to wait until 8.05pm before we can even begin to cheer on our teams as they run onto the field.

We’re up against a digital world that calls for ubiquitous news coverage, with Channel Nine airing no less than four separate news based shows between 3pm and 7.30pm, only then to be faced with a half-hour long preamble to discuss the game we’re already struggling to stay awake for.

While the preamble gives has-been stars a chance to relive their glory days and can highlight the occasional points of interest, it punishes fans and is completely unnecessary for the viewership in order to enjoy the game.

Let’s not forget that this apparently beneficial preamble then pushes the new, and arguably, improved The Footy Show into what might as well be oblivion with a 9.55pm start time. Which, of course, will then inevitably be delayed with golden-point matches or any interruptions to planned broadcasts.

Even if I manage to stay awake to see the 80 minutes draw to a close I’m going to struggle to stay awake an extra 10 minutes; barely even giving Erin Molan, Ryan Girdler and Beau Ryan the chance to revive a show that took its last breath years ago.

You only have to look at the numbers to see the impact it’s having on the game. For round one last week, Thursday night footy and The Footy Show came 15th and 16th respectively in metro free-to-air television ratings.

There were more people interested in watching celebrities eat bugs or chasing their way to a money win.

Even Gogglebox came in at a respectable 6th place. There were literally more people interested in watching other people watch TV than there were interested in game one of the 2018 NRL season.

For a sport that continues to fight its tarnished image, it seems NRL executives have forgotten one essential thing. You can’t make fans fall in love with the game they once adored if you’re not giving families a chance to actually get to the game.

While we live in a 24/7 world the late game schedules for Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays mean the reality is the next generation of NRL fans are tucked up in bed minutes after kick-off.

Unfortunately while TV money talks and already dwindling crowd numbers continue to walk it seems like the family ritual of footy weekends will continue to decline and outings to the footy will be limited to the elusive Sunday afternoon games.