End of Aussie Rules in UK / Ireland / America?

Nice, tough and grinding win for Geelong over West Coast on Sunday. Didn't get to watch it live as I down in London for the (ill-fated) Twenty20 of the Aussie and Scottish sides, but recorded it, and watched last night from the comfort of home. Is this the last time this will happen?

Today's news is that Irish pay TV company Setanta are pretty much knackered and may shut down altogether this week as they head first into administration and then inevitably receivership once the creditors call it in. While rights such as English Premier League, FA Cup and England games will be snapped up pretty quick, there's little chance of anyone wanting AFL or NRL rights. And the poor old SPL may end up with nada, and the various GAA sports too.

As well as their Sports 1, 2 and Golf channels, Setanta also package up the various club football channels such as Rangers TV, Arsenal TV, Liverpool TV, Chelsea TV. And, interestingly, ESPN, the Mickey Mouse (Disney) owned global sports media giant's European channel. ESPN, fresh from ruining Cricinfo's simple website layout, are keen to get into the UK market and bid for the EPL rights last time round but lost out to Setanta and Sky, and are believed to be keen to pick over and carcuses left from Setanta.

While I hope it doesn't eventuate, looks like it'll be a reality soon enough. If ESPN takes over in an orderly fashion perhaps the coverage won't be interupted, but we'll see.

Sports covered by Setanta (other than football):

AFL
NRL
Indian Premier League Cricket
Rugby (various UK / Irish professional comps)
GAA (Hurling; football)
F1 Grand Prix Racing (in Ireland)
'UFC' (boxing / other fighting)
Major League Baseball
NBA
PGA Tour Golf


AFL 2009 ROUND 11 WEST COAST EAGLES V GEELONG CATS

GEELONG 5.1 7.5 12.7 15.9 (99) DEFEATED
WEST COAST 1.3 5.6 8.9 11.11 (77)

GOALS
GEELONG: Chapman 3, Hawkins 3, Ablett 2, Byrnes 2, Mooney, Stokes, Gamble, S Johnson, T Varcoe
WEST COAST: McKinley 2, Brown 2, Lynch 2, Cox, Kennedy, LeCras, Rosa, S Selwood

BEST
GEELONG: Ablett, Chapman, Ling, Scarlett, J Selwood
WEST COAST: Cox, Stenglein, Hunter, A Selwood, Hurn, Glass

English Football journos are clowns

Monday; Carlo Ancelotti is appointed as the new Chelsea manager. His very first interview, admittedly covered by ChelseaTV, is entirely in English. He may have even thrown in the odd 'to be honest' line just so show his street cred, but alas no 'nowotameaaaaan?'. Yet, the first thing analysts say is "well he really needs to improve on his English". Only one bloke, I think he was a normal Sky News (not Sky Sports News) reporter put someone back into their box. When the main news presenter said something about him only having managed in Italy (well only the premier league in the world over the past 15 years on average for those with short memories) and couldn't speak English properly. The reporter, on the scene at Stanford Bridge, pointed out that a. he managed AC Milan including UCL wins and b. only three players at Chelsea actually speak English as their mother tongue, the rest Carlo can deal with in Spanish, Italian, French etc as he pleases.

Ever since all I read I hear is about how his first battle is to learn English. FFS.... move on you gits.

Cats smash Bombers; Looking forward to weekend down in London for Twenty20 Cricket

Geelong gave the Bombers a decent old hiding at the former Phone Dome last Sunday. Didn't get to watch or listen to the game, just caught up with the news that morning.

The Cats thumped Essendon by sixty-four points in front of just under 49,000 punters. Steve Johnson went one better than last week with six goals, while Cameron Mooney enjoyed his first game back from suspension bagging four. While the Bombers opened the goal scoring on the night, the Cats booted the next six to build a thirty-three point lead at quarter time and were never challenged from that point onwards, although the Bombers did outscore them six goals to three in the final term. Joel Corey was a late withdrawal with a footy injury, replaced by Shannon Byrnes who himself missed last week. Geelong skipper Tom Harley is another injury concern, having left the field clutching his right hamstring and set to miss at least the next two games.

GEELONG 6.4, 12.7, 17.13, 20.14 (134) DEFEATED
ESSENDON 1.1, 3.1, 5.3, 11.4 (70)

GOALS
GEELONG: S.Johnson 6, Mooney 4, Selwood 2, Byrnes 2, Ablett 2, Ling 2, Rooke, Varcoe
ESSENDON: Neagle 3, Hocking 2, Lloyd, Dyson, McVeigh, Lonergan, Lovett, Stanton

BEST
GEELONG: S.Johnson, Selwood, Scarlett, Mackie, Ablett, Enright, Mooney, Byrnes, Ling
ESSENDON: Houli, Hooker, Hocking, Lovett

INJURIES
GEELONG: Harley (hamstring); Corey (foot - 'plantar fasciitis'), replaced in selected side by Byrnes; Rooke / Selwood - clash of heads
ESSENDON: Bellchambers (knee)

CROWD: 48,852 at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne Docklands