No. of seasons 13 First episode date 30 March 2002 Language English | Original language(s) English Running time 270 minutes Number of seasons 13 | |
Starring Luke Darcy (Host/Commentator)Basil Zempilas (Chief Commentator)Matthew Richardson (Commentator)Cameron Ling (Field Commentator)Andrew Welsh (Field Commentator) Original network Seven Network (2012–present)7mate (2012-present)Network Ten (2002–2011)One (2009-2011)Fox Footy (Simulcast) Genre Broadcasting of sports events Similar Talking Footy, Friday Front Bar, Before the Game, Seven Sport, Weekend Sunrise | ||
In Australia, Saturday Night Footy (formerly as Saturday Night Football) is the broadcasting of Australian Football League (AFL) Saturday night matches on television. Saturday Night Footy is generally considered to be one of the biggest stages and generates publicity for the clubs involved. It is for this reason that clubs involved generally want to perform at their best to avoid large-scale criticism from the media. The Seven Network have the broadcast rights for the AFL starting from the 2012 season.
The commentary team is led by Basil Zempilas, Cameron Ling, Luke Darcy and Matthew Richardson. Samantha Lane provides reports during the match and also features as a reporter during the pre-match segment, which runs one hour before the feature match is played. Dr. Peter Larkins provides injury updates during and after the feature match. The show begins at 6:30pm every Saturday night, immediately following Seven News in most markets.
The pre-match show is anchored by Taylor and runs for one hour in the lead-up to the feature match. This portion of the telecase includes, among others, segments such as: interviews with players and the coaches involved in the feature match, going behind-the-scenes of a team's training session, and featuring various celebrity guests. Rachael Finch, Lleyton Hewitt and Redfoo, among others, have featured as guests on Saturday Night Footy. One of the more popular segments of the pre-match show is the "lie-detector test", in which either a member of the commentary team, or a player from one of the clubs that are to feature in the AFL match, is asked an array of questions relating to many topics such as the happenings at their club, or their personal lives.
The post-match show, anchored by Taylor, reviews the match in detail, and includes interviews with the players and coaches from both sides. The team also crosses to Basil Zempilas, at Footy Central, to recap the rest of the day's matches, and also to provide injury and player updates from those matches.
The original Saturday Night Footy telecast may not air into some states, as the current broadcasting contract requires the local teams to be televised into their respective states (for example, Saturday night matches involving the Brisbane Lions must be televised into Queensland). The pre-match show may also be omitted from the schedule if a local team's match being played in the twilight timeslot (i.e. 4:40pm) is televised and overlaps into the 6:30pm timeslot.
During Seven's exclusively live broadcast of the AFL Grand Final as part of the 2012-2016 Broadcast Deal, the Saturday Night Footy team host both the pre-match show and the post-match show.