The World Game
| The World Game | |
|---|---|
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| Format | Sports |
| Starring | Les Murray Craig Foster David Basheer |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of episodes | unknown |
| Production | |
| Running time | 1 hour |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | SBS Two 21:30 Monday SBS One 23:30 Monday (Replay) |
| Original run | 2001 – present |
The World Game is a Monday night television show on SBS in Australia dedicated to Soccer. It is currently hosted by David Basheer, former Socceroo Craig Foster, and Les Murray, the show analytically reviews and previews soccer and soccer issues from around the globe, albeit with an Australian focus. The World Game is the sport's only weekly program on free-to-air television in Australia.
Tony Palumbo, a seasoned journalist with the Italian migrant press in Australia, assists in providing some insights on major European leagues, primarily the English Premier League and Italian Serie A. Some footage is provided from Spain's La Liga, France's Ligue 1, Scotland's Scottish Premier League, South America's Copa Libertadores and Germany's Bundesliga. UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, other cup games and internationals (European Championship) also get game footage; mainly the Champions League. Former Sydney FC coach Branko Culina is a regular contributor on discussion relating to Australian soccer. SBS has no broadcast rights to the A-League, the premier Australian soccer league, or the Australian national team.
SBS avoids using the term "soccer" and often refers to it as "the beautiful game", "the world game" or simply as "football". The decision followed the majority of countries which call the game "football" (even though the game is called Soccer in Australia)
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[edit] Broadcast History
The show, which first aired in 2001, started out as a 6-hour show to a 3-hour show, airing on Sunday afternoons. Regular segments featured on the show include: Kids FC, The Wrap (with Mariana Rudan), Aussies Abroad, The Local Game, Football Focus, The Global Game, The International Game, Asian Champions League, Les Murray's Football Feature, Football Asia and UEFA Champions League Magazine.
From 2 August 2010, the show was moved to Monday on SBS Two at 9.30pm AEST, and repeated on SBS One at 11.30pm AEST. The show is shortened to one-hour episodes.
[edit] Regular Segments
- Football Focus
- The Local Game
- The Global Game
- The International Game
- Kids FC
- Aussies Abroad
- Les Murray's Football Feature
- The Wrap (with Mariana Rudan)
[edit] World Cup and European Champions League Broadcasts
The SBS sports team responsible for this show also organise broadcasts from FIFA World Cups, European Championship and the UEFA Champions League.
On every matchday of the Champions League one Wednesday and one Thursday match are broadcast live. Match callers are generally David Basheer and Gary Bloom, as well as Martin Tyler, who due to his reputation is selected for the major occasions, such as finals.
[edit] Current Contributors
- Ned Zelić
- Francis Awaritefe
- Anthony Peridis
- Tony Palumbo
- Mariana Rudan
- Rale Rasic
- Branko Culina
- Paul Okon
- Željko Kalac
- David Zdrilic
[edit] Previous Contributors
Simon Hill, who since moved to Fox, was an anchor. Telephone Reports from South America came often from Tim Vickery.
Liz Deep-Jones, Mieke Buchan and Stephanie Brantz had roles as general sports-news news announcer within the show. This type of position is no longer available in the current format.
Former host Andrew Orsatti has since moved to ESPN.
[edit] Website
The World Game website is a popular soccer news website run as an adjunct to the TV program. It used to include a forum called The World Game Forum, which has since ceased activity. Commonly referred to by the abbreviation TWGF, the forum was one of the more popular soccer forums in Australia. It had over 18,000 members, who have contributed to over 800,000 articles.[1] It was first established in July 2002.
[edit] Awards
In 2008, the program was nominated for a Logie Award in the 'Most Popular Sports Program' award catergory. It lost out to The AFL Footy Show.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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