The AFL Footy Show cancelled after 25 years
The AFL Footy Show has been unceremoniously cancelled by Channel Nine after 25 years on the air.
The network announced the decision in a statement released after Thursday night’s episode concluded.
The 735th and last episode was broadcast without publicising its demise.
“It is with regret that The Footy Show will no longer be produced,” Nine Melbourne managing director Matt Scriven said.
“It has been a tough decision to end the program that has been such a trailblazer but sadly the new show has not captured audiences in the way we hoped.”
The axing follows a significant drop in ratings just months into a shake-up and sees the iconic program leave television.
The name will live on through the Sunday Footy Show.
Failed changes
The NRL Footy Show was cancelled by Channel Nine at the end of last season.
In their final seasons both programs were nearly unrecognisable from their iconic past, with the AFL edition up against stiff competition from Channel 7’s The Front Bar.
Fox Sports presenter Neroli Meadows and comedian Anthony Lehmann were installed as hosts of the AFL Footy Show this year.
I’m bloody disappointed The Footy Show has been cancelled but I’m grateful for the opportunity to host it with Nez, Fev, Dylan and Crawf and am really proud of the shows we made. Our team were brilliant and spare a thought for the crew, some of whom had been there for 25 years!
— lehmo (@lehmo23) May 9, 2019
The show was made famous by the likes of Eddie McGuire, Sam Newman and comedian Trevor Marmalade.
“I’m sad because it’s the end of a run for a great show,” McGuire said on Triple M radio on Friday morning.
“It’s gone for 26 years, when we first started the show we were told we had six weeks to make it rate and here we are 26 years later and we got 729 more episodes out of it than anybody thought.
“It’s been a huge success. It’s transformed football, certainly the entertainment and the commercialisation of the game. So we’re hugely proud of that.”
