AFL On Demand

[Demonland 73,834]

Anyone know what this is about?

I hope they open up the archives. If so shut up and take my money. 

I wonder how far back they’ll go and when did they start keeping archives of full matches from each and every match in a round?

[Dr. Gonzo 24,457]

On 9/22/2020 at 8:20 PM, Demonland said:

Anyone know what this is about?

I hope they open up the archives. If so shut up and take my money. 

I wonder how far back they’ll go and when did they start keeping archives of full matches from each and every match in a round?

I think they started keeping full games of every game each round sometime in the mid 90s when Optus vision started showing games on paytv. Maybe around 96/97.

There is a severe shortage of game footage prior to that and in particular prior to the early 90s. The story goes that either a fire damaged a lot of the film in channel 7s archive or another story is that they sent old footage to a tip as they didn't want to store it all in warehouses. That's why there was limited availability of old games through name a game when they were still kicking. They have most finals from the 80s and all Grand Finals going back to 1965 but home and away games from back then are extremely rare. Most footage that survives from the 70s, 80s and early 90s is due to individual collectors who recorded it off tv back then or had other ways to access it (for example I have a couple of games we played against Fitzroy, Brisbane and Richmond from the early 90s which seem to be the footage that was used for the scoreboard at the ground, single camera and no tv commentary. Some is silent whereas some has radio commentary of the game dubbed over the top).

I've been trading games with some collectors for about 10 years now and have a decent collection of old Melbourne games mainly dating from 1987 onwards. I have some older stuff though including a brief 5 minute clip of the 1964 game at Glenferrie Oval where Hassan Mann kicked a snap from the pocket to seal the win which I uploaded to YouTube.

I would be surprised if any on demand service included much from before the 90s with only select H&A games from the early 90s though I could be wrong. It would be great if they had even full versions of the Saturday Night Replay from the late 80s as I doubt they have many full H&A games. Back then when they had 6 games on a Saturday arvo they generally had tv crews at 2 games which they showed on the replay with single cameras filming the other games with no commentary. If anyone has the "Demon Attack 94" video you'll notice some games where the footage is single camera with no commentary, notably the first game against the Cats where Jakovich kicked 8 and high-fived a supporter in the crowd after a goal.

Edit - this thread on BigFooty among others has discussed the lack of footage available pre-90s

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/who-owns-the-afl-vfl-archive-of-games.538113/post-13936470

Edited September 23, 2020 by Dr. Gonzo

[Demonland 73,834]

Not quite what I was expecting or hoping for.

 

FROM today footy fans have a free entertainment destination with unlimited access to an extensive catalogue of AFL content series, documentaries, short films and historical footage, available on web and mobile via AFL.com.au and the AFL Live Official App, with thanks to Telstra.

[Dee man 303]

Pretty disappointing so far. Looks like they're just moving all their existing video content onto a new website. Mind you, AFL Media does make some pretty good content (I think back to the 'Don't Believe in Never' films they made last year), but here's hoping they don't chuck all of it behind a paywall.

[Demonland 73,834]

1 minute ago, Dee man said:

Pretty disappointing so far. Looks like they're just moving all their existing video content onto a new website. Mind you, AFL Media does make some pretty good content (I think back to the 'Don't Believe in Never' films they made last year), but here's hoping they don't chuck all of it behind a paywall.

I'd assume at some point there will be a bait and switch and it will all be behind a paywall.

I'd be happy to pay a subscription if they had all the available match archives on there.

[Sir Why You Little 37,341]

On 9/23/2020 at 9:59 PM, Dr. Gonzo said:

I think they started keeping full games of every game each round sometime in the mid 90s when Optus vision started showing games on paytv. Maybe around 96/97.

There is a severe shortage of game footage prior to that and in particular prior to the early 90s. The story goes that either a fire damaged a lot of the film in channel 7s archive or another story is that they sent old footage to a tip as they didn't want to store it all in warehouses. That's why there was limited availability of old games through name a game when they were still kicking. They have most finals from the 80s and all Grand Finals going back to 1965 but home and away games from back then are extremely rare. Most footage that survives from the 70s, 80s and early 90s is due to individual collectors who recorded it off tv back then or had other ways to access it (for example I have a couple of games we played against Fitzroy, Brisbane and Richmond from the early 90s which seem to be the footage that was used for the scoreboard at the ground, single camera and no tv commentary. Some is silent whereas some has radio commentary of the game dubbed over the top).

I've been trading games with some collectors for about 10 years now and have a decent collection of old Melbourne games mainly dating from 1987 onwards. I have some older stuff though including a brief 5 minute clip of the 1964 game at Glenferrie Oval where Hassan Mann kicked a snap from the pocket to seal the win which I uploaded to YouTube.

I would be surprised if any on demand service included much from before the 90s with only select H&A games from the early 90s though I could be wrong. It would be great if they had even full versions of the Saturday Night Replay from the late 80s as I doubt they have many full H&A games. Back then when they had 6 games on a Saturday arvo they generally had tv crews at 2 games which they showed on the replay with single cameras filming the other games with no commentary. If anyone has the "Demon Attack 94" video you'll notice some games where the footage is single camera with no commentary, notably the first game against the Cats where Jakovich kicked 8 and high-fived a supporter in the crowd after a goal.

Edit - this thread on BigFooty among others has discussed the lack of footage available pre-90s

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/who-owns-the-afl-vfl-archive-of-games.538113/post-13936470

The single Camera footage you mentioned was filmed for News purposes. When i was at The ABC we would send a single Cameraman to the games Ch7 were not covering. Was always great watching those tapes with just crowd noise. 
Sometimes we would add ABC Radio if it was a classic. But i doubt many would be around today. Betacam Tapes are from long ago

Youtube is it today. There has been a lot uploaded

[Dee man 303]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

I'd assume at some point there will be a bait and switch and it will all be behind a paywall.

I suspect you are right. If that happens, though, you'd hope that things like match highlights and post-match press conferences still remain accessible for all fans without a fee.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,457]

6 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

The single Camera footage you mentioned was filmed for News purposes. When i was at The ABC we would send a single Cameraman to the games Ch7 were not covering. Was always great watching those tapes with just crowd noise. 
Sometimes we would add ABC Radio if it was a classic. But i doubt many would be around today. Betacam Tapes are from long ago

Youtube is it today. There has been a lot uploaded

Yeah like I said I've got some of those games I've obtained from trading with other collectors, some are silent, some have crowd noise only and some have the radio commentary dubbed over the top

[Sir Why You Little 37,341]

30 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah like I said I've got some of those games I've obtained from trading with other collectors, some are silent, some have crowd noise only and some have the radio commentary dubbed over the top

I wonder if you have some of my old tapes

They circulated about 15 years ago

[Wiseblood 24,637]

7 hours ago, Demonland said:

I'd assume at some point there will be a bait and switch and it will all be behind a paywall.

I'd be happy to pay a subscription if they had all the available match archives on there.

What archives do they have?

As you say, I would look at the service if it offered games from the 90's and 2000's, but have no interest in anything else.

[Demonland 73,834]

33 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

What archives do they have?

As you say, I would look at the service if it offered games from the 90's and 2000's, but have no interest in anything else.

I guess they have all the matches from mid to late 90s onwards (when they started filming every game for Optus Vision back in the day as someone above mentioned). 

I assume they have a large collection of other random games and finals from earlier. 

I’m only interested in any Demons game they have and I’d pay a subscription for that. 

I’m not interested in paying for what they’re offering now. 

[layzie 34,375]

Sounds exciting! Where do we sign?

[Sir Why You Little 37,341]

10 minutes ago, Demonland said:

I guess they have all the matches from mid to late 90s onwards (when they started filming every game for Optus Vision back in the day as someone above mentioned). 

I assume they have a large collection of other random games and finals from earlier. 

I’m only interested in any Demons game they have and I’d pay a subscription for that. 

I’m not interested in paying for what they’re offering now. 

It also depends on whether they have access to the HSV7 Archive 

I am not sure what happened to all their archives when they moved from Dorcas Street

[Dr. Gonzo 24,457]

13 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

It also depends on whether they have access to the HSV7 Archive 

I am not sure what happened to all their archives when they moved from Dorcas Street

When did they move?

[Sir Why You Little 37,341]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

When did they move?

Over 10 years ago. Can’t recall exactly