Michelle and Ed Wyatt: The Footy Evangelists
06/27/20 • 49 min
US Revolution features Mason Cox, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series features additional interviews with Paul Roos, Mason Cox, Jason Holmes, ESPN's Bob Ley and former VFL / AFL star John Ironmonger.
Since the resumption of the AFL season the interest in Australian football from the US has continued , with now Fox Sports and ESPN both carrying matches in the USA. But the idea of how to make the AFL an ongoing success beyond the spike of interest during COVID-19 is a challenging one.
In a previous episode of US Revolution we spoke to Bob Ley – an ESPN original who was there in the heady days of the early 80s when Australian rules had a prime spot in the schedule because of the lack of rights to the major US sports.
BY the 90s ESPN had fallen out of love with the sport as it bounced around irregular scheduling on the network. For expats and US converts it hit rock bottom when the broadcast of a Grand Final was delayed by a baseball game.
One of our own, Ed Wyatt, and his Australian sports television producing wife Michelle were two of those who thought the game deserved better in the 90s. Michelle was producing for Fox Sports in the US and decided it was time Australian football was given a proper push.
On TGSTW Presents US REV - we talk to Michelle, and Ed, about how they got Fox Sports to televise the AFL in the US during the 90s and the highs and lows of trying to push our game into the American TV market.
The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
US Revolution features Mason Cox, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series features additional interviews with Paul Roos, Mason Cox, Jason Holmes, ESPN's Bob Ley and former VFL / AFL star John Ironmonger.
Since the resumption of the AFL season the interest in Australian football from the US has continued , with now Fox Sports and ESPN both carrying matches in the USA. But the idea of how to make the AFL an ongoing success beyond the spike of interest during COVID-19 is a challenging one.
In a previous episode of US Revolution we spoke to Bob Ley – an ESPN original who was there in the heady days of the early 80s when Australian rules had a prime spot in the schedule because of the lack of rights to the major US sports.
BY the 90s ESPN had fallen out of love with the sport as it bounced around irregular scheduling on the network. For expats and US converts it hit rock bottom when the broadcast of a Grand Final was delayed by a baseball game.
One of our own, Ed Wyatt, and his Australian sports television producing wife Michelle were two of those who thought the game deserved better in the 90s. Michelle was producing for Fox Sports in the US and decided it was time Australian football was given a proper push.
On TGSTW Presents US REV - we talk to Michelle, and Ed, about how they got Fox Sports to televise the AFL in the US during the 90s and the highs and lows of trying to push our game into the American TV market.
The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Previous Episode
Dani Marshall: The First
Mason Cox and Jason Holmes are unbelievable recent stories in AFL history, elite athletes from one part of the world being hand-picked without any knowledge of the game and transformed into senior AFL players over a period of time within a full-time professional set-up.
But Danielle Marshall is a story perhaps even more unlikely, an American athlete who stumbled across the sport on TV, became a fan and then longed for a chance to play it.
Then when she finally found a way to play the Australian game in the USA year later, her progression was so quick that within 19 months she had become the first player to be directly recruited from the USAFL to AFLW, perhaps the the first time a player in an Australian football league based overseas has progressed to the highest level in Australia.
Now a Western Bulldogs player who has just had a taste of her first AFLW season with a fairytale beginning, Dani Marshall joins us on TGSTW US Revolution to talk about her footy journey.
US Revolution features Mason Cox, Shannon Gill and American broadcaster Ed Wyatt in an exploration of Australian Rules Football's US connections. The 8-part series features additional interviews with Paul Roos, Mason Cox, Jason Holmes, ESPN's Bob Ley and former VFL / AFL star John Ironmonger.
The Greatest Season That Was is produced by Jay Mueller and is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Next Episode
Darren Bennett: The All-Star
Through this series we’ve looked at how Australian Rules has found its way into the lives of Americans in the most unlikely circumstances. But for the final episode we’re going to look at things in reverse. A time when US sport found something they liked about Australian Rules and turned it into an asset.
Darren Bennett was a high quality full forward in the VFL/AFL whose trademark was his booming right foot kick for goal. But when injuries curtailed his career at Melbourne Football Club, he was expected to fade off into the distance. Nobody expected him to have a second life in professional sport.
That this second life would eclipse his aussie rules career and make him a legend in America’s favourite sport makes it one of the most unlikely sporting success stories on either side of the Pacific. His legacy paved the way for many Australians in the US.
AFL and NFL star Darren Bennett joins us all the way from Tulsa, Oklahoma on TGSTW Presents US Revolution
The Greatest Season That Was Presents is part of the Bad Producer Podcast Network and is produced by Jay Mueller.
Edited by Dave Collins.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TGSTW
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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