As the Matildas look towards their quarter-final clash against France, they have captured the hearts of our nation and are smashing ratings records along the way. This has forced Channel 7 to a rare move ahead of Saturday’s game against France.
The Matildas are riding the green and gold wave and have made it all the way to the World Cup quarter-finals where they’re playing France at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday at 5 pm AEST.
Proving how big the occasion is not only for Australian sport but women’s sport, the game is airing on 7’s main channel and they are pushing back their nightly news bulletin.
The bulletin has only been pushed back on 3 occasions previously, those being in 2003 when Steve Waugh hit a magical 100 at the SCG, Michael Clarke took 3 wickets in the final over of the game to beat India in 2008 and Dylan Alcott’s last ever Australian Open in 2022. So this is truly a special occasion as it has never been done for a women’s sporting event.
The quarter-final kicks off at 5 pm AEST and 7 have guaranteed the game to be broadcast on their main channel and pushed their news bulletin back to at least 7 pm AEST.
If the game goes into extra time or even a penalty shoot-out, this could cause chaos for the station as they also have AFL blockbuster Carlton v Melbourne which is set to start at 7.30 pm AEST. So the station would be forced to move the beginning of the AFL finals deciding game to sister channel 7Mate.
Channel 7 AFL commentator and former Hockeyroos star Georgie Parker summed up the enormity of the situation in one single tweet.
Before the World Cup I wondered whether Seven would put the Matilda’s on the main channel over the AFL? Well Seven have just said they’re putting the Matilda’s on the main channel, pushing back THE NEWS.
— Georgie Parker (@georgieparker) August 9, 2023
Unprecedented.
The news is the anchor of every network. Huge.
