The World Game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For Buckminster Fuller's political game, see World Game.
- For the Doctor Who novel see World Game (Doctor Who).
| The World Game | |
|---|---|
 Andrew Orsatti, Branko Culina and Craig Foster on The World Game (24 September 2006) |
|
| Format | Sports |
| Starring | Craig Foster, David Basheer, Les Murray, Anthony Peridis, and Tony Palumbo. Regular guests include Rale Rasic, Branko Culina and Paul Okon. |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of episodes | unknown |
| Production | |
| Running time | 4 hours |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | SBS |
| Original run | 2001 – present |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
The World Game is an afternoon Sunday television show on SBS in Australia dedicated to football (soccer). Hosted by David Basheer, former Socceroo Craig Foster, and Les Murray, the show analytically reviews and previews football and footballing 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 the Serie A. Some footage is provided from Spain's La Liga and France's Ligue Un. Formerly matches from the German Bundesliga were covered. The English Premier League usually receives good coverage with highlights of Saturday games shown. Former Sydney FC coach Branko Culina is a regular contributor on discussion relating to Australian football. SBS has no broadcast rights to the A-League, the premier Australian football league, or the Australian national team.
The show, which first aired in 2001, has evolved from a 6-hour to a 4-hour show. Regular segments featured on the show include: The UCL magazine show and Fan's Corner with Damien Lovelock (now cancelled), a musician with a passion for the game.
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".
Contents |
[edit] Regular Segments
- Football Focus
- Local Game
- International Game
- Damien Lovelock's Fans' Corner (Removed 24/6/07)
- Do a games
[edit] World Cup and European Champions League Broadcasts
The SBS sports team responsible for this show also organise broadcasts from FIFA World Cups 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] 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 football news website run as an adjunct to the TV program. It includes a public forum called The World Game Forum. Commonly referred to by the abbreviation TWGF, the forum is one of the more popular football forums in Australia. It currently has over 18,000 members, who have contributed to over 800,000 articles.[1] It was first established in July 2002.
