A showdown for the W-League premiers’ plate becoming the latest fixture in the competition plagued by broadcast issues has left players and fans frustrated.
The clash between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory was only available on pay-TV streaming service Kayo, with many viewers complaining about the quality of the stream.
Princess Ibini’s second-half penalty, which put the Sky Blues’ two goals ahead on their way to an eventual 2-1 win, was missed by the broadcast with a glitch in the stream freezing the picture at the moment of her strike.
It’s not the first time this season host broadcaster Fox Sports has come under fire for the quality of their W-League coverage.
The company promised to deliver a product that “meets our expectations of quality” after vision of a technician in his lounge room, dubbed “Tuba Guy” on social media, was beamed to viewers for 30 seconds during a match in January.
Victory defender Angie Beard said the failure to widely broadcast Wednesday’s game and the technical issues was irritating.
“I feel bad for the viewers, for the girls,” Beard said.
“I know it was a important game for Sydney, being able to raise a trophy as premiers for the first time in about 10 years. It’s pretty bad that they can’t enjoy that to the fullest.
“We try to not let that affect us to a degree that it’s affecting our performance or our mentality or anything like that but, yeah, it’s pretty disappointing to have that occur in a big game like that.”
With the W-League finals series to be broadcast live on Fox Sports, ABC TV and Kayo, Beard is hopeful the issues are a thing of the past.
“With the World Cup coming up, it’d be great to see more support, more broadcasting,” she said.
“Just letting the fans get to see players that they know, that they love and being active supporters in the game would be awesome.”