Matty Johns reveals the Footy Show's biggest downfall

The shock axing of the Footy Show was inevitable, according to one of its former stars and rugby league personality Matty Johns. After 25 years running on Aussie television, the Nine Network decided to dump the ailing rugby league program. Johns said once the network decided to ditch long-time host Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin, they needed to re-brand it entirely. “If it’s not Fatty Vautin, it’s not the Footy Show,” Johns told Triple M’s The Grill Team. The shock axing of the Footy Show was inevitable, according to one of its former stars and rugby league personality Matty Johns. After 25 years running on Aussie television, the Nine Network decided to dump the ailing rugby league program. Johns said once the network decided
to ditch long-time host Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin, they needed to re-brand it entirely. “If it’s not Fatty Vautin, it’s not the Footy Show,” Johns told Triple M’s The Grill Team. “When I heard that Fatty wasn’t going to do it any more, firstly I thought they should have renamed it.” Johns spent a few years working on the Footy Show, producing classic moments and developing characters for comedic relief, including the popular Reg Reagan. Despite being offered a gig to return to the program six years ago, Johns eventually turned it down due to differing opinions with the network. “I said ‘yep, okay no problem’, but I don’t want to go back if it’s going back to the Footy Show,” Johns said. “I believed a little time ago, and everyone’s entitled to their opinion, it was time to reinvent it completely — new name, new everything, new show. “We sort of got a fair way down the path and they said ‘no, no we still believe the Footy Show is still a big brand and we want to keep it at that’. “And I said ‘look guys, no offence I can understand why you want to do that, ‘cause the AFL one is still flying a little bit, but I’m out. I’m not going to go back’.”