Beau Ryan’s classic response to Footy Show axing

Beau Ryan has issued a typically tongue-in-cheek statement after the NRL Footy Show was axed after 25 years on air. Channel Nine released a statement on Tuesday confirming the show, first aired in 1994 with Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin as host, had been cancelled. “It’s been an incredible ride for The Footy Show,” Nine’s sport director Tom Malone said. “A quarter of a century of laughs, controversy and first-class footy analysis.” Ryan took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon to address the news.

“Thanks 4 the memories, & if anyone needs me I’ll be halfway up the Centrelink queue,” Ryan tweeted alongside a photo of Vautin, Erin Molan and Darryl Brohman. Thank you 2 everyone that contributed to the Footy Show over the last 25 years.I grew up idolising Matty Johns,Sterlo,Chief & to work with Fatty was a dream come true.Erin & Big marn are legends.Thanks 4 the memories, & if anyone needs me I’ll be halfway up the Centrelink queue..

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’.”

Liz Ellis hits out at critics of Footy Show host Erin Molan

AUSSIE netball legend Liz Ellis has come out swinging at critics of Footy Show host and Nine stablemate Erin Molan.Ellis made an impassioned defence of her Channel 9 colleague on Wednesday night, the day after Nine announced its decision to axe the iconic NRL panel program after 25 years. Molan’s prominence as host during its death spiral final season in 2018 saw the 35-year-old come under fire from critics and viewers. Many of the show’s long-running fans still blame Molan for the axing of former host Paul Vautin, something Vautin himself has never voiced. However, critics of the show saved their greatest criticism for the Channel 9 sports presenter — with some going as far as to declare Molan “killed” the Footy Show.

Ellis took aim at those critics in a column for Nine.com.au, where she concluded the extraordinary vitriol directed at Molan can only be the result of her being a woman. “Anyone taking over from Fatty Vautin was always going to be on a hiding to nothing; he was synonymous with the show and is well loved because of it,” Ellis wrote. “So whoever the new host was, male or female, they would have come under fire when the show got axed. “But the commentary about Erin has been incredibly personal, including attacking her for going on maternity leave, so it leaves you no choice but to think this is about her being a woman and daring to take on The Footy Show. “I thought things had changed, but maybe they haven’t.”

Controversy erupts over 'sexist' treatment of Erin Molan

Liz Ellis has come out swinging after Erin Molan was blamed for the demise of the NRL Footy Show. The show’s 25-year run on Australian television came to an end on Tuesday when it was axed. The long-running Thursday night program attempted to reinvent itself this season under new presenter Molan. But it did little to stem the tide, and as news broke that the show had been canned on Tuesday, fans took aim at Molan.

Aussie netball legend Ellis has since hit back at the hate, suggesting the criticism is simply because Molan is a woman. “Anyone taking over from Fatty Vautin was always going to be on a hiding to nothing; he was synonymous with the show and is well loved because of it,” Ellis wrote for Nine. “So whoever the new host was, male or female, they would have come under fire when the show got axed. “But the commentary about Erin has been incredibly personal, including attacking her for going on maternity leave, so it leaves you no choice but to think this is about her being a woman and daring to take on The Footy Show. “I thought things had changed, but maybe they haven’t.” Ellis was particularly furious with backlash around Molan’s decision to take time away from the show when she gave birth.