Sam booted from footy show

[Charliewool]

Sam Newman has been removed from the Nine Network's Footy Show after months of damaging criticism against his "sexist" on-screen antics.

Newman has been involved in a number of sketches on the Comedy Show, including dressing and groping a plastic mannequin designed to appear as a Fairfax Media journalist.

The network last night removed Newman from the show, saying he needed to "recover and convalesce", News Limited newspapers report.

Newman was also told to attend counseling sessions following his on-screen battles and prostate surgery.

Nine's Jeffrey Browne said he regretted bringing Newman back so early.

"In order to allow Sam to return to full health without the stress of having to perform on live television each week, I have directed him to take a break from The Footy Show," he said.

"As a component of this rehabilitation, I have arranged for Sam to undergo counselling to address, with professional assistance, the behaviour and issues that have attended what I now believe to be his premature return to the program."

The Footy Show did lose a significant level of support among female viewers in particular, however Nine would not say when Newman would return.

He will not be seen during tonight's live show.

"Once Sam has had the opportunity to have the time off he always should have had off, and once I am fully satisfied he has fully recovered, he will be back," Mr Browne said.

The network said it was clear Newman had returned to the show with" underlying emotional issues" effecting his on-air performance.

[devilracer_01]

Good about time too, his belittling of people on street talk to 'get a kick out of it' is beyond a joke, and how he has got away with it is a joke in itself.

[jcxr]

Sam Newman IS the footy show. I'll take odds the ratings will plumet, and he will be back. Give it 3-4 weeks.

[TadKa]

People on street talk were probably thrilled to be on the telly. It's a shame that the one tv presenter that didnt give a hoot what people thought of him has been silenced. first from the radio now tv. Do we really want all of our presenters to be actors?

[4Vman]

In this age of political correctness anyone who expresses an opinion outside of that is going to have a short career....
Its a shame people have such thin skins to some of this stuff, even if you don't like him or his opinions he adds flavour to a very sanitised and scripted media world...

[|||]

sam should go because he's just not funny. i couldnt care less about him offending some feminists, but he's about as much fun to listen to as your local hobo.

[Hunter]

Good. He is a gigantic tool and always has been. I don't care what his background is, he is a tool. In fact he is a bigger tool than Akermanis is and that's saying something.

Why do I say this? Because he only says things to 'shock' people, and quite frankly that tactic is so passe/tired.

Its a shame his lover didn't do the job properly :

[gtxb67]

first eddie, now sam - i gave up the footy show in general when heckyl and jeckyl took over, but now it will be a total waste of time watching

[Neo_nick]

The Nine Network says Sam Newman will be coming back to The Footy Show.

Any speculation that Newman's removal from the show on Wednesday could be the end of his career at Nine were denied by network spokeswoman Michelle Stamper.

"Sam's taking time off to allow him to fully recover from his recent illnesses," Ms Stamper said.

"He will be returning."

She would not give a timeframe for his recovery and return to TV screens only to say "as long as it takes".

"This is about Sam - not about the other things going on," she said.

"It's about getting him right."

The move comes eight weeks after Newman groped a lingerie-clad mannequin, stapling an image on the mannequin's head of The Age newspaper's chief football writer Caroline Wilson and 12 weeks after undergoing prostate surgery.

Newman had 12 weeks earlier undergone life-saving prostate surgery.

Newman's actions caused outrage, with female viewers deserting the program and high-profile women making official complaints.

Meantime, a woman who has taken legal proceedings against Newman says she has no plans to withdraw the action.

Dr Susan Alberti, a prominent Melbourne businesswoman and an AFL Western Bulldogs board member, told AAP on Thursday there was no chance of her backing down.

Dr Alberti has launched defamatory action against Newman, the Nine Network, and the show's co-host Garry Lyon.

When asked if she planned to withdraw the action, Dr Alberti replied: "Oh no, oh no. I thought long and hard about that".

"My reputation was very much much tarnished. I had worked hard for the community for a long, long time, you know. That sort of thing did not go down very well with me, I was very upset.

"I gave them an opportunity to apologise, I wrote to them and asked them please to apologise. They didn't do it, they just ignored me and I was put in that position."

She said, for legal reasons, she could not say much at this time.

"Except to say, time will tell."

Dr Alberti was one of the signatories to a letter of complaint to Nine boss David Gyngell calling for the cast and crew of the show to receive counselling on their attitude towards women.

Newman responded by saying the signatories to the letter were "liars and hypocrites" and that women board members in football served "very little purpose".

He also said on air Dr Alberti had reserved two tables in the show's studio audience this season.

Dr Alberti said she had bid for the tables at a charity auction and donated them to another charity.

Earlier, Victorian Premier John Brumby said the Nine Network has made the right decision in ordering Newman to take an extended break from television.

Referring to the mannequin incident Mr Brumby told ABC radio that he didn't see the show in question.

"The reports I have of it, what he did was quite inappropriate, I think degrading of women in general, it was distasteful, it was not good television."

He believed Newman returned to television too early after his surgery.

"I think there are lots of people who have significant surgery, operations, changes in their life, and in today's world everything is hustle and bustle and you want to get back to the world, and for lots of people there is a shock to the system that I think people don't realise.

"Did he make a bad judgment on air? Yes, I think he did" he said.

[BHDOGS]

The fact he is a dool is the reason he will be back only reason big brother lasted so long is because they got the biggest bunch of tools whingers and pathetic stuck up people and put them in a big house i never watched it after the first season but alot of other idiots must of to keep the show going watching stupid people seems to be what other people love.

[TadKa]

Theres always other channels.. or even the off switch.
and the comment against Akermanis. Sure some things he says are a little out there. But at least he is a character thats not afraid to speak his mind. I think he is great for the game. I'm not a big fan of Mundine though and I guess he is similar.

[FGII-XR6]

he's a tossa and removing him was a good move. It's about time these has been sports men realise there are boundaries and if they cross them they will cop the concequences

[tex]

Newman is a spud. Infact a potatoe demonstrates a level of intelligence over and above the dross that flows from his mouth. He respects no one, or anything, and has contempt for all people that in his view are 'lesser' individuals than him. That pretty well means every one else..........

Maybe he'll learn from this, but me thinks not. he will use it to get more publicity and blame everyone else for being thin skinned, or what ever.

He has run his race, and should sit back and shut the f%^$ up.

[XRGreat]

That's right. What's happened to people's freedom of speech, if he is a tool don't watch him. If you like him watch the show. If people are offended by his comments and the only way they can get back at him is legally then get a life! There are more important issues out there, go to Iraq and see how Women are treated there, female circumcision and stonings for even looking at Men, now that's something to do something about.

[tex]

I just wish he'd found me to do a 'street talk' to. That would have been fun to give him what he dishes out, but lets see, bet that would have NEVER made it to air....

[Steffo]

Oh... its from the fake footy show. Right.

I'm first of all thinking "Who the $%# is Sam Newman," but you're not talking about the real footy show, the NRL one.

The other one (they show it later at night here) isn't even funny.

[mad-ef]

some of you people need to lighten up & learn to see the funny side of Sam personally i think he is good for a laugh because of his attitude he speaks his mind & doesn't hold back on anything & like someone else said there are worse places in the world where women have no rights like in Iraq but people jump up & down when someone has a joke like Sam Newman

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by Steffo

Oh... its from the fake footy show. Right.

I'm first of all thinking "Who the $%# is Sam Newman," but you're not talking about the real footy show, the NRL one.

The other one (they show it later at night here) isn't even funny.

You mean the AFL Footy Show: the first and original footy show from the largest and most popular Football code in Australia..?!

[Steffo]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

You mean the AFL Footy Show: the first and original footy show from the largest and most popular Football code in Australia..?!

Being more popular doesn't make something better :P

[FlipXW]

Originally Posted by Steffo

Being more popular doesn't make something better :P

Yeah just look at the commodore . Newman is pretty funny but, he's good for a laugh on what would be an extremely boring show otherwise.

[bingoTE50]

I think you will find Soccer is the biggest participation sport in Aus..

[TadKa]

40,000 spectations at an afl game would be empty. and they have 185 games a year. can the round ball divers or the ars.e sniffers match that?

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Steffo

Being more popular doesn't make something better :P

How can you consider ar*e sniffing to be a good activity?

I really didn't see what the big deal was with the Caroline Wilson mannequin, it was a piece of plastic for gods sake and just because he might have picked it up by the crotch didn't mean it was in any way a sexual act. Some things just get so blown out of proportion by these damn do gooders.

[irlewy86]

Originally Posted by bingoTE50

I think you will find Soccer is the biggest participation sport in Aus..

I think you'll find Netball has the highest particaption rate. But post World Cup that may have changed.


Anyway back on topic. I've always thought Newman was a couple of cards short of the full deck. I dare say removing his prostate affected him in a way he wont admit. Still the funniest thing I've seen in a long while was his pi**weak punch he threw at the Soccer fan who spat on him.

[Rodp]

I could give a rats about AFL but he's he certainly makes the footy show interesting. I haven't watched it in quite awhile but the only reason I did tune in at the time was to watch Sam going at it with someone.

You may not like him, you may not think he's all that funny but you can't question that he's interesting. Without him, the AFL footy show will suffer, IMO.

[tapeworm]

He's funny and entertaining, if you don't like, change channels, eat some crushed cement and harden up..

[Windsor220]

While I dont care about what he's done to cause his booting, I think it is time for him to go.

These days he just talks about crap and is starting to show his age. The show will survive without him.

[rodderz]

Sam's a legend....

He's not afraid to dish it out in this day and age where people get offended over the pettiest of things. It's becoming a nation of wusses!

Some things he overdoes but his choice of words and descriptions are legendary!

[uranium_death]

Sam is not gone.

He's become grumpy and the reality is that he is ageing. He's easily irritated and his memory isn't quite as good as it used to be.

Like many old men who remain single for too long, he's become filthy.

BUT he will be back. That was stated on THe Footy Show.
The news that he had been sacked is sensationalism at its best.

He will be back.

And if you think Rugby is so good, Canterbury Bulldogs are on a crusade for 10,000 members by 2010.
In the AFL, Melbourne has like 20,000 members and are at the bottom of the pile. Carlton and Collingwood both have 40,000+ members this year. That's impressive, despite Collingwood not having won a flag since 1990 and 1958 before then, and Carlton has won three wooden spoons between 2002 and 2006, without having finished last in its first 105 years in the VFL/AFL.

Canterbury won the premiership several seasons ago and you would think that such success would see the club thrive off-field in terms of membership...nope...still looking for the magical 10,000.

And AFL crowds are the best of any spectator sport in Australia.

The AFL Grand Final is also among the most watched programs of the calendar year.

[StAndArdAU]

I read somewhere the AFL has the 3rd highest average crowd attendance per year in the world.

'Sammy' Newman is an asset to Australian TV, without him its pretty damn boring. the Footy Show AFL is the only show i watch on free to air. This attack against him is getting blown out of proportion and bordering on ridiculous. The lady that was 'personified' by the manequin isnt even pressing charges, just some butch feminist is. and it has nothing to do with her.

And i was in Fremantle one time when he was doin 'Street Talk' and let me tell you, he was the one being approached by the people on the street, so he wasnt the one weeding out the strange ones, they offered themselves up on a silver platter.