CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
One week into the 2022 FIFA World Cup and almost everything is as strange and unpleasant as would be expected when sporting administrators take millions of dollars in bribes from repressive autocracies in an effort to sportswash their horrific track record on human rights.
Last minute changes to programming from the hosts, bizarrely shocking on-field upsets, and even weirder reports coming back from tourists in the streets of Qatar – this world cup may in fact be the lowest that FIFA has ever sunk.
However, with all the moving parts needed to pull off an event of this scale, there’s only been one reliable contributor who has not let anyone down.
Because they never do. It’s Australia’s official world cup broadcast partner, SBS.
Aside from one month every four years, the publicly funded SBS (special broadcasting service) mostly sticks to serving viewers horny Scandinavian true crime dramas and Korean song competitions. But when it comes to soccer, they do not fuck around.
This is more evident than ever this world cup, when compared to the colossal binfire that was the 2018 Optus Streaming partnership.
With Australia’s greatest footballing minds on post and pre-match panels, non-English options, full replays, 30 minute recaps, 10 minute recaps, 2 minute recaps, and uninterrupted live broadcasts – the SBS has reminded Australians that the rights to the FIFA World Cup are best left to the fucken pros.
The SBS never crashes, and never makes excuses. They were doing this shit before anyone was talking about soccer in Australia, and they’ll be still doing it when we finally win the fucken thing at the 2034 Ukraine FIFA World Cup.
