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| Friday Night Football | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports broadcast |
| Starring | See List of Commentators |
| Opening theme | "No one stands alone" by Extreme Music |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 24 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 180 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Network Ten (1988–1991) Nine Network (1992–present) 9Gem (2012–present) Fox Sports (2016) Fox League (2017–present) |
| Release | 17 June 1988 – present |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Friday Night Football is an Australian sports broadcast of National Rugby League games on Friday evenings.
In 1982, several early season NSWRL games were played on a Friday night, however regular non-weekend football began as Monday Night Football in 1985, with Canterbury meeting Manly on 24 June. However moderate attendances and a night game prior to a working day eventually saw the game shifted to Friday from 1988 on. As with Monday Night Football, regular Friday fixtures only commenced in the latter half of the season, due to the midweek competition. By 1990, a Friday night game was usually scheduled in all rounds.
The Friday night game is considered to be the most watched game of the week and many NRL clubs have openly stated that they appreciate the publicity given by these matches. The Nine Network choose the game they consider to be the "match of the round" 5 or 6 weeks in advance. This system has both positive and negative consequences, as it increases the likelihood of a good game played between two in-form sides, but does not allow fans or clubs a large amount of time to know on which day they will play in any given round.[citation needed]