Sky gives veteran commentator the boot
Sunday Star Times
Relevant offers
SKY TV has dropped league commentator Peter Ropati, known as Ropo, after 15 seasons fronting its NRL coverage.Ropati has not been replaced, with a reshuffle of the Sky team giving more senior roles to former Kiwi internationals Daryl Halligan, Richie Barnett and Awen Guttenbeil.
Ropati had already been dropped from Sky's league magazine show, 40-20, and his long-time broadcast partner Stephen McIvor will now be the main frontman. Halligan will share matchday presenting with McIvor and commentary duties with Jason Costigan and Guttenbeil, and Barnett will lead coverage of the under-20 competition.
Sky's league producer Dean Pooley said: "We've just decided to institute a change for this year, to bring some of the other guys through." Asked if Ropati was finished with the station, Pooley said: "He's weighing up a couple of things. That's where it officially is."
McIvor said: "After so many years together, I will miss Peter."
One of seven famous league-playing brothers, Ropati represented Auckland and played in England for Leigh. He owns a wine import-export company.
THE BACKERS of a proposed professional American rugby league could offer Stacey Jones as much as $US120,000 for a three-month stint in the competition – if they can make the ambitious project happen.
But Jones knows little of the idea and sources told the Star-Times they doubt the league will get off the ground.
However, organisers of NRL USA did make contact with Jones a year ago to float the idea, and were in touch again last week to see if he could be tempted to fly over to play in two exhibition matches, in June and July, to officially launch the concept.
The 10-team franchised competition was due to kick off this year, but its backer, US league president and former St George NRL halfback David Niu, has blamed the recession for its delay and says it's now on course to start in 2011.
SOUTH ISLAND league fans are likely to be compensated with the 2011 Anzac test match between the Kiwis and the Kangaroos after Christchurch's AMI Stadium was dumped from this year's Four Nations test schedule.
After plans for a double-header match at Eden Park hit resource consent issues last year, Christchurch had fronted what the NZRL described as a "very attractive" alternative bid to host the New Zealand-Australia and England-Papua New Guinea matches at the redeveloped stadium on November 6.
But Eden Park was last week locked in for those matches after overcoming rules over late-night floodlighting that threatened to force early kick-off times. NZRL chief executive Jim Doyle denied suggestions the Eden Park Trust also significantly cut its hosting fee demands.
Doyle admitted Christchurch was a "little pissed off" about missing out entirely on the Four Nations, with the Kiwis' other home games against England and PNG going to Wellington and Rotorua. He hoped to announce within a month that the 2011 Anzac test would go to AMI Stadium, the first test football there since the 2006 Tri-Nations.
Doyle said there would also be a Kiwis v Samoa warm-up test at Mt Smart in Auckland and denied claims by a British RFL spokesman that he had jumped the gun in releasing the dates.
