Liz Ellis: 'Why we should be celebrating Erin Molan today'

In sport, you get taught to play the ball, not the woman. But today, it’s the woman being played.
 
The ball is the fact The NRL Footy Show has been axed - and it’s staggering and disappointing to see Erin Molan being blamed for its demise.
 
Some of the comments I’ve seen this morning have claimed Erin “killed The Footy Show”. The fact of the matter is, the show was on its last legs by the end of last year. The ratings had gone downhill for a number of years, and once Thursday Night Football became a regular thing its fate was sealed.

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. 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.

In my view, a better assessment of the situation is this: here’s a woman who took on hosting an iconic TV show and gave it her best shot. She, along with the team who made the show, couldn’t turn it around. And that’s okay. It happens.

Sure, it is newsworthy that The Footy Show has been axed, and there is merit in discussing why. But to make one person a scapegoat is wrong. Any time you put together a television show, it’s a team effort, which means that there is more than one person to blame.

There is also more to it than just the woman hosting; that the show has been axed is as much about changing timeslots, audience tastes and a format that has run its course as anything else.