Footy in the frame

A VAN crawls down a dirt road around the boundary of Elderslie Reserve, skidding to a halt on centre-wing.
Out roll some clunky old video cameras, which are plonked on top of the van’s roof.
A brave few climb on top, precariously perched above the cameraman to call Newtown-Chilwell’s home game.
It was quite a sight in 1982 when bewildered spectators paid more attention to the commotion of the camera crew than the footy itself.
Surveying the ground from the unfamiliar vantage point, a young Noel Fanning knew he should be out there playing with his team-mates instead.
But an injury had already put him on his way to an eventual role as the full-time video chronicler of local footy.
Now 58, Noel remembers how coach Kevin Higgins asked him to grab a camera and videotape from school to make himself useful on the sidelines.
Back then the legendary local coach was at the forefront of getting the edge on the opposition.
Noel reckons that Kevin, the uncle of Western Bulldogs star Shaun, was at least 15 years ahead of his time on all fronts.
“He was doing things at Newtown that Geelong Football Club wasn’t even doing, with videos and even motivation,” Noel adds.
For everyone else in footy, though, filming games was just for laughs.
Clubs at first ordered Noel’s tapes more for “entertainment value” than education, he reckons.
The players would sit back and watch them in their clubrooms, nudging their mates over every fumble or miskick.
Noel chuckles in retrospect at the fun they had behind the lens, too.
“Sometimes we would have to get our cameraman back on the ball because they’d follow a good-looking chick,” he says.
“There was always a distraction.
“If there was a fight on the ground, they would forget about the footy and start videoing the fight.”
This was in the days before tribunals had implemented trial-by-video to implicate brawling footballers.
Evidence was heard, not seen, and players’ secret code was in place.
“Clubs only used the video if it was going to get them off,” Noel smiles.
“They’d have a look at it and say ‘Jeez, we can’t use that to help us’.”
Teaching at St Joseph’s paid Noel’s wages until 2007 when covering Geelong’s three local leagues became a full-time gig.
Noel has become so busy filming local matches that he now works 50 to 60 hours a week. Editing the footage takes a day, sometimes two.
“The hours don’t really bother me,” he shrugs.
“Football isn’t work to me.”
But things changed when Noel convinced community station Channel 31 to replay the games for a wider audience.
Then came the live talk shows with coaches, players and “so called experts”, as Noel calls them.
“We initially did it in a shed in my backyard,” he admits.
“We also did it first before any of the other leagues did.
“We’re the longest running footy show on Channel 31 – it’s now been 12 years.”
Buying a rundown building in Geelong West six years ago, an innovative Noel has built a live TV studio, a production unit and a packed video library.
Inside the studio, the set, lights and cameras wouldn’t look out of place on The Footy Show.
Noel looks up and starts umming and erring.
“I’m still fiddling with the lighting,” he says
“It’s still really trial and error.
“I’ve found the hardest thing in television is the audio.”
The walls of the studio tell a story or two about Noel.
Decked out with a litany of sporting memorabilia, they are his pride and joy, akin to a bloke’s own pool room.
The framed jumpers, signed posters and favourite portraits and photos are all Noel’s personal collection.
“My wife wouldn’t let me bring this stuff home,” he grins.