Do you take binoculars or listen to the radio at the footy?

[watt price tully]

Went to the game at Etihad & used binoculars for the first time.

My wife won a pair from Camera House worth $100 last year, Gerber sports.

I think I'll need more time to learn to use them but they were great when the play was at the other end of the field to where I was sitting.

Good at breaks & huddles - good image quality I thought. I suspect they are limited for other uses but good for the footy.

[Pied Piper]

Might be worth my spending 2c here. I always use binoculars, and damn good ones too - Leica 10x42. Which are very pricey, but the thing is I've also been a birder since I was a little kid, and so I considered them a serious life investment (literally - I've had them 12 years, they have a lifetime guarantee, and are as good now as the day I purchased them - so, a good investment, then).

Being a media person who also writes match reports, they're good for getting up close in packs to watch the action, but then you could argue I'd be no worse off watching the game on TV, which is true, in a way. Stui is right: you are robbed of peripheral vision watching through binoculars, just as you are watching a tight shot on the idiot box. You lose context. But I didn't get to see many games live as a kid: I'm used to watching things up close.

So I see the game brilliantly - but then, I always feel like I might be missing something, too.

[Greening gold]

Being a proper one-eyed supporter, I use a telescope.

Binocs are great for the cricket though - home in on the batsman and get up real close to the action, and of course he's not running around which makes it all so much easier.

Of all the coaches they show on TV during games, the only one I can recall using binocs was MM - not that that means anything, just an observation.

[jeff corfe]

I love my binoculars

[Hiss]

I love my binoculars

I love my binoculars as well Joffa. I have them and a telescope that Bertha and I use with our neighbourhood watch duties.

[David]

^ No magnifying glass?

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

Just out of curiosity, I've been recently prescribed with reading glasses, would you need to wear them when looking through binoculars?

[LaurieHolden]

10 years on from the last post, who's succumbed to deteriorating eyesight or been allocated a seat in L4 that might require a rethink on this subject?

[Charlie Oneeye]

I used them when we played at Waverley.. The ground sloped down from the middle, cutting off a good part of the player's legs lol... then there was the mud, especially against North or Geelong, some days making it near impossible to tell who was who. Binoculars were essential.

Now we have better replay screens and if they are obscured, there's usually a telly. Still, If I had a permanent spot back on level 4, I'd take binoculars.

[Harrysz]

I have always listened to radio commentary while I watch the football. I get a close description of what is going on, particularly when the ball is on the other side of the ground. There's also information on injuries, how much time is left in the quarters and so on, which is useful.

Nowadays the radio commentators are much better than TV commentators. I usually start with 3AW and keep it there until the opposition scores a goal. Then I change to ABC. Then I change to SEN, then back to 3AW.

Does anyone else here listen to the radio while they watch the footy?

[Boot]

Yes, I enjoy listening to the radio broadcast when I'm at the footy as there is often stuff going on with injuries, player movements etc that I don't pick up during the game if watching without the radio commentary.
I enjoy the calls of SEN, 3AW and 3LO (ABC) during the season. I find the FM station commentators are too keen on talking about themselves instead of the football itself. The AM stations are tending a bit toward this annoying habit of talking about themselves or other distractions when the game is on which would be really annoying if you weren't able to be watching the game live yourself.

[LaurieHolden]

I'm a binoculars and radio man. I think we all take after our fathers to an extent.
I've long been a one earpiece listener. Transistor radio days I always had my trusty Panasonic with the old school earpiece. It was a gift when I must have been about 7 y/o and still cherished.
I did move to the portable antenna headset for a bit (the small personal ones, not the massive cans from the 70's) before mobile phones made all of those redundant.
Nowadays I just keep one ear pod in. MMM or SEN pre-game then 3AW for the call.

[think positive]

70-200mm plus 1.6 x because of cropped sensor, im zoomed in to 320mm for much of the game!!

[WhyPhilWhy?]

I usually listen to the radio, though there are some bad spots for my tiny tranny at the 'G.

I tried to upgrade to a digital radio, but was devastated to find the broadcast has a 1 or 2 second delay.

[stui magpie]

When I go to the game, I listen to MMM commentary on the radio. I tried using Binocs but it's easier to just look at the big screen at the opposite end and the radio tells you who's doing what to whom.