Ashes back on free to air television

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mas cambios

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Ashes back on free to air television

Not sure how this will pan out in the long term, or what it will mean in terms of finances but the Ashes have been put on the protected television list.

No word yet of which series it will start with but at least it's something. Can't see many broadcasters being interested in it but one of them have to take it. would be a good bet to stick on BBC 3 or 4 seeing as they are off air normally during the daytime.

Full story here - BBC SPORT | Ashes set for free-to-air return
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

A return to 'free to air' for the Ashes is good news for supporters...but, is it good news for English cricket?

The Sky money has driven massive investment in the game and the infrastructure surrounding it and will be difficult to replace from other sources.

Are the BBC or C4 or even Five going to be able to spend the same sort of cash supporting the game at grass roots level that Sky does?

As I said before great news for supporters, lets just hope the repercussions of losing so much cash are not too great for the game as a whole.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

mas cambios;375036 said:
Not sure how this will pan out in the long term, or what it will mean in terms of finances but the Ashes have been put on the protected television list.

No word yet of which series it will start with but at least it's something. Can't see many broadcasters being interested in it but one of them have to take it. would be a good bet to stick on BBC 3 or 4 seeing as they are off air normally during the daytime.

Full story here - BBC SPORT | Ashes set for free-to-air return
Click to expand...

Now there's an idea!
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

Not set in stone it seems. It's only a recommendation that will have to go through a 12 week review period.

It's a double edged sword really. Sky brings in money but you lose viewing numbers. Showing on the BBC (or where ever) means more people watch but the money is much, much lower.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

Further to the above, it seems that the ECB will fight this all the way. They are already throwing in the '23,000 coaches' will lose their jobs argument. The pond is muddied further with the veiled threat that counties could also go under.

The problem for me with the view from the ECB is that simply will not consider revamping the first class game. It's clear that we cannot sustain 18 counties - the interest is not there and hasn't been for a long time. Maybe this is due to the lack of television exposure or maybe it's down to a flawed product.

If the product is flawed then surely change has to come about? Let's see counties merge or some kind of regional competition take over. The 18 counties can remain but playing a lesser form of cricket or only the shorter versions. There are plenty of people with ideas out there but the dinosaurs need to stop protecting their own interests and work towards the good of the game.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

It does sound as though if this goes through there's going to have to be a root and branch upheavel of the whole game from what you're all saying.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

Things are further complicated by a number of poor decision made by the ECB over the past few years. Chasing the Stanford dollar instead of opting to go run the Champions league is just one example.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

I'm not sure how your free to air channels work over there- but here- any sport can be bid on by any channel on the protected list for a contract period, hence raising funds for the sport anyway.

ie: AFL has jumped from channel 7, to channel 9 & 10, to now channel 7 & 10 for bigger $ every time, in the past ten years or so.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

Less competition = less dollars. If you take Sky out of the bidding process the 'sale price' becomes a lot lower.

Look at the massive deal that the FFA got for Socceroos/A-League matches back in '02 or whenever it was. They would have got nowhere near that amount of money if only the FTA channels had been able to bid. And there's a lot more money in PayTV in the UK due to the much higher market penetration.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

Steve makes a good point and one that I've mentioned before.

Maybe we should look to have another series on free to air. For example, we have a large Asian population in England so maybe it would make more sense to air England v India rather than the Ashes?
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

mas cambios;379956 said:
Steve makes a good point and one that I've mentioned before.

Maybe we should look to have another series on free to air. For example, we have a large Asian population in England so maybe it would make more sense to air England v India rather than the Ashes?
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If that was as good as it got in the short term I'd be well up for that and it would satisfy a lot of my tick boxes e.g. youngsters would be able to access test cricket via terrestrial TV free to air - so yeah a good idea. I've just read through many of the follow up comments on that blog and was surprised that most of the replies were in favour of cricket (Ashes) being free to air - but then it is the Daily Telegraph.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

There is still the sense of history and nostalgia with the Ashes - the oldest rivalry type mentality. I agree, it's a special series but we generally get pasted!

I wonder how many of the people who complain about the Ashes being on Sky actually play the game? How many sit on the committee of their local club and understand how hard it can be to raise funds? Not many I'm willing to bet. I'm also willing to bet that a lot of them won't even watch the games save for a few minutes here and there. It's as much about being anti-Sky as it is about 'saving' the game.

I'm able to work in a number of schools in the summer because of funding from Sky (directly and indirectly). Last summer I reckon I coached over 500 kids of both sexes, from a range of backgrounds and abilities. They would not have got that from their schools simply because the a lot of the teachers don't understand the game, haven't got time or can't be bothered.

For many their first taste of cricket is from these sessions, who would you rather they got that from? Someone with a passion for the game or someone doing it because they have to? Similarly, what do you think is most likely to keep them playing the game? Regular chances to play at grounds with good facilities and equipment or watching it on tv once every 2/3 years?

I would love to have free to cricket in the UK but I know that doing so would remove a massive and most probably the main funding stream.What is the point in having free to air cricket if there are no facilities to play at, no one to coach and develop youngsters and so on. Cricket is already an expensive sport (£70 subs per year plus £6 per league game for many, if not more) to play, we don't need to make it even more so.

I don't want to see the game go the way of tennis, where only the few can play because of a lack of facilities and prohibitive cost. Yet, unless they come to an arrangement that could be the future.

Being honest, I loathe Sky for many reasons and as such I don't subscribe to it. However, the truth is this, their money keeps the game going at grassroots level.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

mas cambios;379974 said:
There is still the sense of history and nostalgia with the Ashes - the oldest rivalry type mentality. I agree, it's a special series but we generally get pasted!

I wonder how many of the people who complain about the Ashes being on Sky actually play the game? How many sit on the committee of their local club and understand how hard it can be to raise funds? Not many I'm willing to bet. I'm also willing to bet that a lot of them won't even watch the games save for a few minutes here and there. It's as much about being anti-Sky as it is about 'saving' the game.

I'm able to work in a number of schools in the summer because of funding from Sky (directly and indirectly). Last summer I reckon I coached over 500 kids of both sexes, from a range of backgrounds and abilities. They would not have got that from their schools simply because the a lot of the teachers don't understand the game, haven't got time or can't be bothered.

For many their first taste of cricket is from these sessions, who would you rather they got that from? Someone with a passion for the game or someone doing it because they have to? Similarly, what do you think is most likely to keep them playing the game? Regular chances to play at grounds with good facilities and equipment or watching it on tv once every 2/3 years?

I would love to have free to cricket in the UK but I know that doing so would remove a massive and most probably the main funding stream.What is the point in having free to air cricket if there are no facilities to play at, no one to coach and develop youngsters and so on. Cricket is already an expensive sport (£70 subs per year plus £6 per league game for many, if not more) to play, we don't need to make it even more so.

I don't want to see the game go the way of tennis, where only the few can play because of a lack of facilities and prohibitive cost. Yet, unless they come to an arrangement that could be the future.

Being honest, I loathe Sky for many reasons and as such I don't subscribe to it. However, the truth is this, their money keeps the game going at grassroots level.
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I reckon cricket in that case is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I reckon at the minute then cricket is at a point where it is obviously in decline, you've pointed out that there's no-one in schools that can teach it and perhaps that's to do with the fact that they've never seen it on the tele. I know that my lads were taught by a female teacher who's only qualification was that her bloke was a cricket player and she had frequently been and watched matches and that's all her bloke ever banged on about - so she knew something and she coud bowl (My lads were very impressed). She's not a PE teacher.

Locally the council in our area have set up cricket training in local sports facilities and an ECB bloke has been there, but only a few kids have ever turned up. That begs the question why and I'm talking like 3 kids when the place could accomodate 30 or 40 kids.

I have to agree with the people that claim that there will be no youth coming up through the ranks scenario. The onus of promoting the sport will fall on the clubs somehow - they'll have to go chasing after the kids going into schools as you have in the past. But I'm sure that I was at a club do in the summer and the coaches were moaning about the amount of time that they had to put in to promote thier summer open day and get new blood in. They'd been at schools and done sessions at schools and it seems to have come to virtually nothing for what appeared to be a big effort and a lot of their time. Cricket club organisers are an amazingly committed bunch of people that I only have admiration for - but to now make it their responsibilty to promote the sport to wider society seems too much to ask. Or are they paid to do this work? The coaches I witnessed looked like exasperated people that hadn't been paid pushed to their committment limits.

I noticed too that around our kids schools there were walls with stumps on and other cricket related stuff - and this being the run up to the Ashes last year I summised might be some of that SKY money being spent? But no-one ever used it and the kids were discouraged to bring bats in or use balls because of the H&S issues. Again one of the issues was that there was no-one with any cricket savvy to supervise or encourage the activities and the dinner ladies whose job it was discouraged anything that looked like cricket.

So it looks like whatever happens SKY or free to air, cricket in the UK is in a state of gradual decline. The future either way seems to look grim.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

someblokecalleddave;380210 said:
I reckon cricket in that case is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I reckon at the minute then cricket is at a point where it is obviously in decline, you've pointed out that there's no-one in schools that can teach it and perhaps that's to do with the fact that they've never seen it on the tele. I know that my lads were taught by a female teacher who's only qualification was that her bloke was a cricket player and she had frequently been and watched matches and that's all her bloke ever banged on about - so she knew something and she coud bowl (My lads were very impressed). She's not a PE teacher.
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It depends on what you define as decline I guess. We still get reasonable numbers and there are always new kids turning up. However, there wasn't the same explosion in numbers this year as there was in 2005. Why? TV or lack of TV played a part but there is more to it than that. The weather hasn't helped to some extent plus the Ashes was played out later in the season.

As for schools, I'm perhaps a bit harsh but the truth is that at primary school level the majority of teachers are female. Most of them would have had very little exposure to the game as it simply wasn't offered to them when they were at school. This year we ran a girls only cricket side at the one or two schools; we regularly saw 16 girls or more attend. Also, the girls soft ball cricket tournament was very well attended and I expect those numbers to increase next year.

Maybe the biggest problem is still getting them from schools and into clubs. The sexist mentally still exists (which really pisses me off) and some clubs either haven't got the right atmosphere or adequate volunteers.

However, there are some positives out there and hopefully we can improve on all areas and get numbers up.

someblokecalleddave;380210 said:
Locally the council in our area have set up cricket training in local sports facilities and an ECB bloke has been there, but only a few kids have ever turned up. That begs the question why and I'm talking like 3 kids when the place could accomodate 30 or 40 kids.
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I bet part of that is down to poor advertising. They put it on as part of a wider package but never highlight the individual sports. Also, is it indoors/outdoors and so on.

someblokecalleddave;380210 said:
I have to agree with the people that claim that there will be no youth coming up through the ranks scenario. The onus of promoting the sport will fall on the clubs somehow - they'll have to go chasing after the kids going into schools as you have in the past. But I'm sure that I was at a club do in the summer and the coaches were moaning about the amount of time that they had to put in to promote thier summer open day and get new blood in. They'd been at schools and done sessions at schools and it seems to have come to virtually nothing for what appeared to be a big effort and a lot of their time. Cricket club organisers are an amazingly committed bunch of people that I only have admiration for - but to now make it their responsibilty to promote the sport to wider society seems too much to ask. Or are they paid to do this work? The coaches I witnessed looked like exasperated people that hadn't been paid pushed to their committment limits.
Click to expand...

Sadly, there is a lot of truth in what you've written above. It is hard to attract kids and a lot of time and effort it wasted in trying to do so. You have to be inventive, inclusive and make it seem the best sport going. It helps to have teachers involved as well, especially if they are willing to run inter school games.

Some will get paid, some won't. The Chance to Shine scheme does offer decent amount of remuneration but you have to be available during school hours as well as outside of them. This leads to the problem that it often falls to the 'older' players to take sessions and they don't always connect with the kids. The game has a stuffy image at times, a 60 year old going in to coach 9 year olds can sometimes reinforce that. You and I both understand that they probably know the game inside out and have a passion for it but the kids may see it differently.

someblokecalleddave;380210 said:
I noticed too that around our kids schools there were walls with stumps on and other cricket related stuff - and this being the run up to the Ashes last year I summised might be some of that SKY money being spent? But no-one ever used it and the kids were discouraged to bring bats in or use balls because of the H&S issues. Again one of the issues was that there was no-one with any cricket savvy to supervise or encourage the activities and the dinner ladies whose job it was discouraged anything that looked like cricket.

So it looks like whatever happens SKY or free to air, cricket in the UK is in a state of gradual decline. The future either way seems to look grim.
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Things such as stumps on walls, playground markings and kit are a result of ECB (Sky) money, Chance to Shine money and equipment gained through Tesco and other schemes run by supermarkets.

Out of the three main primary schools I deal with only one allows the kids to play with bats/balls/stumps as break times. Guess which one produces the best cricketers (and other sports)! Saying that though, as the summer wore on the one other did start to allow the kids to use bats and balls during breaks.

It is hard though, the blue plastic bats can hurt and kids being kids they will hit each other from time to time. As you said though, a bit of supervision and it normally goes ok. I would also argue that playground issues were less as the kids tended to be occupied rather than milling around doing nothing.
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

Mas when do you reckon crickets heyday was? When would it have been at it's most popular do you think - and how do you reckon it's popularity is best measured?

Or do you reckon this should be in a new thread?
 
Re: Ashes back on free to air television

someblokecalleddave;380366 said:
Mas when do you reckon crickets heyday was? When would it have been at it's most popular do you think - and how do you reckon it's popularity is best measured?
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That is a tough one and I guess it all depends on what you choose to measure. I reckon that in terms of attendance at first class games then the period from 1900 to 1950 would be in the frame. A long time frame maybe but you do have to take out time for the two world wars etc. Interestingly enough, attendances jumped (or so I believe) after both wars as the nation was starved of quality cricket.

The game was still popular but numbers started to drop and continued to do so. Which is where we are today - the average first class game being attended by 4 old men and a dog.

In terms of general participation then I haven't got a clue to be honest. Anecdotal evidence would suggest a period from 1960 - 1990 but it is really hard to tell. The ECB tell me last year saw a 15% increase in numbers, which follows on from 24% in 2008 and 27% in 2007 but there are no actual figures.

I suspect the truth is that as football became more popular and the season expanded, the numbers involved in cricket dropped.
 
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