The editorial, headed quite inaccurately “Cricket losing public’s interest” (18/03/13), is an unfair and irrelevant attempt at comparing apples and oranges.
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I agree that cricket has to get on the front foot and promote itself more effectively in all sorts of ways.
It is having some success, thanks to the diligent work of volunteers, Twenty20 cricket, women’s cricket and our junior pathways programs. There is always more to do.
But the financial resources dragged out of our communities to support football-netball clubs and its players means the sport-cum-business is in a great position to grab the general public’s attention.
When you think about it, cricket does very well considering its significantly smaller operational budget.
The amount of money invested in getting the best available side on the park in football and netball makes us all shudder.
Even the poor old volunteers at the local footy clubs who rattle tins and sell raffle tickets all-year-round to pay players and coaches shake their heads and wonder where it will all end.
Of course, football is going to appear more popular.
Simply, it’s a bigger and different business.
Compare the balance sheets of the local football club with that of the local cricket club!
Compare the column centimetres devoted to football — all-year-round — with the space given to cricket and cricket achievement.
A reserves player at a Hampden club moves to a Warrnambool and district club “to play with his mates” in January and it fills the back page — colour photo and all.
Everyone knows that, in most cases, there has been a financial inducement which has made a transfer too good to refuse.
As soon as a season is over, next year’s coach has to get on his bike, shore up his list and find prospective new players — the well-rehearsed spiel on the tip of his tongue and, if necessary, the chequebook in his hand.
Ask him how much he enjoys this!
But he has to do it, or risk a loss of players to the club up the road and the possibility of an unflattering end-of-season result — for which he will cop the blame!
I know I sound like a broken record, and I apologise for that, but the whole scenario is doing nothing for football long-term (which saddens me).
Football administrators are caught between a rock and a hard place.
They have to go with the flow or drown. But the truth is their clubs will drown anyway because they will not remain sustainable and more, not necessarily country, clubs will disappear.
How communities would benefit if money raised to support these mini-AFL-style models was used to assist local facilities: schools, health services, recreation reserves and the like. But that’s another story.
In reality, cricket does not need to compete with football. In an ideal world, where football is happy to remain in its own season, there is no need for talk of competition for numbers and popularity.
The two, and other sports for that matter, can survive in the same communities and enjoy long-term sustainability.
Frankly, football does not need the pre-season cup.
Play it in April, in the footy season! Football clubs do not need to start training in November just to keep players.
Bring in a points system to take pressure off coaches and the size of the chequebook! Local football leagues do not have to use the Demetriou-model — knock everyone else off the face of the earth so that we can “grow” our game.
Let it “grow” in its own season, anyway!
Yes, cricket needs to be smart and flexible in how it goes about its own business. But football should acknowledge that premierships are not about the size of bank accounts and how much pain you can create for the local cricket community.
The media also needs to understand its role too. While it may have a (vested) interest in one particular sport over another, it should also ensure that our communities, particularly our young people, have access to a coverage of all sports so they can make a choice about their current and future involvements.
Despite the football saturation, even in the off-season, The Standard has generally achieved a more equitable coverage of all sports over the last few years.
That’s why I was disappointed to read such a shallow summary of the so-called “two-horse race” between footy and cricket.
As I was reminded at a recent meeting, cricket is certainly kicking a lot of goals (or should that be making a lot of runs?) in many different ways across the Western Waves Region, and across Victoria for that matter.
A small-minded opinion piece about some irrelevant aspect of the cricket and football “war” should not make us feel despondent.
We all love our footy and cricket. For goodness sake, can’t we put down our gladiatorial swords and ensure the two sports survive side-by-side for years to come?
Your almost “gloating” editorial lacks both perspective and understanding about what’s really important across our communities.
Kelvin White, president, Western Waves Cricket Region