Last week's epic match was also a reminder of the magic of free to air television. Photo / Photosport
Last week's epic match was also a reminder of the magic of free to air television. Photo / Photosport
COMMENT:
The Cricket World Cup final wasn't just magnificent sporting theatre, followed by unbearable torture.
Last week's epic match was also a reminder of the magic of free to air television.
As you tuned in for the New Zealand innings last Sunday night or screamed from your couch around 6amon Monday as England's chase reached a climax, there was an inescapable sense of community.
The knowledge that just about everyone else around the country with a television set, or access to a laptop, was watching too, because it was live on Prime.
Whether you were hiding behind the sofa, watching through your fingers, or pacing in the hallway, so was the family next door, the couple across the road and the quiet guy up the street.
That was what made the 1982 All Whites' World Cup campaign so special, why the 1989 NRL Grand Final is still talked about in revered tones and why Danny Morrison's last over at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1987 remains a discussion point.
Times have most definitely changed, and the variety of viewing options at our disposal has increased dramatically.
There's also been a massive transfer of sport from the state broadcaster to pay television options, something that can never be reversed.
Wynton Rufer in action for the All Whites at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. Photo / Getty
Australia seems the ideal model — a hybrid mix of free to air and satellite options, that allow the average Ocker to view the sports that really matter to them, i.e. the Ashes, the Australian Open, the Melbourne Cup, some AFL and NRL games and most of the major World Cups.
The BBC-driven situation in the United Kingdom also allows a sporting window on the world, where they protect so-called 'crown jewels' of national importance, like the FA Cup Final, the Grand National, Wimbledon, the Six Nations and the Olympics.
The horse has bolted here, thanks to some dubious legislation, a lack of foresight from TVNZ and general political apathy.
But that doesn't mean things can't be a bit better.
Sky Television deserves credit for opening the curtains on the Lord's fiesta – but why can't it happen a little more often?
What's wrong with one or two All Blacks tests (in non-World Cup years) being made available free to air?
How about a Warriors NRL game and the occasional day of a Black Caps test, or a One Day International?
How good would it be to have day one of the Boxing Day test on every television screen in this country?
And what about the Silver Ferns? There are still some in the netball fraternity that pine for the days where test matches were live on free to air television, as it delivered a massive profile for a sport and audiences that have never been repeated.
There's also a social cost.
There are a whole generation of Kiwi kids that have never seen the All Blacks live (or hardly ever), as they are continuously hidden behind a paywall.
Same goes for the Black Caps — dreadfully sad for someone who had the privilege of watching Hadlee, Crowe, Coney and Cairns as a kid — the Silver Ferns or the All Whites.
It's something the sporting public deserves, and would also engender plenty of goodwill towards Sky.
It's also a responsibility that Spark Sport could take on, as a serious new player in the sports broadcasting market.
