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Craig HillStep away folks, nothing to see here
November 30th 2006 19:41
Cricket Australia are making a real hash of the Ashes and as a cricket fan
and normal fun loving cricket writer I for one think it stinks.
At the start of preparations for this Ashes series, way back when England
took a 2-1 lead in the 4th test in England last year it looked as though
although all the boffins at Cricket Australia had to do was turn up to work,
make tickets available in an orderly fashion, run some promotions with a
telecommunications or banking firm and bask in the glory of the contest
whilst ensuring that crowd behaviour was tolerable.
In every respect they have failed and we are only one test match into the
summer. The Australian Cricket Family will go down in sports history in this
country as one of biggest fiascos known to sports fans. The fact that
membership of the family guaranteed that getting a ticket, assuming your
cheque book could cope, was far easier by logging onto e-bay after the
frenzy had died down than spending 8 fruitless hours swearing at your
computer was proof of the schemes ineffectiveness.
Cricket Australia has taken themselves to new lows since then. Any
journalist reporting the facts according to Cricket Australia and their
corporate buddies must now refer to the canary yellow team as the
Commonwealth Bank Australian One Day International Team. Thankfully most
journalists have the good common sense to refer to them without the sponsors
tag turning every reference into an unmanageable mouthful, not to mention
downplaying the significance of the team and its players.
It is a struggle to understand just where Cricket Australia’s most recent
policy of over zealous stewarding is coming from. There may have been some
frenzy surrounding the alleged plot to poison the teams during last year’s
series or some long out of date hysteria about English sports hooliganism.
Quite frankly when did a Mexican wave or a good natured song and
accompanying trumpet piece from the loud but always immaculately behaved
Barmy Army cause the players any concern or diminish from the experience of
anyone but the most stuffy of old members. A day out at the cricket is as
much about the atmosphere of people watching as it is about the cricket.
Forty thousand people in straight jackets and muzzles being fed low calorie
lemonade through straws is hardly what a day out at the cricket should be.
It would certainly make it harder to work in partnership with the likes of
Merv Hughes on boundary side warm ups.
Cricket Australia is in danger of over egging its role in managing cricket
in this country. Attempting to keep a lid on every element of crowd
behaviour in the manner of a bobbie keeping people away from a crime scene
is contrary to the interests of the sport. Cricket in this country is a
fantastic product and the last thing we need is the cricketing equivalent of
a nanny state controlling every element of the crowd experience. If
cricket’s guardians are not careful their over enthusiastic ‘policing’ of
the game will mean that folks told to step away or calm things down will
soon discover that there is nothing to see here and no enjoyment to be had
and they will stay away from the game.
and normal fun loving cricket writer I for one think it stinks.
At the start of preparations for this Ashes series, way back when England
took a 2-1 lead in the 4th test in England last year it looked as though
although all the boffins at Cricket Australia had to do was turn up to work,
make tickets available in an orderly fashion, run some promotions with a
telecommunications or banking firm and bask in the glory of the contest
whilst ensuring that crowd behaviour was tolerable.
In every respect they have failed and we are only one test match into the
summer. The Australian Cricket Family will go down in sports history in this
country as one of biggest fiascos known to sports fans. The fact that
membership of the family guaranteed that getting a ticket, assuming your
cheque book could cope, was far easier by logging onto e-bay after the
frenzy had died down than spending 8 fruitless hours swearing at your
computer was proof of the schemes ineffectiveness.
Cricket Australia has taken themselves to new lows since then. Any
journalist reporting the facts according to Cricket Australia and their
corporate buddies must now refer to the canary yellow team as the
Commonwealth Bank Australian One Day International Team. Thankfully most
journalists have the good common sense to refer to them without the sponsors
tag turning every reference into an unmanageable mouthful, not to mention
downplaying the significance of the team and its players.
It is a struggle to understand just where Cricket Australia’s most recent
policy of over zealous stewarding is coming from. There may have been some
frenzy surrounding the alleged plot to poison the teams during last year’s
series or some long out of date hysteria about English sports hooliganism.
Quite frankly when did a Mexican wave or a good natured song and
accompanying trumpet piece from the loud but always immaculately behaved
Barmy Army cause the players any concern or diminish from the experience of
anyone but the most stuffy of old members. A day out at the cricket is as
much about the atmosphere of people watching as it is about the cricket.
Forty thousand people in straight jackets and muzzles being fed low calorie
lemonade through straws is hardly what a day out at the cricket should be.
It would certainly make it harder to work in partnership with the likes of
Merv Hughes on boundary side warm ups.
Cricket Australia is in danger of over egging its role in managing cricket
in this country. Attempting to keep a lid on every element of crowd
behaviour in the manner of a bobbie keeping people away from a crime scene
is contrary to the interests of the sport. Cricket in this country is a
fantastic product and the last thing we need is the cricketing equivalent of
a nanny state controlling every element of the crowd experience. If
cricket’s guardians are not careful their over enthusiastic ‘policing’ of
the game will mean that folks told to step away or calm things down will
soon discover that there is nothing to see here and no enjoyment to be had
and they will stay away from the game.
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Go to Craig Hill's home page for information about corporate training courses, university preparation courses and writing services available
