We’re so full of sport, we’ve become sick of it!

Roar Pro

By sheek, 10 Feb 2010 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

Tagged:: Australian Open, Cricket, Tennis, Twenty20

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South African batsman HM Amla makes runs as Australian bowler James Hopes follows his misfielded ball during the 4th One Day International cricket match between Australia and South Africa at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Monday, Jan. 26, 2009. AAP Image/Dave Hunt

I have my own theory on why the crowds stayed away from the ODI cricket match at the MCG the other night. And the nation’s new infatuation with Twenty20 bash and barge is only part of the story.

There is only so much the human body can take, not to mention our purse strings. Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as too much of anything.

Sport has become like a Roman banquet, feast after feast after feast.

We gorge ourselves, disgorge ourselves, and gorge ourselves again. It’s the same for individual sports. I think we’re just getting tired of it all.

Plenty of quantity, but heck, where’s the quality?

The ODI was played just 2 or 3 days after the Twenty20 bash, which saw 60,000 fans flock to the ‘Gee’. After that feast, it was asking a lot for fans to return so soon afterwards to a lukewarm dessert.

Sporting organisations and stadia don’t exactly give tickets away these days. And they make sure while you’re at the ground, they extract maximum benefit from your dollar, charging you through the roof for drinks and food.

It’s called legalised extortion!

The entire cricket season has been disjointed. Frankly, it’s been poorly organised. It just goes to show that having plenty to offer doesn’t equate with quality, or desire for a sporting fan.

But it’s not just the cricket.

We’ve had the tennis Australian Open, Yachting’s Sydney to Hobart race, Cycling’s Tour de Australia, while the rugby in the northern hemisphere has continued unabated.

Not to mention the NFL play-offs.

The sporting fan is now selective about where and when he applies his emotional and financial commitment. We drift in and out as we choose.

Cricket Australia and Channel 9 might decide it’s time to draw a line through ODIs, but I reckon it would be the wrong diagnosis.

Get the season in proper, constructive order; give priority to each form in turn, instead of offering them as a mish-mash. Offer better and more affordable ticketing and replenishment pricing at stadia.

Also, Channel 9 can stop flogging every piece of merchandise or furniture they can think of! And stop treating the sporting fan like we’re idiots who will accept whatever trash is foisted upon us.

We humans are pretty stupid most of the time. Fortunately, we’re not stupid all the time.

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The Crowd Says (58) | Page 1 of Comments

rugbyfuture said | February 10th 2010 @ 2:22am | Report comment

what’s the sporting equivalent of a vomitorium?

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- Sam el Perro said | February 11th 2010 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
  
  Fox Sports.
  
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DST said | February 10th 2010 @ 6:04am | Report comment

100% spot on

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vinay verma said | February 10th 2010 @ 6:50am | Report comment

Sheek,you can be president of the newly Formed Spectators for a Better Sporting World. Everyone is considered by the administrators except the spectator. It is not hard to organise basic comfort levels. During the Sydney Olympics the price of the ticket included public transport to and from the precinct. I took the bus a hundred yards from my house and 20 minutes later was at Homebush. There were busues every fifteen to twenty minutes. Twenty dollars for parking your car at the SCG and then sitting in traffic for 30 minutes to get out of the carpark is stressful. Food and drink as you point out is exorbitant and you feel as if you have been mugged. In the 1970′s you could take in an esky full of beer. The spectator is a prisoner to the demands of the ground caterers and the choice is abysmal.
The MCG and Telstradme in Melbourne are well served by public transport and this is another reason why Melburnians floctk to sporting events. However they,too,complain about the prces of food and drink.

And finally,as spectators we will not watch contests that have no context and played on pitches that are as lifeless as an Egyptian Mummy.

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- Michael C said | February 10th 2010 @ 8:28am | Report comment
  
  vinay – ‘well served by public transport’ is only so correct,
  
  without extra services put on – then, simply being beside a rail station is not the be all for dispersing 50,000 people at short notice,
  
  the MCG car park can still be a 30 min exercise in getting out, although it’s certainly cheaper than $20!!
  
  at any rate – the really bad crowd of 25,000 last Sunday WAS at the MCG – - now, 25K in Adelaide or Perth would be perfectly acceptable.
  
  It’s still a case though – that live FTA against the gate is starting to ‘sink in’. I reckon the first year or two people were still used to attending – - but, when you get a forecast stinker (hot day AND ordinary opposition combined!!!) – - then, why pay through the nose to attend.
  
  Especially with the new value proposition of a family of 4 for $25 attending a domestic T20 and having a ripper night.
  
  but – next year – with England out here, everything will be sold out months in advance and all will look rosey and then we’ll resume the process of comparing the ‘normal’ years to an England year……
  
  …..and the Windies, if they were as good as they used to be, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Heck – even if they had their full strength team.
  
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  - vinay verma said | February 10th 2010 @ 8:51am | Report comment
    
    All valid points,Michael C, I nominate you as the Secretary of the SFABSW( Spectators for a Better sporting world)
    
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John said | February 10th 2010 @ 8:20am | Report comment

Channel 9 mess up every sport they get hold of by over supply. Most cricket countries have a few one day games before the Tests as a teaser. Once the Tests are over that is the end of it. how much of Tony Grieg and that other English twit do they think we can take?

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- Tura said | February 10th 2010 @ 11:09pm | Report comment
  
  Tony Greig is South African but played for both countries.
  
  Nobody is a bigger twit than Ian Healey. Makes the English guy look like a star.
  
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JiMMM said | February 10th 2010 @ 8:32am | Report comment

Excellent article Sheek, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, we as spectators and fans get gouged by the administrators of our sports and stadiums. Coupled with some stupid desicions, like only selling VB Gold during Roar games at Suncorp (seriously that person should be shot), and the propensity for TV coverage has made going to the game more of a chore than a pleasure.

It also doesn’t help when the competition is seen as sub standard i.e. Aus v Pakistan or West Indies, will result in many people deciding to watch the game on TV, if at all, rather than spend upwards of $100 to go to the game.

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Dogz R Barkn said | February 10th 2010 @ 8:36am | Report comment

Good points Sheek.

You are hinting at it, but you aren’t saying it straight out – within a couple of years there will be a club based Twenty20 comp, and it will be quite big.

At that point – ODIs should become special one off events rather than a massive series.

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Brett McKay said | February 10th 2010 @ 8:42am | Report comment

Sheek, no doubt it’s a timing thing. I think we’re all having trouble recalling an interntaional summer running deep into February, but if anything, with 7 ODI and 2 T20Is against the Poms next season following the Ashes series, it’ll get worse before it gets better.

The big difference is not the T20 game per se, but more that the Administrators want to create a stand alone window for the Big Bash. Now I’m not quite sure how you play the Big Bash exclusiely in January and not be still playing ODIs in Feb.

There’s also the element of dominance too. Australia’s one the last two WCs undefeated, and despite slipping in the Test rankings, still hold the top spot in ODIs. They’ve won 22 of their last 26 ODIs. Maybe it’s also now a case of needing to see Australia getting beaten more??

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- Brian said | February 10th 2010 @ 9:10am | Report comment
  
  I think there was a season a few years back with SA & SL where the ODI finished in March. Also didn’t SA beat Australia last summer 4-1, it was still pretty boring. There’s a new better product called T20, rather than fight it why don’t the ICC just call T20 the new ODI rules and move on.
  
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  - Springs said | February 10th 2010 @ 2:04pm | Report comment
    
    I thought the ODIs were more exciting than the T20s last year, maybe that’s because since I started watching cricket Australias won probably 95% of the games I’ve seen and the T20s were just on the same path. But the T20 against Pakistan was the best game of the summer so far and the best T20 I’ve seen, because it was an even contest and low-scoring. The ODIs this year have been dreadful, the 5th ODI against Pakistan probably the only interesting game. No need for ten ODIs a year, but I don’t want to see 10 T20s a year either.
    
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- vinay verma said | February 10th 2010 @ 9:23am | Report comment
  
  Brett,you must remember that 2011 is a WC year and all teams will want to play as many ODI’s as possible. The seven against England are preceded by the 3 against Sri lanka and 7 against India in India. So australia could be playing another 20 ODI.s in the next 12 months(including the current 3 against the Windies)
  
  I dont think we want to see australia losing more often. We do want to see competitive cricket and I think SAfrica is the only team that can give Australia a run for their money. Especially with Steyn and Morkel in such good form.
  
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  - Brett McKay said | February 10th 2010 @ 9:47am | Report comment
    
    I was more talking the timing though Vinay, Next summer, the three ODIs v SL are in October, an dthe seven ODIs v England start mid-Jan. I understand the need to play a lot of ODIs, being a WC year as you point out, but I’d wager that has very little to do with deciding to play 7 ODIs against the Poms, and that catering for the touring crowds was towards the top of the list of justifications. All the while, the Big Bash will be played from NY to late Jan, and will still be crying out for it’s own window.
    
    I don’t want to see Australia losing at all, by the way. I just offered that thought as part of the fickle Australian psyche. Tall poppies and all that…
    
    Ponting batted brilliantly last night, for eg, but his innings will get little to no press or recognition, and nor will the general dominance. Instead, it’s all about the small crowd and performance of the understrength Windies..
    
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    - vinay verma said | February 10th 2010 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
      
      Brett,let us eulogise the two shots Ponting played yesterday.Both of Dwane Smith I think. The first leading with the front foot and hitting on the up through cover had the toe pointing in the direction of the ball off his bat and the weight of body arms and hands leaning into the shot. The eyes did not come up till the ball had hit the cover boundary. And the second a little shimmy ,clear the backfoot and inside out over longoff. It cleared the longest boundary with disdain. The rest of the match was cursory but Ponting lit the screen with his genius.
      
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Brian said | February 10th 2010 @ 9:06am | Report comment

I’m a relative cricket tragic but I decided a few years back that only Tests and World Cups were worth caring about. Even then the WC almost out the door after the 2007 effort. There is a lot of sport and deep down I know that the ODI like the NAB Cup are games the players won’t even remember in about 5 years. I’m no NFL fan but at least the Superbowl means a lot to those involved. Cricket games need context I think everyone bar the ICC has realised this.

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- Michael C said | February 10th 2010 @ 9:37am | Report comment
  
  too true – the need for context.
  
  rankings are a meaningless abstract the rest of the time.
  
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GaryGnu said | February 10th 2010 @ 9:14am | Report comment

Sheek,

All good points – but I must take issue with “Sporting organisations and stadia don’t exactly give tickets away these days.”

Get thee to Homebush on any cricket match day, open an umbrella upside down and I’m sure that within 5 minutes it will be full of freebies, such is the propensity of the Stadium Australia management to inflate their crowds.

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Justin said | February 10th 2010 @ 9:17am | Report comment

I dont agree. Is it really any different to any other year? The events Sheeks mentions have been going for years. I dont think you can blame NFL or NH rugby for poor crowds in an ODI at Adelaide. The AUS Open? Cricket and Teniss are like strawbs and cream. The Tour De Aus? Give me a spell, 99% of the pop wouldnt know what it is let alone that its been on…

Remember these days we get bugger all golf in AUS which was a big part of 7s sumer going back to Normans era. They would show the Masters, Open, PGA, Skins and a few larger State Opens.

I would argue there is less sport in AUS now than more compared to 20 years ago.

The cricket quite simply is down to scheduling being poor as Sheek has pointed out and there are 2 weak teams. I think you have under estimated the impact of 2020. A max of 3 ODIs per opposition, then Tests and finish with a 20/20. It was only a matter of weeks ago that Sutherland from CA was spruiking how well ODIs were rating. I would suggest he has had a call from 9 this week…

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