Roar Rookie
Joined November 2019
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For 30 years, from the age of ten through to my 40s, I loved watching cricket live at my local ground, the Gabba. Tickets…
My guess is that an agreement in the contract negotiations with the pay tv provider was access to a limited number of “exclusive” matches so that there was some incentive for punters to subscribe, rather than just sit back and watch the FTA package. As a small side note , we get all our broadcast television through the Foxtel cable and as a result we can’t see any of the matches that 7 hide away on their secondary channels. It is indeed a very slippery slope that Cricket Australia needs to navigate. Gaining exclusive rights to Rugby and V8 Supercars has certainly provided some great cash injections into those sports, but at the same time the grassroots spectators’ capacity to view and appreciate the sports is fading. Undoubtedly it will damage the long term viability of the sport. Eventually the grassroots support will not justify the big dollars being paid by Fox and there will be a significant cutback in coverage and cash. Cricket at present seems to have a good balance, Fox has a superior coverage, but if you choose not to pay you can still view 95% of the balls bowled each year. Cricket Australia does need to be careful with this balance though, overseas matches have already transitioned to Pay stations and it becomes progressively harder to view all Australian performances. The barbeque cup and the sheffield shield are now virtual irrelevances for the australian public , lets hope Australian one day and 20-20 doesn’t go the same way..
The blind leading the blind: Australian cricket follows Rugby Australia into oblivion
Yes, It was actually the camera Nazis that were the last straw for me. My mate and I went along to a Shield match at the Gabba only to be turned away because I had my camera with me including a 400mm lens, which is barely large enough to do cricket anyhow. As we had been dropped at the ground I sent the camera home in an Uber , there was no way it was going in the cloak room! When we did get in (after a bag check to make sure I hadn’t hidden it away), there was less than 100 people in total there including zero press. I did my research afterwards, found out the rules and tried to attend the shield final at AB field, only to be turned away because my 105mm lens ” looked to big and professional” . As a nice little side note, that was the day where there wasn’t a ball bowled.. That was the end, I went home and will never attend a first class game in Brisbane again.
Why I won't be going back to the Gabba
Pitched on , or just outside off, swinging back nicely. Would probably have come close to taking the off bail. Nothing resemblnig a shot.. On your bike Alex, that appalling display of contempt deserves a match in the stands.
Alex Doolan 'can't believe it' after copping questionable LBW on the last ball of the day