Sadly I think the popularity of cricket is dying a death since it all went to SKY.

Quote from: Fenton on 22 February 2015, 11:24:16 AM
Sadly I think the popularity of cricket is dying a death since it all went to SKY.

Murdoch poisons all his grubby little claws touch

I shall be wrting to the ICC soon with my plan on how to fix international cricket

Wow, two things you'll have to actually do for yourself in one day! 

Yeah, I think there should be a dedicated sports channel on free-to-view tv, as passed through a parliamentary bill, paid for with the TV licence, used in an effort to get more people active and into sports.
Drop Eastenders for a start, or shove it sideways onto a commercial channel. Cricket being a staple of the sports channel, as the sport is more open to people from a wider background. It's my opinion that amateur cricketers don't require to be as physically gifted as footballers/gymnastics/rowers/long-distance runners, so more children could be encouraged into the sport - a side benefit being they would be taught good manners and good sportsmanship (unlike football).

It won't happen. But it was something I thought of while waiting for the kettle to boil.

Quote from: getagrip on 22 February 2015, 11:32:40 AM
Wow, two things you'll have to actually do for yourself in one day! 

Well it will probably be three but we shan't mention that 

Quote from: Fenton on 22 February 2015, 11:49:16 AM
Well it will probably be three but we shan't mention that 

I don't want to know 

Quote from: RoyWilliamson on 22 February 2015, 11:48:23 AM
Yeah, I think there should be a dedicated sports channel on free-to-view tv, as passed through a parliamentary bill, paid for with the TV licence, used in an effort to get more people active and into sports.
Drop Eastenders for a start, or shove it sideways onto a commercial channel. Cricket being a staple of the sports channel, as the sport is more open to people from a wider background. It's my opinion that amateur cricketers don't require to be as physically gifted as footballers/gymnastics/rowers/long-distance runners, so more children could be encouraged into the sport - a side benefit being they would be taught good manners and good sportsmanship (unlike football).

It won't happen. But it was something I thought of while waiting for the kettle to boil.

Too true.

It won't happen because Murdoch has more than a few politicians in his back pocket (Gove being the most slimy and odious example).

How I fondly remember in the 60s going home from school for lunch and watching half an hour of the test match with my dad - Cowdrey, Truman, Dexter, D'Oliveira et al. That was a proper English summer, even though I was living in Wales at the time.

Yeah but cricket is mind-meltingly dull.  Both to watch and play.

However, the general idea of social pressure, and media encouragement of sporting activity is a very good one.  On this publicly funded sport channel I would limit soccer coverage to 0.5% of airtime and let the 100s of other sports get a look in.  Even cricket.

To be honest I never found cricket as boring as football. It is a sport I just don't get.

Aye soccer (kissball) is dull too.  95% of the games appear to be 90 mins of midfield scuffling.  0-0: the definition of a waste of an afternoon.

Personally I stopped watching in the late 1980s when it turned from being a sport and became and amateur dramatics business.  Nowadays the women's game is far superior as a spectator experience.

There are SO MANY excellent sports out their and they just never get coverage - mostly due to the financial dominance of 'the beautiful game'.   

I like Sumo wrestling  

Channel4 used to show it on a Saturday morning in the 80s; my mother and me used to sit together and watch it. (unless it was video recorded, and I only got to watch on that day  )

They used to show Kabaddi as well

Quote from: Fenton on 22 February 2015, 03:31:35 PM
They used to show Kabaddi as well

I had to google it and found this on Wikipedia (so it might be true?)

"United Kingdom[edit]
Kabbadi was played by the British Army for fun, to keep fit and as an enticement to recruit soldiers from the British Asian community. Kabaddi was brought to the United Kingdom by Indian immigrants and Pakistani immigrants. The governing body for kabaddi in the United Kingdom is the England Kabaddi Federation UK. The UK also played host to the 2013 UK Kabaddi Cup.

Nepal[edit]
Kabbadi is considered to be one of the national sports of Nepal. Kabbadi is played and taught at a very early age in most primary schools beginning in the third grade or so in most Nepali schools. Great instructors and players have come out the Nepali Kabbadi system which is original in its teaching and form. Sange Lama and Jayadev Lama based in Queens, New York, United States are the two most famous Nepali players of all time."

Given that I live on Catterick Garrison, and there's a large Nepali community here at the moment, I'm surprised I've not heard of it before.