Basic HTML Version
TOUCHLINE
MAGAZINE.COM
|
35
former golfer Peter McEvoy
pitched a new high-energy
sport of PowerPlay. Played over
nine holes instead of 18, a points
system and a second flag on the
green ensure more excitement. The
titular PowerPlay means that a player
has to shoot for the more distant
black flag three times in the first eight
holes.
Going for the PowerPlay on the final
hole carries risk, as a net bogey means
you lose two points from the total.
Fans of these most idiosyncratic of
sports –cricket, rugby and golf- should not
worry too much about the younger, flashy
brother getting all the attention. There are
plenty of reasons why there will still be test
cricket, 15s and old-school golf played over the
coming decades.
First, administrators from these sports actually
want the short-form version. These are not break-
away sports, like the World Series back in the early
80s. They are carefully planned marketing ploys.
Cricket Australia’s head James Sutherland
recently explained the strategy to The Australian
newspaper. “It’s about kids, it’s about families and it’s
about females,” he said.
“It’s not targeted to the traditional cricket fans. If they
want to come along anyway, that’s fantastic and we’ll
always embrace them. But we’ve been really intent on
bringing new people to the game through T20 and the Big
Bash and even if the competition is going through the roof,
which it is right now, that’s what it started as and that’s what
it remains. It’s been designed as an introduction to the game
of cricket.”
The sport is effectively a Trojan horse: a way to get people
interested in watching cricket. If they enjoy the Big Bash, maybe
they will start leaning towards test cricket.
Moreover, the players themselves will never see winning a
trophy shaped like a bucket of fried chicken to the strains of “Seven
Nation Army” while fireworks are shot off the roof of the SCG as a
replacement for winning the Ashes. All professionals understand the
roots of their sports: invariably they were inspired by heroes of the
past. These are the players they wish to emulate. Test cricket is where
legends are forged, 15s is where the champions of the past made their
names.
A sporting legacy is about matching or surpassing the triumphs
of these icons, and these short form versions simply do not have the
longevity or depth to create the all-important bank of statistics. More than
athletic performance, it is the numbers that we use to judge our heroes.
Fearing these innovations is pointless: they cannot be legislated away, and
they actually serve the function of opening the sports up to newer audiences.
And if you are still worried that in ten years these sports will not exist,
remember that old saying “class is permanent”. Fads come and go.