But could the same not be said for HIGH profile sports... our Opals in a sport that has massive junior participtaion in this country got MINIMAL minutes free to air in their semi final... and prior to that I think a total of about 5 minutes...
Hockey has struggled for minutes despite it being one of our "bigger" sports.. and even netball (which is our biggest girls participation sport) was a delayed telecast and only the last few minutes of the 4th qtr.
Brooke Kruger's gold was delayed.. they stuffed up and 1/2 way through her throws showed her standing on the dias singing the anthem!
Yes we saw a lot of rugby 7's and swimming... and that would be mainly becuase they are channel 9 sports that will be very popular for channel nine in 2007 with the world swimming and the Rugby 7's events.
I am positive the sport needs exposure at GRASS roots... kids. We need kids playing and although Comm Games exposure would have been nice for those of us that love the sport and already play.... it is not the reason for a decline in #'s... nor a lack or juniors joining the sport.
Ultimately the $$'s spent on our Comm Games team would be FAR better off being spent pumping the sport into schools... ensuring centre operators are skilled in retaining the kids bought in.. and the right coaches with the right intentions put in place to direct the kids that want to play.
We can say that we need to get the exposure first.. we need to have people watching on tellie... but I can guarantee that most would just walk away bored. It is not a good spectacle for the average Joe Blow that does not play the sport or understand it.
We need to worry about the kids... the beginners... we need the right programs in place. Without a larger and more successful junior base this countries juniors will soon become nothing more than a big fish in a very small pond.
England has 9 u/23's in the top 30. Austrlaia has 2 and only ONE junior in the top 30 Under 19's.
When Rach and Nat move on their is not the depth to cover the loss.
|