World Cup? What World Cup?

Yesterday Australia won the cricket world cup final – or as the organisers would have us call it, the ICC CWC 2007. It just trips off the tongue doesn’t it?
It was a complete farce of a final, coming after a long and dull tournament that had its own tragedy. The Aussies got to celebrate winning the final twice by virtue of some inept umpiring that forced the Sri Lankans back onto the pitch in complete darkness to face three pointless overs that nobody could see. Even the TV cameras, which normally do a great job of hiding the gloom, were struggling with even basic things such as keeping in focus. The Sky commentators, normally to be relied upon to take a pro-tournament view, didn’t hold back in letting us know that they knew, like we did, that it was a complete farce.
Anyway, Australia duly won the rain interrupted final, while most of the rest of the world carried on in complete obliviousness.
You could argue that after England’s dismal Ashes losing tour to Australia earlier in the winter, and then complete failure in this tournament, what with pedalo incidents the only things to keep us entertained, it’s the public that’s at fault, but I really don’t think that’s the case.
Everybody, and I really mean everybody, knows that the tournament was way too long. The format allows for dead rubbers and completely one-sided fixtures. Yes Ireland and Bangladesh did very well in the early stages, but that’s really not enough. The Football World Cup lasts a month and it’s worth reminding ourselves that when the Olympics finally hit these shores in 2012, they’ll be finished in just over a fortnight.
We hear that it’s TV’s fault that the tournament lasts so long; TV needs lots of fixtures, and doesn’t want more than one match at a time. I don’t buy this for a second. It’s making for exceptionally dull TV in the current format.
And then there’s the fact that the locals seemingly can’t afford to watch cricket in their own country. There’s simply nothing worse in a major sporting than seeing row upon row of empty seats – the only spectators seeming to be white in a country where the locals are mainly black.
But then as I’ve always argued, sports authorities are the most venal and corrupt in the world. It’s the one area of power left where presidencies are elected in dubious manners and backhanders are the way things work. If you want to be a tyrannical despot in the 21st century, don’t muck around trying to gain control of a small country – get involved in the organisational body of a major international sport. If you happen to have a major tournament to bestow upon different nations every few years, then you can be expected to be treated like royalty. And once you’ve got to the top, use the funds of your organisation to “buy” votes from smaller countries to keep you in place.
Back to cricket specifically though. How should the Cricket World Cup be improved? Well fewer games for a start. Make sure locals can afford to watch matches – if your stadia aren’t full for every game, then you’ve got the pricing wrong. Sell the TV rights to free to air stations. I’ve no problem with Sky bidding for World Cup rights, but I do have a problem with the ICC selling them. If the nation can’t watch a tournament, then they don’t care about it. Of course the same is true for the stupid fools in charge of the ECC who also took Sky cash against the sport’s greater interest. Even the crassly commercial F1 realises that without widespread coverage, the “sport” has no real future.
And don’t make excuses. This was a terrible event with a humiliating final. Learn from the many mistakes, and do better next time.
Some Observer journalists make these points far more eloquently than I can in today’s paper.


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