We Don't Like Cricket We Love It
As the Cricket World Cup continues to trundle on for longer than a Frankie Dettori retirement year, the biggest story in the sport last week didn’t come in Delhi where England were hammered by Afghanistan but from the IOC Congress in Malaysia where T20 cricket will be added to the LA28 sport programme.
This is really good news for the sport following the inclusion of Women’s T20 in last year’s Commonwealth Games and gives it a platform to showcase way beyond its usual heartland. The decision to include T20 is strongly influenced by the opportunity for the IOC to drive additional broadcast and sponsorship dollars from India and increase the number of engaged eye balls in the region, which traditionally does not fully embrace mega multi sport events.
The involvement of Team GB (the current Olympic Champions having thumped France by 158 runs in the previous final in 1900) will require liaison with the Home Cricket Unions. It will be interesting to see whether it is simply an England team that represents GB or will there be any Irish and Scottish involvement? – one for the BOA to navigate the choppy waters of UK cricket politics.
The timing of the Games will also require a 3-4 week break in the summer International season in England which will need to factored into the planning of the already very congested future tours programme.
The other sports selected to be added to the programme show the very strong influence of the US Olympic Association on the LA Organising Committee with a likely guarantee of a clean sweep in gold medals in Lacrosse, Flag Football and Baseball/Softball. The surprise here was Lacrosse which is a great sport to watch but has very little competitive depth (the 3rd ranked men’s team are Haudenosaunee – good luck with IOC membership), its involvement is likely to be a modern one hit wonder
However its inclusion must give real hope for the prospects of Netball to be part in the sport programme for Brisbane32 as a host gold medal is a strong possibility. Added to that, the impressive development progress of the sport, particularly in Africa, gives it much more widespread appeal for IOC members and an ever increasing pool of strong second tier teams which make for a potentially very interesting tournament.
The complete outlier was squash which had been lobbying for many years for inclusion and many in the sport had feared that its ship had long sailed as far as the Olympics were concerned. As with lacrosse, a great sport but difficult to understand the case for inclusion and seems completely out of step with other recent sport additions such as skateboarding, speed climbing, surfing and break dancing where there is a clear objective to engage a younger audience.
Meanwhile back in India, despite England’s second defeat in 3 games, they remain odds on for a semi final berth but can only really afford one more defeat in the pool stages before it gets a bit twitchy for them.
Rugby Gets Interesting
The Rugby World Cup final finally took off over the weekend with 4 absolutely scintillating Quarter Finals. The French and Irish bubbles were well and truly burst by NZ and SA while Wales were comfortably beaten by Argentina. This leaves England as the lowest ranked side in the final 4 and the only 6 Nations representative in this Northern Hemisphere competition.
The two semi’s look very sided with betting supremacy lines set at 19 and 14 but it does looks like setting a blockbuster Rugby Championship Final between NZ and SA in 2 weeks time.
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Whilst most of the egg chasing focus was in Marseille and Paris, the best story of the weekend was unfolding in Toulouse where the London Broncos came back from a 14-4 halftime deficit to win the Betfred Championship Grand Final 18-14 and a return to Super League.
It is brilliant news for Broncos owner David Hughes who has been one of the largest investors in Rugby league for many years and is one of the best and most likeable characters in the sport. RL needs a London franchise to be credible in its expansion aims and a strong team in the capital will also significantly enhance its commercial potential.
However it has consistently under supported and under invested in a London proposition and it must get it right this time, providing David and his staff the chance to consolidate within Super League and help grow the sport in a fertile Southern market.
Sports Business Awards Judges Lunch
Really looking forward to the, always excellent, Sports Business Awards lunch this week at the Oval.
Its very difficult to go wrong with meeting of some of the nicest and most interesting people in the industry over a pleasant lunch at an iconic sporting venue.
The awards take place at the Hurlingham Club on November 10th and to see the very impressive shortlist of nominees and for more information, click here
Finally, as always to finish, some self indulgent music and with the title of the article, there can only be one song to wrap it all up. Please enjoy 10cc with a live version of their 1978 banger “Dreadlock Holiday”
MD at R3 Events
1yThanks for the SBA mention Paul and for being one of the judges on the Sports Business Awards. See you on Thursday
Founder of award winning consultancy DOCIAsport
1yGood read as always. In view of the fact that you were referencing betting regarding the RWC semis do you also have an prediction on Mr Thomas Bach overstepping his term of office vs The Lord Coe replacing the incumbent?
Chief Executive Officer
1yHi Paul, many thanks for including us in your article. Outstanding result on the weekend for the club, we are looking for to Super League in 2024.