Big bash lessons for AFL

[Meg]

One other lesson that might be taken from the BBL is the support that has developed this year for the Sydney Thunder. Of course winning always helps (pity about tonight). But the other thing that occurs to me is that this year the Thunder have a largish number of players with whom western Sydney-ers might identify, which is conducive to gaining support for a game that people might not have previously followed. Sandhu, Cummins, Lalor, Doran and Beadle all have "Westie" backgrounds - plus Khawaja, Ahmed, Beadle and Sandhu come from cultural backgrounds which are highly representative of western Sydney.

However for the AFL/GWS to move in this direction, they first have to have a high number of AFL-level, competitive, local young players to recruit. Hence the critical importance of building a successful GWS academy.

[Mountain Man]

Certainly the Spotless Stadium cricket crowds have smashed the GWS crowds

[barry]

The reasons big bash is flying is simply because its affordable, there is no one-city bias, and the entertainment is compacted into a short time frame.
The AFL has none of these, and that makes it vunerable.

[aardvark]

Flash in the pan fad sport that will die a sad death in a few years.

[CureTheSane]

Flash in the pan fad sport that will die a sad death in a few years.

Just want to save that quote to use on this thread in a few years' time

[snajik]

I don't quite get the premise of the debate. A bit like comparing post-punk with deep funk. Both have their merits but few similarities. More pertinent is the threat to test cricket from BBL. Test cricket, primarily through the doctoring of pitches to assist the host bowlers, is shooting itself in the foot. Fans are switching off now that sides are regularly amassing 3-605 first innings scorelines. The administration is so keen to create pitches that ensure a 5-day match so that it will produce 5 days of gate takings that they are instead producing bore-fests. Too many tests have become pointless. Further, its talent pool is being drained by the IPL, the BBL and other money-spinning initiatives. Probably because players aren't that inspired by playing before a fifth day crowd comprising 43 drunks and a small dog.

While the BBL has enjoyed nascent success it will be interesting to see if it can be sustained. It took a few short decades for the 50 over format to become predictable, and BBL may go the same way. Essentially, what we have is a Stock - Aitken - Waterman version of cricket, i.e. 20 overs of choruses. Lots of great batting and fielding (though its rare that everyone gets a bat), but the poor bowler is becoming the fall guy in all of this, the clown riding in on a unicycle blasting his horn. I am concerned as to what the future holds for the craft of bowling. My son is finally causing a bit of havoc with the ball (bowls a bit like Travis Head, shame he doesn't bat like him also) so not sure how things will pan out for him in the long term.

BBL seems to be nudging the line between sport and entertainment, and its probably the entertainment side that is attracting the new fans. Personally I can do without the sideline interviews, the bum-scrunching relentless Nova songs, and dare I say it, the mediocre commentary. If I hear Damien Fleming say Mr Cricket one more time I will be forced to place a metal bucket on his head and bang it with a stick.

[barry]

I think you'll find T20 is here to stay. Its been around quite a while, and the IPL and other big-bash like leagues are all very healthy.

test cricket is dead really. While the traditionalists bemoan the state of West Indies cricket, I actually think they are forward thinking. West Indies are the world T20 champs. There players dominate big bash, IPL. For a poor country with limited cricket resources, they have targetted (conciously or not) the most lucrative part of cricket.
They dont have the financial luxury of playing tests infront of half a dozen fans.

[RogueSwan]

I have hardly noticed the BBL, I would struggle to name any team other than the Sydney Sixers. I know there are Scorchers, Star, Rebels, Thunder but I don't know the cities they are based in.
No one in my family, circle of friends or work colleagues evens mentions to game. I only know it is on when it interrupts my viewing of The Project :-).

[snajik]

I think you'll find T20 is here to stay. Its been around quite a while, and the IPL and other big-bash like leagues are all very healthy.

test cricket is dead really. While the traditionalists bemoan the state of West Indies cricket, I actually think they are forward thinking. West Indies are the world T20 champs. There players dominate big bash, IPL. For a poor country with limited cricket resources, they have targetted (conciously or not) the most lucrative part of cricket.
They dont have the financial luxury of playing tests infront of half a dozen fans.

This is another issue for West Indian cricket. The West Indies is not actually a country, rather a group of nations, mostly small island states, Guyana being the exception here. Therefore the desire to represent one's country is to a large extent diluted. Certainly, the lure of setting oneself up through a few seasons in the IPL would be a strong incentive.

[CureTheSane]

I only know it is on when it interrupts my viewing of The Project :-).

...and you don't admit that to just anyone

80,000 packing the MCG and a sell out at Etihad are pretty good indicators that this isn't a flash in the pan.
Test cricket continues it's decline...

[barry]

Do the mods think the RWO Swans Chat was getting too much traffic, so they moved this off to the thread graveyard of "General footy chat" which no one reads.

Good way to kill an interesting discussion.

[Meg]

Test cricket continues it's decline...

People like to say that but is it really true? Certainly not for an Ashes series. And the Adelaide Oval day/night test with initiatives such as cut price tickets for the night sessions was extremely popular. Even the first day of the SCG test (the rest of the match was rained out) against a poor West Indies team had a good crowd (over 30,000).

I do think there are lessons to be learnt for test series, with pricing being a key one. Ticket prices for the SCG test were ridiculous. But I don't think tests are a doomed product. Well, I certainly hope not.

[CureTheSane]

You're right.
Test cricket is as boring and poorly attended as it ever was

Must be a generational thing.

[cos789]

Yes, test cricket is well and truly in decline but it could be saved by the simplest of measures.
Play tests over four days with teams allocated a set number of possible overs to be used over two innings.
The fifth day is reserved for any interruptions.
WRT BBL the probable lessons are probably that summer is open to a football league of some sort like a 2nd tier championship, SOO or IRS.
Your not even comparing oranges with apples but oranges with potatoes.

[CureTheSane]

Screw with the test format and you lose whoever is left.
And tests are gone more quickly.
They are a finite entity. Guess they had a good run