Yes; we have admitted many times in the past that we are cricket tragics from way back. As much as we love rugby, cricket is our first and most enduring sporting love affair; there's something incredibly soothing about listening to a cricket commentary on the radio; it's wonderful company.
But it may not be that way for much longer; Radio Sport has announced plans to axe commentaries of First Class (provincial) cricket this season, and it's gone down like a lead balloon. In fact the proposal is so unpopular that a petition has been launched to urge Radio Sport to have a re-think. You can find the petition here, and it already has 700 signatures. The body of the petition reads thus:
The New Zealand summer. The pohutakawa tree, swimming at the beach and jandals. All set to the backdrop of cricket on the radio.
This has been the way it's been for decades, but now this lifestyle is at an end. It has been announced that there will be no Radio Sport coverage of Plunket Shield cricket this summer.
Instead score updates will be sourced from internet scoring provided on New Zealand Cricket's website. That's the same website that underwent all sorts of technical issues last season; often being down for an entire day.
Instead we will have to sit through the Farming Show, and the lowest common denominator of talkback.
Clearly, this is a situation that cannot be allowed to proceed. Cricket is a sport that is made for radio commentary; it is the perfect backdrop to that other great NZ tradition of painting house roofs. Can someone please think of the roofs.
It's time to speak up on this.
So, following the success of online petitions in keeping the FA Cup on NZ TV and shifting the Crowd Goes Wild back into a respectable hour we ask you to give this some support.
Now we can say with honesty that we have never listened to cricket whilst painting a roof; in fact, we've never painted a roof! But the transistor radio has followed us to the beach, the garden, the shed and a host of other places as we have gone about our summer routine to the dulcet tones of Colin Snedden, Iain Galloway, Bryan Waddle, Ron Snowden, Phillip Stephens and a cast of dozens of other commentators.
Summer won't be the same without domestic cricket on Radio Sport. So please; if you love cricket as we do, follow the link above, sign the petition, and send a message to the bean counters at The Radio Network that some things are far more important than money.
Many thanks to our mate Leg Break from Sportsfreak for the tip on this one. Together, cricket lovers such as us can change the world!
3 comments:
I was astonished to hear that plunkett sheild would not be broadcast ball by ball.
As far as I am concerned the only purpose of sports radio is to provide cricket comentaries. Any other porgrams can fit around the cricket.
I will be signing the petition but would suggest that the stations sponsors be politely told that their products will be boycotted until normal service resumes.
As an advertiser with The Radio Network, I have already expressed my displeasure to the local representative.
Boycott? You mean like wisharts book? Sheesh. Whatever happened to the rights of a company to do what they want?
Post a Comment