Sport has become exclusive

 

 

Subject: Sport has become exclusive.



The importance of sport on a nations psych is undoubted, evidence the London Olympics in 2012 and its nationwide uplift on so many aspects of the sense of our national importance during the Games.
International events and club events, be they soccer, cricket, rugby, athletics, golf, formula one motor racing are these days broadcast only on ‘subscription channels’ and the free to air broadcasts having to accept edited replays later in the day. The actual events on the subscription channel are therefore out of reach to many cash strapped Brits and each individual sport authority has fallen foul to the apparently bottomless pit of cash offered by Murdock's ‘Sky Sports Channel’.

It’s £68 per month for a standard charge for a Sky Sports sub this whilst the media vilifies the annual licence fee the BBC charges to cover all the BBC output, of television, multiple radio channels (each broadcasting its own mix of news, drama  and music and each offering this rich content to suite the varied taste of a country of 68 million individuals), all for only £157 per year and yet this paltry amount is constantly assailed by a critical Tory Press who yearn for the riches of more subscription television and so place  our heritage in danger.  There is simply no comparison between Sky and the Beeb and yet the Tory Party continue to wage a funding war with the BBC, their eyes firmly fixed on the investment return of more advertising.
Sky with a limited menu focusing only on popularism and radically undermines the popular appeal of a ‘national broadcasting service’, broadcasting to all corners of the society. By imposing a monthly cash constraint, which many can’t afford it sadly drives yet another wedge in an already divided society . Sadly there are families who would rather see their children go hungry to maintain the sports channel because it’s an opiate, an outlet, (along with alcohol), for people to find release from their dismal lives.
The cost of the annual bidding war increase for the rights to broadcast a particular sport has meant that what we watched this year on the BBC were the “scraps” of sporting activity, the BBC can now only afford  meagre content, almost limited to a sort of third division  in a society which claims inclusivity on so many other levels but in fact is becoming more and more exclusive.
The BBC, according to its charter is obliged to cover minority interests like equestrian events, bowls, and coverage of any games where people with physical impairment take part. It’s taken up the cudgel of woman’s events in football, rugby and cricket because they are less costly to bid for, although in each sport the women have shown a grasp of the game and which whilst lacking the physicality have produced interesting contests.
Money and the ridiculous amounts paid to male footballers, golfers, racing drivers and to a lesser extent the cricketers has produced a perverse sporting universe where the ordinary spectator is now equivalent to a peasant made to pay a tithe.
The massive disparity in earnings of sportsmen and women to those earned by the ordinary worker is unhealthy to a nations social fabric. Perhaps sporting skills are more appreciated by the general public than those of the senior banker but this disparity in earnings, which in the end pushes up the cost of everything, only does deep harm and will continue to worsen as we resume our slide into obscurity.