Many of my fellow Roarers will have been quietly excited when South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas led the calls for the Sheffield Shield final to be held at the Adelaide Oval – there are few venues more fitting for such an occasion.
Likewise, I am sure that all but the most ardent AFL fans would have been disappointed to learn that their code had decided to block any chance of this happening, citing ‘player safety concerns’. Had the talk of compensation not been shut down, it is doubtful that the same so-called concerns would have been aired.
Having reviewed several media articles from the past week or so, the conclusion could and should be drawn that the AFL refused on commercial grounds, wrapped up in faux player concern. The coverage only days before the blockage indicated that a deal was expected to be reached and both sports would benefit.
Unfortunately, it was not so.
Despite assurances from Damien Hough, the Head Curator, that the ground staff would be able to get the drop in pitch in and out without any safety concerns, and the only impact on the AFL would be slightly shorter grass, South Australia’s dreams were dashed before they got off the ground.
Whilst the AFL has burnt plenty of bridges with SACA, they have made it clear that they are incredibly unwilling to be reasonable operators, especially given that Marvel is available on the Sunday after the Shield final.
This dogmatic approach (think keeping the Opening Round on as long as possible despite Cyclone Alfred) does not win friends and is rather strange given that football (soccer) games in Europe are quite often rescheduled at short notice without any issue from the clubs.
The conclusion is this: Cricket Australia has been asleep at the wheel for over a decade, and they need to wake up.
The AFL has made no secret of their desire to make the sport a year-round game, with the AFLW pushing well into November, and the opening rounds of the AFL creeping earlier and earlier into March. In response to this direct assault on their sporting window, Cricket Australia have failed to even show up to the fight.
This failure to expand the game and make it more appealing can be broadly sorted into three categories.
Firstly, the complete abandonment of domestic cricket that isn’t the BBL, pushing the Marsh Cup and Sheffield Shield into the fringes of the season, with the start of the One-Day competition this season being played in September, before the County Cricket season had finished in England.
Alex Carey of the Redbacks. (Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)
Couple this with six rounds of Shield cricket being played during term 4 of the school calendar, and Cricket Australia is missing a key opportunity to get kids and families in the door. Further to this, they shoot themselves in the foot by not scheduling these early games on weekends to attract the non-footy playing audience into the grounds.
Secondly, Cricket Australia has failed miserably in the marketing and media department. Remember who Australia played in the One-Day and T20I series in November? Me neither, probably because Cricket Australia seemingly spent zero dollars advertising and promoting it, reflected in the ordinary crowd number (it was Pakistan).
Cricket Australia was so focused on the big cash prize of India and the BBL they forgot the rest of the season existed.
Likewise, Cricket Australia putting the limited over games behind a paywall has not helped advertising the summer of cricket on free-to-air, especially at the domestic level. It is not uncommon to find VFL matches on Channel 7 throughout the winter months in Victoria, so it should likewise be encouraged for one game from each round of the Shield or ODI Cup to be broadcast on free to air.
This article from 12 years ago makes an outstanding case for the ABC to do this – or at the very least the two cup finals. Whilst streaming is the world we live in and convenient, it does not pick up new viewers since you have to seek it out, not stumble across it.
Finally, Cricket Australia has shafted almost all cricket after the second week of January – bar the Women’s team which had a decent run in the back end of January. This is the perfect time to either slot in a holiday round of Shield cricket and pause the BBL for a week or bring back ODI and T20 Internationals in January and February.
It was good to see Channel 7 broadcast the Sri Lanka tour in full, and unsurprisingly Cricket Australia has yet again failed to capitalise on this by marketing the domestic game. There is next to no media coverage of the Shield at any point in the summer, with the AFL still claiming a majority of the back pages as late as November.
Cricket Australia should be taking every opportunity to promote the Sheffield Shield, especially when they have the eyes of hundreds of thousands of casual watchers during the Summer Test matches, or during the evening news bulletin.
(Photo by Mark Brake – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
It is one thing to not be able to compete with the marketing behemoth that is the AFL, it is another thing altogether to not even try.
The solution is complex and will take leaders at CA who are willing to stand up to the AFL and play hardball, who are willing to be petty during Cricket season when it comes to sharing resources, and who will look at the game as a whole, not just a balance sheet.
Whilst it is disappointing the best ground in Australia won’t host the Shield final, it is clear Cricket Australia has been asleep at the wheel for too long, and it’s time to wake up.
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