the fencing world cup is on. unfortunately its on british eurosport, who appear to have a wholly random approach to thier EPG. watching fencing now involves staying up at all hours waiting for the only chance i'll get this year of seeing international class fencers. eurosport, aside from getting possibly the worlds worst commentator in also only publishes reports on the championship in french. ok, so fencing is not a popular sport in britain and british fencing is not of the same level as french or german or in fact pretty much anyone else....but....sigh.
instead we must rely on whatever results and comments people are making on message boards.
but however bad eurosport is at least on it you can see some of the less popular (read less lucrative) sports. its not just fencing that suffers as part of the total neglect on terrestrial television of anything thats not (male) football (male) cricket, there are a host of minority sports - each attracting a devoted following (and a participation that can only be increased by exposure) that never see the light of day. with the sole exception of international athletics the chances of seeing any sport on television that doesn't attract either subscription viewing or have vast advertising spend is minimal - where has the womens football world cup been (aside from eurosport: final sunday at 5pm). the point i guess, aside from my pique at not being able to see the worldchampionship except by camping in front of channel 43 all night is that the eclipsing of all other sports before mens football encourages an environment where the national game is the only game. its no wonder children are getting fatter and people are getting less and less fit when the only exposure to sport is the glittering soap opera of top flight football; which this week at least seems less like a sport at all than the decline of a saturnalian empire built by rapists in terrible suits. The dictates of advertising is only part of the problem, after all in other parts of the world advertising on sailing or womens football or womens cricket isn't small, its just here where the total dominance of premiership football is such that theres little money or time left for other sports.
in the meantime i shall be up all night watching the team epee event.
Posted by flambingo at October 9, 2003 01:45 PMThat's a little unfair on Eurosport. I too treasure Eurosport: it has the best commentary team on TV with the MotoGP commentators and it's the only place you can catch tractor pulling in prime time.
However, the EPG isn't Eurosport's fault. It's that underfunded NTL thing that's wrong. Always.
Also, the Women's World Cup has been covered since the beginning: I've been watching it on and off since the group stages.
Posted by: jim on October 13, 2003 11:05 AM