
Issue No 80		01 December 2000

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Sport

Jim Marr on Calypso Broadcasting

The embattled ABC might be following-on in its battle for survival but Calypso Summer showed it can still rattle the pickets when given a chance.

For an organisation, often lampooned by Liberal detractors as elitist and irrelevant to the average Joe or Joanne, it sure makes an effort with sport.

You don't get much more mainstream in Australia than horse racing and cricket and the ABC, alone, has screened stand-out documentaries on both subjects in recent months.

The Track, over five or six weeks, provided an in-depth history of the Australian turf from its earliest days, telling the often-colourful stories of champions, jockeys, trainers, bookies, punters and pollies in a way that broadened its appeal.

Similarly Calypso Summert used the memories of the combatants, now in their 50s, 60s and 70s, to recall the drama and emotion of that sport's signature test series.

It was an emotional two hours of television that rekindled memories of how wonderful sport can be when played in the right spirit.

Those West Indians and Australians, 40 years down the track, clearly had more than respect for one another. They still revelled in friendships forged in one of the closest contests imagineable.

Television has one great advantage on its media rivals. It can put flesh on familiar names and for those not plodding the planet when Wes Hall, Gary Sobers, Frank Worrell, Rohan Kanhai, Lance Gibbs, Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson, Norm O'Neill, Slasher Mackay and Wally Grout were at the peaks of their powers that was reward enough.

Their talk of sharing a few beers, not just at the end of the series or match, but often at the completion of a stirring day's play should fuel the thought processes of today's combatants.

But no doubt the Liberals, read arch-conservatives, would argue that even in such apparently apolitical fields the ABC just couldn't help itself.

Sport today, after-all, is an end in itself, completely self-contained and absolutely unrelated to issues that surround it. The commercial networks that own it have seen to that, despite bitter bleatings from the burrows of south Sydney.

This fact, promulgated by Messrs K.Packer and R.Murdoch, and signed off on by Mr J Howard, apparently hasn't got through to the ABC.

The Track was set against the social backgrounds of the eras it moved through - landholder v squatter, Protestant-Catholic, genteel clubs-independent tracks, the Depression and the world wars.

Even Calypso Cricket played on a stage coloured by Robert Menzies' White Australia policy.

Neither program made big deals of the political, economic, religious or social backdrops. They were passing mentions that gave their subjects form and context.

Funny, but before Murdoch and Packer took complete control of Australia's commercial media, which was a while before they carved up the nation's sport, such approaches to documentary-making were regarded as standard, good journalism.

Times, however, have changed and there is no doubt the new ABC management will be making that point to pesky program makers.

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Issue 80 contents

Interview: Chewing the Fat with Della
In a rare extended interview, NSW 's new industrial relations minister State John Della Bosca outlines his vision for the new workplace.

Unions: Organising - There Is No Choice
LHMU national secretary Jeff Lawrence responds to Brisbane Institutue director Peter Botsman's attack on organising.

Corporate: The Riddles of Democracy at Telstra
Shareholder activist Stephen Mayne explains how the big guys ran roughshod when he and trade union activists attempted to stand for the Telstra board.

Education: Training for Change
Labor Council's Michael Gadiel outlines a traiing agenda for the 21st century.

History: A Stack of Hypocrits
Ballot rigging, sanctioned by the courts, sponsored by the government were a Liberal Party and Bob Menzies speciality - and they introduced legislation to legalise it.

International: African Unions Go To War Against AIDS
The war on AIDS is now the number one priority of the ICFTU's African Regional Organization (AFRO), which has launched an ambitious five-year action plan in nine of the most severely afflicted African nations.

Satire: Teenage Hackers Behind Shock Cabinet Reshuffle
Seasoned front-benchers and political greenhorns alike were joined in stunned surprise today, as a sudden Cabinet reshuffle radically altered the shape of the Federal Government.

Review: Manufacturing Dissent
A new production explores Australian's approach to refugees and their experiences coming to a strange land.

» It's Official: Union Leaders More Trusted than Bosses!

» Reith Isolated on Workers Entitlements

» Light for Shafted Woodlawn Miners

» ATO Workers Stand Up to Bullying Bean-Counter

» Schweppes Lockout Bubbles Internationally

» Online Registration Takes Hold

» Bush Apprentices Face Breadline

» ALP Council Faces Workers' Wrath

» Local Action to Back Burma Sanctions

» WorkCover Needs First Aid Help

» Shier Under Fire � At Your ABC

» Social Charter Puts Heat on Howard

» Wattyl Make 'Em Fair Dinkum?

» International Union Aid Jobs on Offer

» The Soapbox

» Sport

» Trades Hall

» Tool Shed

» Botsman Off Beam

» Botsman Off Beam II

» Fatherly Advice

» Concerns on Fundraiser

» Let's Be Frank about Frank!

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