Rubbish Sports Coverage

Secondly the Rugby World Cup is going to be on ITV. That means adverts just before the kick off so players standing around waiting for the TV coverage to be ready. It means that at half time 10 of the 15 minutes of the break will be adverts and the quality of analysis of the play, tries and future plays will be reduced to nothing. There will also be some competition and the adverts of the official sponsors to be endured. It means no Brian Moore who is very opinionated and blunt with his views but very funny and always willing to apologise when proved wrong rather than trying to backtrack and we can only hope that Jim Rosenthal (broadcasts on all sports but knows nothing about them) will be absent as he is so bland. ITV also have little experience of broadcast from these stadiums so we can only hope that they get the cameras in the right place but I am not holding my breath. There will also be the pointless camera gimmick that they feel that they have to use so that the sponsors name appears on the screen (blue square blimp was on screen twice an hour during the cricket). There is also the promise of every match being covered but to what extent matches will be on digital channels only (ITV3 and 4) is yet to determined. They are trumpeting the arrive of listening to the referee as a new first but you have been able to hear it for several years under the normal commentary so if it will be a dedicated feed will there be any commentary or just the referee talking. It seems that it is going to be another opportunity to watch the pictures and listen to the radio.

On Sunday they showed a match from Serie A and the following applies. 1 If you score one goal this is a time to attack not to become defensive. 2. if the opposition have a player sent off then quick passing will expose their numerical disadvantage 3. If you have a player sent off then by being only defensive will cost you. 4. If you score an equaliser you might be able to get a winner rather to stop attacking a team who aren't attacking you. Entertainment this game was not and all my prejudices against Italian football were met.