Its an One Day International in India yet its not in the cricket news, its not in the other sports news either. You guessed it, thats because its women's cricket.
For those of you who are unaware, enraged by a program on lack of coverage (And when Burkha Dutt from NDTV doesnt know, how can we expect others to know, I started a blog on Indian Sports minus Men's cricket and Sania in O3 and in Blogger.)
And its a tough job since other than Men's Cricket, I dont watch much except the Tennis Grand Slams, the Football World cup and if possible Skating. Well I didnt think of that as a handicap, at that time, after all, there are plenty of stuff that I write based on Search Engines:)
All I wanted was to give links to articles which give details on International Events with Indian participation.
And now back to today's problem.
I knew a cricket match was scheduled between India and England in Guwahati Today. For the earlier matches I had used the BBC link, but perhaps now I should try some Indian Websites
So I start on what I think would be an easy journery.All I want to know is the who won the toss, the teams names. So here is a list of sports headlines from various Sources
Let me start with Espnstar website : Their fixtures http://www.espnstar.com/cricket/cricket_fixtures.html doesnt mention this series, .But then I didnt check this first I went to news http://www.espnstar.com/cricket/cricket_index.html and well nothing there.So let me search for women cricket. Aargh http://www.espnstar.com/search/searchcurrent.jsp says Searched for women cricket Sorry no Results Found.
Lets move to Rediff http://in.rediff.com/sports/index.html the sports page doesnt mention. And its not in Today in Sports. The Cricket page http://in.rediff.com/cricket/index.html no luck. And its not in cricket news http://in.rediff.com/cricket/news.htm Perhaps I should try their search engine http://sitesearch.rediff.com/dirsrch/default.asp?MT=women%20cricket%20England%20India&search=site and search witin rediff. It gives 2002 , oh let me forget it, if its not in the first page
Oh how about Sify. Its not in the sports page http://sify.com/sports/ Its not in the cricket page http://sify.com/sports/cricket/index.php .And to be on the safe side checked the other sports page too http://sify.com/sports/others/index.php No luck.
Well how about Indiatimes (I love their Men's cricket live commentary) http://cricket.indiatimes.com/ again nothing
Oh I forgot Yahoo cricket http://in.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/new_cricket.html Nothing
So let me try MSN http://www.msn.co.in/sports/ Nothing
Indian Express has a seperate section for cricket and yet http://cricket.expressindia.com/ has nothing
How could I forget NDTV. Surely now that Burkha knows, she would follow the matches. Its not mentioned in their cricket page http://origin.ndtv.com/sports/cricket/ and its not in the main sports page http://origin.ndtv.com/sports/default.asp Oh great. But surely its hidden somewhere. Let me try the NDTV Sports Today feature.
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So after trying to browse through these pages for more than 2 hours (there are still some mortals who dont have broadband and have to use a dial up through an intercom with a “rain affected” telephone line”. I go back to BBC. http://www.bbcworld.co.uk Click on cricket Link. Then click on Women's cricket Come to http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/womens_cricket/4489324.stm
Aah Thankfully its an England Match and Thankfully we still have BBC.
Now for the Wise Donkey Women's Cricket News Challenge
Find a LIVE SCORE reporting on the One Day series between India and England which is being held in India by an Indian website.
PS : India beat England by 8 wickets
update AFTER THE WIN
Seems 20000 people came to watch, not bad !!
After the Win Mentions
Rediff.com front page, after we scroll down a bit, a link in the sports section.http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2005/dec/04eves.htm (From PTI )
Indian Express Cricket section in http://cricket.expressindia.com/ have an article http://cricket.expressindia.com/fulleistory.php?content_id=59478 (From PTI )
Indiatimes cricket http://cricket.indiatimes.com/ have an article http://cricket.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1317838.cms (From PTI )
Yahoo cricket page http://in.sports.yahoo.com/cricket/new_cricket.html have an article http://in.sports.yahoo.com/051204/32/61d4y.html
Those who didnt make the mention
Sify.com no mention in sports http://sify.com/sports/ No mention in cricket section http://sify.com/sports/cricket/index.php No mention in other Sport section too http://sify.com/sports/others/index.php
NDTV..com no mention in Cricket section http://origin.ndtv.com/sports/cricket/ No mention in more sports section http://origin.ndtv.com/sports/cricket/morestories.asp no mention in Sports section http://origin.ndtv.com/sports/
MSN.Co.in no mention in http://www.msn.co.in/sports/
ESPNSTAR.com no mention in main news, cricket news or more cricket news http://www.espnstar.com/cricket/cricket_news.html
BBC was the only one from the mainstream web media, which followed the match while it was happening.
If BBC could cover from England, surely we can cover from India, when its held in India!
I think women would be comfortable wth the current attire.
ReplyDeletewhen you are running after a ball, you sure dont want to scratch ur knees (if its bermuda type) and when ur running for a catch, u dont want to check if ur skirt is flying (for skirts)
:D
Dont take it wrong way. The women cricket is still a poor counterpart of men cricket. Cricket is an atheletic game and women are physically weaker than men due to biological reasons. In all atheletic games like basketball, soccer, baseball except may be tennis, women sports are duller. So You cant really blame the media coz Media sells only what the public demands/ wants.
ReplyDeleteWe can try innovative ways to make women cricket exciting. Men and women are different and the game should be played differentely too. It should be of shorter duration with smaller grounds.
Thanks for dropping by my dormant blog. Will try to post something this week.
Anbu 20000 people watched the match on the grounds - PTI
ReplyDeleteNow when 20000 people watch when there is not much publicity, in Guwahati, what makes many think it wont be followed by others?
And Indian women reached the finals of the World Cup.
This isnt about equal space as men's cricket.
When we host an international event its news.
It need not be front page news, but its still News
And when its an International Event officially,
NDTV has no right to say, No Match Found Today
Let them say No Match That we Know of Found Today.
There is a difference.
Let them acknowledge the existence.