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Kerry Packer and the Australian Television IndustryIn the mid-1970s, the Australian television industry was at something of a crossroads. Since its inception in 1956, the commercial networks had developed an over-reliance on imported programs, particularly those from the United States, which proved cheaper to buy. There was much agitation for more Australian programming through the "TV:Make it Australian" campaign, which the television stations were resisting. With the advent of colour transmissions in 1975, sport was increasing in popularity as a television spectacle and, importantly, counted as local content. Unfortunately, many popular sports perceived that live telecasts would have an adverse effect on attendances, still the mainstay of professional sporting revenues. The correlation between sports, corporate sponsorship and television exposure was not evident to many sports administrators. Kerry Packer took over the running of the Nine Network (one of many media interests of his family's company Consolidated Press Holdings, or CPH) after the death of his father, Sir Frank, in 1974. With Nine's ratings languishing, Packer sought to turn the fortunes of the network around with an aggressive strategy that included more sports programming. At first, he targeted golf and secured the rights to the Australian Open, spending millions on revamping the Royal Sydney golf course as a permanent home for the tournament, and hiring Jack Nicklaus to do the re-design and appear in the tournament. Packer was also a fan of cricket, which was undergoing resurgence in the mid-1970s. In 1976, Packer made a play for the rights to televise official test matches, the contract for which expired was about to expire. He approached the ACB with an offer of $1.5 million for three years (eight times what they were receiving) yet he was rebuffed by the administrators. The ACB felt loyal to the ABC, which had broadcast the game for twenty years when the commercial networks showed little interest in the game. Packer felt that there was an "old boy" network element at play, and he was furious at the dismissive way that his bid was handled. Clearly, the government-funded ABC could never hope to match the amounts that a commercial network could pay, but they were still awarded another three-year contract worth only $210,000, to commence in the 1976-77 season.
Cloak and Dagger SigningsPacker's planning of the proposed "exhibition" series was audacious. In early 1977, he began contracting a list of Australian players provided by recently-retired Australian test captain Ian Chappell. A bigger coup was achieved when Packer convinced the England captain Tony Grieg to not only sign on, but to act as an agent in signing many players around the world. By the time the season climaxed with the centenary test match between Australia and England at Melbourne in March 1977, about two dozen players had committed to Packer's enterprise, which as yet had no grounds to play on, no administration and was secret to all in the cricket world. It was a measure of the players' dissatisfaction with official cricket that they were prepared to sign up for what was still a vague concept and still keep everything covert. By the time the Australian team arrived to tour England in May 1977, thirteen of the seventeen members of the squad had committed to Packer. News of the WSC plans were inadvertently leaked to Australian journalists, who broke the story on 9 May. Immediately, all hell broke loose in the hitherto conservative world of cricket. Not unexpectedly, the English were critical of what they quickly dubbed the "Packer Circus" and reserved particular vitriol for the English captain Tony Grieg, for his central role in organising the break-away. Grieg retained his position in the team, but was stripped of the captaincy and ostracised by everyone in the cricket establishment, most of whom had been singing his praises just weeks before. It seemed certain that all Packer players would be banned from test and first class cricket. The Australian players were a divided group and the management made their displeasure clear to the Packer signees. Dispirited by this turn of events and hampered by poor form and indifferent weather, Australia crashed to a 3-0 defeat, surrendering the Ashes won two years before. Court CaseA largely unknown Kerry Packer arrived in London during June 1977. He appeared on David Frost's The Frost Programme and debated his concept with commentators Jim Laker and Robin Marlar. Marlar's aggressive, indignant interrogation came unstuck when Packer proved to be articulate, witty and confident that his vision was the way of the future. The show significantly raised Packer's profile and converted some to his way of thinking. The main goal of his trip was to meet the game's authorities and reach some type of compromise. He had made a canny move by securing Richie Benaud as a consultant. Benaud's standing in the game and his journalistic background helped steer Packer through the Byzantine politics of the game. Cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), had now entered the controversy, initially seen as an Australian domestic problem. They met with Packer, Benaud and two assistants at Lord's on 23 June to discuss the WSC plans. After ninety minutes of compromise had almost created a common ground, Packer demanded that the ICC award him the exclusive Australian television rights. It wasn't in the power of the ICC to do so and Packer stormed from the meeting to deliver the following unadulterated declaration of war: Had I got those TV rights I was prepared to withdraw from the scene and leave the running of cricket to the board. I will take no steps now to help anyone. It's every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost. This outburst undid any goodwill that Packer had created during his earlier television appearance, particularly among his players who had seen his actions as much philanthropic as commercial. The ICC decided to treat Packer's scheme with contempt when a month later they decided Packer's matches would not be given first class status and the players involved would be banned from test match and first class cricket. A number of the signed players were now considering pulling out, and two (Jeff Thomson and Alvin Kallicharan) had their contracts torn up when it was discovered that they had binding contracts with a radio station in Queensland that required them to play for the state. Packer moved quickly to shore up support, meeting players and considering legal moves to prevent third parties from inducing players to break their contracts. To clarify the legal implications (including the proposed bans), Packer challenged backed a challenge to the TCCB in the High Court by three of his players: Tony Grieg, Mike Proctor and John Snow. The case began in September 1977 and lasted seven weeks. The cricket authorities counsel said that if the top players deserted traditional cricket then gate receipts would decline. Mr. Packer's lawyers stated that the ICC had tried to force the Packer players to break their contracts and to prevent others from joining them. Justice Slade in his judgment said professional cricketers need to make a living and the ICC should not stand in the way just because their own interests may be damaged. He said the ICC may have stretched the concept of loyalty too far. Players could not be criticized for entering the contracts in secrecy as the main authorities would deny the players the opportunity to enjoy the advantages offered by WSC. The decision was a blow to the cricket authorities as they had to pay court costs. English County cricket teams were pleased as their players who had signed to play for Packer were still eligible to play for them. "Supertests", the West Indies and Drop-in PitchesOfficial cricket won a series of minor victories - Packer was unable to use the terms "test match" or call their team of Australians "Australia", or use the official rules of cricket, which were the copyright of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). So the five-day matches became "supertests", played by the "WSC Australian XI" and Richie Benaud set to work writing rules and playing conditions for the series. Most importantly, WSC was shut out of traditional cricket venues, so Packer leased VFL Park, an Australian football stadium in Melbourne, Football Park another football ground in Adelaide, Perth's Gloucester Park (a trotting track), and the Sydney Showground. The obvious problem was preparing grass pitches of suitable standard at these venues, where none had existed previously. By common consensus, it was considered impossible to create the pitches in such a short time. However, Packer hired the brilliant curator John Maley away from the Gabba ground in Brisbane, and he pioneered the concept of "drop-in" pitches. These pitches were grown in hothouses and then dropped into the playing surface with cranes. This revolutionary technique was the unsung highlight of the first season of WSC - without them, WSC would have been a folly. Another unexpected element of the series was the emergence of a West Indian side. The concept was originally envisaged as Australia versus the rest of the world. When the West Indians were offered contracts that would pay them more than they could earn in an entire career, they all signed with alacrity. However, WSC erred by using the West Indian players in the World team as well, which contributed to the feeling that the matches were exhibitional in nature, ie. they were not (in Australian parlance) "fair dinkum" .The first WSC game, a 'Supertest" between the Australians and the West Indians began at VFL Park on December 2 1977. The standard of the cricket was excellent, but the crowds were poor, which was highlighted by the fact that the stadium had a capacity of 79,000. The official Test match played in Brisbane at the same time, featuring the weakened Australian team and India, attracted far more spectators. First Season: 1977-78With their marketing, WSC placed great emphasis on fast bowling and heavily promoted players such as Dennis Lillee, Imran Khan, Michael Holding and Andy Roberts. To counteract the "fast stuff" on unpredictable pitches, WSC batsmen felt the need to increase their bodily protection. In the Sydney Supertest on 16 December, Australian David Hookes was hit a sickening blow from a bouncer bowled by West Indian Andy Roberts. Paradoxically, the effect of Hookes' broken jaw, captured graphically by Nine's cameras, served to "legitimise" the WSC matches as true contests and not mere exhibitions. This incident had another effect: the first helmets appeared on batsmens' heads. Initially, Englishman Dennis Amiss sported a motorcycle helmet when batting in WSC, and he was followed rapidly by many other players. Protective cricket equipment developed rapidly, and by the end of WSC, virtually all batsmen in WSC and official test matches were sporting some form of protective headwear. WSC decided to place greater emphasis on one-day cricket than had been previously seen in Australia. A one day series, the "International Cup" featuring the Australian, West Indian and World teams, was played alongside six Supertests in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The first day/night match, played at Melbourne's VFL Park, attracted some curiosity value, but generally the paying public were indifferent to the series. Many took a lead from the hostile press, and official cricket benefited from a dramatic test series played between Australia and a touring Indian team. The ACB made a masterstroke by appointing Bobby Simpson as Australian captain, after a ten-year retirement from first class cricket. He lead a young, largely unknown team to a 3-2 series victory which was not decided until the last test in Adelaide. Big crowds attended the tests, and the media was very supportive of the ACB throughout the summer. By contrast, Packer was often seen disconsolately counting cars as they arrived in the car park at some of his matches. He held one glimmer of hope, however. The best attended matches had been the day-night fixtures, and this format would become the backbone of the programming for the second season. In hindsight, his organisation's ability to even stage the games at such short notice was a triumph and excellent fine-tuning for what was to come. So far, the ACB had enjoyed the backing of the press and the true afficionados of the game. But a series of misfortunes and poor decisions came to plague the ACB in their battle to stay ahead of Packer. The official Australian team headed to the Carribbean under Bobby Simpson in March 1978. The West Indies cricket officials had no wish to buy into the ACB-Packer fight and decided to select all of their WSC players for the tests. Matches were played under floodlights and players began to wear coloured clothing. Though the West Indies objected to wearing pink, eventually they settled on wearing maroon. Crowds arrived in droves and the venture began to succeed. On November 28th 1978, a crowd of 50,000 were at the Sydney Cricket Ground to witness the first day/night match at an Australian test ground. (WSC Australians v WSC West Indians.) This was the defining moment of the whole Packer experiment. The marketing for WSC brought cricket to new heights. They coined the slogan "Big boys play at night" to highlight the advent of day/night cricket. Imran Khan famously sported a t-shirt with that slogan on. But their most famous piece of marketing was the "C'mon Aussie C'mon" anthem which featured in advertisements for Channel 9 and was sung by crowds at games up and down the country. Other innovations for television coverage included microphones being placed at the wicket, next to the stumps, to fully hear the sound of "leather on willow" and the sound of the players in the middle. Also "Daddles the Duck" an animation which showed a crying duck walking from one end of the screen to the other to signify a batsman who was out without scoring ("out for a duck"). The United Front WeakensBetween the two WSC seasons, the united front presented by the ICC began to erode. The highest ill-feeling toward Packer existed in England, but many officials of the county clubs were prepared to keep Packer players on their books. The West Indies were the most financially vulnerable nation, and the problems of the recent Australian tour led them to begin negotiations with Packer for a tour of the Caribbean by WSC in the spring of 1979. Pakistan remained likely to play their Packer players, a pragmatic approach as WSC had signed a number of Pakistanis during the off season. Ostensibly, India were not involved as yet, but rumours abounded that their captain Bishen Bedi and star batsman Sunil Gavasker had signed WSC options. New Zealand's chief administrator, Walter Hadlee, had advocated a compromise from the start. Now he had no objection to WSC making a brief tour of his country in November, nor was he going to stop the Kiwis' best player, his son Richard, from appearing with WSC. The South Africans, banned from official cricket due to the apartheid policy of their government, were keen to see their individual cricketers compete with the world’s best. Some were prepared to acclaim South Africa as the best side of the world on the basis of the performances of some of their players in WSC. Meanwhile, WSC continued to up the stakes for the embattled ACB, optioning a number of young Australians and signing more overseas players: they now had well over 50 cricketers under contract. After organising the tours of New Zealand and the West Indies, WSC began making noises about a tour to England and signing enough players for a separate England and Pakistan team. A second tier tour was created for the 1978-79 season, taking the game to provincial centres around Australia and giving back-up players an opportunity to play regularly. This tour covered a 20,000 kilometer route between Cairns in Queensland to Devonport in Tasmania. WSC created the "Cavaliers" for this secondary tour, a similar concept to the Cavalier teams of the 1960's in England. The team captained by Eddie Barlow was made of recently retired cricketers, such as Rohan Kanhai, David Holford and Ian Redpath and occasionally young Australians such as Trevor Chappell. These matches brought cricket to venues that rarely saw big games. Packer demonstrated his political clout by getting New South Wales premier Neville Wran to overturn the ban on WSC and allow matches to be played at the traditional home of the game, the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). To boot, Wran had his government foot the bill to install lights good enough for Packer to use. WSC also gained access to Brisnabe test ground, the Gabba, and were offered use of the Adelaide Oval, which was rejected. A strategy of dropping Adelaide from the schedule and focusing on audiences in Melbourne and Sydney. Second Season: 1978-79The war swung dramatically in Packer's favour on 28 November 1978, when the first day-night match was played at the SCG between the Australian and West Indies teams. A near-capacity crowd of 44,377 turned out, serving a warning to the ACB. A few days later, the Australian test team was humbled in the first Ashes test against England, a precursor to a 5-1 thrashing for a side now captained by the unprepared Graham Yallop. Even Yallop felt himself unsuited to the position, and he was powerless to stop an experienced, professional England line up. Although the Englishman merely did was required of them, they damaged the ACB's cause by playing slow, uninspired cricket. Consequently, attendances were poor and the media clamoured for the Australian team to return to full strength. On the other hand, WSC with its aggressive marketing, nighttime play and plethora of one-day matches had increased crowds and television ratings. The targeted audience of women and children flocked to WSC, which seemed to have updated cricket to the late twentieth century. The playing standard remained high, and all participants of the series later commented that it was the toughest cricket that they ever played, tests included. The Supertest final between Australian and World teams, played under lights, drew almost 40,000 spectators over three days. The sixth Australia-England test at the same venue a week later was attended by just 22,000 people in four days of play. Later in the season, the ACB scheduled two tests against Pakistan, which brought the number of tests played by Australia to eight. This overkill further damaged the ACB's finances, and the Pakistanis played their WSC men in what turned out to be an ill-tempered series. WSC then headed to the Caribbean for a tense, hard fought series that players from both Australia and West Indies declared the best they ever played in. A riot marred the Trinidad Supertest, but the five supertests and 12 one-daye matches went some way toward reducing the debts of the West Indies board. The last cricket action of WSC happened on 10 April 10 1979, the final day of a drawn 5th "Supertest" in Antigua (and series 1-1) between the West Indies and Australia. The RapproachmentBy 1979, the ACB was in desperate financial straits and faced with the prospect of fighting an opponent who had seemingly bottomless cash resources. In two seasons, the combined losses of the two biggest cricket associations, New South Wales and Victoria, totaled more than half a million dollars. However, Packer too was feeling the financial pinch - many years later, WSC insiders claimed that the losses he incurred were very much higher than the amounts quoted at the time. During March of that year, Packer instigated a secret meeting with the doyen of Australian cricket, Sir Donald Bradman, who still wielded considerable influence within the ACB. This set in chain a series of meetings that hammered out an agreement on the future of Australian cricket. When the truce was announced on 30 May 1979, a surprise was in store for followers of the game. Not only had the Nine Network won the exclusive rights to telecast Australian cricket, it was granted a ten-year contract to promote and market the game through a new company, PBL Marketing. The ACB capitulation infuriated the English authorities and the ICC as they had provided much in the way of financial and moral support to the ACB, which now appeared to have sold out to Packer. The WSC Australian players (on tour in the West Indies at the time) had no input into the negotiations. This left many of them disillusioned and apprehensive that they may suffer discrimination from the ACB in the coming years. Surprisingly, the ACB chose not to select WSC-contracted players for the trips to England (for the World Cup) and India (for six tests) later in the year. Both tours produced sub-standard Australian performances, and both were led by Kim Hughes, who now emerged as the figure who epitomised the cricket establishment. For the 1979-80 Australian season, Greg Chappell was restored as Australian captain and the team contained an even mixture of WSC and non-WSC players. The season's schedule mimicked the WSC format, with England and the West Indies touring and playing three tests each against Australia, with a triangular one-day tournament interspersed among the tests. Again, Australia's results were mediocre - they defeated England in the tests (which were not for the Ashes), but lost easily to the West Indies and failed to make the final of the one-day tournament. The format of the season received heavy criticism, but still made a healthy profit, much of which went to PBL rather than the ACB. The legacyWorld Series Cricket changed the game in many, many ways. Due to the punishing schedule, cricketers had to be fitter than ever before. The West Indies in particular dominated world cricket during the 1980's due to World Series Cricket. It brought instant replays, a wider variety of camera angles, but most notable was the placement of a camera at each end of the pitch so no matter what end the bowler was running in from, the batsman's shot was always visible - an innovation of Packer himself who insisted he did not want to see "batsmen's bums". Night matches have become very common in most nations, and one-day cricket has become the most widely followed form of the game (though this could be threatened by Twenty20 cricket). Players are full-time professionals, and at least in the larger cricketing nations are very well-paid, mainly through television rights; broadcasters now have a huge say in the running of the game. However, the traditional form of the game, Test cricket, is still played around the world, and in recent seasons has challenged one-day cricket for the interest of the public. Indeed, membership of a Test Cricket side is often seen as being more prestigious for players, both due to the more challenging nature of the format and the higher turnover rate of one day players. Kerry Packer described his involvement in World Series Cricket as "half-philanthropic". In the Australian team, there was a division between the players who stayed loyal to the official XI and the Packer rebels. Especially between players such as Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh, former WSC players and Kim Hughes who stuck with the official side. The division went on into the 1980's. Many of WSC's players fitted back into the official Australian side, though a handful of players from outside WSC remained at the highest level, most notably Allan Border. The ACB continued to use the name "World Series Cup" to describe the one-day international tournament it held during each summer, usually involving Australia and two other international teams. This format was from WSC's International Cup. The name was used until the mid 1990's. See also
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