"Six years back on boxing day Kerry Packer died. So I decided to carry a small tribute. Packer is arguably one of the most influential characters on the game of cricket. The kind of vision Packer carried it's complete understanding comes now - well such is the stuff immortals are made of. Packer revolutionalised world cricket which till then was despotically run by cricket boards. In early seventies an Australian cricketer was paid 30$ per day. Can you imagine! Packer saw this chink in the armoury and like a true astute businessman he had an eye.
However it was not only profit that drove him. Packer loved the game of cricket. Other sports (soccer, baseball etc) had moved on with times, cricket was still run in pre-world war style. Hence he decided to take on the stakeholders of the game. Making an offer to top international players in a true Michael Corleone way," an offer that they could not refuse." Backed by state of the art telecasting facilities ,Packer grouped all talented International players of those times and started - World Series Cricket. The sight of seeing Lillees, Chappells, Richards, Holdings, Roberts, Imrans, Walters, Fredricks had the world gasping for more. His motive was simple, 'Give the audience what it wants and pay the cricketers what they deserve.'
World cricket will always be indebted to this media mughal who transformed the game of cricket, forever, for good.
R.I.P Kerry Packer!
However it was not only profit that drove him. Packer loved the game of cricket. Other sports (soccer, baseball etc) had moved on with times, cricket was still run in pre-world war style. Hence he decided to take on the stakeholders of the game. Making an offer to top international players in a true Michael Corleone way," an offer that they could not refuse." Backed by state of the art telecasting facilities ,Packer grouped all talented International players of those times and started - World Series Cricket. The sight of seeing Lillees, Chappells, Richards, Holdings, Roberts, Imrans, Walters, Fredricks had the world gasping for more. His motive was simple, 'Give the audience what it wants and pay the cricketers what they deserve.'
World cricket will always be indebted to this media mughal who transformed the game of cricket, forever, for good.
R.I.P Kerry Packer!
No comments:
Post a Comment