Well, I could not help thinking about this article and wondering where we could find another 10 of these generous people who obviously love squash.

"The world of squash is celebrating the award of an OBE in the New Year's Honours list to Welsh businessman Gerald Leeke.   Owner of the department store Leekes, one of Wales' most successful enterprises, Gerald Leeke is believed to have invested more than £2 million in squash sponsorship – for five years from 1990 backing the Leekes Welsh Classic, and thereafter for three years the Leekes British Open in Cardiff.   "The PSA World Tour has definitely benefited from your love for the game of squash and the name 'Leeke' always brings to mind first-class squash tournaments presented with style, showmanship and entertainment," said PSA Tour Executive Sheila Cooksley in a letter of congratulations to Mr Leeke.   "Certainly your involvement in squash has been one of the greatest contributions to the sport in its history.  Your vision and actions of promoting the top players in showcase arenas put the game on a new level and, of course, by your efforts and backing squash was brought to a much wider audience through television."

What a difference this would make, especially if it was backed 50/50 by the Government - wow.

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Viper,
I am not sure if it was filmed by the Fox sport channel. I predict it would be Jean De Lierre productions company, but I may be wrong. If it was the same or at least similar to last year's World Open, I'd say yes, it is the best or one of the best practices available in filming/ broadcasting squash so far. Amazing solution came from psalive.tv - they hang the camera above the court and you can watch how much the players have to work on the court, and it is much cleaner view on "let'stroke'nolet" situations...

Anyway - I have the DVDs from psalive.tv with the Dunlop British open.
I can ensure you, it is thrilling action on court but I cannot guarantee if it's attrctive for accidental viewer (sport fan)...

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Viper - did not see it, and if I had would be able to talk constructively, sorry about that.
Cannot comment.  All TV coverage depends on who does it, how much money is spent, eg if the walls were painted in the best viewing colours,how many cameras are used, and what experience the photographer has, and the type of ball used (that is if the players agree to use the ball and put up with the extra lighting effects, etc.), whether the design of the court allows for the best possible angle, eg a camera being placed, and viewing the match from a hole cut into the front wall. 
As I understand, all of the above will reflect in the end product and what the viewers see on tele.
I know some research was done on how to make the videos better quality, and of more value to the customers, but off the top of my head I have no details I can quote.
Hey, I cannot understand footy, but people rave, but I do understand the "replays" alot better and with a commentary as well helps understand what is going on.

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Indeed to all of that.

 

My question remains, the footage I taped from Fox I presume was the current best paractice in fiming squash ? (must be given it was filmed by a sports tv channel and it was one of the top tournaments in the world ) or am I not looking at the best coverage squash can must and so have a skewded view on watching squash on tv ?

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Ray, your emotional approach is excused, so no need for apologies. Well, just one answer regarding chess broadcast - I believe it's still on ;-) and you know what? Recently I spotted broadcasting of Poker games on Eurosport. Sorry, but it is more than pathetic and ridiculous the same time. What's so fun or hip in watching the folks around the table playing poker when there's no John Wayne around with his big gun?

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hi all

i have a theory about coverage of squash. it goes something like this:

• squash should be viewed predominantly from the FRONT
• it is just we are operating in a 19th century paradigm where we had to watch it from the back
• what sport films from behind???
• we see more action when watching from the front
• reverse angles can be shown when appropriate
• the ball is a problem
• they experimented with a type of glow ball a few years back - i am not sure of the outcome although i thought they were very expensive and not reliable
• they were also talking about experimenting with imposing a digital image over the ball - a virtual ball if you like - again not sure of the outcome.
• not to sure what the answer is here
  
• the director needs to know squash so as to make sure the appropriate angles are shown at the right time
• this will not be easy as many players are deceptive and it is not always easy to predict the direction of the ball
• the camera operators also need to know what they are doing
• filming mostly from the front will change the way things are handled
• filming sport can be accepted by just about anyone if the culture is right
  
• do they still broadcast chess games in eastern europe/russia?
• i believe that squash is often broadcast in egypt - is this true?
• although broadcast of squash would be great - it is not a magic bullet - i have run a squash club where i increased regular players by 250% over 2 years while the associated tennis club(not run by me)  went down by the same margin - in a period were tennis was receiving very good publicity (pat rafter us open wins and davis cup wins etc)
• i am not sure where that leaves us, but i do have emotional problems!
  

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Helllo, Viper,
Well, If you read the http://www.squashgame.info/articleview/685 article/ discussion you would understand we share the same point of view.

Answering your questions - I do have over 30 DVDs with less and more professionaly filmed matches.
I have as well last year's World Open FInals recorded from TV (Sky Sports 2). I can tell you that the way squash is being shown has changed a lot. For better obviously.

Apart from one camera facing the front wall, you have the cameras in the corners and sometimes the one above the court, so in the replays you can see the view from different angles. So, in this case, no points to complain about. Commentary - well, if you get the matches from www.psalive.tv, you can enjoy the co-commentary from top players, coaches, organizers. I think it is added value if you listen to the proffesional analisis from Malcolm Willstrop i.e.

But the issue lies somewhere else. Squash is a game that is attractive only to the addicted players regardles the way it's filmed. Still.

P.S. Jean De Lierre productions from www.squashlive.com are very attractive to watch, the same with latest releases from www.psalive.tv, but do not even try to show it to your friends not related to squash. They will laugh at you. And they'll think you have mental/ emotional problems :-)

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