Alan Thatcher’s Liverpool 08 tournament will be a first in many respects. To my memory it is the first major tournament to take place in the Liverpool, a city I got to know 50 years ago when I was doing my national service in Her Majesty’s Royal Air Force in Lancashire. (Memories? I lost my virginity on the East Lancs Road. Please don’t ask for details.

In   Britain you cannot mention Liverpool without   mentioning the   Beatles.  Anytime Liverpool comes up in the news, out trots Paul McCartny to issue some more anodyne platitudes (is that tautology?). So I thought that Thatcher could cash in on this by staging an exhibition match on finals day between McCartney and  Mick Jagger, a sort of Beatles vs Stones Rock/Sport presentation. I know that Jagger can wield a squash racket because when Gordy Anderson (now known as one of North America’s foremost squash court builders) ran the Bay Street Club in Toronto, Jagger used to visit to have a hit. 

The Liverpool Squash Venue graphic © 2006, Simon Scott

THE THREE-WEEK ROAD TRIP
I’m just about recovering from the three weeks on the road, covering the Canadian Classic and the Windy City Open in Chicago.  Airline flying ain’t what it used to be and, glad to be back in my own bed, I have decided to give the Tournament of Champions in New York a miss this year, the first year I have missed since it returned to Grand Central Station. 

One of the pleasanter things that came out of the trip was the number of Squashtalk readers from all over North America who came up to me and said how much they enjoyed my tournament reports. Obviously this does my ego no harm at all. It also reminds me that so many squash fans rely on Squashtalk as their only source of reliable and independent reporting.

These very pleasant meetings also reassure me that  people actually read the stuff; since the disappearance of typewriters and paper in favour of the electronic keyboard and the internet,  I am never totally sure that all these words are not just disappearing into the ether, never to be read.

COMING TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU
When I heard that John Nimick was presenting the Canadian Classic in a theatre with the glass court on the stage and the back wall to the audience, my heart sank. This was not going to work, I thought, what a waste of three glass walls. 

Wrong again Bronstein.  It worked a treat and was quite a different experience from other venues.  Very theatrical, great seating and 750 full seats for at least three nights. (Which is a helluva lot more  seats than Nimick used to sell at the old BCE Place). Strangely, all the seating is in the stalls, but I lost my way on my first visit and found myself in the first balcony. The view is much better from above. Next year, Nimick should reduce the cost of the seats for the stalls (people were paying up to C$150) and open up the balcony for the higher priced seats. I shall be back there next year, wearing my top hat and tails, my cape slung around my shoulders and my opera glasses around my neck.

 

LUCKY WINDY CITY
In   contrast, the Windy City Open in Chicago played to very small   audiences….250 at most. The fire marshal had decreed  a smaller number than John Flanigan had anticipated. So despite being billed as the biggest tournament in North America  boasting $100,000 prize money, there was uneven press coverage (impressive feature articles and TV spots, but no daily coverage) and often empty seats.  This tournament is played in the classy University Club and still has whiffs of the old WPSA hardball circuit where the tournaments were held in private club for the amusement of the well-heeled members. All tickets for the last three rounds were sold, and people were being turned away, but sadly empty seats showed that many members were not too interested.  Lucky Chicago got two of the best semi-finals for a long time and the final….well, a nail-biting  cliff-hanger is an understatement. It will take a long time to wipe the smile off David Palmer’s face: he saved four match balls and went on to win the tie break against a mortified Jonathon Power.

There   was a smile on my face: I was residing in the University Club four floors below the squash action. My room was splendid: 31” television, a Denon CD player so I could play my new jazz CDs, a seven foot bed that could have accommodated half of Ethiopia and  vast closet complete with iron and ironing board.

 I can’t tell you how good it is to be that close to the action. Some tournaments  put you miles and miles away from the court and there is the dreary  routine of waiting for the buses, which never seem to run on time.  Thanks John. 

SUPERBOWL AND THE LESSONS SQUASH CAN LEARN

Yes, we had the Superbowl live in England and I sat up to watch it.  It was the usual mixture of hype, spectacle  and sport and it works every time.

The  Superbowl, like the world series of baseball   and possibly England’s FA Cup final, all achieve their status and importance, not as a one-off event, but as the climax to a season.  The World Series start s as early as spring training in Florida and then through a huge league season (each team plays about 180 games), followed by divisional playoffs  and then the final two playoff series, with each of the four teams and their  fans knowing that the winners get to the World Series. And then the seven-game finale itself. By that point every American, sports fan or not, is totally involved and even though they may live thousands of miles from either of the teams, they still are hysterically committed. I maintain without the preceding season and playoffs the World Series would never be as huge as it is.

The same is true of the Superbowl: the leagues,   followed by the   playoffs climaxing in the event itself.   

Now   at one point in squash’s history – the 80’s come to mind - the squash season started in September and came to an unofficial end in April with the British Open at the Wembley Conference Centre. Sadly this no longer is true and the neither the PSA nor WISPA  seasons seem to have a beginning, end or climax. The World Opens  are placed at the end of the year, which is absolutely right because these major events should now be the climax of the squash season, with every major tournament  in the year being part of the big build up.

Sorry,   that ain’t happening.   

One   promoter, in discussing providing rooms for   journalists said   that he would rather not have to provide rooms   for journalists.   What he was saying was ‘we’ll do our own thing and to hell with the big picture.’ His attitude is not rare.  The image I have now of the squash season is one of  disjointed, piecemeal events, none of which  impacts on events that follow. What this means is that the World Open, instead of being the climax of the season is just another tournament, but with bigger prize money.

This is a subject that WSF, WISPA and PSA should studying and discussing on a monthly basis.  I really don’t  think that the amount of time spent  talking to Jacques Rogge and campaigning for Olympic inclusion  will help  squash to achieve the year-long cohesion. Frankly my feeling is that we will not see squash in the Olympics in the next 25 years. And what do we do until then? Hope and pray?No, get yourselves down to earth WSF, WISPA and PSA and get some cohesion.