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The Packer affair
256 pages, Hardcover
First published December 7, 1978
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January 7, 2021
Kerry Packer was the Australian TV tycoon who changed cricket forever.Day and night cricket,coloured clothing,white balls and multiple cameras were innovations first introduced by his channel 9 in Australia.
Until then,cricket was a staid sport,which resisted change,and which didn't pay much to its players.
Today cricket's establishment has adopted almost all of his innovations,but when Packer first burst on the scene,he was a much reviled figure,as he had deprived international cricket of most of its star players,by offering them huge sums of money,to stop playing for their respective countries,and represent his "World Series Cricket" instead.
He bought the entire Australian and West Indian teams and recruited several Englishmen,Pakistanis and South Africans as well.Tony Greig,the South African turned England captain stealthily recruited on his behalf.
International cricket had to make do with "B" teams,and lost much of its appeal to audiences.
Packer was the first to see the enormous earning power of televised cricket but he was refused TV rights by the Australian Board.So,he decided to use different tactics.
International cricket was in turmoil and the players he bought were dubbed mercenaries and traitors for putting money first and refusing to play for their countries.
They were banned by their respective countries.
The players argued that they were poorly paid and needed to put their financial future first.
After two years,the cricket boards and Packer finally came to a settlement,Packer got his TV rights and the players,now better paid,could again represent their countries.
This book,by Henry "Blowers" Blofeld, is a well written account of this crisis which lasted two years in the late 1970s and threatened the very existence of international cricket.
Five Pakisani cricketers,including Imran Khan, played for Packer,and all hell broke lose,as they quit playing for Pakistan.They were lambasted by the media,and the public.
In 1977,three of them,Imran Khan,Zaheer Abbas and Mushtaq Mohammad, were called back from Australia,to play against the visiting England side.England refused to play against them,and the players were left high and dry.
They did have the last laugh,a year later,when the cricket boards lifted their bans,and gave in to Packer's demands for TV rights.
Packer's blackmailing tactics had paid off handsomely.He retained those TV rights for decades and today,hardly any mention of the fact is made that he nearly destroyed international cricket.
Until then,cricket was a staid sport,which resisted change,and which didn't pay much to its players.
Today cricket's establishment has adopted almost all of his innovations,but when Packer first burst on the scene,he was a much reviled figure,as he had deprived international cricket of most of its star players,by offering them huge sums of money,to stop playing for their respective countries,and represent his "World Series Cricket" instead.
He bought the entire Australian and West Indian teams and recruited several Englishmen,Pakistanis and South Africans as well.Tony Greig,the South African turned England captain stealthily recruited on his behalf.
International cricket had to make do with "B" teams,and lost much of its appeal to audiences.
Packer was the first to see the enormous earning power of televised cricket but he was refused TV rights by the Australian Board.So,he decided to use different tactics.
International cricket was in turmoil and the players he bought were dubbed mercenaries and traitors for putting money first and refusing to play for their countries.
They were banned by their respective countries.
The players argued that they were poorly paid and needed to put their financial future first.
After two years,the cricket boards and Packer finally came to a settlement,Packer got his TV rights and the players,now better paid,could again represent their countries.
This book,by Henry "Blowers" Blofeld, is a well written account of this crisis which lasted two years in the late 1970s and threatened the very existence of international cricket.
Five Pakisani cricketers,including Imran Khan, played for Packer,and all hell broke lose,as they quit playing for Pakistan.They were lambasted by the media,and the public.
In 1977,three of them,Imran Khan,Zaheer Abbas and Mushtaq Mohammad, were called back from Australia,to play against the visiting England side.England refused to play against them,and the players were left high and dry.
They did have the last laugh,a year later,when the cricket boards lifted their bans,and gave in to Packer's demands for TV rights.
Packer's blackmailing tactics had paid off handsomely.He retained those TV rights for decades and today,hardly any mention of the fact is made that he nearly destroyed international cricket.
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