Game, set and message

Sport is just not cricket any more. Seems like just yesterday the only way we Johannesburg folk could follow a nail-biting international rugby test happening at Newlands in Cape Town was by listening to Gerhard Viviers' commentary on Afrikaans radio. I remember my grandfather sitting on the st...

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Main Author: Charl Durand Charl Durand
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2022-10-01
Series:Communicare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1869
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author Charl Durand Charl Durand
author_facet Charl Durand Charl Durand
author_sort Charl Durand Charl Durand
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description Sport is just not cricket any more. Seems like just yesterday the only way we Johannesburg folk could follow a nail-biting international rugby test happening at Newlands in Cape Town was by listening to Gerhard Viviers' commentary on Afrikaans radio. I remember my grandfather sitting on the stoep, a map of the playing field drawn on a large sheet of paper on his lap, plotting team moves, attacks, defences and scores, as Gerhard's staccato commentary poured through the speakers of an old Grundig medium wave receiver next to him; definitely a case of what Marshall Mcluhan would call 'a very cool medium'. In the days before mass media, the sports message sent to those absent from the action on the field contained little else of fact other than a score, and a winner, and the message reached the receiver a day, a week or a month later. Messages then gradually expanded to include match details and perhaps a grainy photograph or two as newspapers started reporting on sport. Radio revolutionised sport in that it provided the impetus for the massification of sport as teams and individuals developed followings, and the concept of 'the fan' was born. Radio truly took sports matches beyond the stadium gates for the first time.
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spelling doaj-art-de462703351c4a309890805a3fc6d49e2025-01-20T08:49:05ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-10-0120110.36615/jcsa.v20i1.1869Game, set and messageCharl Durand Charl Durand0University of Johannesburg Sport is just not cricket any more. Seems like just yesterday the only way we Johannesburg folk could follow a nail-biting international rugby test happening at Newlands in Cape Town was by listening to Gerhard Viviers' commentary on Afrikaans radio. I remember my grandfather sitting on the stoep, a map of the playing field drawn on a large sheet of paper on his lap, plotting team moves, attacks, defences and scores, as Gerhard's staccato commentary poured through the speakers of an old Grundig medium wave receiver next to him; definitely a case of what Marshall Mcluhan would call 'a very cool medium'. In the days before mass media, the sports message sent to those absent from the action on the field contained little else of fact other than a score, and a winner, and the message reached the receiver a day, a week or a month later. Messages then gradually expanded to include match details and perhaps a grainy photograph or two as newspapers started reporting on sport. Radio revolutionised sport in that it provided the impetus for the massification of sport as teams and individuals developed followings, and the concept of 'the fan' was born. Radio truly took sports matches beyond the stadium gates for the first time. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1869Sportrugby testGerhard Viviersmass mediascorewinner
spellingShingle Charl Durand Charl Durand
Game, set and message
Communicare
Sport
rugby test
Gerhard Viviers
mass media
score
winner
title Game, set and message
title_full Game, set and message
title_fullStr Game, set and message
title_full_unstemmed Game, set and message
title_short Game, set and message
title_sort game set and message
topic Sport
rugby test
Gerhard Viviers
mass media
score
winner
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1869
work_keys_str_mv AT charldurandcharldurand gamesetandmessage