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Squash: James Willstrop column March 16
It is often said that squash isn't televisual. To some extent this is true for until now the ball hasn't consistently been clear, the colours on the screen aren't helpful, the rules can be vague and many people say it looks too easy.
However, is it always easy to see a golf ball on TV? And how many people would understand cricket when watching for the first time?
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Roger Federer makes tennis look easy, but we still watch.
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Considering major televised sports, there must be more to consider.
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Do we really watch football, for instance, because it is exciting? I am not sure, though many of us do watch football for we are engaged by the so-called "beauty" of the game.
What football does do, though, is enable Joe Bloggs to join the tribe and be part of something, whether it is good or bad to watch.
It is a weekly highlight, something that as a working person he or she can build towards on a Saturday, their day for leaving life's worries at home and for collectively shouting and bawling with fellow supporters.
Do Grimsby Town supporters feel that they go to the game to be excited? Or is it the atmosphere and togetherness?
Inexplicably, rugby league always stands in the shadow of union, despite it being infinitely more entertaining.
To my mind, players in union hardly ever handle the ball and the game is dominated by rucks and mauls, which many spectators don't understand and constant end-to-end kicking.
But Six Nations internationals still bring 80,000 punters through the gates.
In tennis, the ball can be in play for only a relatively short period of time in a three-hour match and I would doubt a working person watches a tennis match from beginning to end very often on television.
Nevertheless, the sport gets massive coverage and must have mass appeal.
Formula one is another sport that baffles me with the amount of interest it receives.
When a world champion is determined by the power of an engine rather than ability and talent, surely questions must be asked.
In snooker, nothing seems to happen for minutes on end, yet we love it; still it is confusing to see how a sport which, on the surface, would appear wrong for television has become such a hit.
Perhaps some sports are just destined not to be covered extensively on television, but there will be many in the squash world who are hoping that something can be done so the game doesn't fall into that category and can get some TV exposure in the future.
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