Fighting in the casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City is one thing Arum said but nothing can match the atmosphere

“Fighting in the casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City is one thing,” Arum said, “but nothing can match the atmosphere of this place.”As it was almost three years since a ring in which Louis, Marciano and Robinson fought had been dusted off, the Garden’s president, David Checketts, and senior vice-president of communications, John Cirillo, knew they were taking a considerable gamble. Ken Buchanan of Scotland, perhaps our best post-war boxer, became a Garden favourite when retaining the world lightweight championship and in losing it to Duran.When such notable figures as Jack Dempsey and Benny Leonard fought at the Garden it was 16 blocks further south, but mecca is where you find it and more than 16,000 customers were counted last week when Oscar Da La Hoya gave further proof of immense potential by outclassing James Leija in defence of the World Boxing Organisation lightweight title. Last week a headline appeared in a New York newspaper that must have filled thousands who saw it with more nostalgia, brought the insidious effect of television on sport into sharper focus, than if they had heard a roar, looked up and seen great heroes from the past resurrected The headline said, “Return to Mecca”. Thy should b snt to Sports Editor, Th Indpndnt, 1 Canada Squar, London E14 5DL Thy may b shortnd for rasons of spac.. Howvr, thr’s a nd to stady th mdia ship, lst th “nd of th transfr systm as w know it” crw sails us into panickd watrs, particularly as th nw ruling is, for th tim bing, rstrictd in its dfinition.Agrd, thr is undoubtdly urgnt nd for rvision of ruls rlating to th domstic transfr systm hr (bcaus a similar domstic ruling will invitably follow Friday’s cross-bordr judgmnt) bfor w ar facd with a glut of nd-of-sason tst cass from playrs who will hav rachd th nd of thir currnt contracts.As an imminntly licnsd Fifa agnt, I bliv th authoritis should sriously considr th opinions of at last crtain mmbrs of our ranks – aftr all, an agnt can gratly influnc th outcom of his clint’s carr dcisions.Yours,JAKE DUNCANShowtim Intrnational Ltd17 DcmbrLttrs should b markd “For publication” and contain daytim and vning phon numbrs. All striv to kp abrast of laws and tactics and lov th gam.W do not particularly want England to play “champagn” rugby but w can aspir to th All Blacks’ mor pragmatic but still xciting play. Th booing and slow hand-clapping did not driv from a contmpt for Wstrn Samoa but from disappointmnt that if England could not summon th courag to attmpt such rugby in a comptitiv match that thy wr not going to los, how would thy vr hav th confidnc to do it against th world’s bst?Jack Rowll and th playrs should rmmbr profssionalism has changd th ruls.

It is nithr asy nor chap to obtain intrnational tickts and mak trips to support England from all parts of th country. Disappointmnt with unsatisfactory skills and an unwillingnss to try things will b incrasingly vocal.Yours faithfully,MARK THOMPSONShffild20 DcmbrOff targtFrom B MllowshipSir: I hav just rad your intrsting articl today on “Football’s fastst goals” and would lik to point out a coupl of small rrors: Bryan Robson did not scor th fastst goal in th World Cup finals, nor indd th fastst goal at Wmbly.Robson’s 27-scond goal v Franc in 1982 was dmd to b th quickst at th tim but that distinction was takn away from him by Fifa, th intrnational football fdration, on 3 March 1994 whn, aftr using lctronic timing, thy dcidd Vaclav Mask’s goal for Czchoslovakia against Mxico in th 1962 finals cam aftr 15 sconds.Th fastst goal at Wmbly is crditd to Mauric Cox, of Cambridg Univrsity, who scord in th Varsity match on 5 Dcmbr 1979, aftr 20 sconds.Yours sincrlyB MELLOWSHIPLondon SE128 DcmbrA word from your agntFrom Mr J DuncanSir: So th Europan Court of Justic uphld th arlir ruling in th Bosman cas, ffctivly outlawing football’s out-of-contract transfr systm. This must hav bn without ralising how thir fans wr going to b chatd out of sing thir full programm.Still, I suppos th priz-mony acts as a grat consolation. It is a pity th poor old audinc dosn’t hav anything similar to fall back on, although I, for on, am writing to IMG to ask for our mony back.Yours sincrlyJEAN GATEHOUSENorthwood,Middx19 DcmbrVoicing disappointmntFrom Mr M ThompsonSir: Both Alan Watkins and Jack Rowll sm to misundrstand th natur of th crowd at Twicknham for th gam against Wstrn Samoa, togthr with its motivs for dissatisfaction and its aspirations for th England tam.I was part of a group of popl who hav playd th gam rgularly and attnd gams wk in, wk out On of our numbr is an x-Saracns stand- off. It was a chat.Th vnt was st up for US tlvision and rcording took prcdnc ovr all. Apparntly th British will only gt to s it on Sky – most of thos attnding on Thursday (paying up to pounds 40 for thir sats) did not gt to s th whol vnt bcaus vrything cntrd on gtting somthing in th can to justify th $2.5m (pounds 1.6m) contract which th organisrs had cornrd.To summaris only th main agonis: it startd 45 minuts lat (blaming this on Kurt Browning having a problm with his skats whn it smd to b an organisational failur); thr was no publishd programm of vnts so whn th “scond half of th programm’” was announcd to bgin at 10.25pm th audinc gaspd; thr was no scorboard, th scors (farcical, by th way) wr announcd in a rapid string; most popl lft “arly” (w lft at 11.15pm with almost half of th scond half still to run); most importantly w didn’t gt to s Torvill and Dan for a scond tim; and by 11.15pm no rsults had bn announcd of th so-calld “comptition”.Th dparting 11.20pm docklands train was full of disgruntld and vry unhappy audinc mmbrs – including som VIPs who not only wr having to miss th show but also wr missing th aftr-show party “with th stars” bcaus vrything was running so lat.Th thing that shockd us was that Torvill and Dan and Robin Cousins promotd th vnt on TV and radio, and ar prsumably gtting paid for th xrcis. e

From J Gathous
Sir: With rfrnc to your glowing Monday Intrviw with Torvill and Dan, my daughtr and I wr part of th “disappointingly small audinc” at th “gloomy docklands arna” last Thursday, and to say that thy swpt to victory puts a vry diffrnt gloss on an vnt that was a total shambls.

Anyone watching Sky’s Test match transmissions from abroad can sense that Sky would love to have a longer interval, for showing ads, between overs, and much shorter intervals between play at lunch and tea.Cricket is making one concession next summer: the Benson and Hedges Cup will be played over 50 overs, instead of 55, and there will be just one interval, usually between innings, of 45 minutes.What suits TV also happens to be a sensible improvement by cricket, for it is clear that matches less than 60 overs hardly warrant two intervals.. Their deal with TV is built around broadcasting whereas in cricket the broadcasting is built around the game.”There is such a huge fight developing between the various TV channels that every sport is being examined for broadcasting opportunities, and where the basic sport either does not fit the schedule or cannot be manipulated to do so then secondary sports, or variations, will be approached or even set up.”Cricket will continue to come under pressure. On one occasion at Southwark, in 1744, cricket had to compete against “a run by two jolly wenches, one known as the Little Bit of Blue and the other Black Bess, to run in drawers only and excellent sport is expected”.Richard Little, the Test and County Cricket Board’s media manager, insisted: “We are starting from a completely different base from Rugby League. The players would wear coloured uniforms and each would both bowl and bat.A league would be played during the English summer and Australia’s Test men would be expected to compete, ruling them out of county cricket. This announcement is the latest television-driven tinkering with the game.What should be noted is that cricket, especially MCC, has been in the business of selling the game, in the face of competition from cock-fighting, bare-knuckle boxing, gambling, professional sprinting, horse-racing, golf and dog-fighting for around 250 years. That’s the bottom line.”In 1993 the 100m world record holder, Leroy Burrell, complained after he could not get a lane when Linford Christie staged his head-to-head with Carl Lewis at Gateshead.

But as Lewis’s manager, Joe Douglas, said at the time: “We don’t want anyone else winning for the sake of television. The race everyone wants to see is between Christie and Lewis, not Burrell.”Television has long dictated the Olympic timetable. So it is no surprise that, bowing to the demands of TV executives, organisers have ignored the advice of their own medical commission and will start the men’s marathon in Atlanta next year when the afternoon sun will be at its hottest, humidity highest and conditions most dangerous.Cricket Derek HodgsonThe BBC spokesperson was mischievous: “Crusty old members of MCC will have apoplexy when they hear this,” she said, referring to an idea being developed in New South Wales, Australia, of an eight-a-side cricket competition of hour-long matches designed specifically for television. The fact that Budd, paid pounds 90,000 for her appearance, finished only fourth did not seem to matter “Who cares?” one TV executive said afterwards “The ratings were good. American TV bankrolled the event and, naturally, called the shots.An extra day was added to the programme so the race could be shown live across the Atlantic at prime time, while runners like the Olympic 3,000 metres champion Maricica Puica, who may have got in on the act and spoiled the story, were not invited to compete.