Breathing new life into tired games for the digital age

If, as Buggles once said, video really did kill the radio star, then TV has done something equally harmful to a whole host of sportsmen and women whose efforts habitually disappear into a black hole of general apathy.

That may seem like an anachronism, in an era of 24-hour, multi-channel, red-button sports consumerism but the fact is that some games have faces which just don’t fit while others — such as soccer, golf and hurling — clearly do.

Take James Willstrop and Nick Matthews. One is the top-ranked male player in the world in his chosen sport while the other has won the last two world championships. The pair met in Manchester in the final of the British Grand Prix five days ago, with Matthews winning 3-1.