Money in rowing! Should there be more?

Yesterday morning Oxford and Cambridge held their now annual trail eights test. This is a test where both clubs top 16 athletes and 2 coxes get a chance to race the full course with umpires present. It's a good gauge for coaches to see who's progressing and who’s got the potential to make it into the final 8 and race in the world famous Oxford Cambridge boat race. 

Every year the athletes that undertake the challenge that is the boat race are placed under more scrutiny than perhaps any other rowers out there. Speculation is rampant in the run up to the race with hundreds of thousands watching from the banks and millions watching on TVs all over the world. Its probably the one time of the year that rowing gets as much coverage as other high profile events.

The point I’m trying to make here is should there be more coverage like this? Would the changing of the sport from amature to professional change the way people train and perceive the sport( But no Olympics then unfortunately!)? A hundred years ago rowing was in many countries more popular than it is now. During the 19th century thousands flocked to watch races in america and the British isles, prize money was there to be won and betting on different crews was everywhere.

In this modern day and age with the technology available to us to record and display the races couldn't be capitalise on this and make it more open to the world. Whenever a rowing event is broadcast rowing clubs get people requesting to join rowing. After the London Olympics joining rates increased. 32,000 people attended learn to row camps in Britain alone after the games. In countries where the number of people rowing is but a fraction, of other more popular sports, why not inject money into the sport in the form of prizes. Even if local crews are few, the promise of a sizable prize would bring international athletes from afar which would then stir local interest and result in more media coverage for rowing.

Spectators watching the boat race

I think anyone who is involved in rowing would enjoy to see the sport opened up more to people less familiar to the sport. At large regattas for example screens showing spectators the crews taking part in the each race with a good commentary would work wonders for viewer engagement. Its a bit of a chicken and the egg situation really, without enough people interested in watching the regattas, the organizers won't be able to afford to implement such solutions but without such solutions many people will find it hard to be engaged by races.

Some people argue that injecting money into rowing will make it less “pure”, but at the end of the day its still going to be a hard sport that you’ll have to enjoy to put up with the levels of training to become a professional athlete. I just think that many athletes that are now “professional” (training for their countries) would be able to actually support their families with a proper income as opposed to having to take on a job that they might not enjoy(and forgo spending quality time with their families) just to have to put food on the table for their families. Only a lucky few get great sponsorship deals to sort them and their families out.

So to sum up this rant. Its my opinion that more money should be injected into the sport to give it the coverage it deserves( As to where this money should come from i’ll leave that to someone else to suggest ). So that when you say you do rowing to someone they don’t make some stupid gesture with their arms (or even worse do a kayaking motion).