Live coverage of the All England in the UK would be a nice surprise, although anything would be better than nothing, I guess. One of the problems is that there are so many sports trying to get exposure and media coverage that there is less and less time to go around (except for soccer). In my view the BBC needs a mainstream digital sports channel in the UK so that a variety of sports can get proper coverage. Even a modest monthly fee would be worth it (not a Sky rip-off of £12-£20 per month).

Incidentally, for those that don't know, Sky were PAID to broadcast badminton tournaments in the recent past. TV companies pay millions for the rights to football and other high profile events but when it came to badminton Sky were the ones actually receiving a fee! Crazy.

[Hello to Wendover (hope to see you soon) and Leighton Buzzard clubs]

£20,000 was the fee paid to Sky for coverage of the Nationals a few years ago, God knows what it will be now.

Incidentally last Years English Nationals Finals were filmed for later coverage , unfortunately for some unknown reason they were never broadcast.

Bit of a cryptic comment at the end there Dimo, care to explain?

Apart from a few major events, IMHO the BBC sports portfolio nowadays is looking pretty thin. One would think they would be looking for new avenues. I agree there are many minority sports looking for coverage but surely that should be part of the BBC remit. You would also think that with the apparent huge viewing figures from the Olympics, the enthusiasm of the BBC presenters (Hazel Irvine and Roger Black) over Simon and Jo's matches, there was a great opportunity for badminton to put itself at the top of the "minority" sports pile. What badminton needs is a hype machine like the LTA has but then again tennis is a much simpler sport to watch and televise. I suppose overall we are all responsible - fans and governing bodies, for the lack of coverage. We have to lobby and push our case harder. Its all very frustrating as its such a fantastic and underappreciated sport. For me the 5x7 "experiment" is an attempt to take the easy way out to boost the appeal rather than emphasize the sports fundamental strengths but thats another topic!!

With the extremely overinflated costs of televising football, it does make sense to look at other alternatives.

Maybe there's not enough controversy in badminton for public interest. We need a Robbie Savage, Danny Mills, Jamie Carragher and Mike Tyson. Bring them on......

Is that Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, UK? What club do you play for? I play for the Ampthill club near Bedford. Nice to know someone from nearby reads this forum too.

Hi Dave

Don't know where Dimo plays but I play at Leighton Buzzard, hence my query about his posting.

Have you tried www.badders.com They have part of their site where clubs and leagues can exchange info. L. B. club and Bedforshire are already listed, why not join up

but we got taufik beating up spectators.
we got CM cursing and hissing on courts all the time.

At the moment I'm temporarily playing a a team in Herne Bay! But I won't be down here for ever, maybe not much longer. I played for Wendover once. Can't say too much about LB as there was such an obnoxious git there once who also played in HH (B/End I think) that I decided to move on...

It would have been great to see Taufik in action on TV.