Observe social players playing and you will find the majority of them don't have enough skill to put the shuttle where they want it. Result = players stand in the same spot for an hour hitting the shuttle back and forth. Thus they think it's an easy sport and that's as far as it goes. Not much you can do about this while the intricacies and the demanding nature of the game aren't highlighted to a major audience. Most sports are pretty boring to watch on TV anyway, it's just that some get more coverage than others and have a structure which attracts prestige and interest. If you support a team suddenly the sport becomes interactive and interesting, especially if you can go down the road and watch them play at home. Badminton is automatically at a disadvantage because it isn't a team sport, and it isn't localised. It's a racket sport - well the Western public already have one of those and it's probably enough. My point - I don't actually think there's a lot you can do to improve the popularity in the West unless Tennis falls out of favour.
Badminton is very popular amongst social players in the UK. In fact badminton is massive. This is due to the fact that people think it is easy. Even without enthusiasm for the sport these people are still buying vast quantities of shuttles and rackets. So where is this money going?
lol well yonex rackets doesn't seem to be a favourite amongst social players here. I think the main one's I've seen are Wilson, Prince and Carlton. Shuttles are Yonex mainly and Carlton. I've never seen one of the above companies sponsor a junior player.
not even Carlton? being a well known and long established British company, i'd imagine they'd done something about their sport?
Nope, Carlton are too big. It's the smaller companies like Ashaway, Browning and Karakal that get invovled at grass roots level. I've never met a Carlton rep.
Not to mention the fact that they are now selling rackets here at similar prices to Yonex. Stupid really. I can understand Yonex because they sell stuff cheaper in the Far East but a UK company ripping off it's own is pretty rude.
Carlton rackets are really cheap in Hongkong. i can buy a AS-F1 for just around US$50-60 if i remember correctly. the other model ranges from US$40-60. perhaps you guys should arrange a badminton racket shopping trip. it is true, that Carlton is a relatively "quiet" company. they don't sponsor a lot. just a few British national players. was Carlton ever cheap in the old days?
Carlton have never been particularly cheap but then again they never had as much competition as they do now. They have always been renowned more for their shuttles, and there was a period in the 80's where just about everyone bought Carlton shuttles. I think that Yonex have muscled in on their market somewhat.
UKP, In the 80's, i didnt think Carlton were that big? Because the Yonex Cabs wre all the rave back then wasn't they? Matt
this brought up a good point. so who actually do all the promoting of badminton in your area? in here, most of the interests comes from the gym times and tournaments. for tournaments, there are in general two types. there are the ones who are organized by local retailers in conjunction with their sponsors. so say, the owner of retailer will try to get his brands to sponsor a tournament, and then they will organize one with their name. the other type is the high school and college clubs. these are actually the most popular ones. there are like the UC Davis Open, Stanford, Berkeley, etc. as for gym openings, it is either the retailers, or the local community center who organize such. sometimes the high school college clubs will do one as well, but that's rare. the rarest ones is for an individual to organize such a thing.
They weren't big for their rackets, but they basically had the synthetic shuttle market cornered. I think they were the first company to bring out a successful plastic shuttle.
UKP, lmao, your waiting to pounce on this thread, aint ya?! Coz the moment i post, you post 2 seconds after Matt
UKP, is the Carlton plastic birdie still popular in the UK? i remember back in my secondary school days, all the inter-school competition were using the plastic shuttles. however, i do feel that the original Carlton, the one with the foamy base, is a little bit too soft. the Yonex 300 series has eclipsed it in terms of performance.
UKP, what gym do you attend? is it a club? who organizes the club and provide the court? does the city recreational council do it? or did someone organize it?
Hi Essex is one of the strongest in the south-east of England, possibly the whole of England, even since UKP's time, but to be quite honest, the premotion for badminton for younger children has only just started to peak. It was a case of you start somehow on your own and you find your own way to district level. There is still no real solid links to ordinary clubs feeding through talented players.. Matt
We have clubs which are run by individuals. The council doesn't do anything. I don't think they even get any fudning. The clubs have generally been around for years. Tournaments are run either individually or organised by the Badminton association of England. The people that organise the events are voluntary members of the BAofE and they don't get paid as far as I know.