I was watching some youtube videos of past tournaments and happened to find some really really old tournaments back in 1974 All-England MS Finals between Punch Gunalan [MAS] and Rudy Hartono [INA]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAXvT3jtFTY&feature=related The video is black and white and there was so much professionalism. The crowd applauded at good shots much like watching a tennis match. There was no loud cheering or chanting. Linesman and umpire were professional and the players too. When Rudy won, he even hugged Punch in jubilation unlike some hesitant handshakes that we see in modern tournaments nowadays. The sound of their smashes do not produce the high pitch sound from the stringbed we hear today. I guess older technology, older techniques probably, etc etc Are there any older known Badminton tournaments that were telecasted before? I also found one old video of Liem Swie King vs Zhao Jian Hua 1985 MS All-England Open.
Badminton was very much a gentlemens' and ladies' sport back then. Players had to wear all white and you wouldn't see any unsportsmanlike conduct. Much like tennis was in the days before Nastase, Conners, and McEnroe popularized the bad-boy image. Strings were natural gut, strung to about 15 lbs. in a wood or aluminum frame. Sure the sound would be different.
Well, it is compared to many other sports, especially at the lower levels. But badminton is not immune from the influences of other sports featuring athletes with big money and big egos, aided by the push from marketers to be more colorful (I think it started with pro wrestling and spread to football). In badminton, such things as fist-pumping and other celebratory actions during a contest would have been considered inappropriate, especially at the opponents error. Crowds were more restrained, too. More than ever, today the more controversial athletes are, the more interest they generate in themselves and their sport. When I was playing on a team and we were watching team mates playing a match, our coach told us we could applaud good shots and shout encouragement, but we were not to cheer or applaud when the opponent made an unforced error.
Beside being quieter during plays, the cheers are pretty much the same to me (on good points and on errors). Also, it is interesting to see the players do not carry bags. So, their rackets and towel were left on the floor. Also, the players had to remove the shuttles from the tube themselves when needing a new shuttle.
Actually, we had movie cameras, standard 8, super 8 and 16mm film, back then. I still have with me a Canon Super 8 and two, two Beaulieu super 8 movie cameras, and a super 8 sound projector. I am sure there are many videos made of old matches, most of them are probably lost.
Back then, there wasn't much made for badminton. Bags and shoes made specifically for badminton by badminton manufacturers didn't exist. I used a tennis bag and volleyball shoes.
