FEATURE

The ebb and flow of rowing fortunes, or lack thereof

Words: Simon Briggs

Long-time sports journalist Simon Briggs gives his take on the fragile nature of rowing on the sports pages. Briggs is The Telegraph’s tennis correspondent and has covered rowing at three Olympics Games and counting.

I ’m just preparing to write my latest article on the Boat Race: rowing’s last great outpost, as far as the national press is concerned. Something about the tribal nature of the contest, combined with its deep historical heritage, has kept it from vanishing from our sports pages in the manner of rugby league, squash and swimming. Yet the rest of the annual rowing calendar hasn’t had it so good.

Sports writing has changed dramatically since the turn of the century. The shift hasn’t been kind to anything outside the heartland (football, rugby, cricket, Formula One, tennis, golf and boxing). Even horse-racing – a sizeable industry in this country – is beginning to struggle, while athletics and cycling are falling away quickly. In rowing – to return to the central point – we don’t see much of the Henley Royal Regatta or the World Championships anymore.