Kerry Packer dead

[Stig O'Hara]

AUSTRALIA'S richest man, Kerry Packer, has died at the age of 68. The announcement was made on Mr Packer's Nine Network.

 

[usalion]

Sad news for Australia and cricket. Kerry's impact on cricket, whether you liked him or not, was tremendous.

Will be missed

 

[dr nick]

AUSTRALIA'S richest man, Kerry Packer, has died at the age of 68. The announcement was made on Mr Packer's Nine Network.

It was made on the ABC some half hour before the 9 newsflash.

He will be missed, he was great for the game of cricekt.

 

[~GURU~]

Ahh it is a shame when anyone dies but someone that was such a big influence in cricket. it is sad

 

[Blue Boyz]

You would imagine that also would be the end of Tony Greig's Ch. 9 career.

 

[red+black]

Thanks Kerry for your tremendous contribution to cricket. Cricket wouldn't have become half the sport it did without you.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Cricket can not afford to lose benefactors as generous as Kerry Packer. Let's hope his legacy allows the game to thrive as it has in the past. I will always be thankful for what Kerry Packer did for cricket.

 

[red+black]

I suggest a tribute match to Kerry Packer this Summer, maybe around Australia Day or the weekend a few days later at the SCG. Maybe get out the old timers from WSC days. I'd fly up for that. Now if only I knew the right people and could mention this suggestion to them ...

 

[Cooldude]

Every modern day players owe Kerry Packer their life and their fortune

The Ferraris they're driving now are all because of him

And we have to thank him, too, without him, TV coverage wouldn't be as good today.

 

[Magpiespower]

You would imagine that also would be the end of Tony Greig's Ch. 9 career.

Not much chance of that - Greigy, along with Richie, Chappelli, Bill etc, were promised jobs for life by big Kezza himself.

Besides, who would make the cracks about mail-order brides?

I suggest a tribute match to Kerry Packer this Summer, maybe around Australia Day or the weekend a few days later at the SCG. Maybe get out the old timers from WSC days. I'd fly up for that. Now if only I knew the right people and could mention this suggestion to them ...

 

[scout]

I suggest a tribute match to Kerry Packer this Summer, maybe around Australia Day or the weekend a few days later at the SCG. Maybe get out the old timers from WSC days. I'd fly up for that. Now if only I knew the right people and could mention this suggestion to them ...

Shown live on Ch9. And when 6 o'clock rolls around they cut it short and go to the news.

 

[H Dolphin]

Cricket can not afford to lose benefactors as generous as Kerry Packer. Let's hope his legacy allows the game to thrive as it has in the past. I will always be thankful for what Kerry Packer did for cricket.

Kerry Packer set up World Series because the ACB wouldn't sell him TV rights. He was in it to make a buck. The consequence is that cricket now costs beyond the capacity of most families to go to, Shield cricket is played before empty stadia, the extraordinary amounts the players are paid are paid for by higher entry costs or higher consumer items for advertisers. Packer was an exploiter, not a benefactor.

 

[JohnWorsfold]

kerry pacler support cricket???? yeh thats why channel 9 sold the ashes to sbs and the one dayers to channel 7 well done packer

he has died so rest in peace but still he is no hero

 

[Blue Boyz]

Not much chance of that - Greigy, along with Richie, Chappelli, Bill etc, were promised jobs for life by big Kezza himself.

Besides, who would make the cracks about mail-order brides?


That's what I thought!!!

 

[Blue Boyz]

Every modern day players owe Kerry Packer their life and their fortune

The Ferraris they're driving now are all because of him

And we have to thank him, too, without him, TV coverage wouldn't be as good today.

That maybe true but one could easily argue that he took an interest in cricket as he saw that it was a very good business opportunity in a market that had previously been ignored or exploited.

While he did a lot for cricket and cricketers, I would have to question that his motives were more financial than altruistic.

 

[jefffff34]

kerry pacler support cricket???? yeh thats why channel 9 sold the ashes to sbs and the one dayers to channel 7 well done packer

he has died so rest in peace but still he is no hero

You have NFI.

 

[Antonius]

It was made on the ABC some half hour before the 9 newsflash.

He will be missed, he was great for the game of cricekt.

Ironic that 9 can't get news on their own before the ABC.

What time did he die, and do you reckon they phoned up all the journalists in the wee hours to prepare the story? It was a fine highlights package presented by Peter Harvey.

The Goanna was a legend, he had health problems lingering over his head but even so his death is sudden and unfortunate.

And those saying his motives were financial, well he was a businessman but his motive for money was matched, if not bettered, by his love of cricket, which led to WSC.

I leave you with some words from the 12th Man "What are you doing calling me on a Saturday suckhole?" RIP Big Kezza

 

[Joe Mama]

Kerry Packer set up World Series because the ACB wouldn't sell him TV rights. He was in it to make a buck. The consequence is that cricket now costs beyond the capacity of most families to go to, Shield cricket is played before empty stadia, the extraordinary amounts the players are paid are paid for by higher entry costs or higher consumer items for advertisers. Packer was an exploiter, not a benefactor.

God, it's about bloody time someone told the truth around here, christ with all these accolades bandied about the place (Especially, the way that Channel 9 was crapping on, who would have sworn that they were trying to lobby the Vatican to put Kerry Packer up for sainthood), you would've have thought that Jesus Christ had died.

There's no doubt that World Series Cricket was in the long run, good for the game, but let's be fair dinkum, the only reason why he put WSC up in the first place was to break the backs of the ACB, for having the audacity of declining his offer to broadcast Cricket on Channel 9, and he wanted something that would crush kill and destroy the power base of the ACB.

Im sure that for every one that praising his name, there are at least 10 people that are happy that the Goanna has kicked the bucket, to quote my opa who said this about a neighbour who had died (and someone that was an absolute tool, when he was on this earth) "He was a prick when he was alive and death hasn't improved him".

P.S
If it was someone like Richard Pratt for instance, I would think differently, because for all his faults, he does a hell of a lot more for the common good for this country, especially in his birthplace of Shepparton, Victoria, unlike the bullying tactics of Kerry Packer, Pratt's tough but fair, and I know a lot of people who used to work at Visyboard who would say exactly the same thing.

 

[YOTC]

Packer was a legend.

So what if he made a buck or 2, the guy did so much for cricket but it's all these people with tall poppy syndrome that seem to have a problem with him making money.

And Packer was Jesus Christ, he was a man of the people and gave so much to charity, and most of it was not a tax write off either.

 

[Ice goddess]

The WSC legacy undoubtedly benefited the game and players in the long run but let us be in no doubt as to his motives for starting it ; he wanted exclusive rights to the cricket broadcasting. He eventually got them due to the ACB caving in when it was clear that cricket was beind irreparably harmed and people were turning away from 'traditional' cricket as played by the non WSC players. The two parties had to get together and broker a deal so that the grassroots of the game would be properly looked after. But make no mistake Packer in a fit of pique was the brainchild behind WSC as a result of not getting his way and it was done in a clandestine manner which prevented any chance of the Aussies retaining the Ashes during their tour of England in 1977.

 

[Cooldude]

Which businessman has ever done a deal that doesn't personally benefit himself in anyway?

Of course Kerry Packer did it for the TV rights, he did it to get the TV righs of a sport that has a long coverage time that pulls a hell lot of rates that doesn't cost too much. But in doing that, he also benefited the game itself, greatly, particularly the cricketers

 

[Joe Mama]

Kerry Packer was an excellent businessman who's bloodymindedness made him into a very wealthy man, but let's take what he did into context, he wasn't a great man, and nothing he did was for alturistic reasons (which is fair enough, if that's the way he wanted to live his life), but he knew what the public wanted and he never lost money underestimating the intellect of the Australian people.

As far as philantrophists (sic) go, you can't go past the likes of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, Richard Pratt, at least they have done it for all the right reasons.

For Example, Richard Pratt, because he grew up on an orchard at Ardmona, has a good understanding of irrigation and its impotance, when he was advocating for dramatic improvements in irrigation infrastructure, by putting a lot of the GV's Irrigation water underground (Due to the fact that they have built the Wimmera/Mallee Irrigation Pipe underground) which is over 100 years old in some places in the Goulburn Valley, I fought that this was just a means to promote his business in concrete irrigation pipes and channels.

But, then I found out that Pratt had sold that part of his business 5 years ago, and he was just promoting it as being a good idea to stop evaporation of irrigation water, so more water can be put down the Murray without ruining the economic base of Shepparton.

He did that because he knows how important water is and how you must strike a balance between the environment & economics.

Tell me of an example of Kerry Packer doing something similar ?.

 

[starz]

The man was an extraordinary visionary. I was down all day when i heard the news this morning.
My first thought went to ING Cup coverage, i know he was the driving force behind it being on free-to-air all day almost every weekend. Not sure if that will be the case anymore in two years time.

That said, he revolutionised Cricket and sporting coverage amongst other things, and for that i'm very grateful.
If only he looked after his health a bit more....

A sad day, he will be missed.