Fed: Sporting greats pay tribute to Packer

AAP General News (Australia)
12-27-2005
Fed: Sporting greats pay tribute to Packer

By Simon Kirby

SYDNEY, Dec 27 AAP - Australia's sporting establishment has paid tribute to Kerry Packer
whose influence was crucial in the development of cricket, rugby league, golf, AFL and
horse racing.

The Australian cricket team wore black armbands in the second Test against South Africa
in Melbourne today as a mark of respect for Packer, who died overnight aged 68.

Both teams observed a minute's silence before the start of play at the MCG.

The media magnate controlled Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, the owner of the Nine
Network, whose live telecasts have driven the growth of many sports in this country.

Cricket was one of his great passions and Packer transformed the sport in the 1970s
when he introduced the breakaway World Series Cricket, which was the dawn of professional,
one-day internationals and modern television coverage.

Channel Nine commentators Richie Benaud, Tony Greig, Ian Chappell and Bill Lawry described
Packer as a generous, charismatic man who had a great sense of fun and was a lateral thinker
over the way cricket was broadcast.

"Cricket the world over, I don't think, will ever know how different things would be
without Kerry Packer," said Greig, a close friend.

Cricket Australia (CA) described Packer as one of the most influential figures in Australian
cricket history, who ranked alongside Sir Don Bradman "as one of the giants who have influenced
the shape of Australian cricket."

"That cricket is today taken for granted as a natural part of the Australian way of
life is in no small measure due to his influence," said CA chairman Creagh O'Connor.

International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani said Packer was one of the few people
who could lay claim to changing the game of cricket.

"His World Series Cricket took the game by the scruff of the neck and dragged it into
the modern era and although, at the time, many people had reservations, the current healthy
state of our sport shows how wise he was," Mani said.

"The players also owe him a huge debt of gratitude because he recognised their worth
and paid them accordingly. He recognised they were the entertainers and had to be rewarded."

Former Australian Rugby League chairman Ken Arthurson today paid tribute to Packer's
role in orchestrating the sport's popularity.

"He played a major role in the success of rugby league during that period in the '90s,
when rugby league was really on top," Arthurson said.

"We had every sport on the back foot at that stage, it was really going great guns
and I must say that was really due to a large extent to the Kerry Packer influence with
Channel Nine."

Packer took on fellow media mogul Rupert Murdoch, chief of News Corp Ltd, in the Superleague-ARL
war that led to years of court action until a peace deal was brokered in December 1997,
with Nine again securing the game's television rights.

"Kerry was both a lifelong friend and a tough competitor," Murdoch said.

Packer also took on the Seven Network's long-time ownership of AFL broadcasting, winning
the rights from 2001 and again last week securing the rights through to 2011, pending
a Seven response within 14 days.

AFL Commission chairman Ron Evans and chief executive Andrew Demetriou said Packer's
contribution to all Australian sport as a broadcasting innovator was unmatched in the
nation's history.

"Mr Packer was a towering figure across Australian business life and through television.

He has left a lasting legacy for Australian sport," they said in a statement.

"Broadcasting of all sport in this country benefited from Mr Packer's vision and he
will be greatly missed as someone who has enabled sports, particularly cricket, rugby
league and the AFL, to grow and expand and ensure their success into the future."

Packer's think big approach also reaped dividends for Australian golf.

He hired Jack Nicklaus to redesign the Australian Golf Club course in 1977 and then
flew in and paid some of the world's top players to compete in the revamped Australian
Open.

"They put it on the map as a big event worldwide," said Colin Phillips, recently-retired
executive director of the Australian Golf Union.

"It was because of Packer's approach to the event, in as much as he felt that the only
way to reach that status was to get the best players in the world out here."

Packer also raced many horses with friend Lloyd Williams including 1993 Victorian Derby
winner Mahogany and 1996 Golden Slipper winner Merlene. He also loved a punt, betting
an estimated $1 million on Might And Power in the 1997 Melbourne Cup.

Recently Packer has tried to take on the betting establishment by joining forces with
English-based internet betting exchange operator Betfair, which this year won a licence
to operate in Tasmania.

AAP spk/mo/mon/jlw

KEYWORD: PACKER SPORT NIGHTLEAD

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