Thank you for your response. And so in reply here are my continuing comments:
1)
The BBC news article
that you referenced, actually points out that there are VERY few public
squash courts in the USA. Virtually all of the courts in the USA are
private, and accessible only to members. This does not and will not
create an 'open' opportunity for anyone, from any social strata to
participate. The reality is that squash in the USA is unlikely to
produce it's own version of Venus or Serena Williams.
The specific
programmes that the BBC was reporting on, are in select cities around
the USA, and they provide squash opportunities to a limited number of
students. It is an extremely commendable effort, but it is not the
driving force of growth in the USA.
Additionally, as the
young lady herself says: She would never have entered the squash world
except for this programme. She herself said that in her social world,
no one knows of the squash game.
That BBC article and
everything in it actually presents all the facts that support the
premise that squash is only accessible to the elite. (except for these
special inner-city programmes).
2)
Diminishing numbers of
courts and recreational players in England and Australia is a LOSS to
the sport. Just because the USA and Egypt are growing their numbers
(Egypt also is a private member club based market), does not mean that
the game is growing by leaps and bounds.
When two of the most
important squash countries in the world are losing players, losing
courts, losing sponsorship, the game as a whole is losing. Pakistan is
no where near where they used to be, they too have suffered.
There would be no
British Open if not for the largesse of the Allam funding. Without that
gentleman's funding the British Open would either be off the calendar,
as has happened before, or it would be in a very diminished position in
terms of cash.
Note that the Australian Open is gone from the calendar too.
Just that the elitist
participation numbers are increasing in the USA and Egypt, does not
replace the losses to the game as a whole.
3)
Whether we have a
valid argument about which racket sport is more technically demanding
is really a moot point. The fact of the matter is that Badminton has
become far far bigger than squash as a world wide professional sport.
So no matter what our
preferences are in sport, the reality of numbers (participant numbers,
and corporate sponsorship) are the 'truth', and Badminton is far ahead
of squash.
