Opinion: Nothing beats live sport

Natalie Rooney picks up New Zealand's first medal of the Rio games after winning Silver in the womens trap shooting.

THE way the last couple of days have gone for the New Zealand Olympic team, sports fans without Sky may not be all that worried right now.

With no live action on free to air TV, they had to wait nearly an hour to watch delayed coverage of our men's sevens team crashing out in the quarterfinals. No doubt there were some who saw the result and didn't bother watching.

But I have sympathy with those that would have liked to watch it live, and with calls from New Zealand First sports and recreation spokesman Clayton Mitchell yesterday that the government should in future ensure free live broadcasts of major sports.

I'm old enough to remember the good old days, before there was such a thing as pay TV, where everyone in New Zealand could watch the All Blacks or the Olympics on their own tellies.

Nowadays, to watch an All Blacks test, or a netball final or a Warriors game you have to fork out the fees for Sky, make friends with someone who has, or head to a pub or club showing the game. Which, let's face it, is not always practical or possible especially for those with kids.

I'm sure it's not quite as simple as Mr Mitchell suggests - it's big business and there is big money and sponsorship involved. But if the government does have any mechanism to try and ensure all our future Olympians and All Blacks (not just the ones whose parents can afford it) can watch their heroes live, experiencing the thrill of those gold medal moments as they happen, then it's worth having that discussion.

I still remember watching Mark Todd win gold in Los Angeles in 1984 and the excitement of getting up in the middle of the night to watch live All Blacks' tests with a mug of Milo.

In a sports-mad nation such as ours, those are the types of memories all Kiwi kids should have the chance to make.