Film: Balls of Fire

[Jose]

Have you seen the film? Whether you like it or not, it could be a good opportunity to promote the sport and your club locally. I have asked our local cinema if they could put some leaflets out in the foyer inviting anyone interested to come and try the "real" game. Will keep you posted on how this works out.

[SteveJ]

Ive actually seen the film with my sons and yes totally agree, even though the film is funny it also promotes the sport postively with hopefully people "latching" onto it with their son's and daughter's.

Anything of this nature can only help the sport, giving it frontline advertisement.

[The Windmill]

I believe the film is called "Balls of Fury".....I am going to see it Tuesday comming. I will update this thread once i've seen it.

[DaveR]

You are correct and heres the thread ....................and the competition with it !

HERE (http://www.tabletennistalk.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=169) ....................keen eyes well spotted !

[The Windmill]

I saw this movie last night. It is the worst film I have ever seen. Absolute rubbish.I'm not sure it will make anyone want to take up the sport.

[DaveR]

Well ive seen the most of it and yes i totally aggree absolute bollox, having said that many people are strange and will take up anything if its on the TV..........sometimes any publicity is better than none

[Anth Barella]

thats funny becasue i have heard the film is absolutly rubbish and it is a waste, and a joke about the sport in away offensive.

(although i havent seen the film and dont intend too!!!!)

[DaveR]

Not getting much praise this film !

[Anth Barella]

have you seen it dave???

[Jose]

Well, I started this thread and I did say that whether you liked it or not, it might be an opportunity to promote the "real" sport.

The follow up on this is that even though I visited and spoke to people at the cinema several times and gave them a proposed leaflet, in the end the response was " sorry, our advertising rights do not permit us to promote the club." The end!

Jose

[DaveR]

Typical answer with no real aspirations on promoting anything but themselves, im still of the opinion that any media coverage, wether it be average or not is better than none so roll on and get the next Forest Gump made!

[FantasyCheeseBasin]

its frustrating that still after my 28 years of playing ping and 28 years of discussion about promotion of our sport that nothing has changed in the media,i must admit that personally im not the best one to be talking about promotion with my record of poor attitude while on the ping table,but believe the media and our governing bodies could do something to rectify this,or am i being a little too critical,its crazy to think we are all looking toward a movie to enhance and promote our sport,i was one one of those who hoped this movie would help but again i feel that it wont,our sport is one of the most thrilling and dynamic sports ive encountered and hope that soon it will be recognised as being so ,it is likely that major tournaments must be organised with very high prize money in order to attract media coverage and gain the attention of the masses,maybe im wrong but sometimes its just annoying and frustrating that table tennis is not given the credit it deserves, ranting over.

[SammyBoy]

its frustrating that still after my 28 years of playing ping and 28 years of discussion about promotion of our sport that nothing has changed in the media,i must admit that personally im not the best one to be talking about promotion with my record of poor attitude while on the ping table,but believe the media and our governing bodies could do something to rectify this,or am i being a little too critical,its crazy to think we are all looking toward a movie to enhance and promote our sport,i was one one of those who hoped this movie would help but again i feel that it wont,our sport is one of the most thrilling and dynamic sports ive encountered and hope that soon it will be recognised as being so ,it is likely that major tournaments must be organised with very high prize money in order to attract media coverage and gain the attention of the masses,maybe im wrong but sometimes its just annoying and frustrating that table tennis is not given the credit it deserves, ranting over.

Good post this, and very true mate with the sport and i stress SPORT being given a rough ride most of the time with many underating as ping pong in school.

The whole concept is one of "yes i played that and was good at it" unfortunately thats furthest from the truth than they will ever know, partly because of media coverage and partly due to players not promoting it themselves in a positive way.

Money could be a big issue too but thats another debate.

Last question to players how many times have you yourself or heard someone else be "proud" to say i play TABLE TENNIS this is not a jibe but have you ?

[Spongebob!]

Yeah - that's true...it's normally - eeer you play Ping Pong don't you. I'm fine with it really it doesn't normally bother me. Once you say you play in 2 local leagues (normally win them), the County and British League they tend to start to take it / you more seriously.

I don't normally mention any of my matches etc unless someone asks - did you have a match last night? - Yes - Win? - Yes and then we move on. Sometimes they ask...Do you have to be fit to play Ping Pong? - at that stage I'm bored. I think a lot of people asume its like the table tennis everyone played at youth club or on holidays by the pool.

Sometimes people say who do you play for - County? - British League (Essex) and then its...you must be good!!!

Then its do you fancy a game I used to play quite a lot - I'll joke and say yeah anytime...I'll play you left handed (I am actually left handed!) - so when you do give them a knock you should see their faces!! Crikey, if he's that good with his wrong hand what must he be like with his correct hand!!! I never let on - crafty Spongey!!!

To be fair it doesn't really bother me - people and friends who really know me actually know I am a decent player (even though I'm getting on a bit now!) and generally know I'm not that bothered about boasting if we win the league or big matches etc. They just know I like the sport.

Having said that I like all sports actaully - I just happened to put more effort into playing table tennis - I still play loads of football and tennis too!

[Annie]

I've played footie! :resent:

[Spongebob!]

So has FantasyCheeseBasin - normally in a leading substitutes role!!! But we were good (well - good for a laugh!). Me, Goddy, Thorpy, Fishy, Rigs - started off as a laugh and then we became quite good - so good it started to interupt our drinking time - 'last order's please' - no worries we soon got that sorted!

I used to practice all the way to the pub - 'pint of orange of please / pint of orange please' - until I got to the bar 'pint of lager please' - always got it wrong!!!

[Annie]

Well keep up the good work............practice makes perfect Spongey! :thumbsup:

[Spongebob!]

Don't need to practice now - 'Pint of Lager please (extra cold - you know it makes sense!) - see its easy!

[FantasyCheeseBasin]

2 pints of lager and 36 packets of crisps, assorted peanuts and piggy things please,ah those were the days:woho:

[Mousy]

Well i saw it and yes fun it was but promotion of the sport ................yes could be as the fact it's been talked about is proof that publicity is good for anyone or anything if its being debated.

My thoughts were Forest Gump was better!

[Jose]

Time to get moving!
Re: Frustrated after 28 years of playing ping.....
I have it on good authority from the Top that the popularity of any activity, sports or otherwise, starts from the bottom up. Instead of complaining about the quality or lack of media coverage, we need to call our local media or tv network and express our opinions. It is felt that if enough people call their local press, or call their tv network and ask about TT, if enough do that, then things may change. The news media just print what they think people want to read, the tv networks show what they think people want to see and that is why we get so much football in the UK and baseball in the USA, because it is what the people want. The ITTF produce every single event for tv, but only the tv networks that believe that they will have an audience will take the productions.

So, time to get moving! Shall we move this topic to a new thread about action and see if we can start a campaign for media change, using the TableTennisTalk Forum as the activator with every member doing their bit locally and getting their friends to do the same ? What do you think ? It might just work if we work hard enough!

[DaveR]

Jose this site is all about people like you and ermmmmmmmmmmmm dare i say it me !

I agree and yes we need media on the side of the sport, more than anyone realises or it will like many sports such as Badminton be lost in old Church halls and worse Cellars, so i'm currently in the slow process of starting balls rolling (instead of fire) to gather some support and momentum towards the objective of Media Change and Positive Table Tennis attention.

This is serious and yes we do laugh with tounge in cheek but i actually agree with Jose in relation to the sport does need some injection of spirit and public media attention which i believe we all as players, coaches and indeed anyone who values the sport should give in all forms.

[Kev]

Just a thought Dave but have you talked to Table Tennis News about getting an article about the forum published? I would imagine its the perfect place to get a big surge of members! They could do an interview with you; 'Why did you make the site, etc.' I would be quite happy to write something if you wanted.

[Blocking Ace]

Do you think they would be interested in my article on 'The Art of Blocking', which is the follow-up to the much-acclaimed 'Block Art'.
:pray:

From this week, i may be using my freshly attained status. So look out for items from the pen of Doc Block [or, 'The Artist Formerly Known as Blocking Ace'].
:pray:

[DaveR]

The article sounds interesting lets see it ....................im sure we can all learn something from this acclaimed and high quality article !

[Kev]

You got through your viva okay then? Congratulations!

[DaveR]

still waiting for this list Kev !

[Annie]

Time to get moving!
Re: Frustrated after 28 years of playing ping.....
I have it on good authority from the Top that the popularity of any activity, sports or otherwise, starts from the bottom up. Instead of complaining about the quality or lack of media coverage, we need to call our local media or tv network and express our opinions. It is felt that if enough people call their local press, or call their tv network and ask about TT, if enough do that, then things may change. The news media just print what they think people want to read, the tv networks show what they think people want to see and that is why we get so much football in the UK and baseball in the USA, because it is what the people want. The ITTF produce every single event for tv, but only the tv networks that believe that they will have an audience will take the productions.

So, time to get moving! Shall we move this topic to a new thread about action and see if we can start a campaign for media change, using the TableTennisTalk Forum as the activator with every member doing their bit locally and getting their friends to do the same ? What do you think ? It might just work if we work hard enough!

This is a proactive idea Jose. I will look into obtaining local network telephone numbers to publish on here so that we can all start phoning them. Did I say this was a great idea :thumbsup:

Just a thought Dave but have you talked to Table Tennis News about getting an article about the forum published? I would imagine its the perfect place to get a big surge of members! They could do an interview with you; 'Why did you make the site, etc.' I would be quite happy to write something if you wanted.

Again what a good idea. I'm sure Dave could provide a 1,000 words or two in conversation! :popcorn:

[Jose]

OK - I've just sent e mails to BBC North East and Tyne Tees plus the newspapers and radio in our area, promoting the Europe Junior top 10 this weekend in Sheffield where Paul Drinkhall and Karina Lefevre are taking part. I used part of the the press release on the ETTA site as the copy and asked if they could cover the event for table tennis fans. That's a good idea from Dave to publish on the site the phone numbers - e mail addresses too please - so that we can all start telling the media about our interest in table tennis. You can go to their sites and send comments. It's most annoying that TT is not even included in the list of sports that you can select from and you have to go to "other". Let's see what we can do to change this! It might take some time, but wouldn't it be great if it did make a difference!

[Annie]

Jose you are a girl after my own heart! :happy:

Leave it to us and we'll sort a page out just for this with relevent contact details for people to use.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE! :woot:

[HarryBelafonte]

Honestly,,worst film ive ever seen .put tt back 20 years....

Got a film of tony gelder called ping pong .. excellent ,like trainspotting but about tt...get it .... realistic and true..

[HarryBelafonte]

forgot to mention its a japanese film with subtitles....
:danceman:

[Firepower]

Honestly,,worst film ive ever seen .put tt back 20 years....

Got a film of tony gelder called ping pong .. excellent ,like trainspotting but about tt...get it .... realistic and true..


Worst film i have seen also but as mentioned previously in some posts not always bad publicity when TT is brought to the attention of the public, mind you it is bad.:resent: