Why cricket's best YouTube channel is under threat

Why cricket's best YouTube channel is under threat

Rich Clarke
CricketPaper

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How many boundaries did Glenn McGrath hit in international cricket? Who is the only bowler to dismiss both Viv Richards and Javed Miandad for a duck? What were John Arlott’s last words in the commentary box?

No, these are not the facts they failed to fit into this year’s Wisden or even part of the ‘tough round’ on Eggheads. They are the questions that have vexed Rob Moody in recent months. He runs Robelinda2, the YouTube channel for cricket’s ultimate anoraks. It’s where you too can see a full 32 minutes of McGrath’s 4s and 6s, Neil Foster’s two greatest scalps and the final utterances of cricket’s greatest observer.
Back in the 1980s, when VCRs were gaining popularity, the pre-teen Moody taped every game he could, occasionally running back from school in Australia to make sure his mum had switched tapes midway through that day’s play at the Test. Quickly, he amassed an archive so vast his parents had to switch bedrooms so he could accommodate all his videos.

Fast forward to 2010 and, at the request of his friends, Moody started to share his favourite clips online. His channel handle was a mash-up of his name and that of his then-girlfriend now wife. The first version got closed down so he started another, adding a 2 on the end. Soon he was getting requests, especially for memorable moments omitted from highlights packages. He had all the footage, sometimes more than the broadcasters themselves, so he happily obliged.

That’s when this cricket badger went down a rabbit hole.

Since then, he has uploaded 2,500 videos that have received one billion views. Robelinda2 now has 900,000 subscribers, way more than the YouTube channel of any UK football club outside the ‘Big Six’. His trademark is the obscure, controversial or silly – umpiring errors, players being hit, sledging, arguments - all presented with provocative headlines and descriptions. If you want to find a video of Nasser Hussain bowling in Test cricket, Devon Malcolm’s 12 not out against Australia in 1997 or the “shittest players of spin ever” then you are in the right place.

“The channel has grown absolutely by accident,” Moody told The Cricket Paper. “I am just having fun. The channel is whatever I want it to be.

Click to hear Rob Moody’s full interview on the Sports Content Strategy podcast

Click to hear Rob Moody’s full interview on the Sports Content Strategy podcast

“It seems people want to watch old games and there is nowhere else to see them. These days, highlights packages are just boundaries and wickets but a day of cricket is much more than that and people remember different things. The boards have not always kept a full day’s play but I have.

“It is not for profit, you can’t make money off footage you don’t own and I can’t upload what I want. The reason the channel has lasted is that I have not done anything to actively annoy the international cricket boards, such as posting clips of anything too recent or too long.”

Rob Moody

Rob Moody

As you might expect, 89 per cent of his traffic comes from India and the next two countries, USA and UAE, are almost certainly that high due to ex-pats from the subcontinent needing their cricket fix. Lockdown has been a boom period for the site. Work dried up in Moody’s day job as a guitarist on cruise ships, so he doubled down and cranked out more videos. The result – 250m views and 200,000 more subscribers in 12 months.

However, the most impressive aspect of Robelinda2 is its influence. This was illustrated last year when Moody saw a Cricinfo tweet suggesting that Steve Waugh had been involved in the most runouts in cricket history.
“I just had to make the video,” said Moody. “It took 40 hours with no sleep as I had to check every scorecard where there was a runout and Steve Waugh was playing, then look at the video to see if he was at the crease. I did not even watch the edit before I slapped it up but the reaction was incredible. Then again, I suppose you can’t get a video like this anywhere else.”

The Waugh video dominated the Australian sports pages for a few days after Shane Warne suggested it proved his former captain was ‘the most selfish player’ he seen. The batsman replied as the spat spilt out onto social media. Over the past couple of years, Robelinda2 videos have regularly sparked such debates and often been played as ‘evidence’ on Australian television. Meanwhile, an Indian version has sprung up and, with permission from Moody, called itself DesiRobelinda2.

Despite all this attention, publicity and influence, Moody believes his channel will be shut down within a couple of years. Should he receive three copyright claims in a six-month period he will be locked out and unable to access his online archive. He had one from the West Indies Cricket Board at the start of 2021. Robelinda2’s online community mobilised and they eventually apologised, however, crucially, the ‘strike’ remains. Six months earlier, when the channel was temporarily shut down for a copyright infringement brought by Cricket Australia, Aaron Finch and Tom Moody lent their online support then, somewhat embarrassingly CA’s chairman Earl Eddings waded in, adding “I love Rob Moody's work, it's got me through some difficult times in lockdown. What he brings to the game, bringing old footage back to some of us balding, older grade cricketers has been great.”


Yet, despite all the love, the threat is real.

“I have only ever had two strikes at one time but if the third one comes, then there is nothing I can do,” said Moody. “I would expect support but I don't think that would mean anything as YouTube is pretty vigilant in the protection of digital rights.

“I hope it goes for a few more years but I figure that, at some point, the channel will be just something people remember for the period of the 2010s. I still have the videos but, to be honest, I am not going to upload them all again.”

So, if the worst happens, it seems someone else will have to run Robelinda3.


* This article first appeared in The Cricket Paper, get it every Sunday or subscribe here

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