Now almost into its incredible third decade, Fish’O’Mania has developed into a genuine English sporting institution. Broadcast for five hours live in the UK each summer and known as the ‘FA Cup of Fishing’, Fish ‘O’ Mania is a superb example of how Matchroom Sport can turn a traditionally non-television sport into an established TV spectacular.
With upwards of 2,000 anglers applying for coveted tickets to participate in Fish’O’Mania qualifiers, the event starts out in April with the first of 16 qualifying events. The winner of each competition goes through to the grand final and with it a shot at the £30,000 top prize.
The event gains much of its excitement by abandoning the traditional weigh-in at the conclusion of the match, and instead features weigh-ins every 30 minutes which gives the event a changing leader board that makes the action easy to follow.
In addition to the main match there are ladies and juniors matches to make it Britain’s most popular angling festival.
Following 16 years of the event, Matchroom Sport staged a one-off Fish’O’Mania Champion of Champions competition to run on the same lake, the day after the main event. This involved all all 16 previous winners of Fish’O’Mania and was won by Nathan Watson.
Since then an international team event has taken place on the second day; initially featuring England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, it soon included teams from continental Europe.
In a sport where 500 is a massive crowd, well over 10,000 fishing fans regularly attend Fish O’ Mania to create a unique sporting atmosphere.
In 2006, Matchroom Sport became exclusive international distributor for FLW Outdoors Bass Fishing, the multi-million dollar American fishing tour that has evolved into a major TV attraction since its inception in the mid-90s.That relationship continues to flourish.
MATCHROOM SPORT is delighted to announce an exciting new five year agreement with Sky Sports to bring a variety of outstanding events to the world’s premier sports channel.
Commencing this... April 05 2013
World Snooker is delighted to announce Betfair as the new title sponsor of the sport’s biggest tournament, the World Championship.
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Sky Sports will take its partnership with the Professional Darts Corporation into a 25th year thanks to a new five-year broadcast deal.
The agreement offers Sky Sports viewers over 50 days... March 07 2013
The PGA EuroPro Tour is taking its TV coverage to the next level in 2013 with extra on-course cameras, specialist on-course commentary from former PGA Tour and European Tour star... February 05 2013
Motocaddy has been unveiled as the ‘Official Electric Trolley’ brand of the PGA EuroPro Tour for an eighth consecutive year, supporting a professional circuit that has produced Major winners including... February 05 2013
World Snooker is delighted to announce BetVictor as the new title sponsor of next week's Welsh Open.
The BetVictor Welsh Open will run from February 11-17 at the Newport Centre... February 05 2013
The world's top eight darts players are to visit Dubai this year for the $250,000 Dubai Duty Free Darts Masters, which will be played on May 23 & 24 at... January 23 2013
Following the outstanding success of the Betfair Masters, prize money for snooker's greatest invitation event will be increased from £500,000 to £600,000 next year.
The top prize for the 2014... January 21 2013
Matchroom Sport and Sauerland Promotion are delighted to announce that Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler will fight in Britain.
The huge super middleweight rematch is the fight of the year in... January 15 2013
The BBC will continue to broadcast snooker’s biggest domestic tournaments until at least 2017, extending the current agreement by three years.
The BBC will continue as host broadcaster of the World... January 09 2013
THE McCoy's Premier League Darts will feature TEN players in 2013 under a new format which was announced on Wednesday evening, with Michael van Gerwen, Wes Newton and Robert Thornton... January 02 2013
ADRIAN LEWIS will open the defence of his Ladbrokes World Darts Championship against debutant Gino Vos and Phil Taylor will meet Michael Mansell as the pair begin their battle for... December 04 2012
World Snooker is delighted to announce that Betfair will sponsor the Masters for the first time this season.
Snooker’s most prestigious invitation event will be known as the Betfair Masters.... November 08 2012
Fans around the UK will be able to come together in city centres to enjoy World Snooker tournaments this season thanks to the BBC's Big Screens.
The Big Screen coverage will... November 07 2012
