BOXING is a sport in which two people wear big red gloves and punch each other.

Apologies to those who already know this, but there will be many others who will never have seen it.

In a few years time I will be saying of golf that it is a game played by an ever dwindling number of people who use long sticks to hit a little ball into a hole in the ground.

This is because those two sports will only be available on satellite TV, and let's face it, what's on Sky and BT Sport goes largely unwatched by the mass sporting public.

What does matter is terrestrial TV on which Wanderers and the game of football received the kind of profile money can't buy when they were shown live on BBC1 at prime time last night.

Basically, being on terrestrial TV is free advertising for sports.

Everybody can watch it, people get interested in it, talk about it and are far more likely to take it up than if it was stuck away on a £50-a-month channel.

Professional boxing has not been on terrestrial TV for seemingly decades now and while it is watched by those who seek it out, new audiences are sadly not exposed to it.

As a result it goes under the radar, shoved way back in the sports pages of the newspapers and scarcely spoken about by the general public.

Golf will go the same way after it was confirmed this week that the The Open is to switch from the BBC to Sky after more than 60 years on "normal" TV.

It is the last thing golf needs as it struggles to attract people to the game.

A sport with dwindling numbers playing it that needs to increase its profile and appeal, and what does it do... takes its showpiece event away from the mass viewing public.

An absolutely bonkers decision.

More money will go into the sport's coffers by selling to the highest bidder, but it's not money golf needs most, it's players.

And it is not going to get them by shoving its best events behind a paywall.

Golf is not the only sport risking it's long-term future for the sake of more money now.

Rugby union will also consider sending the Six Nations to the television dark side when the bidding for the TV rights comes around next.

People will be talking about rugby and the Six Nations tomorrow night when England and Wales meet in the competition.

They won't if it moves to pay TV.

Just like they won't be talking about boxing and golf.