The postage stamp is a time capsule. As media it visually represents what was important and worth communicating to the general public at the time of its issue. The message behind the design lasts forever – at least, for as long as people continue to collect stamps and trade them as items or collections. It is still big business although threatened by the effect of the Internet and social media and the resultant huge rise in prices for postal services.

It is the publics’ continuing fascination with sport that is driving revenues.

“The Conversation” of January 31, 2018 highlights a few points :                                                              Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook is quoted as saying “Sport is an anchor content”.

80% of Cricket Australia revenue comes from the sale of media rights.

The AFL media rights (to 2022) are worth A$2.5 billion.

The NRL value upon is media rights has doubled to A$1.8 billion.

And it will be shown that the Anglo-post offices are expecting to cash in on the trend.

I reflect upon recent trends reviewing the sports stamps of nine representative postal authorities. The way the message is presented, the design of the stamp images, which varies country to country.