‘Beyond local derbies it is difficult for fans to support their team without deep pockets and amassing the air miles of an astronaut’
WELSH rugby is entering a new era of media coverage this season as the Guinness Pro14 leaves the BBC for subscription channel Premier Sports, while S4C retains secondary rights to the league.
I’ve been having a one-to-one chat with Richard Sweeney, CEO of Premier Sports – more of that later – and also sat in the Welsh dressing room at the Principality Stadium this week to see S4C’s plans unveiled.
The launch of the channels’ respective line-ups of commentators, pundits and pitch-side reporters sparked almost as much social media debate as the Scarlets’ decision to grace their away kit with more symbolism than a Dan Brown novel.
(And while that shirt has been lambasted by many for its rather, ahem, busy design, it’s the only one anyone is talking about, so that’s job done for the marketing department.)
Just as jerseys have undergone a transformation from the days when the only markings on them apart from the badge came from mud and blood, so media coverage of rugby has changed radically – from the bigmoney battles for the rights to the technology developed to give armchair fans the best possible viewing experience.
And the settee supporter is particularly relevant to the Pro14. With its geographical spread, beyond local derbies it is difficult for fans to support their team on the road without deep pockets and amassing the air miles of an astronaut. I look enviously at English friends like my Gloucester mate Shaun, who simply gets in the car or train to Bath, Leicester or Northampton to follow his heroes. We have away matches, meanwhile, that are not even in the same hemisphere, let alone country.
So that’s why great television coverage is crucial for fans of Pro14 teams. I have to admit I was sad to see BBC Wales lose the rights. As someone who has made programmes for the BBC for 20 years and occasionally worked for Scrum V, I’m obviously biased.
But I’ve seen at first hand the care and creativity that has gone into their rugby coverage from talented individuals who are passionate about the game.
I’ve felt too that we can never afford to be complacent in Wales about the place rugby has in our culture – particularly for the younger generation, with all the competing demands that exist for their attention. Removing the sport’s weekly free-to-air presence from the Welsh family home felt like a potential out of sight, out of mind scenario.
So it’s heartening that S4C – an ever-present broadcaster since the inception of the Celtic League in 2001 – has acquired rights for the next three years and will be showing a total of 17 live matches during the season, including the festive derbies and, should a Welsh region be involved, live coverage of the Pro14 final.
Further coverage will also be available on an as-live basis, while BBC Wales will continue to produce Clwb Rygbi for S4C.
Credit is due to S4C Commissioner for Sport Sue Butler, whose negotiating skills have ensured the Welshlanguage channel is still in the game literally and figuratively. We should send Sue to the Brexit talks.
Pro14 CEO Martin Anayi revealed at the S4C launch this week how his board were “blown away” by the video presentation the channel made during the bidding process. He added: “With the new era there’s a new momentum to grow the game here in Wales and we’re excited to have S4C with us on the journey.”
Alongside Clwb Rygbi host Gareth Rhys Owen, pitch-side reporter Catrin Heledd and Wales’ most candid and coruscating pundit Dr Gwyn, it also means the voice of Scrum V stalwart Gareth Charles – the commentator who first picked up his mic for a club match in Maesteg in1985 – thankfully remains on the airwaves.
But what of Gareth’s erstwhile BBC team-mates? Grassroots guru Phil Steele will be lending his wit and wisdom to coverage of Welsh premiership rugby – a welcome silver lining to the cloud of BBC Wales’ loss of rights.
And for all the changes there’s a sense of continuity as the core of the Scrum V team has signed for Premier Sports. Ross Harries switches presenting roles, Sean Holley swaps his stat-pad, Shane Williams and Sam Warburton join Martyn Williams on punditry and it’s good to see knowledgeable young sports reporter Lauren Jenkins given the pitch-side spot.
Not forgetting Eddie Butler, of course. A pivotal signing. Commentators are the Marmite of sports coverage, dividing the affections of supporters. Just ask the English fans on my South African Lions tour group who insisted on wearing t-shirts to every game inscribed with “Shut Up Barnes”.
But I love the prose of Eddie – even at its most purple. Consider his finest moment behind the mic, when he
encapsulated the drama of Wales’ 2008 victory at Twickenham in two simple phrases. He could have defaulted to “the home team are under pressure”, exerting “desperate defence” perhaps, while the visitors were “on fire”; but his words were: “Oh England, what have you done? Oh Wales, what are you doing?”
In the international press box, Eddie has formed an entertaining double act with Jonathan Davies as second voice. But sadly there’s no place for Jiffy in the new regional media set-up.
It will be strange to see an overlap without the cry of “Numbers!” accompanying it.
So a familiar Welsh line-up, but what can we expect in the way of a fresh approach?
This week I had a chat with Premier Sports CEO Richard Sweeney, the personable Irishman who admits his subscription channel has been perceived as “niche” in the past but sees the addition of the Pro14 to its portfolio as an exciting opportunity to grow both the identity of the channel and the league itself.
“Why did we like the idea of doing it? One of the things we noticed was that it was stripped between a lot of channels and nobody really knew where it was, what match was being shown on which channel and so on. It seemed a very inconsistent way of delivering a product as good as Pro14 and we thought it was a real opportunity.
“And obviously the Pro14 were trying to get one broadcaster to cover it and be near enough the exclusive rights holder. So it felt as if it hadn’t been given the opportunity to develop on one channel and that’s where we stepped in and thought we could make a success of it and move it forward – by deciding we’re going to cover 152 games, all in one place, seven games live in every round, we’re covering them all.”
The key to their approach is seeing the oval ball in the round. When I ask him if he was mindful of the needs of the Welsh audience, given the place rugby occupies in the national psyche here, he says: “Yes and no. First of all, we were looking at the Pro14 as a competition and, don’t get me wrong, the Welsh market is a very, very important market – four teams, the same as Ireland, so very much part of our push. We looked at each area but what we were trying to do as well was not only concentrate on each area and see how it’s going to work, we want to rebuild that competition as the Pro14 so it doesn’t become parochial in each area.
“It’s about building the interest – how are the Scottish teams doing, how is the Ulster team doing, etc. It’s more about building the Pro14 identity, making people aware that it is a competition and is all in one place.
“Yes, it’s all about your team and who you support as well, but if you look at other competitions, that is one of the areas we felt the Pro14 needed – that one whole, one place, to be consistent and have a story that we’re going to build.”
As for the Welsh perspective, Sweeney hopes the presentation team selection reflects how much Premier Sports respects the importance of the Cymric market.
“That’s why we picked the kind of talent we picked and why we considered it an important market and hopefully that’s something people have appreciated. In Wales we’re quite new to the market, but I think when we released the talent people will say, ‘OK, let’s give these guys a chance. This looks interesting’.”
Welsh expertise isn’t just in front of the lens. The contract to produce more than 200 hours of rugby has gone to sports broadcast specialists Sunset+Vine.
“I’m really excited about the Welsh talent,” says Sweeney.
“I’m dying to see how it all works and that Sunset+Vine will deliver as they promise me – and I think they will. They are based in Wales. We’ve gone down that road.
“There were a huge number of companies that tendered for it but I’m really happy they’ve come on board. Cerith Williams, the executive producer, has been fabulous to date.”
With seven matches per round, coverage is potentially a pretty frenetic affair, but Sweeney says Premier Sports will make a virtue of the busy schedule.
“On Premier Sports 1 we might be on air for four and a half/five hours, so say the 5.15pm match is in Cardiff at home – we’re going to call that The Hub,” Sweeney explains. “That’s where all the main presenters are going to be. And say Scarlets are down the road and they’re playing at 3.15pm, we’ll still have a presenter there and we’re going to go back and forth between the grounds. We’ll build the story about the other games going on as well, we’ll build the excitement for the fans.
“So they’re not just separate, standalone games. The bigger lead-up will see us talk about the other games, we’ll bring in feeds, the whole context. It’s a difficult one, we’re not too sure it’s going to work, but we’ll see how it goes and hopefully people will like the idea.
“Other broadcasters do it in football, it’s not new, but it is new for rugby and it’s new for the Pro14.”
A two-hour Sunday night highlights programme and a midweek live show broadcast from Dublin complete the coverage. The latter will be called The Pro14 Hour.
“It will be a preview show, it will be a chat show, we’ll have guests coming over from the different territories,” says Sweeney.
“It will be very much a Pro14 show, not a Welsh, Scottish or Irish show. It’s still being thought about. We want to make it interesting and exciting. And hopefully it will appeal to the rugby fan in general.”
Sweeney also sees potential for the English rugby public to take more of an interest in their Celtic cousins.
“We’re going to cover Premiership A rugby on a Monday night – reserve teams from the Premiership rugby teams in England – and we’re going to put highlights of Pro14 around that and try and build an English audience into the Pro14 so they can get a feel for it. It’s an exciting competition. The Pro14 teams have recently done very, very well.”
But will we all pay for the privilege? Sweeney stresses the value of the subscription and its impact on the development of the game.
“You can never tell, really, but for anyone who comes in, their first month will be free.
“That’s the first thing we’ve done. Secondly we have reduced the prices. Nobody else has gone from £11.99 to £9.99.
“The Pro14 was probably the last rugby tournament that you didn’t have to pay for. Why do people have to pay for it?
“Because the Pro14 are looking for a lot more money which goes back to the clubs and develops the clubs.
“For £2.50 a week it’s not a bad deal. What we’re putting on the table isn’t a bad offer. And it’s trying to get that message across – you do have to pay, but I’m hoping that most people won’t see it as a huge amount for what we’re trying to deliver.
“These things take time to grow. It’s a building process but we wouldn’t have got into it unless we were confident there was enough interest in the Pro14 in respect of subscribers who would support it.
“And hopefully with the investment in talent we’re showing, and in getting all those games out, I hope people say, ‘Yeah that’s pretty good’. So we shall see!”
We shall indeed.