NRL clubs should open their doors to warts and all TV
Columnist By Luke Doherty, 11 Oct 2012 Luke Doherty is a Roar Expert
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Greg Eastwood tackles the Melbourne Storm's Todd Lowrie during the NRL Grand Final at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
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The Being Liverpool series might not be for everyone. You may dislike the club more than you hated the vegetables you hid in your mashed potato as a small child and therefore choose not to watch.
Still, the idea of a camera crew taking you into the inner sanctum of one of the most well known sporting organisations in the world is more than a little intriguing.
It’s not so much the interviews or the general narrative being weaved that draws you in, but more the moments you feel you’re not meant to see.
You’re in the change rooms, family homes and club meetings.
Viewers are allowed to hear one on one conversations between manager Brendan Rodgers and the players.
It doesn’t seem staged, as much as a manager walking around with a microphone on can be.
On one occasion he singles out teenage midfielder Raheem Sterling who had spoken back to him during a training match on their pre-season tour of America. He’s left in no doubt that a repeat offence will earn him an early trip back to Liverpool.
The access is unprecedented and it shows a side of the players and the club that is usually only viewed by a select few.
So far, it has been an amazing PR exercise.
The public gets to see the real side of the players and not the ones who choose not to offer much when anywhere near a reporter’s microphone.
It got me thinking whether an NRL club would ever allow something like this to take place?
Most sides are fairly guarded and a healthy distrust has developed in some quarters with the media.
Still, who would you like to see throw open the doors if it ever did get off the ground?
During grand final week most Bulldogs players were quick to tell you that Des Hasler was an amazing man manager. Few were willing to go into details.
Being Canterbury could wipe away some of the mystery that surrounds the man who loves to fly under the radar.
Being Melbourne could be interesting, especially on game day inside Craig Bellamy’s coaches box. That would have to be scheduled for after the children had gone to bed.
Being Parramatta would rival NCIS for drama.
It’s not just a way for supporters to have a sticky beak inside, but also an opportunity for a club to promote its culture and beliefs.
What better way to showcase yourselves to sponsors than to open the doors and show off what you have to offer.
You can follow Luke Doherty on Twitter @Luke_Doherty and on Sky News Australia.
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October 11th 2012 @ 7:24am
Boomshanka said | October 11th 2012 @ 7:24am | Report comment
This years Grand Final was cut off into Melbourne at the presentation of the Trophy which denied just shy of 1M Melbourians the opportunity to see much loved local athletes such as Slater and Smith’s walk their family around as proud fathers. This would have balanced (a little) the subsequent negative press which followed (Graham bitting and the Mad Monday rubbish).
The trouble is Australian FTA networks are rapidly descending into a race for the bottom with sensational (but largely irrelevant) news stories. They don’t treat the game with respect any more, thinking that they own the whole thing outright. Sure they paid for the rights to broadcast, but that it. It shouldn’t give the the right to drag the game into the mire through hoarding, unbalanced reporting etc. “Home of Rugby League” – My Arse!!
I’ve seen Maori TV’s Manly Sea Eagles mini series and Ngati NRL which I doubt were ever shown here. It provided a real grass roots view of the game at two levels (the management of a successful rugby league team and young aspirational kids wanting to get a foothold in the game -all good stuff) along the lines of what this article purports. Has anyone else out there seen this?
October 11th 2012 @ 8:43am
Ryan O'Connell said | October 11th 2012 @ 8:43am | Report comment
“The trouble is Australian FTA networks are rapidly descending into a race for the bottom with sensational (but largely irrelevant) news stories. They don’t treat the game with respect any more, thinking that they own the whole thing outright. Sure they paid for the rights to broadcast, but that it. It shouldn’t give the the right to drag the game into the mire through hoarding, unbalanced reporting etc. “Home of Rugby League” – My Arse!!”
Very astute, Boom.
This is the problem, isn’t it? There is a feeling that if NRL clubs opened up their doors, the media would report on who Mitchell Pearce slept with last night, rather than Brian Smith’s pre-game tactical chat.
October 11th 2012 @ 9:44am
Boomshanka said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:44am | Report comment
Ryan
This is exactly the problem. The media will serve up whatever take on the story they like, with little apology if they get it wrong or misrepresent.
I’ve watched with interest you slight retraction as to why Channel Nine were at last weeks Mad Monday celebrations and I applaud the fact you stand by the majority of your article “Professional athletes deserve professional journalism”.
The ARLC need to be on the front foot on this maybe engaging a proper production company to produce a TV show whilst maintaining editorial control, leaving gutter journalism to concentrate on what they do best (keeping some sort of perverse check and balance).
October 11th 2012 @ 9:52am
Ryan O'Connell said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:52am | Report comment
Boom,
I retracted, as per a conversation I had with a SMH journalist, the part where I said ALL the media were there hoping for trouble. . .
October 11th 2012 @ 10:18am
JVGO said | October 11th 2012 @ 10:18am | Report comment
If that journalist was RH than I don’t know why you’d listen. His follow up article re the NRL was just utter gutter trash. Stick to your guns Ryan. You have a million times more credibility and integrity than someone like him.
October 11th 2012 @ 11:39am
View from the hill said | October 11th 2012 @ 11:39am | Report comment
Ryan. That sort of happened when we saw at halftime in Roosters & Raiders game Smith in the dressing room showing his team backline moves using drink bottles. Seen it re used a number of times in league shows since as a means to have a giggle at Smith’s expense. So NRL clubs have let us inside the dressing rooms at half time & look what the media did with it.
October 11th 2012 @ 9:40pm
Luke Doherty said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:40pm | Report comment
That’s my fear – that clubs think like that. If you were doing a mini-series – i think there’d be more value in hearing a coaches pre-game chat than the other rubbish.
October 11th 2012 @ 8:10am
View from the hill said | October 11th 2012 @ 8:10am | Report comment
The Waratahs did something like this in 2011. Can’t say it’s been onwards and upwards for them since then!
October 11th 2012 @ 12:09pm
Brett McKay said | October 11th 2012 @ 12:09pm | Report comment
I believe the Queensland Reds have a similar series starting tonight on Fox Sports..
October 11th 2012 @ 8:14am
Army said | October 11th 2012 @ 8:14am | Report comment
NFL HARD KNOCKS – I recently started watching the 2010 series of Hard Knocks which goes inside preseason training camp with the New York Jets……It’s on HBO in the states so pretty much anything goes. It’s absolutely amazing to see what the guys put themselves through to make the cut in the team…..very inspirational.
October 11th 2012 @ 9:41pm
Luke Doherty said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:41pm | Report comment
I think the “hard knocks” series actually spawned the whole liverpool “being” thing.
October 11th 2012 @ 8:40am
Ryan O'Connell said | October 11th 2012 @ 8:40am | Report comment
In conversations I’ve had with media types over the last 7 days, it’s clear they would like greater access to NRL players. It’s their belief that if given that, they won’t have to go ‘looking’ for stories, which may not end up being pretty or positive. The theory goes that if they have the chance to write something insightful, they can then leave the players in peace and give them their privacy. A “you scrub my back, I’ll scrub yours” arrangement.
Sounds great in theory, and could lead to the scenarios that Luke mentioned in his piece. I’m sure most fans would be all for it, and the players too.
The issue is, most players don’t trust the media because of some of the things they report/have reported.
It’s a two way street, but someone is going to have to make the first move and gain the other one’s trust.
October 11th 2012 @ 9:28am
steve b said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:28am | Report comment
Most players don’t trust the media , when they edit to suit the sensational side of any story , just ask Hayne from Parra and the shopping expedition , and i don’t blame the guy’s one bit , if they stuck to the fact’s they seem to think the story will be mundane and not of any interest . But put a bit of spin and it’s a controversy , the media will have to do a lot of p.r. before player’s and coaches trust them ,but i don’t think the media will ever get in to the inter sanctum with open arms …
October 11th 2012 @ 9:36am
Gaz said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:36am | Report comment
Ryan, ‘warts and all’ would be like winning the lotto for Channel 9. Channel 9 were TV’s leaders a few years back and as reported in todays print media are on deaths door and one level above receivership. Their nightly news is a flop and full of adds. I guess they do pretty well on a shoestring but they need to create their own news. Hence this beat up on the Bulldogs, choppergate etc etc. What I really can’t understand is that although recently signing a new contract with the ARL to save their own soles they then bite the hand that feeds them by highlighting these events. It won’t be long before 9 are again advertising they are the ‘home of Rugby League’. Go figure! Both 7 and TEN had audio of those events and chose not to put them to air. 9 on the other hand opened their nightly news as though they were reporting the end of the world was apon us. So sad. A root cause investigator will tell you that if the reporter 9 sent down that morning was Wally Lewis or Freddie Fittler there would be no story. I am not against female reporters in any shape or form but there is a time and place for everything and that was not the time or the place for that lass. Unless you needed a story that is.
October 11th 2012 @ 9:42pm
Luke Doherty said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:42pm | Report comment
If I had a dollar for every positive news story i’ve had knocked back by a media manager i’d be a very very very very very rich man. It’s a shame really.
October 11th 2012 @ 8:45am
Pogo said | October 11th 2012 @ 8:45am | Report comment
The North Harbour rugby team in NZ had a fly on the wall type thing some years ago. I seem to remember it consisted mostly of Buck Shelford blowing up, but then they weren’t having a very good season at the time.
October 11th 2012 @ 8:48am
B.A Sports said | October 11th 2012 @ 8:48am | Report comment
The Bulldogs wouldn’t even speak to the media after a grand final, and then hurl vial obscene words at Journos a day later so i don’t think they are going to give anyone all access to their behind the scenes lives.
Hard Knocks is awesome. Its following the Dolphins this year which is tough, because there isn’t a lot of bog names at the Dolphins, and th eone high profile name they had, got fired… but the good bit, was that Hard Knocks had cameras in the meeting when the GM had to fire him.
October 11th 2012 @ 9:34am
Mick said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:34am | Report comment
Liverpool are doing a fluff show to market themselves to sponsors.
We already get enough stories in Australia of players with sore eye lashes & scratches on their knees, 1/2 preview before live game & 1/2 review after game is enough, the rest is just filler for talking dribble..
Look at it know, player x might go to club y & club y might recruit a kid with alot of potential. I try to avoid the bs & just watch the live games.
October 11th 2012 @ 1:06pm
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party said | October 11th 2012 @ 1:06pm | Report comment
Well the show is basically a few weeks behind in the current season and anyone paying attention to Liverpool so far will know they are struggling a little,so i think episodes in the coming weeks will be far from “fluffy”.
October 11th 2012 @ 9:50am
roarr said | October 11th 2012 @ 9:50am | Report comment
Have the NRL ever done anything innovative or remotely creative?
Not that I can remember.
October 11th 2012 @ 1:21pm
Michael said | October 11th 2012 @ 1:21pm | Report comment
+1
October 11th 2012 @ 10:19am
Chris Chard said | October 11th 2012 @ 10:19am | Report comment
Agree this would be great if done properly, especially for clubs that don’t get as much mainstream press. I think the Titans, Sharks or Panthers would be perfect candidates for a ‘Hard Knocks’ style series, given the rebuilding they’re going through at each club.
Also as Luke mentioned the fans are genuinely interested to know what thet players are really like, this piece here touches more on the topic http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8398483/how-tv-sports-docs-changed-reporting
But hey, isn’t everyone forgetting….
CC
October 11th 2012 @ 2:05pm
Rixy said | October 11th 2012 @ 2:05pm | Report comment
I was thinking the same thing, what about South Sydney Story?
Wasn’t the best produced program but pretty much did exactly what the article is asking for, at a rather interesting time for the club (Crowe had just taken over and Jason Taylor had taken them to the first finals series in 15 odd years)
October 11th 2012 @ 4:25pm
PJ said | October 11th 2012 @ 4:25pm | Report comment
Yeah lets do a documentry at the Titans and make sure it shows all the staff being told that pays will be late AGAIN and that superanuation hasnt been paid for months then show that fat cat Michael Searle jetting off on his American/Caribbean 1st class holiday. That will really get the viewers in!
October 11th 2012 @ 11:50am
oikee said | October 11th 2012 @ 11:50am | Report comment
League fans have been turning on nine for years now, they still dont get it.
Nine can die, nobody would turn up to the funeral, that is the following they have built.
Here is the next warning, league reporters who think they are reporters, wearing very thin.
I have stopped reading the drama queens, i have not read a D.W weedler story now for over a year. D.H is on the list along with R.W the woman, am i allowed to say that or am i a Myhoginist or whatever they call Abbott these days.
They need to be careful, it is why the papers and these ugly story reporters are losing their jobs. I dont pay to read their rubbish either. I have not bought a paper now for over a year.
They just dont take the hint, poeple have had a gutful, now where have you heard that before. Look at the Roar, the league bloggers are getting tired of the scrumpty bullocks stories every second day on this site.
Take the warning.