sport news This year's Six Nations is getting the Netflix treatment, but not everyone is ... trends now
This year’s Six Nations will be the subject of a warts-and-all Netflix series, with cameras behind the scenes following the teams and capturing all the drama.
For some, this is seen as a vital step to showcase the sport beyond its traditional market, to bring it to a wider, younger audience in the hope of growth.
But concerns have already been raised by Wales head coach Warren Gatland and others about the intrusion. Sportsmail put the issue to rugby columnists Sir Clive Woodward and Danny Cipriani… and they had very different views.
Sir Clive Woodward: As a fan, I think the involvement of Netflix is fantastic. But for players and coaches trying to win games, it is stepping over the line into territory where they shouldn’t be.
I promise you, if I was involved, I wouldn’t allow it. They tried to do that with me, with England, and I said no.
Sir Clive Woodward (L) and Danny Cipriani gave their thoughts on Netflix and the Six Nations
I had to say, ‘This is a deal breaker for me. You can get a new coach. I’m not having a TV camera in team meetings, where things are said and things happen that I’m not going to look back on and be totally proud of’.
We’re not there to make movies, we’re there to win games of rugby. If you want to be in the movies, go to Hollywood, but if you want to coach a rugby team, get on with doing that.
The game has got to be really, really careful. I’ve seen other sports doing it and I can see why. People say we’ve got to sell the game better and I accept that. But at the top level, if you’re a head coach and you’re being paid to win, it’s an environment that is not perfect, shall we say. Things are said sometimes that you might look back on and regret. And you don’t want players to start thinking they’re playing to the camera. That will happen.
This year’s tournament will be the subject of a warts-and-all series called Maul or nothing
I feel for the coaches, because I know I wouldn’t allow it. If I had to do it, I’d feel really uncomfortable. I’d say to anybody, ‘Would you want a TV camera in your office 24/7? You wouldn’t like it’.
I’ve not seen too many fly-on-the-wall documentaries go well. Living with the Lions in 1997 was the exception, but they got away with it because they won. If they’d lost those Test matches, those coaches and players would have been portrayed in different ways.
So the game has to be careful. There’s so much negativity in rugby at the moment — and I just don’t want any more negative stuff coming through from this Netflix series, but that could happen.
Danny Cipriani: I think the opposite. If I was a coach and Netflix were coming in, it is going to sieve out the bull****, because the amount of cliches and nonsense that gets said in changing
