The revolution is being televised!
The Six Nations is back! This is my favourite sporting tournament bar none. There is something special about the local rivalries, banter and national pride that makes each game matter so much more.
‘Universal’ Broadcasting
It started early with Scotland hosting Ireland’s women on Friday night, finishing with Wales and Italy’s men in Rome on Sunday afternoon. This year, each match in the women’s tournament is broadcast live for the first time, allowing for the viewership of the sport to increase. In previous years, women’s rugby fans complained we could never watch these matches properly. We had to rely on wonky web feeds or Twitter updates from those at the match, like the excellent Scrumqueens. But this change means that fans can watch these matches when they choose, even if they miss the original broadcast. This is a massive improvement!
The problem comes when you look at where the matches are broadcast, specifically for English fans. After years of waiting for the BBC or ITV to take notice, when it finally happens, the English team isn’t there. While all the other teams are on terrestrial channels, England’s matches are on Sky Sports. Whether or not Sky outbid those channels, this means that the potential viewership is greatly reduced. It restricts the sport to pay TV for England fans and, perhaps more importantly, potential new fans. It can be suggested that those who are more likely to watch England rugby are sufficiently middle class or ‘serious sport’ enough to already have Sky Sports. But isn’t this something we want to change to get more children into the sport that wouldn’t already see it? Compare that to fans of Wales, Scotland and Ireland who don’t have to pay to see their teams, like the men’s matches. That parity reduces the friction on the way to gender parity in the sport, rather than putting it on a pedestal. But money is money, and with the England team’s new professionalism, that money is crucial.
Laying the groundwork
This opportunity for the women’s game is important before the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland later in the year. Broadcasting this European tournament gives a taste of what viewers can expect every year — a tournament just as gritty and hard-fought. Incidentally, the World Cup will be broadcast in England on a free to view channel just like the other nations, so that’s definitely a positive. I would love to say that the English might return to free TV afterwards, but Sky already has the Sevens Series and men’s autumn internationals, so this seems unlikely. One silver lining a fan can hope for is that Sky pick up the women’s Autumn series too. All in all, two steps forward for all rugby fans, but sadly one step back for England fans everywhere.
