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Politicians launch bid to prevent Six Nations going behind paywall
By Josh Raisey
The idea of the Six Nations no longer being on free-to-air television is one that has not been welcomed by many in the rugby world.
Fans and journalists have staunchly argued against the possibility of the Championship moving behind a paywall in 2022, after Six Nations chief executive officer Benjamin Morel recently suggested that it was an avenue that may be pursued.
The rancour at this suggestion has stretched far beyond the rugby community though and into the world of politics.
In Wales, Adam Price, leader of Plaid Cymru, has said that he and Liz Saville Roberts have written to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport asking for the Six Nations to be protected on free-to-air television. He said on Twitter: “It is bitterly ironic as we celebrate St. David's Day we discover we may soon be priced out of our own culture.”
Fellow Welsh Assembly Members have echoed this view, as it has been resoundly stressed that rugby and the Six Nations are embedded into Wales’ culture.
Nothing has been officially announced, but this past weekend has been a glimpse into how contentious this decision will prove to be.
MPs in Wales have also joined this discussion on social media, with Kevin Brennan sharing a letter Welsh Labour MPs wrote to the Welsh Rugby Union, urging them to refrain from letting the tournament go behind a paywall. He said: “If this happens it will cast a chilling shadow across rugby as an integral part of Welsh popular culture.”
Once again, many other Welsh MPs have shared these sentiments, as this is a move that will have a great cultural impact there. Then again, there are still swathes of people in England that are against such a controversial decision.
The windfall from the move would of course benefit the unions, which will be taken into consideration, but tampering with one of the staples of the British sporting calendar has received a sizeable backlash so far.
Watch: Six Nations £300m paywall deal: 'We would not rule anything out'.
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Latest Comments
It is if he thinks he’s got hold of the ball and there is at least one other player between him and the ball carrier, which is why he has to reach around and over their heads. Not a deliberate action for me.
Go to commentsI understand, but England 30 years ago were a set piece focused kick heavy team not big on using backs.
Same as now.
South African sides from any period will have a big bunch of forwards smashing it up and a first five booting everything in their own half.
NZ until recently rarely if ever scrummed for penalties; the scrum is to attack from, broken play, not structured is what we’re after.
Same as now.
These are ways of playing very ingrained into the culture.
If you were in an English club team and were off to Fiji for a game against a club team you’d never heard of and had no footage of, how would you prepare?
For a forward dominated grind or would you assume they will throw the ball about because they are Fijian?
A Fiji way. An English way.
An Australian way depends on who you’ve scraped together that hasn’t been picked off by AFL or NRL, and that changes from generation to generation a lot of the time.
Actually, maybe that is their style. In fact, yes they have a style.
Nevermind. Fuggit I’ve typed it all out now.
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