Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Premiership Rugby & EPL TV Deal

Every Monday we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.

HIT – MENTAL HEALTH IN PREMIERSHIP RUGBY

Rugby Union is often criticised for embedding a deep-rooted masculine culture, but one thing the sport consistently comes together to raise awareness for is talking out about mental health.

Following the conclusion of Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, it’s important to reflect on why the stigma attached to mental health impacts so many across the men’s game. According to the charity Brave Mind around 25% of those playing rugby across all levels experience some form of poor mental health.

Seeing people at the top of the game raise awareness and speak out about their own experiences is helping to break the taboo attached to speaking out about mental health and wellbeing. Just over a week ago, we saw England’s Kyle Sinckler give an emotional post-match interview following Bristol Bears’ victory over Bath, referring to his omission from the upcoming British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa.

Speaking to BT Sport, he said: “I’m not going to lie, I’m quite emotional right now. It’s been tough, it means so much to me. I’m just lucky I’ve got my mentor at Saviour World and we broke it down. I know and understand the reasons why.”

For Sinckler, a key player in the 2017 Lions tour to New Zealand, he could have been expressed his frustration in a completely different fashion. It speaks volumes of his character that he acknowledged the work he’s been doing with the all-male mentoring club Saviour World to manage his emotional state following the snub.

By recognising the importance to lead by example and seek help, Sinckler showed younger players the right way to act in times of personal distress and why it's so important to talk to others about these kind of situations.

Elsewhere, we heard from Harlequins and England prop Joe Marler last week as he opened up about the battles he has faced with mental health. His new documentary, Big Boys Don’t Cry, aired on Sky Sports last Wednesday, which saw Marler shine a light on his own struggles, while discussing new techniques he’s using to manage his wellbeing.

“I wanted to meet people who, like me, had gone down their own mental health ‘rabbit holes’,” says Marler, when asked about what brought him to make the documentary. “I wanted to hear about how they found their own ways of getting out of them and gain a better understanding of how mental health issues affect us all. I hope that talking about my own mental health will get others talking about their and help to normalise it, especially in an alpha male-dominated sport like rugby.”

Marler, regarded as one of rugby’s more charismatic characters, has often spoken publicly about his depression and has been praised for his openness on the subject, especially having pulled out of the England Six Nations squad in order to spend more time with his family earlier this year.

Like Sinckler, Marler missed out on a place in Warren Gatland’s Lions squad for this summer. He now wants to see a psychiatrist included among the coaching staff for the tour to help manage the wellbeing of the players who travel.

Marler said: “If I was part of it, I would definitely recommend they get someone with that particular set of skills [psychiatry] to be there.

“Lions tours are tough enough as they are, being away from your families, but this one in particular [amid the pandemic].”

COVID-19 has made the past year an extremely difficult period for so many people, including all involved in rugby. But with the grassroots game now starting to restart and fans being able to return to stadiums from this week, there is hope for a return to some form of normality within the game.

With the help of Restart, the official charity of the Rugby Players Association dedicated to supporting professional players suffering from injury, illness or other hardships, players can be reassured that there is support available to them should they need it.

Moreover, with Premiership Rugby announced a new partnership last week with mental wellbeing charity the Looseheadz Foundation, English rugby is dedicating resources to ensure the mental health and wellbeing of all those involved in the sport is properly supported.

On that, Wayne Morris, Director of Community and Corporate Social Responsibility at Premiership Rugby said:

“Rugby is a very tight knit community and it’s important for us, as Premiership Rugby, to lead from the front and tackle the stigma around this issue. We want to encourage everyone in the game, the players, fans, staff, our community clubs and our sponsors to all support others and encourage open conversations about mental health.”

The deep understanding and shared experiences shown by players, governing bodies and other organisations at the top-tier of the sport in England, highlight the leading role that rugby is playing in mental health awareness. Engagement sessions across the rugby pyramid really do help and we’ve also heard from other players and ex-professionals this week, including the likes of the reigning Gallagher Premiership ‘Player of the Year’ Jack Willis, Sale’s Marland Yarde and ex-England international turned pundit Ugo Monye.

There are many other stories and initiatives that haven’t been mentioned here, which goes to show the breadth of engagement and recognition of mental health issues that takes place across the rugby community, not just in England.

The impact that this can have on younger players, who look up and aspire to be their role models, should not be underestimated. Rugby union is playing a significant role in encouraging people to speak out, seek help and tackle the stigma that is attached to mental health.

MISS – PREMIER LEAGUE TV DEAL

On the face of it, a new English Premier League television deal is good news for the game.

The new deal is essentially an extension of the existing television deal with Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime Video and BBC Sport and will run until 2025 with a value of around ￡4.7bn.

It’s only a few weeks ago, remember, that the breakaway Super League threatened to destroy the football pyramid as we know it, leading to protests by fans and underlining their importance to the fabric of the game.

Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Masters, said: "We are hugely appreciative of the Government agreeing in principle to allow this arrangement and for their continued support for the Premier League and the English game. COVID-19 has had a significant impact on football, and renewals with our UK broadcast partners will reduce uncertainty, generate stability and promote confidence within the football pyramid.” 

But when BT Sport announced that it would move its lunchtime kick-off slot on Saturdays to the evening to allow Champions League teams more time to recover, it appeared to disregard the stadium-attending fans once more.

Given the already limited weekend services some railway services provide, it means that fans are again faced with impossible journeys late at night that may mean leaving games early or even not attending because of the timetables.

The news caused an outcry on social media, with fans complaining about the lack of consideration for their journeys, particularly after the year or more of games being played in empty stadia with little or no atmosphere.

This was an opportunity for BT Sport and other broadcasters to show that they had learnt lessons from the ESL drama and pay heed to the importance of attending fans when deciding the match schedule.

The EFL were also unhappy with the new deal, which they believe will continue to distort the football pyramid with clubs relegated from the Premier League receiving parachute payments for up to three seasons.

The new deal will not include payments to the Championship but will provide funding to women’s and girls’ football, League One and Two and also to non-league clubs for the first time.

In a statement the EFL said: “It is important to acknowledge that the current media rights deal will preserve the status quo of an unbalanced, unsustainable, and unfair financial distribution model across English football which continues to cause serious financial issues throughout the football pyramid, while continuing to distort competition between Clubs and threaten the long-term viability of EFL competitions and Clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two.”

The EFL statement went further, providing a practical and viable alternative to the existing proposals that would ensure a fairer distribution of broadcast monies.

It continued: “The EFL maintains that sustainability can be achieved with 25% of English football’s pooled net media revenues distributed to the EFL, alongside the abolition of the outdated parachute payment system and introduction of appropriate cost controls.

“It is our strong view that parachute payments are not a form of solidarity and instead provide a reward for relegation while distorting competition. They should be halted with the money instead reinvested for the ultimate benefit of the pool and our 72 members.

“These changes alone would provide the EFL with the platform it requires to significantly reduce the financial chasm between the Premier League and Championship and provide fairer distribution throughout our leagues to help achieve sustainability in the professional game.”

One of the consequences of the ESL drama in April was the creation of a UK government fan review, led by former sports Minister Tracey Crouch.

The review will look at the ways fans are treated by clubs, including late night scheduling, club ownership models and funding distribution - which may see some of these initial broadcast arrangements reviewed or amended if football is to thrive for both the match-attending fan and those clubs below the top flight.