Six Nations rugby commentators should cease their prattling – Bill Jamieson

It would be wonderful if coverage of the Six Nations rugby tournament took a ‘slow TV’ approach, writes Bill Jamieson.

Six Nations rugby is dramatic enough without constant commentary (Picture: Niall Carson/PA)

Time, surely, for “slow TV” coverage of rugby’s Six Nations – live broadcasts with the minimum of prattling, space-filling, irrelevant commentary.

Viewers can barely hear the ref for pundit opinions on what they think the ref might have said.

There should be more audiovisual given to the stadium, the spectators and their reaction as the game progresses. Stadium atmosphere and the sense of event and occasion is almost totally lost!

Some of this pre-match windbaggery now involves four or five opinionators watching the game in a studio full of electronic equipment and extends to half an hour and more before the game starts.

Then they prattle throughout the game, commenting at length on incidents four or five minutes earlier, while the game has moved on.

I so enjoy the “slow TV” programmes of train and boat journeys that have become cult viewing.

We should extend this to overloaded Six Nations verbal bilge, cut down on extraneous commentary cackle, have brief, one-line captions for point-scorers and infringements – and focus much more on the atmosphere and the crowd reaction. Wonderful.