For years rugby clubs barely considered their wider profile. As long as their captive audience of season ticket holders and local sponsors were happy, everything else was a bonus. Even for prestigious London sides like Harlequins it was less about the scattering of customers at their games than ensuring there was enough ice and lemon for the committee’s gins and tonics.
Sometimes we forget the huge difference professionalism has made. These days a packed house will be in full cry at the Stoop for the European last-16 second leg fixture against Montpellier, hoping to see last Sunday’s 14-point deficit thrillingly overturned. After last season’s Premiership final, when Quins were memorably crowned domestic champions, there should hopefully be a sizeable lunchtime TV audience on Channel 4 as well on Saturday.
Professional club rugby, though, remains a commercial speck on the horizon behind the Premier League, the NFL and the NBA. There is even a quantum leap to be made before it can hope to compete with the international game. Which is why Quins’ biggest promotional platform this month is arguably not the Montpellier fixture but a revealing three-part documentary series about the club made by the Bath and England prop Beno Obano’s company, Sinnybaby Media.
Prep To Win, coming soon to Amazon Prime, is an intriguing project on many levels, not least Quins’ willingness to place their trust in an active player from a rival team. Nor was the club permitted full editorial control which even Obano describes as a major “leap of faith” by their senior management. “We spoke briefly to a lot of other people and initially I found it quite weird how many blockades there were. But Quins were just so helpful. They were like ‘Yeah, let’s get it done.’ They really wanted it.”
Quins’ chief executive, Laurie Dalrymple, confirms it was “a bit of an easy decision” with the club already looking to capitalise on their title success with an inside-the-camp production. Like everyone else Dalrymple has watched Drive to Survive transform perceptions of Formula One and, rugby-wise, is keen for Quins to stay at the front of the grid. It did no harm, either, that Obano is friendly with Marcus Smith, was previously coached by Tabai Matson at Bath and has already cut his directorial teeth by making the well-regarded Everybody’s Game which explored rugby union’s attitudes to social and cultural diversity.
The 27-year-old Obano, capped three times by England and a cousin of Maro Itoje, also argues he has an inbuilt advantage over other would-be rugby filmmakers: the ability to deliver a truly authentic end product. “When you’re actually in the game, you’re able to go to topics you know are interesting that another director wouldn’t be privy to.” By doing so, he hopes to open the audience’s eyes to aspects they might not fully appreciate. “You can focus on the people involved, rather than just hoping the viewers will enjoy it.”
An unintentional plus – “Divine timing is what I call it” – is that Obano has been injured for several months, giving him more time to work on his latest creation. Although he could not snoop around everywhere – “Obviously that’s a huge conflict of interest” – and some tactical details had to be withheld, he had three cameramen shooting footage for him and was on hand for all the keynote interviews.
Stitching everything together was a challenge but Obano believes people will swiftly develop a new-found appreciation of unflashy players like James Chisholm – “I couldn’t have made this film without him” – and gain a deeper insight into recognisable stars such as Smith. “When you stick a camera in front of someone’s face, some people are better at being honest than others. But I think we’ve got a good diverse group who were able to speak quite candidly. I’ve known Marcus for a while and been close to him. Marcus is hot right now and he’s a proper nice person. His whole family are in the documentary as well.”
There is also a cameo appearance from the ubiquitous David Flatman – “Flats is very good in it – he’s proper funny” – but above all Obano is desperate to demonstrate there is more to rugby than just the international arena. “We cling on, as a country, to England players. People’s perception of whether somebody is good is only defined by who the England coach is at that particular time or who the commentators are on BT Sport.
“A lot of rugby players finish their careers and if they haven’t played for England they feel like a failure. That was in my mind. Let’s try and promote these guys, let the fans understand the game a bit more and make a decision for themselves rather than who Ben Kay or Ugo Monye tells them is really good.”
Not quite so glamour-soaked as Drive to Survive, perhaps, but Obano deserves substantial credit simply for getting the series in the can and for his ongoing mission to enlarge the sport’s footprint. Quins, coincidentally, have hosted the England football manager Gareth Southgate at their training ground this week and Dalrymple, previously chief executive of Wolverhampton Wanderers, can clearly sniff a commercial half-chance. Obano’s view, from the outset, was that the exposure would so obviously benefit Quins and, potentially, the wider game that he “struggled to see the downside.”
Of course it would also help all involved if Quins, 34-0 down at one point in France, could now complete a remarkable Easter resurrection but Obano has longer term goals. “It’s not easy making a series. You get days when you wonder if it’s going to be as good as you want it to be. But I created this to make good content around rugby. The sole purpose is not just to create a wider audience. I feel like that’s a by-product of good content.
“Rugby fans, players, staff – I hope they all connect with the people they see on screen and understand and admire those stories. Rugby players don’t always come across that well. A lot of them aren’t that cool. They’re just good at sport. But what if we’re able to show some of their personalities? There are so many themes in it but I want people to feel: ‘I’m now really connected to this sport.’”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Obano says that he has already had messages from other Premiership sides keen to feature in series two. Club rugby could just be on the brink of a game-changing innovation.
