Venter interview bizarre – but he has a point

We have seen on several occasions in the past sports coaches and managers offer very little to bemused journalists in post-match interviews in an attempt to make point or protest at perceived
injustices.

In football for example Sir Alex Ferguson refuses to speak to the BBC at all following allegations made by Panorama a few years ago while Rafa Benitez once spoke in riddles and gave the same answer to different questions following a bust up with the board.

But the interview given by Brendan Venter, head coach of Saracens, this weekend was bizarre in the extreme and one that pushes this form of protest to new levels in the opinion of those often following the Live match score centre for the latest rugby news.

Speaking after his sides 24-21 defeat to Racing Metro at Vicarage Road the South African refused to entertain any of the interviewers questions, being deliberately difficult, dead pan and obstructive.

The journo did his best to tease out an opinion from Venter, they were your bog standard post-match questions after all. But he refused to budge, ensuring that the video would become a Youtube hit over night.

His stance is in response to the belief that both he and Saracens have been treated unfairly by referees generally and by European Rugby Cup particularly. His ERC fine on the eve of the autumn internationals following a fiery post-match outburst was for, in the ERC’s words, being “inappropriately critical of the ERC tournament.”

More than a hint of ‘Big Brother is watching you’ there I’m sure you will agree. And while Venter’s reaction had been condemned in some quarters, I feel his stance is a valid one.

After-all, do we want all post-match interviews to be the same, scripted, media trained nonsense? Or is someone who likes to speak his mind and keeps the authorities on their toes good for the game?

Some Livescore rugby pundits believe that Venter may go too far sometimes and I agree you can’t have managers publically slating the authorities every week.

But the moment the ERC start condemning and hushing up those with an opinion they don’t agree with, a dangerous line in being crossed and one that would leave rugby all the poorer.