BBC presenter insists rugby league is ‘harshly treated’ by media and is ‘afterthought’
Mark Chapman presenting for the BBC-Alamy
BBC rugby league presenter Mark Chapman has revealed his love for the sport stems from it being ‘the underdog’ – and admits the game does get treated as an ‘afterthought’ within the wider media.
Chapman has become a familiar face on TV in recent years to rugby league supporters, as he is the face of the BBC’s coverage of the Challenge Cup and international rugby league.
He has become an incredibly popular presenter among league fans and his popularity is likely to rise further with his latest comments on his podcast, The Sports Agents, which he presents with Gabby Logan.
When the pair were discussing their preference between league and union, Chapman was unequivocal in regards to which side of the fence he falls.
He said: “I’ve always loved league because it’s the underdog in the two codes.” Chapman then went on to admit that he feels the sport is ‘harshly treated’ in terms of the coverage it gets – but that doesn’t stop him from being a union fan, too.
“I do think it gets harshly treated by the media,” Chapman said of league. “I do think it’s an afterthought in most of the newspapers and, I have to say, in most of the sports bulletins on TV and radio. They give miles more coverage to union than league. But I’m not one of those that goes, ‘I love league, therefore I can’t love union’. I can see the merits in both.”
The pair were joined by Warrington head coach Sam Burgess, who was jokingly asked whether he would endorse a merger between the two codes one day.
Unsurprisingly Burgess, who was certainly exposed to some harsh media treatment during his time as a union player, was against the idea.
He laughed: “I might be a bit biased towards one (code) over the other. But it’s a bit of a fantasy world. It’d take a lot of compromise from people in higher places than I.
“The codes are getting closer together in certain aspects but the purists of rugby union will never sacrifice what they believe to be the pure ends of the sport. Ruck, maul, line out: which league will never be interested in.
But league appreciates the quality of skill, the ability to execute set piece and the kicking prowess. The passes from nine.. a lot of those skills are really transferrable and we can lean on rugby union with that and vice-versa.”
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