{"id":186386,"date":"2025-06-15T12:58:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T12:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/186386\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T12:58:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T12:58:19","slug":"simon-shaw-slams-national-press-for-poor-premiership-final-storytelling-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/186386\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Shaw slams national press for poor Premiership final ‘storytelling’ : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wasps legend Simon Shaw has taken to social media this morning to express his displeasure at the lack of atmosphere at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday afternoon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The three-time Lions tourist referred to the Premiership final between Bath and Leicester,\u00a0slating the \u201cCotswold village fete\u201d style atmosphere, as he called for a more invigorated and \u201ctribal\u201d atmosphere if the game is to survive.<\/p>\n

Despite the incredible post-match scenes of Bath<\/a> celebrating with the trophy, and even the controversial events that led to the eventual result, Shaw claimed that the \u201crugby never came alive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 51-year-old has suggested that the fans were let down by a lack of creativity, both on and off the field. He\u2019s called for better storytelling and press coverage across the major UK newspapers.<\/p>\n

Simon Shaw\u2019s\u00a0Reflections on the Premiership Rugby Final<\/p>\n

Posting his thoughts on LinkedIn, Shaw<\/a> said:<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturday\u2019s Premiership Final had all the makings of a showpiece. Bath v Leicester Tigers. Two of English rugby\u2019s most iconic clubs. Twickenham bathed in early summer sun. Nearly every seat filled. Faces painted, jerseys old and new, generations of fans shoulder to shoulder, from Somerset to the Midlands and all points in between.
\u201cThe atmosphere, early on, was convivial. Anticipatory and joyful, but almost too Cotswold village fete, as opposed to a deep seeded tribal clash of titans!
\u201cWhen the match kicked off, something was missing. Or rather, many things were.
\u201cThe rugby never came alive. What should have been a final full of grit, pace and heart became a disjointed stop-start affair riddled with refereeing interventions, laboured kicking, and a visible lack of invention from both sides. Neither Bath nor Leicester imposed themselves. Neither seemed able to find rhythm.
\u201cThe crowd sagged. Even die-hards struggled to stay engaged. The noise, like the match, came in fits and starts. A surprising number of neutrals padded the stands, lending it the atmosphere of a shared event, but not a passionate one.
\u201cThen there was the fan engagement\u2014or lack thereof. A couple of food stalls. A few clapper boards. A promo tent here or there. It all felt unimaginative, flat. Like someone remembered they needed to \u201cdo something for the fans\u201d and threw a few stickers at the problem.
\u201cThe anthem? Dan Cole looked more upset at that then he did after his ludicrous sending off moments into his last ever match! If he had his moment again I would wager he accepts a red by taking the guitarist out! The matchday announcements and musical interludes!? Presumably piped through speakers that had been salvaged from a \u201890s car boot sale.
\u201cAnd if all that wasn\u2019t enough to provoke a wince, try this: the Metro newspaper, the UK\u2019s most-read print daily, gave the final one square inch of column space on the day before the match. One. Right next to the table tennis results, presumably.
\u201cMeanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold\u2019s potential move to Real Madrid was given a full page and a half. Why? Because he greeted the Spanish press in \u201cfluent Spanish\u201d. Apparently that now qualifies as back-page headline news.
\u201cI enjoy football. But really?
\u201cRugby doesn\u2019t just need better matches. It needs better storytelling. Greater relevance. A media presence. It needs to stop hoping that tradition and loyalty will carry it forward, and start creating events worthy of attention, on and off the field.
\u201cWe\u2019ll be back next year, of course. Because we love this sport. But love alone can\u2019t carry a league. Not anymore.
\u201cThe stage is grand. The script? It needs rewriting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The day that you stop dreaming is the day that you die in life\u2019 \u2013 Van Graan\u2019s hunger for success spells danger for Bath\u2019s Premiership rivals<\/a><\/p>\n

Fan response<\/p>\n

As often with posts on LinkedIn, there wasn\u2019t much debate between commenters. The responses all ran along the same lines, with very little in the way of objection.<\/p>\n

One commenter said: \u201cCouldn\u2019t agree more.. It needs a public facelift. Like the darts has had. Something to reignite the general interest, the general passion and, most importantly, the general numbers watching the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wasps legend Simon Shaw has taken to social media this morning to express his displeasure at the lack…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[5012,225,20795,12,6875,4151,5318,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-186386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-bath","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-leicester-tigers","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-premiership","13":"tag-rugby","14":"tag-simon-shaw","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114687503158342603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}