{"id":462573,"date":"2025-09-30T08:10:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/462573\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T08:10:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T08:10:25","slug":"warren-gatland-describes-one-new-zealand-outlet-as-trash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/462573\/","title":{"rendered":"Warren Gatland describes one New Zealand outlet as \u2018trash\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warren Gatland has explained why he feels one particular New Zealand media outlet is trash that he will never deal with again. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Currently enjoying family time after stepping away from his role as Wales head coach last February<\/a>, the Kiwi has given a lengthy interview on The Dom Harvey Podcast<\/a> reflecting on his career in rugby.<\/p>\n

This lookback included a reflection on the legacy of the 2017 Clown-gate, when he was depicted in a New Zealand Herald sketch as a clown with a red nose. Gatland had returned home as head coach of the British and Irish Lions<\/a>, but the welcome he received was robust to say the least.<\/p>\n

This unease culminated in him settling a score by arriving at the third Test media briefing in Auckland wearing a red clown nose as his way of having the last laugh after the Lions secured a 1-1 draw in the Test series.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you loathe the media?\u201d<\/p>\n

More than halfway through the two-hour podcast, show host Harvey asked: \u201cDo you loathe the media? It\u2019s a necessary evil with the job. What are your views on them?\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the invitation for Gatland to explain that dealing with the media is currently the hardest thing in rugby. He added that he had no solution for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the hardest thing in the game to be involved with at the moment,\u201d he began. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the answer is here. With the media, at times you hear them being critical of players who are trained in media; they don\u2019t say anything, are very neutral in terms of the responses they give.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media are looking for some colour, but that opens the players up to criticism and social media criticism. The players read a lot of this, and you feel for the players sometimes. I don\u2019t know what the balance is.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re like, you can\u2019t have it both ways. You can\u2019t be critical of players and write a story, and then players clam up and don\u2019t give honest answers. I don\u2019t know what the answer is there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different going back a number of years, where you could have had a really good relationship with journalists that you trusted and respected and you could talk off the record and know that they wouldn\u2019t stitch you up \u2013 but they are few and far between now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just in rugby, but a lot of people involved in high-profile sport will say the media is the most challenging thing you will find, social media and dealing with all those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warren Gatland names just six Andy Farrell picks in 2013-2025 Lions XV that includes Johnny Sexton and seven Wales players<\/a><\/p>\n

It was at this point that Harvey showed Gatland the infamous New Zealand Herald cartoon of him as a clown, and he explained the backdrop to it. \u201cIt\u2019s not the greatest in the world,\u201d he said about the quality of the sketch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt goes back to before Australia played the All Blacks and the New Zealand Herald did a thing with Michael Cheika being portrayed as a clown. I was asked about that, and at the time the New Zealand fans were booing Quade Cooper and Michael Cheika. As a fan of rugby, I just thought it was a little bit over the top.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made some comment and just thought that it wasn\u2019t acceptable that people were booing Quade Cooper<\/a> and I thought that the Michael Cheika<\/a> clown thing was done before that. So obviously, the New Zealand Herald didn\u2019t like me criticising them and decided to portray me in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s hot and who\u2019s not: \u2018Super\u2019 Sacha and Red Roses celebrate while Leinster \u2018demolished\u2019 in South Africa<\/a><\/p>\n

Gatland then presented his theory that this Kiwi media outlet was encouraged to be purposely negative about him. \u201cThere is no doubt in my mind, having spoken to people that I know and trust, that journalists in the New Zealand Herald were given some inside information on the All Blacks,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably the way sport\u2019s gone and part of the reason, part of the deal for that was to try and put me off my stride and upset me and be critical of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did it work? \u201cNo, it just made me more determined. I didn\u2019t enjoy the tour. The interesting thing is that the New Zealand Herald stuff, the (Lions) staff would have seen it, but the players would have no idea that was going on. They don\u2019t really take much notice in terms of reading that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did wear a clown nose. It was my idea. I was going to do it in Wellington after the second Test when we won, but it wasn\u2019t the right time as it was the game when Sonny Bill Williams<\/a> was sent off, and I didn\u2019t want to be disrespectful to him and what had happened on that occasion, so I decided to put it on for the third Test.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks player ratings: \u2018Special\u2019 playmaker makes \u2018huge difference\u2019 as Jordie Barrett the \u2018glue\u2019 for under pressure New Zealand<\/a><\/p>\n

Gatland added: \u201cI don\u2019t know what they [New Zealand Herald] were trying to do, but definitely it was a concerted effort by some people to put me off my stride and upset me during that tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a journalist who had written a lot of stuff but never asked a question in a press conference. It\u2019s one organisation I would never deal with again. I\u2019d never ever do a story with them again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think they are trash, where I thought Sky was great in terms of the way they covered stuff. They were fair, and they were other outlets that I thought were pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rugby Championship Team of the Week: \u2018Incredible\u2019 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu hailed but All Blacks top the count<\/a><\/p>\n

Gatland then touched on the impact it had beyond just him. \u201cYou have got to be careful. I\u2019m a little thicker-skinned than most people. I\u2019m pretty strong, but it\u2019s the impact it has on\u2026 I have seen it with players, and then it\u2019s also their partner and then their mum and dad and brother and sister and wider group, they can take that stuff more to heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that clown stuff, there were times when my son and daughter wanted to go on and say something, and I said, \u2018Just let it be\u2019. But I can understand why people won\u2019t deal with certain journalists or outlets because of what\u2019s happened, and I fully understand and respect that I have been in that same situation myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/strong>: Rassie Erasmus \u2018forgives\u2019 Cheslin Kolbe\u2019s \u2018stupidity\u2019 after \u2018brainfart\u2019 for bizarre Argentina try<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warren Gatland has explained why he feels one particular New Zealand media outlet is trash that he will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[5313,225,90462,704,12,4151,79,16,15,23591],"class_list":{"0":"post-462573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-british-and-irish-lions","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-internationals","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-rugby","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-warren-gatland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115292237093933284","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462573","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=462573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}