Warren Gatland fires back at the media, describing one New Zealand outlet as ‘trash’ he would ‘never ever deal with again’
Warren Gatland during the 2017 series against the All Blacks where the New Zealand Herald depicted him as a clown, inset
Warren Gatland has explained why he feels one particular New Zealand media outlet is trash that he will never deal with again.
Currently enjoying family time after stepping away from his role as Wales head coach last February, the Kiwi has given a lengthy interview on The Dom Harvey Podcast reflecting on his career in rugby.
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, but the welcome he received was robust to say the least.
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.
“Do you loathe the media?”
More than halfway through the two-hour podcast, show host Harvey asked: “Do you loathe the media? It’s a necessary evil with the job. What are your views on them?”
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.
“It’s the hardest thing in the game to be involved with at the moment,” he began. “I don’t 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’t say anything, are very neutral in terms of the responses they give.
“The 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’t know what the balance is.
“You’re like, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t be critical of players and write a story, and then players clam up and don’t give honest answers. I don’t know what the answer is there.
“It’s 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’t stitch you up – but they are few and far between now.
“It’s 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.”
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. “It’s not the greatest in the world,” he said about the quality of the sketch.
“It 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.
“I made some comment and just thought that it wasn’t acceptable that people were booing Quade Cooper and I thought that the Michael Cheika clown thing was done before that. So obviously, the New Zealand Herald didn’t like me criticising them and decided to portray me in the same way.”
Gatland then presented his theory that this Kiwi media outlet was encouraged to be purposely negative about him. “There 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,” he claimed.
“It’s probably the way sport’s 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.”
Did it work? “No, it just made me more determined. I didn’t 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’t really take much notice in terms of reading that.
“I 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’t the right time as it was the game when Sonny Bill Williams was sent off, and I didn’t want to be disrespectful to him and what had happened on that occasion, so I decided to put it on for the third Test.”
Gatland added: “I don’t 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.
“It was a journalist who had written a lot of stuff but never asked a question in a press conference. It’s one organisation I would never deal with again. I’d never ever do a story with them again.
“I 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.”
Gatland then touched on the impact it had beyond just him. “You have got to be careful. I’m a little thicker-skinned than most people. I’m pretty strong, but it’s the impact it has on… I have seen it with players, and then it’s also their partner and then their mum and dad and brother and sister and wider group, they can take that stuff more to heart.
“With that clown stuff, there were times when my son and daughter wanted to go on and say something, and I said, ‘Just let it be’. But I can understand why people won’t deal with certain journalists or outlets because of what’s happened, and I fully understand and respect that I have been in that same situation myself.”
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