In October 1996, as professionalism was making its unsteady way into the world of rugby union, so television was about to create a stir with the move of the Five Nations from BBC television to Sky.
The letters page of Rugby World was suitably exercised, B Johnson arguing it would be ‘The best thing ever to happen to rugby. Suddenly we’ll be presented with an exciting, fun-filled entertainments package…the future looks brighter for rugby union than ever before.”
On the other hand, P Jenkins wrote, “The very thought of it terrifies me. They will wreck a sport of which the have no understanding…and will turn it into an American carnival. Rugby’s class and sophistication will be traded in for crass stupidity – fireworks and dancing girls.”
There was plenty more correspondence where that came from, and you can find it here.
