Sky to Premiere Covid-19 Sport Doco

Next week Sky Sport 1 will premiere a documentary about Covid-19’s impact on sport at all levels.

Director Bevan Sanson starting filming Back on the Ball when the country returned to Level 2 lockdown.

SS1 bills the hour-long programme (September 23, 8.00) as capturing the “personal experiences” of Covid-19 for people involved in sport at all levels.

Here’s the blurb:

The likes of Aaron Smith, Mark Robinson, Jennie Wyllie, Reinga Bloxham,Ian Foster, Cameron George as well as members of the champion Otago Nuggets NBL side share their stories alongside club sportsmen and women. All of whom have a different story to tell.

They talk of the shock of being deprived of their passion, how they innovated to get their sport back on the field of play, whilst at the same time, putting sport in the context of higher priorities.

Learnings from their experiences is high on the agenda. Not only for themselves, but also for sport in general as we move into an uncertain future for how sport is played, watched and how competitions are structured.

What does emerge in Back On The Ball is New Zealand’s is an increased realisation that sport does have a part to play in the morale of the nation, but that in times of genuine crisis, sport might have to take a backseat for more pressing matters.

One of the first global sports to emerge from Covid-19 restrictions was professional golf.

This weekend Sky will devote three HD channels to the US Open: the main feed will be on SS6 but there also will feature group coverage on SS Pop-up 1 and a feature hole feed on SS Pop-up 3.

Among the contenders will be Kiwis Danny Lee and Ryan Fox.