Saracens’ Brendan Venter calls Premiership media duties ‘something from an autocratic land’

Saracens’ Brendan Venter criticised Premiership Rugby’s media obligations at a press conference on Wednesday, 7 October, while previewing the club’s Saturday match against Bristol in England. His appearance followed missed media commitments, and his comments leave open how the league will apply its requirements to his revised role at the club.

Venter, Saracens’ head of culture and technical director, appeared alongside head coach Joe Shaw. According to BBC Sport, he initially gave short answers before describing the expectation that he speak publicly for the club as ‘something from an autocratic land’. He said he had explained before returning to Saracens that he did not want to do interviews.

What Brendan Venter said about media duties

‘I have the desire as a human being not to want to talk,’ Venter said, according to BBC Sport. ‘It is not about me, it is about the team.’ He argued that a dispute over interviews and a fine did not make sense to him. His objection was to being expected to appear, even though Shaw was available to answer questions about the side.

Venter said he wanted a low profile and that a previous media appearance had ‘stole my joy’. He also rejected the suggestion that his reluctance meant he thought he was above interviews. The remarks were his account of why he had resisted the duties, rather than a statement that Saracens or the league had released him from them.

Saracens’ arrangement for Venter and Joe Shaw

The same statement said Shaw, who had been head coach for six seasons, would continue in that role and take responsibility for interviews before and after matches. It also said Venter would ‘still have significant media duties to fulfil’, citing a scheduled TNT interview on 4 October as an example. The statement did not say that Shaw would handle every media request made of Venter.

That distinction matters because the dispute concerns who must speak for Saracens under league media rules. BBC Sport reports that Premiership Rugby requires each club’s most senior coach to carry out routine media duties, whatever title that person holds. The club’s description of Venter’s responsibilities and its allocation of match interviews to Shaw do not, by themselves, establish how the league interprets the arrangement.

The missed appearances and reported fine

BBC Sport reports that Venter missed a pre-season media event and did not answer questions before or after Saracens’ opening-round win over Leicester. It says his absence from the pre-season event cost the club a £5,000 fine. The available reporting does not cite a published league ruling for that penalty, so the amount is attributed here to BBC Sport rather than presented as a separately verified decision by Premiership Rugby.

Wednesday’s Bristol preview was therefore a change from those earlier absences: Venter attended and answered reporters’ questions, albeit reluctantly. Saracens had already said he retained significant media obligations despite Shaw’s match interview role. Neither the club statement nor the BBC account establishes whether this appearance resolves the dispute or whether any other penalties have been imposed.

Why Venter returned to Saracens

Venter returned to a full-time role at Saracens in the summer, initially as director of rugby, according to BBC Sport. He said coaching and working with players had drawn him back. ‘I love coaching rugby,’ he said, calling the chance to influence players a privilege. Those comments explain why he accepted a prominent position while seeking less exposure away from the training environment.

His earlier spell at Saracens ended in 2011. BBC Sport reports that the team lost the 2010 Premiership final to Leicester while Venter was serving a touchline suspension. The side he left later won domestic and European titles under Mark McCall. That history gives context to his return, but it does not settle the present question of which media duties accompany his current responsibilities.

For now, the confirmed positions are narrower than either side of the dispute might suggest. Venter has publicly objected to compulsory interviews; Saracens has assigned Shaw the interviews immediately before and after matches while saying Venter still has significant duties. The precise effect of that division on future league enforcement remains unconfirmed in the published accounts.