In a year of unchartered territory, Australian sport has adapted to the challenge of the century – and The Sporting Bubble shows us how, on Wednesday night after State of Origin Game 2 on Nine and 9Now.
This documentary features behind-the-scenes access to five of the nation’s major sporting organisations who chose Queensland as their haven to keep playing as COVID-19 created upheaval across the landscape of professional sport.
The Sporting Bubble features interviews with the leaders who were forced to make some of the biggest calls in the history of sport, including Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman Peter V’landys, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, CEO of Supercars Australia, Sean Seamer, and CEO of Netball Australia, Marne Fechner.
Representatives from the NRL, AFL, Super Netball and Supercars championship, as well as boxing’s super welterweight fight between Jeff Horn and Tim Tszyu in Townsville, take us inside their experiences of adjusting to life in an unprecedented bubble.
Explaining the highs and lows of “hub life” as they kept their codes alive, we hear from Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy, St Kilda coach Brett Ratten, Geelong star player Patrick Dangerfield, West Coast Fever’s Jhaniele Fowler, Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds, and professional supercars driver Mark Winterbottom.
Peter Dickson, of Dickson Films, who produced the documentary, said: “For me and my team this is such a unique and important story to document. The cultural importance of sport to our nation cannot be underestimated and the global pandemic has been devastating for sport in Australia during 2020. This film will track the journey of our major sporting codes sent a lifeline via the Queensland Hubs, which has been absolutely crucial in getting our favourite sports up and running again.”
Nine Queensland Managing Director, Kylie Blucher, said: “Nine commissioned award-winning sports documentary maker Peter Dickson to bring his supreme storytelling skills to this project and we are proud to be part of a landmark program shining a light on outstanding sporting achievements throughout 2020.”
The Sporting Bubble is produced for Nine in partnership with Tourism and Events Queensland.
