A Fox Sports crew will use footage taken last week of the Cobar Camels rugby team from drones, GoPros and television cameras as part of a rugby “grass roots” sports documentary.
The Fox Sports crew were in town on Friday filming at the CSA Mine, around town, and at the club’s training session before following the side to Coonamble on Saturday for their Western Plains Rugby Round 8 match against Coonamble.
Commissioned by Land Rover, sponsor of this year’s Rugby World Cup, the Fox Sports documentaries will showcase five “unique” rugby club’s around Australia, one of which is the Cobar Camels.
Fox Sports presenter Tim Sheridan said the Cobar club had an interesting story to tell and had been chosen due to its isolation and the distance players have to travel to play.
“It’s very apparent that it is a unique club,” Sheridan said.
He said the documentaries aim to highlight the ideals and motivation of players, the camaraderie and kinship of the clubs and the important role they play in their communities.
“We want to capture the spirit and the soul of rugby by using the people in the clubs,” Sheridan said.
In particular when in Cobar the crew focused on the role Cobar Camels president Jarrod Marsden plays in the club and also coach Netava Tagi, a former 1999 World Cup Fijian international player.
The documentary looks at how the club copes with the players’ work rosters and shift work and how the Camels overcame the burden of having a $20,000 travel cost each season by buying their own bus.
“The club is very egalitarian,” Sheridan said.
They welcome everyone, young and old and also those who have never played the sport before.”
The team has in the past welcomed rugby league, AFL and soccer players and most recently the Camels have been joined by a former Canadian ice hockey player who is keen to learn the sport.
“The distance hasn’t worried the people who have moved to work in Cobar and so it doesn’t bother them that they have to travel to play sport,” Sheridan said.
“We’ve seen in smaller regional towns that about one fifth of the town has a connection to the rugby club.
“It could be that in Cobar that it’s more likely a quarter of the town has a connection to the club.”
He said it was “very apparent” that Cobar had a “great club”.
Fox producer Tim Leckie, who was travelling with the crew, said he was unsure of when the Cobar documentary would “air” on television but expected it would be shown in the lead up to or during the Rugby World Cup this September/October.
