Lee Radford: I can’t stand our games being shown on TV

Castleford head coach Lee Radford says he can’t stand his team’s games being shown on TV ahead of tonight’s showdown with Huddersfield which will be live on Sky Sports.

Tonight’s match at the Jungle will be the Tigers’ 19th competitive game of the campaign. That tally includes their two Challenge Cup ties this term as well as 16 matches in Super League so far.

Of the 18 to date, 10 have been shown on the small screen by the RFL’s official broadcasting partners. Seven of those on Sky Sports and one each on BBC, Channel 4 & Premier Sports. Radford though, is most definitely not pleased when the cameras come to town.

“I can’t stand being on TV and I can’t stand the camera panning on my face when we concede a try. I feel like saying, ‘I didn’t miss that tackle so go and zoom in on the kid that did’,” Radford said.

“At my last club [Hull FC], they’d zoom in on me and then zoom in on the chairman straight after. I can’t stand the commentary and I can’t stand the negativity of the comments.

“I’m very anti-camera, although I’ve got a great face for it! There are very few plusses of being on TV.”

Radford was, of course, dismissed live on air by Hull FC back in March 2020. Following a defeat to Warrington, Black & Whites’ owner Adam Pearson announced the news publicly on Sky Sports.

While it’s certainly not unusual for any sports personality not to like the camera, it’s now widely recognised as being part and parcel of the job.

Radford backed up his comments, adding, “It sounds daft but earlier on in the year, when the rules were different and we played a different game for the opening six rounds, you dreaded being on camera.

“You knew they were going to get a video replay of you touching someone else’s head and that your player