On December 14, 2018, Netflix released their series ‘Sunderland Til I Die’.
Critics claimed it was great, with many neutral fans in agreement. But, below the surface of its success, is its large influence in increasing player-fan interaction.
Supporters have long been eager to explore the realms of daily life for clubs in England’s professional leagues. ‘Sunderland Til I Die’ shows their transfer deadline day dealings, including a transfer which the club’s chief executive officer thought would be successful, but then fell through last-minute.
With technology only improving, it’s unclear where fan-player interaction is heading, but one thing’s for sure, it’s definitely becoming more prominent
These precise details made for a very informative behind the scenes series, which fans seemed to love. Other than training clips, there were non-scripted interviews, raw footage, and other close-ups. This allowed fans to become closer to players who described their struggles, successes and failures throughout the season. In a year where the club was relegated, the eight episode fantastic watch allowed a reasonable close-up for fans to gain a somewhat better understanding of what went wrong.
But fan-interaction is only at its roots and will continue to grow in the near future. Before ‘Sunderland Til I Die’, Manchester City documented their title-winning season in a highly regarded Amazon series titled, “All or nothing: Manchester City.” The more recent out of the two, ‘Sunderland Till I Die’ has received heaps of positive press, with the majority of fans preferring it over the documentary about The Citizens. This wasn’t necessarily due to the quality, just more people becoming aware of, and enjoying, the increased interaction between fans and players.
With technology only improving, it’s unclear where fan-player interaction is heading, but one thing’s for sure, it’s definitely becoming more prominent.
Published in Daily Times, February 10th 2019.