Last week, my Uncle Cledwyn was rushed into hospital.  No! Don’t get upset. There was nothing wrong with him.  He just caught his sleeve in the ambulance doors.

I thought I’d start with a joke before I get into the meat of the article which rugby fans won’t empathise with. But as civilised folk, we can agree to disagree. Can’t we?

I don’t need to name him, but a famous rugby player recently passed away. Even I, someone who has absolutely zero interest in rugby, had heard of him, even though he’d been out of the game for several decades.

I appreciate his death must have been terrible for his family and friends and that many rugby players will also mourn his passing.  But I couldn’t believe that on the day of his death, BBC Wales Tonight devoted the entire first half to the rugby players passing.

It might have been understandable on a quiet news night, but as soon as the fifteen-minute tribute finished, two horrific and powerful news stories followed, either of which could and should have been the lead item and the sportsman’s tribute left to the end of the programme.

That it wasn’t is due to the assumption on the part of sports obsessed BBC Wales that the entire population of Wales is interested in rugby.  But it’s not true. And it’s also untrue that we can’t all sing!

Yes, thousands of people love the game, but the fact is, on any Saturday afternoon when there’s an international on the telly, the roads and the motorways are still busy and the shops, DIY stores, garden centres, parks, supermarkets, cafes, cinemas, theatres…are all full of people whose lives are completely untouched by whatever game is being played. Something rugby die-hards will find difficult to comprehend.

I have loads of interests and hobbies that take up my leisure time but rugby isn’t one of them. As someone once said “It doesn’t make me a bad person”.  But it does enable me to take a completely objective view of the BBC’s obsession with the game and now I’ve tackled it, I can kick it into touch and knock on.

Who called me a flanket?