Match of the Day comes to world of sheepdogs

Matt Watson and his eight-year-old sheep dog, Milo, are a familiar rural sight at trials around the country and they have also been seen in millions of urban front rooms.

The pair have just filmed the annual Christmas special of One Man and His Dog for the BBC, and now they are about to lead an English team against dogs and handlers from around the world.

Their performance will be commentated on by Barry Davies, a man with no track record in outdoors pursuits but highly regarded for his reports from Old Trafford, the Emirates stadium and elsewhere for Match of the Day.

Davies is acknowledged as one of the top live sports broadcasters and this time he will be working for Channel 4.

This is the station that has set new standards for intelligent cricket coverage and attracted a new audience who knew little of the game and were baffled by the rules.

The broadcaster seem to have twigged that with the right man at the microphone, sheep dog trials could find a bigger audience again.

The potential certainly exists. There are many people who know little about the ways of the countryside but are fascinated by the sight an intuitive partnership between a man (or woman) and a dog and their almost magical ability to act as one in dealing with a tricky flock of sheep.

At the age of 35, Matt Watson is regarded as one of the best new prospects for English success for many years.

He has already won several major competitions, including the 2004 Shepherd’s Trophy at the English National Sheep Dog Trials, and the top prize in 2010.

However, despite being captain of the English team he is modest about his abilities.

His age, he says, is irrelevant, having “been beaten by 14-year-olds and 84-year-olds” in the past.

And as far as his successes are concerned, he has been quoted as saying that he’s been “jammy” so far.

“It’s true,” he insists. “So much of what happens depends on luck.

“It doesn’t matter how good you are or how good your dog is, if you get some sheep that don’t feel like playing ball, like if one decides that it doesn’t want to be with the others and keeps running off, then you’ve got problems.

“But that is a positive thing, I think.

“A snooker player who’s at the top of his game will be the hot favourite to win every week, but this doesn’t happen with sheep dogs and handlers.

“ I can’t remember the last time the English national championship was won two years in a row by the same person.”

Matt runs a 200-acre farm near Tadcaster, which he took over in 2009 after being shepherd on a large estate at Eastleach in the Cotswolds.

He has 400 ewes, most of them Beulahs, plus some Balwens, Welsh Mules and Lleyns.

The World Trials are being held at the picturesque Lowther Estates near Penrith in Cumbria.

There will be 240 dogs and handlers from 23 different countries, including teams from as far away as Japan, New Zealand, Brazil, the USA and Canada.

It’s a busy event, with three qualifying fields on the go at once, each featuring 40 dogs.

The top seven from each day go forward to make up a semi final on the Saturday.

And then there is the final for Supreme Champion on the Sunday.

British entrants are usually expected to predominate, and this year Matt tips Aled Owen from Corwen, near Snowdonia, as the potential champion.

There are also a number of strong competitors from Scotland, and the current reigning champion of the four home nations is from Ireland.

From overseas there are some good entries from Holland, Norway and Germany.

There will be 21 dogs from England running, but only five of them are included in the England team, which is made up of the top five from the 2010 English Sheep Dog Trials.

Matt believes England’s best chance of success could be Jim Cropper, who runs 600 sheep on 1,000 acres of land high on the Lancashire side of the Pennines.

The events promise to be quite a spectacle. It starts on Wednesday 14th September with a parade through the streets of Penrith led by the local Town Band.

The band will be followed by all the competing dogs and their handlers carrying their national flags.

Many will also be dressed in national costume.

Sheep dog trials have a long history, the earliest being held in New Zealand in 1867.

The first UK trial is thought to have been at Bala in Wales in 1873, and soon afterwards events spread to hill farming areas of Scotland and Yorkshire.

A trial involves a dog being sent to fetch sheep from some distance away and then completing a variety of tasks.

The dog should always be in control of the sheep - moving them in straight lines is a big point-earner.

And once the sheep are brought through gates and back to the handler the dog must then drive the sheep away from the handler before moving the sheep neatly into the pen.

Matt appeared in the 2006 One Man and His Dog Christmas special with his dog Storm, 14, who is now retired from competitions because he has recently become deaf.

Dogs usually retire from competitions at the age of 10 or 11.

But with his current dog Milo, Matt will be seen in the new Christmas special to be screened this December.

Years ago, he says, he wouldn’t have been able to do it because of nerves.

“I used to get really anxious before a trial.

The first one I did I was so bad I had to stand with both hands on the post to steady myself.

“At one point it got so bad I thought I was going to have to pack it in. I mean, I was supposed to be enjoying my hobby but somehow I couldn’t.”

The way he finally managed to conquer his nerves was to compete in as many trials as he could.

In 2002 alone he went to 50, virtually one every weekend. Thankfully, he says, it paid off, although he still finds that “a bit of adrenalin” helps him to concentrate.

He’ll he needing the adrenalin at the World Championships, he adds.

This is his third time there. The last one he recalls as “an absolute disaster.” The one before that he feels he got a bit unlucky, and missed a gate. “It was enough to knock me out. You can’t afford mistakes like that at the very top level.”

Sheepdogs on the box

Between 1976 and 1999 the BBC screened One Man and His Dog and despite its image of flat caps, sheep dogs and whistles the show became an unexpected hit with viewers.

It registered audiences of over eight million at its peak in the early 1980s. The last full series was in 2000.

The World Sheep Dog Trials are at Lowther Estates from September 15 to 18.

The venue is signposted from junction 39 of the M6.

For further information visit www.worldsheepdogtrials.org