Sport

Five sports documentaries on Netflix to ease coronavirus lockdown boredom

Daring climbs, sporting losers and Sunderland all feature in this selection

Jean van de Velde of France looks at his ball in the burn on the 18th hole during the final round of the 1999 British Open played at Carnoustie. Photo: Ross Kinnaird /Allsport

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Ruaidhrí Croke
Tue Apr 21 2020 - 05:30

The Dawn Wall

If heights make you queasy than you might be watching this one from behind your fingers. El Capitan in Yosemite National Park is renowned as one of the most difficult climbs in the world given that the rock face is essentially a vertical ascent. While the two climbers in this film – Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson – do use safety ropes to climb unlike Alex Honnold in the similar film Free Solo, but the path taken in Dawn Wall is significantly harder than Honnold’s. The possibility of death or serious injury makes this a film overflowing with nervous suspense and it’s definitely worth watching, especially as climbing will debut at next year’s rescheduled Olympics.

El Capitan is one of the hardest and most dangerous climbs in the world. Photo: Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

Losers

While winners are long celebrated in the sporting world, the losers are often forgotten despite their stories sometimes being far more interesting. In this eight-part series some of the most heartbreaking stories of loss are explored in sports ranging from golf to curling. The episode focusing on Jean van de Velde’s final hole collapse at the 1999 British Open is particularly interesting with each episode revealing the effects the losses had on each athlete. While it’s not the most upbeat series in the world it does offer a side of sport that doesn’t get much of the limelight.

Jean van de Velde’s collapse at the 1999 British Open is one of sport’s most famous losses. Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Katie

This 2018 film directed by Ross Whittaker was a welcome addition to Netflix when it came on the platform. Whittaker is also the man who recently directed the recently-released Boys in Green documentary and has highly regarded form when it comes to telling sporting stories. Katie charts the rise of Katie Taylor from amateur boxer and Olympic medallist to becoming a world champion in the professional ranks. Taylor is known for being modest and not seeking the limelight so this documentary is a rare glimpse behind the curtain.

Katie Taylor’s career is charted in Ross Whittaker’s documentary. Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

Sunderland ‘Til I Die

If you watched the first series of Sunderland ‘Til I Die you will almost certainly want to watch the second series. Once you get past the fact that the new chairman – Charlie Methven – has even more David Brent-like characteristics than his predecessor Martin Bain from the first series, this six-part follow-up achieves as much as the first series did in showing the passion that so many fans have for Sunderland AFC as they look to emerge from the doldrums of League One. The club is nothing short of a complete car crash and, as expected, it’s the fans who bear much of the brunt of it.

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The second series of Sunderland ’Til I Die has recently been released on Netflix. Photo: Nigel Roddis/Getty Images

The Last Dance

Only released on Sunday just gone, this new 10-part series has been hotly anticipated because, although it focuses on the Chicago Bulls’ 1997-98 season primarily, it also gives more in-depth information on the career of basketball’s most famous player than has ever been seen before. Michael Jordan was always notoriously tight-lipped during his career but this series shows plenty of never-seen-before footage while also speaking to former coaches and teammates. Indeed it reveals so much, whether good or bad, that Jordan himself has said he’s worried the documentary could make him look like “a horrible guy”.

The Last Dance gives an eagerly awaited look into the career of Michael Jordan. Photo: Vincent Laforet/AFP via Getty Images

– This article is part of a series of consumer-based sports stories. If you have any queries, stories or issues regarding travel, tickets, sport on television or anything else you can email rcroke@irishtimes.com or via Twitter @Ruaidhri_Croke.