K. Nine

K. Nine was the name caption given by the BBC broadcast team to the border collie that invaded the pitch during the 1987 Challenge Cup match between Leeds and Halifax.^[1]

Rugby league coverage on the BBC was already a cause of controversy before the cup tie.^[1] Some felt that the BBC's handling of the dog's presence was another example of the corporation belittling the sport.^[1] Nick Hunter, the BBC producer leading the broadcast team at the game said in the documentary Eddie Waring: Mr Rugby League that Waring was "horrified" and at half time asked whether what they were doing was the best way to deal with it because it was "getting in the way of the game" and "not doing [rugby league] any good".^[1] Hunter said that he replied, "Well it's there, I can't ignore it, so let's go for it".^[1] The dog remained on the pitch for much of the game.^[1] Television cameras showed the dog during play and it received numerous mentions by Waring in commentary.^[1]

The event received widespread notice, including being featured on the children's television programme Blue Peter.^[1]

Reflecting in 2010 on the event and BBC coverage at the time, rugby league historian Tony Collins wrote, "There's a double standard at work here. Other sports did not have commentators who had become known as comic characters. Other sports were not regularly mocked on television or seen as an excuse for comedic 'creativity', as in the case of the K-Nine dog at Headingley (which the producer Nick Hunter now admits was a mistake)".^[2]

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