What now seems a lifetime ago I worked on a newspaper alongside a sports journalist whose blind dedication to the local team enabled him to wrap the heaviest of defeats and shoddiest of performances in the cotton wool of rotten luck, poor refereeing, badly prepared pitches or even the weather.
In losing all perspective he had effectively gone native and his career, such as it was, climaxed when he was photographed in his own newspaper standing arms aloft to celebrate one of the side’s goals. One has to admit that, at that time, goals from that particular team were as rare as hens’ teeth and there is some case for saying that they were worth celebrating.
This guy had mastered the art of downplaying a five-goal first half drubbing, the missing of vital penalties and tackles and the ability to dismiss fouls and yobbish behaviour to the extent that an eight-man brawl instigated by ‘one of ours’ was high spirits, while a mistimed challenge by an opposition player was sufficient to warrant the return of the death penalty.
He had become a one-man PR machine for the team, a master of spin in his own tiny universe. The trouble was, his lack of perspective was so well known that his reports were dismissed as lacking any credibility whatsoever.
I remembered his efforts last weekend on reading in The Observer that Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former head of spin, was to take on an advisory media relations role with the British and Irish Lions party to tour New Zealand next year.
Campbell, who has gone some way to reinventing himself since leaving Downing Street, has a eputation among journalists as a ferocious operator who packs a punch in many ways. On one famous occasion, while working as the political editor of the Daily Mirror, he thumped a rival journalist who had the audacity to make a ribald remark about the death, by drowning, of Campbell’s then proprietor, the fraudster Robert Maxwell.
He has, apparently, been invited to use his professional skills on the Lions Tour by team boss Sir Clive Woodward, a renowned perfectionist who is driven by the desire to give his team whatever it needs to succeed, whether that is the best physio or the finest IT back-up. The appointment of Campbell is, we must assume, an effort to ensure that the team enjoys the best possible relationship with the travelling and local media and can, therefore, concentrate on rugby rather than worrying about acres of misinformed newsprint.
The appointment is, in many respects, a natural progression in the move to make sport more professional and suited to this intense and intrusive media age. Soon, perhaps, a Campbell equivalent will be included in every touring party.
Kit man – Tick
Masseuse – Tick
Nutritionist – Tick
Doctor – Tick
Spin Doctor – Tick
But given his background in the slimy world of political spin, I for one will be seeking independent confirmation of every single score line to come out of New Zealand next summer.
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David Dein of Arsenal says he is concerned that television coverage of English soccer may have reached saturation point, and that it may be time to adopt a less is more policy to keep the public hungry for the game.
He’s right in so much as it is possible to watch one or more live soccer match on TV most nights of the week and that Sky Sports’ dedication to the game is such that when there is no Premiership, Coca Cola Championship, Champions League, UEFA Cup or international football to be viewed, they will dip into The Conference or even schoolboy football. This, of course, makes no mention of the coverage of La Liga from Spain where Real and Barcelona games play live most Saturday and Sunday evenings.
His concern is clearly fuelled by TV audience figures which show that average viewing figures are down for Sky’s live coverage and that the BBC’s Match of the Day highlights coverage is a fraction of the 12 million or so that the show pulled in during the heady days of the 1970s when it was the main reason for leaving the pub.
But researchers suggest that the viewing figures for live games should be put into perspective for commercial purposes at least. They argue that while average viewing figures are down, that’s because there is greater choice on the football menu and that fans are simply becoming more picky – call it sophisticated if you like – in their choice of viewing. That seems an altogether natural development and reflects the way our relationship with the media - all media - has changed over the years.
Instead they point to football’s reach, and the number of unique viewers of the Premier League over the course of a season, as a reason to be cheerful. They say that more individuals are actually watching football, they’re just more thinly spread, and that football’s reach is as great as ever. That may, of course, ultimately become an issue for broadcasters who are lumbered with a shrinking per game audience and rising production cost. But, from a wider commercial perspective, it may suggest that reports of football’s death are a little premature.
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European soccer leagues – including the big five of Spain, Italy, France, England and Germany - have formed a federation through which to pursue their particular interests in the football world.
This will obviously involve dealing not only with UEFA and, to a lesser extent FIFA, but is likely to put them in direct opposition to the G14 and Clubs Forum, groups founded to represent the interests of the clubs which are the leagues’ constituents.
It would be easy to sneer and suggest that soccer needs another pressure group like a hole in the ball but these are fast-changing times for the sport and, despite protestations, the spectre of a European Super League hangs over the game.
Europe and European law is likely to have a louder voice in soccer in the years ahead on issues such as establishing the Social Dialogue which will shape binding EU contract and employment law. Part of the problem to date has been finding a body to take part in this dialogue.
Perhaps the new organisation will usefully fulfil this role.
