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    Sep 7, 2008

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    It’s what the fans want. Or is it?

    By Will 4 months ago Leave a comment on this post

    Thoughtful piece from The Guardian’s Andy Bull on the mundane, line-toeing crap which make up the majority of sportsmen’s quotes.

    Quotations command space, but rarely interest. If it wasn’t enough to know that a player was injured, we now also have to know that the manager and a selection of former players think he is a “huge loss to the side”, and we will be told all of this in print, on the radio and 24 hours a day by Sky Sports News. These quotes come in three forms: the interesting, the mundane and the untrue. The volume of lineage and airtime spent relaying other peoples’ words means that the majority fall into the last two categories.

    Is it what people want? On the whole, I think it is. In an ideal world, the quotation-supplying cricketer would have Ian Botham’s candour, Steve Waugh’s miserable honesty, Stephen Fleming’s wisdom and Matthew Hoggard’s wit and general affable madness. In reality, sportsmen are best left on the pitch to do what they know best. The rise of “media training” for sportsmen has created several monstrous, inhuman creatures. Normal and likeable on the pitch, in front of a microphone they are reduced to a list of five or six safe phrases which answer (or nearly answer) a multitude of questions. Monty Panesar and his “right areas”. Duncan Fletcher’s obsession with players “putting their hands up” and “coming to the party”. I suppose the frequency of press conferences has understandably dulled their enthusiasm, but is it too much to expect an honest answer? Talking of cliches, Lawrence Booth wrote a superb piece on just this.

    I know David Gower’s not a fan of the post-match quote (he famously cut short a press conference in 1989 saying he was late for the theatre. What a legend), but the players are the product and the public want to hear from them. Even if it’s mundane bullshit.

    Or do you?

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    6 Responses to “It’s what the fans want. Or is it?”

  • David Barry wrote:
    May 13th, 2008 at 7.19 pm

    I don’t go hunting for them, but if I’m reading something with sportsmen’s quotes in it, I will still read them, even if most of the time I forget about it straight afterwards. Presumably there are times when they say something enlightening - Sehwag the other day saying what went on with Steve Davis and the third umpire, for instance.

    Some of this article is relevant here:
    http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/professional_sports_is_very

  • india_fan wrote:
    May 13th, 2008 at 7.38 pm

    I buy The Times but I mostly flick through it most days. I most likely to read the editorials as even the news sections seems quite padded out most days.

    Cricket does seem less bad than other sports but I rarely hear anyone say something that I am genuinely interested in listening to.

    I suppose that’s why most of us are on this blog - it’s almost like a filter (sorry to over-simplify this brilliant blog) for the interesting stuff in Cricket.

  • Philip Oliver wrote:
    May 14th, 2008 at 1.49 pm

    It’s what the media thinks we want. I like it when we hear what players really think about each other - although you usually need to wait for their autobiography.
    Broadcasters also believe that sports fans want pundits and commentators who are ex-players because they have more validity in their views; I’d much rather listen to a knowledgable journalist - they’d also ask more interesting questions which would help reduce the dull quotations!
    However, at least cricket is ahead of football in this regard… the likes of Mike Atherton and Vic Marks have earned their place in the broadcasting establishment - it’s a case of ‘jobs for the boys’ in football.

  • Alan wrote:
    May 15th, 2008 at 6.49 am

    It’s not what I want but it is generally what those on either side of the microphone are only capable of giving.

    For many players, I doubt whether the insights and analyses exist - they describe because they don’t go beyond the descriptive. For some though, and Warne is the prime example of this, they are capable of explaining the game in ways that underpin their own performance and inspire/improve others. It’s not luck, it’s not just talent …. it’s a deep understanding of the game, and that’s a rare thing imho.

  • Kathy wrote:
    May 16th, 2008 at 7.37 am

    The reason sportsmen say nothing interesting or challenging is because they know it’ll be jumped on by a competitive media and blown up out of proportion and distorted and misrepresented. So they play it safe. Then again, some of them just aren’t very bright. They’re not selected for their witty repartee. And also — there’s only so many interesting things that can be said about being injured, or getting a century, or failing to catch the ball, etc.

  • Lalit wrote:
    May 20th, 2008 at 2.23 pm

    In addition to what Kathy says, I also think most of the time the players are simply responding to the mundane stereotype questions that are put to them.

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