Sports stars need to learn from the likes of Roscommon boss John Evans
MOST of us will be familiar with the boring pre-match sports interview. The one in which, in the run up to a game, one of the star players is wheeled out before the waiting media to offer their insight on the opposition, the buzz of competition and the prospect of victory.
The player in question often greets the media like he would a bunch of convicted child abusers and has body language more akin to getting teeth pulled than a media interview.
It usually goes something like this:
Journalist: So what are you expecting from this match on Saturday?
Player: Well obviously Team B are a well drilled side and we certainly won’t be looking past them. We’re just taking one game at a time and we’ll have to be at our best to beat them.
Journalist: But Team B haven’t won a game in two years and the last time you played them you beat them by 60 points...
Player: Well obviously that’s in the past and they have improved no end since then, so we can’t take anything for granted.
Journalist: Which Team B player, in particular, will give you the most cause for concern?
Player: Ah they’re all brilliant. Smashing players, each and every one.
Journalist: Even though they haven’t won a match in 24 months and play like a bunch of blind donkey’s most of the time?
Player: Yes.
Journalist: Thanks for your time.
Training in banality
Most professional sports teams see media requirements as a pain in the back side. It doesn’t seem to register with them that the media are the connection between the fans and the team and that the odd bit of insightful analysis here and there would actually increase exposure of the game and give fans more reasons to invest in the team.
Nowadays, every side worth its salt has a press officer and a communications manager whose sole purpose seems to be to get the players to speak as much as possible without saying anything at all.
There are courses that actually teach players how to do this. In my opinion they should be mixed in with The Cure for Insomniacs Class and just be done with it. The lip-service to banality these days is out of control.
Take this particular story about a Munster player giving an interview to a reporter a few years back, before the squad departed for a pre-season tour of La Rochelle. This is absolutely true, though the player in question and the journalist involved shall remain nameless:
Journalist: Are you looking forward to going and playing La Rochelle in their own back yard?
Player: Ah well any time you go to La Rochelle you know you’re in for a tough game...
Journalist: Is this not your first visit to La Rochelle?
Player: Tis, yeah.
This kind of stuff is pointless and extremely difficult to listen to. You’d wonder why the players bother at all, though contractually most of them are bound by the terms and conditions of sponsorship contracts and television rights deals. Still, it really is awful garbage.
So when a sports man or woman comes along with the personality and honesty to give an insightful and informed analysis of their situation, without resorting to the usual pre-prepared nonsense, it should be celebrated from the roof-tops.
Refreshing approach
Rory McIlroy is one such example. Golf’s World Number One has always been generous and informative in his dealings with the media and even though some of his answers to questions have left him open to criticism, he continues to be an engaging and entertaining interviewee.
This only further endears him to his audience and makes him more appealing as a person. What’s not to love?
This week McIlroy revealed he ruptured his ankle ligament playing in kick around with his mates over the weekend. The tut-tutting and condemnation was instantaneous, with the moral police queue stretching for miles.
Can the guy not play a bit of ball with his friends on a weekend off? Is he to be tied to a chair not to move? That he got injured is unfortunate and desperately disappointing given the Open Championship is looming. But that’s his cross to bear! And accidents will happen.
We also have the gift of Roscommon football manager John Evans. John is a straight shooing, no nonsense kind of guy. He is steeped in football history and as a Kerry man, has the passion and commitment you would expect of a guy in his position.
Yet in the aftermath of Roscommon’s defeat to Sligo in the semi-final of the Connacht Championship last month, Evans was subjected to widespread criticism because of his assertions that this Roscommon team should be targeting All-Ireland success within the next few years.
What in blazes is wrong with a county manager suggesting his team have ambitions beyond the expectations of the wider GAA community? Would you rather he shrugged his soldiers and said ‘ah sure we’ll be happy with a few points here and there?’
The man is driving his squad to be the best they can be and as he recently told ‘Off the Ball’ on Newstalk; “what football player in the country would bother getting out of bed at all, if they didn’t believe that one day they could compete for the highest honours in the game?”
The sports world is full of dim interviewees that go through the motions and tangle us all up in boredom. I wouldn’t have enough room in this entire newspaper to list the serial offenders.
So when a person comes along that is prepared to give intelligent, reasoned answers to the questions in front of them, they should be applauded and commended for their honesty. The rest of them might as well not bother turning up.
