Behind The Back Page

Christopher Davies

Description

You have read the back pages - here Christopher Davies tells the stories behind the stories. Recounting the tales of his 40 years as a sports reporter in places as diverse as Albania, Nigeria, Malaysia, Colombia, Japan, New York...and even the Vatican which he visited with the Republic of Ireland squad during Italia 90. Davies opens the lid on a career spent rubbing shoulders with some of the greatest sports icons at the world's biggest sporting events. He reveals how he was mistaken for Christ and that he was spied on by the KGB. A great mix of drama, intrigue and humour 'Behind the Back Page' gives a fascinating insight to one of the most sought-after of jobs."One of the funniest things I have ever read. Some of the reminiscences will have fellow journalists purring nostalgically and empathising with the frustrations of life on the road - dodgy hotel rooms, faulty lap-tops, deaf copy-takers. But, at the same time, all sports fans will love to read how it really is. I've heard some of the Jack Charlton stories on the circuit, but - even sitting alone in my lounge - I was still helpless with laughter as Chris re-told the tales of those vintage days with Ireland. If you were making a documentary about life on the front-line as a national sports journalist, then this would be your script: humour, reality and - above all - a genuine sense that the author remembers (when other hacks sometimes forget) just what a wonderful professional life he's been fortunate to live!" --Peter Drury, ITV Sport"Prepare to be entertained." --Alan McKinlay, Daily Mirror"Christopher Davies has a wealth of experience as a national newspaper journalist - and a wealth of stories to go with it. He tells them with great wit too... a funny guy!" --Ian Ridley"Journalists like to imagine that theirs is a serious, stressful profession. The truth, at least as far as football reporters is concerned, is that it is a great life. Christopher Davies happily acknowledges that truth and his book takes the reader behind the scenes for a peek at the privileged, joyful business of being in the football media and a close-up view of some of the biggest names and biggest events of the game." -- Mick Dennis, Daily ExpressAuthor Biog: Christopher Davies has spent more than 40 years reporting the beautiful game, 20 of those with the Daily Telegraph. He's clocked up 64 countries, 9 World Cups, 9 European Championships, 17 European club finals, almost 200 Republic of Ireland internationals, 18 Super Bowls, 2 muggings (victim not perpetrator), and even had an audience with the Pope - all contributing to a million happy memories. A former chairman of the Football Writers' Association, he can be heard regularly on talkSPORT and is now part of the People's sports reporting team. Davies lives in Bromley, enjoys cooking and drinking New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing
• Date de parution: 26 juin 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781908051950
• Langue: English

Extrait

Behind The Back Page:
The Adventures of a Sports Writer
You have read the back pages - here Christopher Davies tells the stories behind the stories. Recounting the tales of his 40 years as a sports reporter in places as diverse as Albania, Nigeria, Malaysia, Colombia, Japan, New York and even the Vatican which he visited with the Republic of Ireland squad during Italia 90. Davies opens the lid on a career spent rubbing shoulders with some of the greatest sports icons at the world s biggest sporting events. He reveals how he was mistaken for Christ and that he was spied on by the KGB. A great mix of drama, intrigue and humour 'Behind the Back Page' gives a fascinating insight to one of the most sought-after of jobs.
* * *
One of the funniest things I have ever read. Some of the reminiscences will have fellow journalists purring nostalgically and empathising with the frustrations of life on the road - dodgy hotel rooms, faulty lap-tops, deaf copy-takers. But, at the same time, all sports fans will love to read how it really is. I ve heard some of the Jack Charlton stories on the circuit, but - even sitting alone in my lounge - I was still helpless with laughter as Chris re-told the tales of those vintage days with Ireland. If you were making a documentary about life on the front-line as a national sports journalist, then this would be your script: humour, reality and - above all - a genuine sense that the author remembers (when other hacks sometimes forget) just what a wonderful professional life he s been fortunate to live! -- Peter Drury, ITV Sport
Prepare to be entertained. Alan McKinlay, Daily Mirror
Christopher Davies has a wealth of experience as a national newspaper journalist - and a wealth of stories to go with it. He tells them with great wit too a funny guy! Ian Ridley
Journalists like to imagine that theirs is a serious, stressful profession. The truth, at least as far as football reporters is concerned, is that it is a great life. Christopher Davies happily acknowledges that truth and his book takes the reader behind the scenes for a peek at the privileged, joyful business of being in the football media and a close-up view of some of the biggest names and biggest events of the game. Mick Dennis, Daily Express
* * *
Christopher Davies
Christopher Davies has spent more than 40 years reporting the beautiful game, 20 of those with the Daily Telegraph. He s clocked up 64 countries, 9 World Cups, 9 European Championships, 17 European club finals, almost 200 Republic of Ireland internationals, 18 Super Bowls, 2 muggings (victim not perpetrator), and even had an audience with the Pope - all contributing to a million happy memories. A former chairman of the Football Writers Association, he can be heard regularly on talkSPORT and is now part of the People s sports reporting team. Davies lives in Bromley, enjoys cooking and drinking New Zealand sauvignon blanc.
CONTENTS
1. The Early Days (Glasgow, Moscow, Albania, Ukraine)
2. The Early Days (Tunisia, New Orleans, Malaysia, Colombia, Argentina, Nigeria)
3. The Republic of Ireland
4. George Best Tells Me I m the Expert
5. 2002 World Cup, Japan South Korea
6. Euro 2004, Portugal
7. Super Bowl XXXIX, Jacksonville, February 2005
8. Israel v Republic of Ireland, Tel Aviv, March 2005
9. Amsterdam Tournament, July 2005
10. Republic of Ireland v Italy, Dublin, August 2005
11. France v Faroe Islands, Lens, September 2005
12. Republic of Ireland v France, Dublin, September 2005
13. Cyprus v Republic of Ireland, Nicosia Republic of Ireland v Switzerland, Dublin, October 2005
14. Super Bowl XL, Detroit, Jan/Feb 2006
15. 2006 World Cup, Germany
16. Germany v Republic of Ireland, Stuttgart, Aug/Sept 2006
17. France v Italy, Paris, September 2006
18. Hamburg v Arsenal, September 2006
19. Levski Sofia v Chelsea, September 2006
20. Super Bowl XLI, Miami, Jan/Feb 2007
21. Barcelona, September 2007
22. Milan, January 2008
23. The Last Word
24. The Olympic Diary
To Eileen and Tim, the best parents anyone could wish for, and my son Kerry for putting up with me.
1 The Early Days (Glasgow, Moscow, Albania, Ukraine)
LET ME start with a confession.
In October 2002 I paid a prostitute for what she called the most unusual thing she had ever been asked to do and the impression was that the list of things she had been asked to do was fairly extensive. And probably exhausting.
I had covered Celtic s UEFA Cup second round first leg victory over Blackburn Rovers and as I left Parkhead at around 11.30pm I asked a girl on reception if she could phone for a taxi.
She came back and said: It ll be an hour and a half.
I hadn t realised it was Hallowe en. Rather than wait for 90 minutes I decided it would be easier to start walking towards Glasgow s city centre, hailing a taxi driving along or finding a mini-cab firm, even an old firm.
Five minutes later it started to rain. There was not an empty cab to be seen for love nor money. Over an hour later I arrived in the city centre wet and miserable, with my computer bag now weighing, it seemed, at least a ton. My right shoulder would be permanently six inches lower than the left.
The queue for non-existent taxis in Central Station was never-ending so I telephoned my hotel in Govan to see if they could arrange for me to be picked up. They couldn t. Standing in the street contemplating the possibility of having to check in to another hotel because I couldn t get back to my original hotel, a lady of the night approached me.
Anything I can do for you darling? she said.
Football writers have to think on their feet even when their shoes are saturated.
Yes. How much do you charge for a trick? I asked - all those episodes of Cracker had finally paid off.
Twenty-five pounds.
Classy.
Do you have a car?
Aye.
Here s 30, I said, handing over three rather sodden tenners. I want you to do something you have almost certainly never been asked to do before.
Oh, I doubt that darling, she said with a confidence soon to be shattered.
I am tired, miserable, wet, my computer bag is the heaviest object in the world I just want you to drive me to my hotel in Govan.
She had obviously misheard me, drive me to Govan, could I repeat that please?
You re right darling, I ve never been asked that before.
To add to the surreal scenario my hotel was called The Swallow.
We drove in near silence, the passenger unable to think of anything to say to the temporary and unexpected cab driver. Something like how s business? did not seem appropriate.
We arrived at the hotel and as I climbed out she asked: You sure there s nothing else I can do?
Well yes, there is one thing
I knew it, she said, and with her job, she probably knew MOST things.
In keeping with press tradition I had acquired a spare taxi bill from the driver (a proper cab driver) who had taken me to the game.
Could you fill in this bill for 10 so I can get some of my money back, please?
Not for the first time in our brief acquaintance she was completely bemused.
You really are a weird one, she said and by her standards I probably was. What shall I put?
Just today s date, city centre to Govan, 10.
What shall I sign it?
Oh anything, it doesn t matter.
She performed her second unusual act of the night and handed me the receipt, which I put in my pocket and went to my hotel room. After drying off I placed the receipt on a table and noticed that she had signed it Celtic 1, Blackburn 0.
When I said it didn t matter what she put
Unable to submit the bill, I, er, swallowed the 10 and upon returning home the receipt was framed as a memory of the only time I have ever paid a prostitute.
As much as anything I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when she told her work colleagues about the English weirdo.
IN THE FINAL reckoning it was 64 countries, nine World Cups, nine European Championships, 17 European club finals, almost 200 Republic of Ireland internationals (I was surely due a testimonial?), 18 Super Bowls, one audience with the Pope plus, of course, one lady of the night.
And a million happy memories .
Covering football for a living certainly beats work. I often threatened to leave the press box to take a well-earned job but never got round to it.
It may appear unusual that journalists from rival newspapers working in a highly competitive industry can get on so well. But we do - some of my best friends are rivals. Yes, we have arguments that turn the air blue. Don t all fans? And despite the myth that you lot prefer bad news , that is all it is - another myth. I ve yet to meet a football writer who doesn t feel for the game as every fan does.
I hope the book gives you an insight into the wonderful world of football writing, the highs and lows a glimpse behind the scenes of covering major tournaments and events.
To outsiders it must appear wonderful to be paid to do what so many people pay to do - and it is, with interest. But it is not all a bed of roses - or even a bed big enough to sleep in. Like all jobs, soccer reporting has its pitfalls and downsides. Mobiles telephones and laptops occasionally, or in the Far East, seemingly always, malfunction, but when this prevents a humble hack from filing his/her copy then new technology is cursed with some old-fashioned expletives.
A football writer s priority is to be able to file his or her copy when needed. Forget the five-star hotels, the haute cuisine, happy hour (or happy hour and a half as we managed to extend it to in one Dublin hotel, convincing the manager 90 minutes was a more appropriate timescale for football reporters) and whatever other perks come our way. Many is the time I have sat in a luxury hotel, cursing over my cursor at whatever it is that has prevented me from filing and would willingly have swapped the sea view, king-sized bed, power shower and the rest for an internet connection or telephone signal in a tiny room overlooking a concrete f