STORY

Paul Hayward - Sports Writer

The age of the old sports writing hack is gone. With teletext, cable television, and the Internet - we receive sports news as it happens. There is little need for the blow by blow accounts of yesteryear.

Sports writing these days is more to do with comment, analysis and reflection. As the public are exposed to more and more televised sports they have become more sportswise and are demanding sports writing that complements their viewing. Writing that takes a behind the scenes look at a situation or puts the achievements of an athlete into some kind of perspective.
At the forefront of the this sports writing explosion is Paul Hayward, Chief Sportswriter with the Guardian and last year¹s Sport¹s Journalist of the Year.
I met Paul at his house in Brighton and asked him what he tries to include in his work. He said, "The best sports writing entertains and informs. It doesn¹t simply just tell you what has happened.
When I was working at the Independent, all the research showed that the Racing page was the least read section in the whole newspaper. I was determined to show that racing is interesting - so I started writing about some of the characters involved in the sport and highlighting some of background and tradition to racing.
³I wanted to make it interesting to the general reader and not just the racing fan.²
I flick through his collection of press passes - it reads like an A- list of top sports events and is enough to make any sports fan envious; they include the Adelaide Grand Prix, Cheltenham Festival, Ajax /Juventus Champions League Final and both Tyson/Holyfield bouts.
When pushed, Paul chooses the second Tyson/Holyfield fight and the infamous ear-biting incident as the most memorable sporting event he¹s witnessed first hand.
³We instantly knew that we were present while history was being made. It was one of those events where what was happening transcended sport. The ear-biting story was bigger than any sports exclusive.²
Again, we are on the subject of sport overspilling into the wider world. Sport has, as Paul puts it, become a Œcultural Esperanto.¹
No story represents sport¹s deeper significance than the recent goings-on at Brighton and Hove Albion. It is a story that Paul brought to the fore in numerous articles and in a book entitled ³More Than Ninety Minutes² on which he collaborated.
Only 5,600 copies were ever issued to represent the £56.00 that the club was sold for before the Goldstone Ground was demolished.
³As I write about sport for a living, the last thing I wanted to do was write a sports book in my spare time but I was just struck by how this club had been used and abused by the moneymen yet against all rationale was being kept afloat by the love of the common people.²
My time is up. I¹ve commented, analysed and reflected on Sport with an expert and enjoyed every minute. I¹ve got to get to work for another day at the office and so has Paul - he¹s just off to see Manchester United play in Monaco.
Paul Hayward is just one of a panel of sports writers that talked about the Sports writing explosion at the Pavilion Theatre on Mon 4 May.

Ross Bentley


Paul Hayward - Sports Writer
	The age of the old sports writing hack is gone. With teletext, cable television, and the Internet - we receive sports news as it happens. There is little need for the blow by blow accounts of yesteryear.
	Sports writing these days is more to do with comment, analysis and reflection. As the public are exposed to more and more televised sports they have become more sportswise and are demanding sports writing that complements their viewing. Writing that takes a behind the scenes look at a situation or puts the achievements of an athlete into some kind of perspective. At the forefront of the this sports writing explosion is Paul Hayward, Chief Sportswriter with the Guardian and last year¹s Sport¹s Journalist of the Year. I met Paul at his house in Brighton and asked him what he tries to include in his work. He said, "The best sports writing entertains and informs. It doesn¹t simply just tell you what has happened. When I was working at the Independent, all the research showed that the Racing page was the least read section in the whole newspaper. I was determined to show that racing is interesting - so I started writing about some of the characters involved in the sport and highlighting some of background and tradition to racing. ³I wanted to make it interesting to the general reader and not just the racing fan.² I flick through his collection of press passes - it reads like an A- list of top sports events and is enough to make any sports fan envious; they include the Adelaide Grand Prix, Cheltenham Festival, Ajax /Juventus Champions League Final and both Tyson/Holyfield bouts. When pushed, Paul chooses the second Tyson/Holyfield fight and the infamous ear-biting incident as the most memorable sporting event he¹s witnessed first hand. ³We instantly knew that we were present while history was being made. It was one of those events where what was happening transcended sport. The ear-biting story was bigger than any sports exclusive.² Again, we are on the subject of sport overspilling into the wider world. Sport has, as Paul puts it, become a Œcultural Esperanto.¹ No story represents sport¹s deeper significance than the recent goings-on at Brighton and Hove Albion. It is a story that Paul brought to the fore in numerous articles and in a book entitled ³More Than Ninety Minutes² on which he collaborated. Only 5,600 copies were ever issued to represent the £56.00 that the club was sold for before the Goldstone Ground was demolished. ³As I write about sport for a living, the last thing I wanted to do was write a sports book in my spare time but I was just struck by how this club had been used and abused by the moneymen yet against all rationale was being kept afloat by the love of the common people.² My time is up. I¹ve commented, analysed and reflected on Sport with an expert and enjoyed every minute. I¹ve got to get to work for another day at the office and so has Paul - he¹s just off to see Manchester United play in Monaco. Paul Hayward is just one of a panel of sports writers that talked about the Sports writing explosion at the Pavilion Theatre on Mon 4 May.
	Ross Bentley