Sports reporters don’t actually see as many live events as we think – and this is why

Spending the World Snooker Championship in busy press rooms away from the action may not sound fun, but they can make just as spectacular theatres for sport as being in the mix itself

People often ask how much live sport we get to watch when we’re out reporting. The answer is probably a lot less than you think.

This weekend I covered two very different sports. The first was the Tour de Yorkshire, which involved a level of multitasking to see anything at all: I left the makeshift media centre at Scarborough Cricket Club (where the match below bemused our French colleagues – “Why are both teams wearing white?”) and ran across the coastline to the finish.

It was my first glimpse of the race all week and there I watched the great Marianne Vos win a sprint while blogging on my phone, writing notes for my report and recording post-race quotes, before racing back up the hill to the media centre. Vos loved the Yorkshire crowds but wasn’t so keen on the freezing winds and hailstorms.

On Sunday I made my way to the Crucible for the final of the World Snooker Championship. There are a few press seats on a bench behind the cameras where you can watch the action live – a captivating experience – but it is not very conducive to working as you are not allowed a laptop or phone (as I found out last year with a whack on the head from an official).

It can be a battle to get a spot, especially during the final when the benches are held for VIPs (once I was politely told to move by none other than Michael Carrick).

If you are lucky enough to get a seat, you can take in a pen and paper and jot down some notes, but as with any sports reporting in the digital age, the idea is to have a story online the moment the match ends. So, like cycling, most of your time is spent in the busy press room behind the scenes.

It is quite odd that both the Scarborough seafront and a windowless room in Sheffield can both be spectacular theatres for sport on the same weekend; finding time to enjoy them was a challenge, but when you do, it’s a privilege.

Yours

Lawrence Ostlere

Sports night editor