Get Her Off the Pitch!: How Sport Took Over My Life

Bought as a gift. Ordered what had been requested. The recipient appeared more than happy.

Please ask the lady to make up her mind (1/2 people found this helpful)

No doubt I must have shared the occasional press box with Lynne Truss - though I have no recollection of having done so - but the portrait she paints is recognisable. The problems with finding unfamiliar venues, getting past parking jobsworths, trying to collect non-existent tickets, struggling with communication technicalities, delivering copy on the final whistle - all these are indeed daily experiences for the sports journalist. And to be specific, I can certainly vouch for the vilification of Ms Truss by Brian Glanville.

So why can't one be more sympathetic to a book undeniably well written and often amusing? A wonderful set piece imagines the theatre critic reviewing a performance of The Seagull without knowing at the interval how it will end. "Sensationally in the 134th minute of The Seagull last night , one young man's destiny was tragically fulfilled..."

My problem is that Ms Truss, looking back on a mere four years reporting for The Times, can't make up her mind which side of the net she is on. Ostensibly, she is writing about being a sports writer. But suddenly she falls in love with Andre Agassi and devotes a whole chapter to the player and his game. Sent to cover cricket, she takes the reader almost ball by ball through the tense finish of a one-day international; for a dozen pages she becomes the sports writer rather than the writer about being a sports writer.

Ambiguities abound. There is a passing suggestion that she is aware of C L R James yet nowhere in her book does she acknowledge that fine, enduring sports writing exists. Referring to football as 'footie' guarantees ostracism by all true lovers of the game, whereas the many expletives seem to serve only as evidence that she could be one of the blokes if she chose. She professes difficulty with cricket because she cannot begin to comprehend how to spin a ball, yet once she has had a couple of golf lessons she becomes lastingly hooked on a sport she understands because, at whatever basic level, she can empathise with those who do it supremely well.

Although her book intrudes on to territory I have occupied and cherished for decades, I could concede the validity of an outsider's critical examination, but Ms Truss never makes up her mind whether she is on the outside looking in or on the inside bitching because she isn't made welcome. And - tit for tat - perhaps I may be permitted to intrude on the world of correctness the author has admirably delineated in her best-sellers: those wooden bits that sit on top of cricket stumps are bails, not 'bales.' Beware the lazy author's spell checker!

Trussed Up (1/1 people found this helpful)

Lynn Truss has written a funny, if occasionally crude, book which covers the range of emotions journalists regularly experience in reporting the over-rated world of sport. Sports writing "is not so much a job as a predicament". It's not all about the contest but finding a seat in the stadium, checking the television replay, or even arguing with officials about your press pass. It's also about putting sport into its proper context as Boris Becker did after suffering an unexpected loss at Wimbledon, "Nobody died. I just lost a tennis match". By comparison, of course, Bill Shankley said, "Some people think football's a matter of life and death. It's more serious than that."

What Truss learned was that sport in the flesh is significantly different from that seen on the screen. She described Lennox Lewis knocking out Frans Botha with a punch which left the South African suffering "the sort of undignified exit usually associated with two muscular nightclub bouncers with the benefit of a run-up." That Lewis could deliver such a powerful punch from rest left Truss gasping for superlatives. "I can only report it's worth seeing". Presumably as long as you're not on the receiving end.

Professing total ignorance Truss soon learned the tools of the trade in football were knowing the club's ground (and being able to find it!!), the names of the manager and chairman and the club's nickname. Unable to find one ground she asked the way and was gently pointed in the direction of massive floodlights, a sure sign of the heavenly city. Eventually her travelling redefined her image of the places she visited and she found herself drawn into the emotion of the games (who didn't when David Ellary appeared to rob Chesterfield of a place in the FA Cup Final?). Surprisingly, while she mentioned Ravenelli couldn't find the goal, she omitted to say he was good in the air - between Teeside and Milan.

Sports journalism was just like any reporting job writing stories about exceptional people doing exceptional things but match reporting was something else. Anyone who has listened to Stuart Hall waxing lyrical about a nil all match within ten minutes of the final whistle can only sit back in amazement - the more so when you've tried it yourself and failed miserably. Truss's first day at Wimbledon left her "an emotional wreck" with a desire to return to television reviewing. To her credit she persevered and witnessed some historic moments in sport including the Ryder Cup at Brookline. She also concluded that while men's play was about sublimating the sex urge, women's participation was about celebrating physical liberation. That observation and her description of widespread antipathy towards her by some older male journalists provide Truss's book with a different perspective.

Sports journalism is about judgement and Truss's depiction of Alan Shearer as having "all the grace and daintiness of a bulldozer" was one I found easy to endorse. In fairness to Shearer he did make her happy by not taking part in the last match she covered for the Times. Fortunately, Kevin Keegan decided to resign as England manager immediately after the match to provide an excellent story and give Truss the satisfaction of having one of her male colleagues say "You were right about Keegan". I appreciated her honesty when she mentioned she had missed David Beckham's sending off against Argentina, even though it occurred right in front of her. She refused her editor's demand for an assassination piece on Beckham because she felt sorry for him. It's not surprising she gave up sports writing. Setting people up then knocking them down is its stock in trade.

Truss gave it up not because sports writing drove her to the edge of a nervous breakdown, although the constant battles with officials and editors didn't help. It was because her sister died, just a year short of being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Set against personal tragedy sport should be irrelevant although dedicated professionals don't let such things get in their way. That's not what Truss wanted for herself although she's appreciative of the fact she was "tested in the fire of football". Her experiences left me with a warm glow when I finally put the book down. Five stars.

How sport took over my life (0/2 people found this helpful)

How sport took over my life

I heard the book extracted on radio 4 so I thought I would read the book.

I have absolutely no interest in sport and thought a view from someone else who can write about her dislike of sport would be amusing. Although there is a lot of detail about some matches or events I did manage to read the book in a day

She subtitles it How sport took over my life. The joke is that as a woman how could she possible be able to report on a subject which seems to be the sole preserve of men. Her bosses at the Times thought this would be a good joke so sent her on these assignments. She covered all the main sports.

I have two criticisms one a practical one , the book being non fiction should have an index so I can look up these sportsmen again to see what they actually did. I use that for my pursuit of trivial knowledge.

The second criticism is that she was there to provide jokes not actually get interested in these sports. She seems to have been taken in by the excitement of it all and actually got to like some of the sports.

The discrimination she received I found amazing. She would be cold shouldered and treated badly not only by other journalists who thought she was stealing their thunder but by game officials.

She did say that at one time she would be attracted by a man who didn't like sport but now she thinks it is a negative attitude. I see what she means. I don't like sport but I still watch it if it comes up and I have nothing else to do. Parts of it can be very interesting.I admire the dedication of sportsmen and their skill.

Not a laugh a minute book but plenty of interesting detail and she really suffered for her art.

If you have any interest in sport or good writing this is the book for you. I don't think if will be a runaway success because it is a bit niche but it is worthy of four stars. she should have put in more jokes. She had to deal with a lot of macho behaviour as she was usually the only woman there and I have to laugh about the bloke who was chatting up a lady in a night club.

Can I smell your ****

No you can't she said indignantly

Then it must be your feet he said.

Both a clever and funny joke.

Sports Journalism (0/0 people found this helpful)

An entertaining read, shedding some light on the difficulties experienced by a female journalist working in a male dominated sector.

Get Her Off the Pitch!: How Sport Took Over My Life

Lynne Truss

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