Boot on the other foot part 1 - Tom Guest
Tom Guest
By Lindsay Clayton
June 26 2012
As the summer is long and Warriors rugby free, the site needs some input that is rugby related and preferably Warriors related,
so after tweeting Tom Guest about something or other it got me to wondering if he and the other local journalists, that cover The Warriors, would mind being the interviewee for a change, tables turned so to speak.
Speculative emails were sent to Tom, Brian Dick, Geoff Berkley, Dave Bradley and Ben Mottram and got 100% positive response!
So here is the first of them with the inspiration for the series of articles – Tom Guest, Sports Reporter for the Worcester News covering Rugby and Cricket. He also is the man who keeps us abreast of rugby and cricket matches in 140 characters or less!
The interview was conducted over a brew in a coffee shop in the city centre, and I felt more than a little trepidation, settling into my seat, wondering at this point as to how the whole thing would go, but my fears were unfounded as Tom and I had a great chat about life, rugby and other such lofty issues…
First of all Tom’s Background; Tom is local to Worcestershire as he was brought up near Bewdley and went to King's School Worcester followed by a degree course at Portsmouth University but not in journalism. His first job at a newspaper was as a junior reporter 4 days a week with one day at college in Wolverhampton to get journalism qualifications. After several other posts his got present role at the Worcester News about 6 years ago.
Tom is also a bit of a sportsman himself. He plays Golf off a handicap around the18 mark, set up a Sunday league football side that he plays for (a sure fire way to get picked if ever I saw one) and he also plays for a cricket team as a batsman, allegedly, according to Tom. He doesn’t think that he played rugby since his 3rd year at Secondary school.
I have to admit that I cheated a wee bit when compiling my questions for Tom, as I was aware that he and Ben Mottram know each other quite well, so I quizzed Ben for things to ask and was more than happy with the response. It turns out that Ben and Tom have known each other for some time and have worked at the same newspaper in the past. I will be giving Tom the opportunity to reciprocate, just to be fair of course!
In response to a question on awkward interviews, Tom admitted that on an occasion with Thinus Delport, he was just a tad under prepared and his questions dried up pretty sharpish and had to say ‘I can’t think what to ask you’, leaving Thinus a somewhat non plussed and Ben Mottram collapsing in giggles!
I asked if there was someone he would really like to interview and Tom said he has been able to interview lots of famous people in the course of his job, which is always interesting, but he couldn’t think of anyone else that he really yearned to interview.
One of the more interesting bits in our conversation, from my point of view, is how he handles close the relationship he has with players and clubs whilst also being a reporter of all things that go on with those same players and clubs. Not just at The Warriors but at WCCC too. Tom spoke about how reporters from the London newspapers can pretty much say what they like as they don’t have to maintain a good relationship with the clubs. But he, on the other hand, has to have a good enough working relationship to enable him to get the stories he and his editor want. Sometimes that is a bit tricky, the Jake Abbott incident is a case in point, the club, not surprisingly, wanted the whole thing to be kept out of the press, but something was going to be printed any way so it was up to Tom to make sure that noses were not put too far out of joint.
On one occasion, whilst covering events at WCCC, he accidently got hold of some information that as far as WCCC were concerned, only 2 people at the club were in possession of and they were furious when Tom asked them questions about it. In this case other things were at stake so the paper agreed to sit on the news for a while so that WCCC could handle the announcement in their own time.
Balancing on a barbed wire fence seems to be an attribute a local reporter needs to have.
The most difficult interviews he has ever had to do were not sports related, but those that resulted from deaths or accidents to families, going to talk to bereaved parents was something he was never comfortable with.
Tom’s match day routine varies according day and venue. For away matches he tries to get to the ground a couple of hours before kick off, signing in with all the other reporters. He then is subject to that particular club’s organisation regarding press access to players and coaches.
At home games he gets much more of a free rein and lots of the free sandwiches according to Ben! He again tries to get to the ground 2 hours before kick off, but doesn’t always manage it.
On Friday night games he has to write the match report for Saturday’s paper and the deadline is about 20 minutes or so after full time so he writes up the first half at half time and the rest as the 2nd half progresses, which is why sometimes his Twitter commentary can get a little sparse. He uses his Tweets as notes too, putting them into a document to remind him of how the match panned out.
Saturday games are a bit more relaxed as there won’t be a match report but a double page spread in Monday’s sport section. So he can take more time with his comment piece about the game which is central to the spread. Consequently the Twitter feed is more consistent!
We spoke about how technology has changed reporting over the years and he is comfortable with the adaptions he has had to make, he likes doing the Twitter commentary and sees the use of such media. There those in the industry who are not so willing to allow progress in technology to change their role as very often it means job cuts. Tom himself is now doing what was 2 people’s jobs, the cricket and the rugby.
So after about an hour we came to the end of our chat and I am not sure that the players are correct when they say Tom looks like Alan Carr! But thanks Tom and we look forward to reading your articles and match day tweets at @tomguestWN
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:07:24:06:47:51 by Powick Eastander.
didn't know we had one!
Call me old fashioned, but I'd sooner have an independent press than a spoon-fed one,
Ben needs to realise the club needs his publicity just as much as he needs a story.
If I was the Worcester News editor I would be asking myself why I needed to pay for someone to copy and paste Ben Mottram's press releases.
At least Brian Dick voices an opinion.
