Six weeks into his new job at The News of The World, award-winning sports writer Chris Bascombe has put the threats of the past months behind him and is looking forward to a bright future ahead.
When Bascombe, then chief sports writer for the Liverpool Echo, was approached by the world’s biggest selling English language newspaper with a plum job offer he took it as “a no-brainer.”
“I’d had a fantastic ten years at the Echo,” he told How-Do, “but you reach a point when you’ve achieved all you’ve wanted to achieve in one place and it’s time to move on. Besides that, there’s always certain restrictions you face on a local paper and, after so long, that can lead to a bit of frustration.
“The News of the World offer was perfect in that respect – completely the right move in terms of my career and ambition.”
Not everyone seemed to agree though.
When a certain pocket of ‘loyal’ Liverpool fans (of which, by the way, there’s no denying Bascombe is – red is in his blood, so to speak) heard about his move to the News International stable, their own red stuff boiled. Boiled over mostly onto the internet.
Bascombe would prefer not to retell it again, but basically postings started to appear on Liverpool FC related message boards (chiefly www.raotl.co.uk and www.rawk.co.uk ) wishing the journalist everything from visitations by extreme violence to the contraction of AIDS.
Posted his mobile number on the boards
The whole sorry episode revolved around the negative reportage that appeared in The Sun following the tragic events of Hillsborough 1989, and the long running rancour that is subsequently entrenched in some club supporters. As Bascombe took pains to point out on some same message boards, he wasn’t joining The Sun - even going to the lengths of posting his phone number on the boards so he could discuss any criticism personally.
It was an undeniably ugly affair.
“I think it was really unfortunate,” imparted Bascombe wearily. “There’s this great misapprehension in some people that the News of the World and The Sun are the same, just because they’re both owned by News International. But they’re not the same paper and they never have been.
“It’s like saying that The Sun and Sky TV are one and the same because they’re both owned by Rupert Murdoch. So, if people are watching the football on Sky are they doing something that’s fundamentally wrong to the people of Merseyside? Of course not, it’s ludicrous.
“There’s just a very, very tiny minority that simply believe in something that isn’t the case. I can understand that people have a problem with a particular newspaper, but if they associate that with the News of The World they’re misinformed. They’re wrong. What more can you say other than that?”
Bascombe’s resigned tones clearly communicate that he’s had enough of this, and who can blame him.
His mum’s from Toxteth, his dad grew up in the shadow of Anfield and the 33 year old is as much of a flag-bearer for Liverpool and its sporting teams as anyone. Much more so than most in fact.
An opportunity to redress the balance
“People are always going on about the negative coverage that Merseyside gets in the national press,” he stressed, “but here you have someone with the most rose-tinted spectacles ever on, going to a powerful national paper, to do a powerful job… I mean this should be something that’s seen as a very positive move.”
At the start of this interview Bascombe was keen to stress that he didn’t want anything that appeared to focus wholly on the threats, bullying and stupidity (our words, not his) of a few misinformed idiots. However, once you touch on the subject, and he starts discussing it, its difficult not to get swept up in its emotive and entirely unfortunate unfolding.
It must have been difficult enough for Bascombe to leave a newspaper that he says “was my paper, it always had been and I had such an affinity with it” without having to endure all this mindless shit-slinging into the bargain.
So, bearing that in mind we’ll wrap up on the positives. The five times crowned North West Newspaper’s sports reporter of the year is thoroughly enjoying his new position at the NOTW.
He says he has gone to a paper where he has “the freedom and power to do everything I want to do” and that, thankfully, the small, malignant maelstrom that surrounded his move has “all quietened down now.”
On top of that How-Do is speaking to him after Liverpool thrashed their Champion’s League opponents 8-0 the night before. So, maybe the News of The World’s new Merseyside Sports Reporter is sounding weary for another reason. After all, he’s clearly got plenty to celebrate.
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