Bob Dubery: Colin Bryden speaks at the Cricket Society of SA

Colin Bryden speaks at the Cricket Society of SA - 15/07/97

A report by Bob Dubery

Colin Bryden is one of South Africa's most eminent sports journalists. He has more than 30 years experience in the printed media - including the biggest selling national newspaper - and is editor of the South African Cricket Annual. He served as media liaison officer with the now-defunct South African Cricket Union for 9 years and through 7 "rebel" tours. In this role he three times joined SACU delegations seeking an audience at Lord's.

Colin is a contemporary of Barry Richards and Mike Procter. He quit playing club cricket when, as he put it, he decided that if he couldn't play the game then he'd write about it. Thereafter he played in social fixtures for a Durban Press side, but he still managed to keep some distinguished company on the field of play.

One up country game in Richmond saw Bryden batting at 4 with Richards at 3 and Procter at 5.

"I wish I could tell you that I'd shared a partnership with either of them, " he relates, "but the truth is that I went in when Richards was dismissed, and very soon afterwards Procter went in after I was out."

As an aside he mentioned that the Journalist's side had fielded some distinguished guests over the years. Apart from numerous Springboks Richie Benaud once turned out for them, and the great Sir Walter Hammond played his very last game in the company of Durban's cricketing press.

Social games - especially those involving members of the media - are not always entirely friendly in nature. Bryden recalled one game at Randjesfontein, the private ground belonging to the Oppenheimer family. Bryden batted at 3 and went in to face the former South Africa (also OFS, EP, Transvaal and Northants) fast bowler Rupert "Spook" Hanley.

As he approached the crease Bryden asked the umpire "How many?"

"Two" came the reply and Bryden took guard - sans thigh pad.

The two balls were short and fast and one hit Colin hard on the inner thigh. As he relaxed in anticipation of the bowling change he realised to his dismay that the "two" had been "two gone". Hanley was walking back to his mark again, and as he did he so he asked mid-off if he thought that Bryden "remembers all that crap he wrote about me when I was playing for Transvaal."

The journalist's task is in some ways harder than that of members of the other media.

"Everything you write, " notes Bryden, "is in black and white and forever."

Nobody forgets the printed word, it seems. Colin has had club cricketers take him to task many years after a match report.

He notes that the role of the cricketing scribe has changed over the years. Television only came to South Africa in the mid seventies, and until then the reporter's task was to relate the progress of the game.

Nowadays the public have seen the game on TV, and have been given all kinds of information via electronic scoreboards and on-screen statistics. They know what happened, and now look to the pundits to tell them *why* the game unfolded as it did. The job is now more analysis and less reporting.

This, of course, can lead to friction between players and media - especially when a team has had a less than successful day. Players do not look forward to press conferences on such days, and the questions from the media can be pointed and awkward.

Bryden feels that in general the relationship between the South African media and the national side is a good one.

There are, of course, times when the players feel that the press should be more supportive; but the press, in turn, feel that there first relationship is to their readers, and that their job is to be objective rather than supportive. Naturally there is a difference between what the players and the press deem to be appropriate."

Asked about the tabloid press, Bryden opined that this was a uniquely British phenomenon, and recalled the tense atmosphere that prevailed at a press conference during South Africa's tour of England in 1995 - now infamous for the Atherton "dirt" incident.

"Atherton," said Bryden, "was trying to say as little as possible".

He acknowledges that whilst the tabloids are ruthless they can also be resourceful. He cited the "ball changing" incident during Pakistan's 1993 tour: "There was no story there at all until, somehow, the tabloids found out that the ball had been changed."

During South Africa's 93/4 tour of Australia, Kepler Wessels was writing a column for Bryden's paper. The Sunday Times. During that tour Wessels sustained a serious injury and Hansie Cronje assumed the captaincy.

The team was under pressure. This, as Bryden wrote, was largely due to Wessels' tactics in the one day games. With Cronje at the helm South Africa started winning again and Bryden reported to the Sunday Times' readers that Cronje was employing more adventurous tactics and giving the side a "new direction."

In a fit of pique Wessels announced that he was "tired of telling the public what's really going on" only for the press to write something different and then refused to continue his column in the Times.

"Now," notes Bryden wryly, "he's retired, writing for an opposition paper and is considerably more outspoken than he used to be."

Cronje, it seems, gets browned off with press from time to time, but "sometimes, in retrospect, he'll come to see that something that he considered annoying is, in fact, fair and correct."

Bryden's rule of thumb is that "players are more deserving than administrators of support." He feels that a well run side will be successful and contrasts the South African cricket and rugby sides: The cricket team with many good but only one, in Bryden's opinion, "class" player (Allan Donald) are respected opponents, whilst the poorly administered rugby team are struggling,

He was asked about the selectors and the press's role in selection. "I think that the South African panel are knowledgeable and , by and large, do a good job. The media's role is to keep them on their toes and to suggest alternatives."

He also dealt with the topic of so-called information.

"Sometimes you hear hints from a selector. For instance a lot of people thought that I'd had advance notice that Jonty Rhodes would be picked ahead of Herschelle Gibbs for the forthcoming tour of Pakistan.

"What really happened was that I'd been told that the selectors felt that there was need for experienced and spirited players on the tour. From there it was a case of putting 2 and 2 together, but some ex-players thought that that particular selection had been leaked to me."

He concedes that sometimes information is leaked to the press, but says that this is done more to test the waters than to give a reporter an exclusive story. An example was South Africa's quarter final in the 1996 world cup when the selectors picked 2 spinners and omitted the 2 most experienced pace bowlers, De Villiers and Donald.

"The selectors had let it be known that they thought that two spinners might do the job in that match. Perhaps we (the media) should have printed our misgivings about this selection ahead of time instead of merely reporting the likelihood that both Adams and Symcox would play."

There's often a suspicion that sports journalists talk a good game, that it's a case of "those who can do, and those who can't write". Bryden gave his audience an insight into the world of the reporter, and a new angle on the journalist's job, duties, responsibilities and influence.