Every achievement in football is made up of stories. The stories of how the players got there, the coach’s challenges to make that team a winner, the contribution of club officials to that title… and, of course, the fans .
The journalist, among other things, is also a storyteller. In each agenda, he looks for characters to tell a story that, in a way, he is also experiencing. We always seek to find the right tone for this, a distance, an eternal search for not feeling what one is actually feeling and being 100% right, even when emotion insists on showing up.
In sports journalism, there is an extra worry. Because any “slip” in conduct can lead to a sin that has been learned to be deadly for those working in the field: allowing them to discover their team’s heart. There is no formal rule set in Writing Manuals (at least, not that I know of) that prohibits sports journalists from revealing to whom they support. But the widespread practice of this habit was agreed: from the moment you start working with football, hide what led you to work with football.
The moving scenes of ESPN presenter Mariana Spinelli and commentator Mario Marra, both friends of the profession, led me again to a reflection that I have often done since I started working in sports journalism. Covering the historic Rooster title after 50 years without winning a Brazilian Championship, the two expressed feelings in the air. Feelings that were shared with millions of Athletes across the country who accumulated stories over these decades of long wait until this moment arrived.
It was genuinely beautiful to see and identify with their crying. It’s not just the Rooster fans who understand that cry. It is all of us who have already suffered, laughed and cried with our team, who built bonds because of it, who lived the essence of football since we were introduced one day to the club of our hearts. And believe me: we all have one.
Cheering for a team doesn’t make us any less professionals. And it’s even more part of what we cover. As cliché as it may sound, “it’s not just a game”, and only those who have lived football know the feeling behind the obsession with what happens within those four lines.
That said, I don’t think every sports journalist has to reveal their team. But the effort to hide bothers me. Because, in the end, it shouldn’t be a problem if they discovered the club we’re rooting for. It is too simplistic to reduce a journalist’s analysis of a particular team by saying they are being “club members”. It’s assuming that there’s no work there, that he just says things about one because he’s rooting for another. If so, you don’t need sports journalism, a conversation at the bar table will be more useful.
It’s not hard to sort things out. Responsibility, exemption, rational analysis, but without forgetting the emotional components of the game, these, yes, are basic rules for exercising the profession. I confess that I’ve been more concerned about doing everything to hide my team. Today, I see it more naturally. For fans interested in knowing, a search on Google or social networks will provide an easy answer. I like to believe and insist that it is possible to live the passion and the profession – which most of the time go together, but not mixed. And, if the feeling comes through, let it be in a genuine way and for a noble reason, as it was with Marra and Spinelli.
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I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have a vast amount of experience in covering health news. I am also an author at News Bulletin 247. I am highly experienced and knowledgeable in this field. I am a hard worker and always deliver quality work. I am a reliable source of information and always provide accurate information.
