Diary of a Sky Sports Football Reporter

The Parable of a Sky Sports Reporter

Oil prices were rising at an alarming rate and, as a direct result, the cost of petrol and diesel was also increasing. Road users were not amused and especially the lorry drivers and farmers, who had decided to do something about it. They organised a blockage of the oil refineries. And so began the petrol crisis of 2000. Aware of the potential problems of being without petrol, a Sky Sports reporter used his initiative and topped up his car with an extra few quid on the Sunday afternoon. He was determined not to be caught short. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday went by and the reporter didn't use his car once – even walking to the supermarket to avoiding wasting fuel. With most petrol stations without petrol, the reporter was left with a dilemma on Friday.

After covering Ipswich Town FC press conferences for Sky for the previous two months, he was asked to do the Suffolk club's pre-match managerial briefing once again. If he was careful, he knew he could get there and back in the car but by doing so he would be left with no fuel to do anything else from Saturday onwards. With no sign of the petrol crisis ending, he reluctantly told Sky he could not do the work. The petrol blockades ended before the weekend and after finding someone else to do the Ipswich job, Sky didn't use the reporter to do another press conference again.

The moral of the story?... well, if you don't know, you'll never make it as a Sky Sports reporter.