Don't Cheer In The Press Box

• Globe And Mail, Tuesday, June 10, 2008 1:45 PM

All soccer reporters know that cheering in the press box is considered bad protocol, but that's not to say it doesn't happen. Reporting from the European Championships in Vienna, John Doyle found that when Croatia scored against Austria Sunday, "the reporter to my left just leapt into the air and did a little dance, fists thrusting up and out toward the Croatia supporters section. He was united with them. He was one of them."
 
At the last World Cup, Doyle witnessed Brazilian reporters wearing replica shirts and cheering their team's every move. "I've seen a guy from an Argentina newspaper throw his arms around a player and hug him, instead of interviewing him," he adds, while the Italians are more subtle, blaming referees, the team hotel or some kind of plot against their country if things go wrong.
 
There are other distinguishing traits among national lines. The Germans, for example, who like to have the word "Professor" or "Doctor" preceding their name on press passes, and who "stake out vast areas of the work space for themselves." At Euro 2008, the English reporters are obsessed with hooliganism, possibly to show that "hooliganism is a European problem. Used to be an English problem, but now it's not. It's Europe's shame, or something." And don't get him started on the journalist who offers a running commentary on the game, "except he's doing it for himself and his cronies, not TV or radio."

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