A most enjoyable memoir from a great sportswriter
The great Irish-American journalist Pete Hamill said that at a certain point down the road of a long career, filing copy for newspapers felt like “writing while you are double parked”, and he eventually moved to writing novels. After 43 years working as one of Ireland’s finest sportswriters, Vincent Hogan felt something similar, deciding to park his talent once and for all, and admitting in this absorbing, self-effacing and candid memoir: “For my entire adult life, deadlines had me in a headlock ... [when] I turned 60 I reached a point of realisation that this was something I did not want to do any more.” A pity on one level; if Hogan was double-parked during his impressive career he, like Hamill, was passing his words through the window of an Aston Martin. A big sporting occasion meant seeking Hogan’s byline in the Irish Independent for the insights and instincts that made sports pitches sparkle from his craft. Hogan was a deadline artist, and even if the existential dread of eternal deadlines may have forced his hand at times, he never let it show in his writing on big occasions; and there were plenty of those: Gaelic games’ grandest days, World Cups, prize fights, Olympics – too many to list fully here. Some of the most intriguing parts of the memoir are when Hogan has justifiable pops at the shameful corporatisation and commodification of sports now, and when he recalls the good, the bad and the ugly that he met over decades of reporting. It’s depressing to hear how the other side of the sports media coin (active athletes and officials) have all but ended their relationships with journalists nowadays; coverage is desired, but criticism is disavowed. No one wants to say anything of note any more, and Hogan says: “That the GAA has become the worst offender only deepens the frustration ... the sense of connection ... has withered into a kind of soulless, tiptoeing, faintly corporate exercise”. Strange days for an association based on its community connections. Finishing this most enjoyable book, you sense that Hogan deserves his full-time whistle now – no more deadlines – and he should feel content in the realisation that this Lost Sportswriter (who helped write one of the great sports autobiographies with Paul McGrath) found greatness in his trade. His writing will be missed. NJ McGarrigle is a journalist from Co Tyrone