Formed 2004 ... Herts 7s U14 Runners-up 2005 ... North Herts U14 team, Herts Youth Games 2005 runners-up (coached by Letchworth)... Herts Superteams U14 Runners-up 2005 ... Herts SuperTeams "Fairplay" winners 2006 ... Rochford 10s U17 Champions 2006 ... East Midlands 10s U17 Runners-up 2007 ... East Midlands 10s U17 "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... National 10s U17 5th place and "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... Herts 7s U17 Plate runners-up 2007 ... National 7s U17 Plate winners 2007 ... RFU "President's XV" Award winners 2007 ... Herts Superteams winners 2007 ... Midlands 10s U18 Runners-up 2008 ... National 10s U18 4th place 2008 ... North Herts U11 team, Herts Youth Games 2008 runners-up (coached by Letchworth girls) ... London and SE 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2008 ... Herts 7s U18s runners-up 2008 ... National 7s U18s quarter-finalists 2008 ... Gloucester City 10s U18 Bowl runner-up (6th) 2009 ... Worthing 10s U18 Plate runner-up 2009 ... National 7s U18 Plate winners 2009... Worthing 10s U15 Plate winners 2010... Worthing 10s U18 Shield winners 2010... Herts 7s U15 and U18 Bowl runners-up 2010... National 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2010...

Friday, June 01, 2007

A letter to Three Counties Radio

Life can be annoying at times, but occasionally there are things which thoroughly hack me off and today was one of them. An innocent search for something (I forget what for now) took me past the BBC Three Counties Radio website.

A few moments on this blinkered, football-obsessed website resulted in the follow. If anyone wishes to follow suit, be my guest. probably won't do much good but it made me feel a little better...

"Dear Three Counties

Why is the sport pages of the Three Counties website - and especially junior sport - almost solely devoted to one sport - football?
  • I see you reported on Herts Youth Games - but only on the football. There were maybe a dozen other events going on but you ignored them all it seems
  • You have a part of your site devoted to advertising coaching vacancies - but only for football clubs
  • You feature match reports - but only for football

There is a huge amount of junior sport going on the region - often at a very high level - but you are ignoring virtually all of it. For example, this season I have been the Regional Manager for girls rugby in the East of England - a sport which your website barely acknowledges exists.

In fact your station's coverage include parts of three regions - Thames Valley, East, and East Midlands. The latter are two of the strongest regions in the country - East Midlands were runners up at this year's championships, and East were third. East Midlands includes at least one England U19 player it its ranks, while east fielded three girls from the elite national training group. There are future England internationals out there... but they fail to get a mention on your site.

Compare that with the junior sport you do headline. How many future England players were playing for "Memorial Park" or "Watling Saints" whose activities you are currently featuring?

Your area includes Welwyn and Letchworth - two of the leading girls clubs in the country. Uniquely for any region both of them reached the finals of the National 10s (where Welwyn finished as runners up to Worcester) and the National 7s (where Letchworth won the Plate tournament). Letchworth also recently won the highly prestigious award Presidents XV award from the RFU, which you ignored. So far as I am aware information about all of these stories - and more - were sent to your station so there is no obvious news-based reason for your missing them out.

There is more to junior sport in Three Counties than football. Local youngsters do play other things as well and I suspect that managers and volunteers in other sports will be equally frustrated by the concentration on one sport. We would all appreciate it if you could consider giving the rest of the sporting world even a fraction of the coverage that you give to the round ball game."


If you want to write as well in a similar vein the address is bedfordshire@bbc.co.uk or hertfordshire@bbc.co.uk, whichever is appropriate.

2 comments:

  1. Stunning letter John. Well written and to the point.
    Sadly this view point on local sport reporting and as such the possibility of attracting sponsors is reflected in the wilds of Norfolk.
    More power to your keyboard.
    Spike

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:11 PM

    "Compare that with the junior sport you do headline. How many future England players were playing for "Memorial Park" or "Watling Saints" whose activities you are currently featuring?"

    That statement was a bit uncalled for John. Fair enough you should be pushing for coverage of lesser known sports like girls' rugby, but those teams have every right to be covered too. And do you actually know enough about them to comment on their talent?

    Please don't attack other teams- It's just uneccessary and immature.

    ReplyDelete

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