When John Walsh was just a cub reporter, he thought he’d picked up quite a scoop – but it didn’t go down too well.
The modern trend is to simply include trialist on team sheets, whether we are talking football or rugby league.
Time was, however, when particularly rugby league clubs used to put any trialists down as AN Other and if they had a second one playing in the game he would go down as SO Else.
Those were the days when reporters knocked on dressing room doors to ask for the teams. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been told Timothy, White and Taylor as a front row or Marks & Spencer were the two full-backs.
Back in 1963, soon after I started with the Cumberland Star, the Workington Town correspondent left and I was thrown in at the deep end – never having seen a game live – and was sent to cover an A team game.
The editor gave me a letter to introduce myself as the new reporter who would be covering Town following Ian Cameron’s departure. I did not make a good impression!
Town A included an AN Other in their line-up and to my untrained eye he was having a blinder. New to the profession, eager to please, I made a few enquiries and was told it was Eric Gardiner from Barrow, brother of Town prop forward Danny.
Fancying I had my first scoop I named him in my report for the Buff (our sports paper which came out on a Saturday night as soon after the matches finished as possible). Back home that night I read with some satisfaction my report on the game, highlighting the aforementioned Eric Gardiner and went to work on Monday expecting the plaudits. Wrong!
Town secretary JJ Hodgson had been straight on to the editor complaining strongly about the report and the fact that a trialist had been named when he wasn’t even signed by the club.
I have to admit I did not receive the most severe of reprimands, and as a new boy, felt there was plenty of sympathy from the older hacks in the office but it took a little while to win the trust of Jim Hodgson and Town.
But there is a nice postscript to the story – not long afterwards his AN Other appearance Eric Gardiner signed for Town. All’s well that ends well!
