Too Quick On The Draw

Newcastle Herald

Saturday November 8, 2008

Robert Dillon

THEY say you learn something new every day.

And on Monday that indeed proved the case when I discovered, via an early-morning radio bulletin, that Queensland Roar had beaten the Newcastle Jets 2-1 in their A-League clash at EnergyAustralia Stadium the previous evening.

This came as something of a surprise, given that I had covered the game for The Herald and was under the impression it finished as a 1-all draw.

After a frantic check of Monday's paper, my astonishment was confirmed in black and white: Queensland 2, Newcastle 1.

I acknowledge there may have been occasions over the years when I made an accounting discrepancy in a high-scoring rugby league fixture, after I inevitably ran out of fingers and toes.

Generally, however, even someone as numerically challenged as yours truly can keep track of the score in a soccer game.

But on Sunday, for the first time in 20-odd years as a sports journalist, I filed a yarn that not only featured the wrong score, but the wrong result.

There were, admittedly, some mitigating circumstances.

About 10 minutes before kick-off, Herald super sleuth David Lowe alerted me to rumours that Newcastle's marquee signing, Edmundo Zura, might be playing his last game for the club.

(Lowey is not only the best soccer columnist / analyst in Australia, he is also on first-name terms with TV glamours Mel McLaughlin and Stephanie Brantz, so I treat everything he says with the utmost respect.)

I realised this was a story of some magnitude that needed to be chased immediately.

Leaving The Herald's soccer doyen James Gardiner to concentrate on the match report, I tried to phone Jets officials without success.

The only option, it appeared, would be to see if I could catch Jets owner Con Constantine and ask him face to face. That meant making the trek from the press box, at the top of the old western stand, around to the chairman's lounge in the new Andrew Johns Stand.

Construction work inside the stadium meant that it was not as simple as strolling around the walkways that surround the playing arena. I would have to physically exit the stadium, walk around the perimeter, and re-enter on the eastern side.

Kick-off was imminent, so I waited until about 10 minutes before half-time with scores locked one goal apiece to make my move.

As I hurried through the southern car park, I noticed a brief roar from the crowd, followed by a discernible groan, which I assumed was the Jets going close to scoring but missing.

I arrived at Con's executive suite just as the ref blew his whistle for half-time, and grabbed the quotes I needed.

Upon returning to the press box, it was head down, bum up, as I started banging out my story. I was in the zone, so to speak. I saw glimpses of the second half which was scoreless but the only times I looked at the scoreboard was to check the clock.

At full-time, I headed downstairs for the post-match media conference, under the assumption that honours finished even.

The penny did not even drop when Roar coach Frank Fraina said that "at least we got the three points", which at the time I thought was a slip of the tongue.

I filed my report, using the words "1-all draw" in the second paragraph. Fortunately, the ever-reliable sub-editors corrected it, but nobody called to ask what planet I was on.

Even after the game, while James and I enjoyed a quiet drink and a post-mortem at my local, it didn't sink in.

I saw a replay of Charlie Miller scoring for Queensland and said to James in surprise, "I thought Matt McKay scored that goal".

When Jimmy pointed out that McKay and Miller look nothing alike, I replied: "Well the ground announcer said it was No.15, Matt McKay."

(Miller, of course, scored Queensland's second goal, while I was outside the stadium).

So that night, when I laid my head on my pillow, I was blissfully unaware that the Jets had slumped to their second loss in as many weeks.

Slightly embarrassing, it has to be said.

But I gained some consolation from the knowledge I upheld one of the fundamental rules of journalism, drummed into me during my days as a teenage cadet.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

HERO TO ZERO

EDMUNDO Zura's inability to find the net in nine games or 610 minutes for the Newcastle Jets raises the question of where his career goes from here.

Early reports were that Zura was poised to return to Ecuadorean club Imbabura, who loaned him to the Jets.

Personally, I reckon Edmundo Zero would look good in a Tottenham Hotspur shirt, playing up front alongside Mario Jardel.

SENIOR PLAYER

THIS columnist has copped the Basil Brush many times over the years. It's part of the job. So when England rugby league centre Keith Senior politely declined an interview on Wednesday, I took no offence and assumed he was feeling a tad media-shy after Australia's landslide victory against the Poms in Melbourne last weekend. Little was I to know that Senior had been stitched up that very day in a classic grubby sex scandal by English tabloid The Sun.

Under the headline "Cheating Senior is a rug rat", The Sun claimed he had "romped" with a 37-year-old Aussie mother of three . . . while his fiancee was at home in the Old Dart. The classy lady told The Sun that Senior was a "lying love rat" but conceded: "He's a 10 between the sheets and has a great body for an old guy. He was like a machine." The Poms can only hope he performs as strongly against the Kiwis at EnergyAustralia Stadium tonight.

HORSEWHIPPED

ANOTHER Melbourne Cup, another donation.

Honestly, why do I bother? I wouldn't know a horse's arse from its head and that's the way I like it.

Next year instead of blowing my hard-earned on a token cup flutter, I think I'll treat myself to a lobotomy and go and play the pokies.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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