Introduction
In today’s article, I want to talk about something different from what I usually cover. This is because I have previously discussed a range of topics and current events at LFC. These included contract situations, competition aspirations, transfer targets, and match rights issues. I have found (and hope you will too) that these topics make up most football conversation. Even the likes of fitness issues at the club would be included under the heading of potential transfer targets.
As such, I want to provide my own, and extrapolate and represent others’, opinions on what it means to write in this area of journalism.
The Context of a Meta-Discussion
Now, you might be wondering what on earth I’m talking about (don’t worry, I often do too). What even is a “meta-discussion”? A meta-discussion is a conversation where the participants have clear and confident knowledge of the subject or topic. In my opinion, the Football Archives here at Writebase provide an excellent opportunity for this type of discussion. This is because there are clearly defined genres and topics that each author contributes to and covers.
But, just one caveat, we all tend to support and write about LFC. This means that the discussion might be said to become rather circular, as I will now go on to explain.
The Media’s Portrayal of Football/Sports Punditry
A lot of the media’s portrayals of football punditry tends to disregard it as poor journalism. I think that it is these types of portrayals that segregates LFC fans from the media discussion. It forces football fans such as me into LFC-oriented archives.
For example, in Jon Spurling’s recent article “Cigars and showmen: the summer that changed English football punditry”, he talks about how pundits in the 70s had become more “brash” and “combative”. I suppose how they behaved has paved the way for (amateur) football writers like myself to get some recognition. The flip side of this, of course, is that there is now a ‘bad’ reputation associated with modern football journalism and punditry.
This means that, whilst football writers and pundits are now getting the attention they want, some of this is negative. We (and I use the inclusive term lightly as I am only beginning) are labelled in the mainstream media as being ungentlemanly or ladylike. In turn, this links back to my previous point of the media portraying football journalism as corrosive or crude.
Conclusion
I think that the focus of the topics raised in these conversations needs a complete rehaul. There is only a limited number of topics that can be discussed before writers run out of steam. In addition to this, LFC fans particularly are portrayed in the media as being a more secular, closed-off group. This is true even for us LFC writers, because, as I have previously explained, we tend to be labelled.
However, there is still hope for these discussions. This is in the form of archives such as this one that allows for a greater variety of football content.
