Hello again.
In last week’s column I wrote about my plans for covering the Champions League match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in Munich. Now I’m back home I can tell you how it went in Germany, and look ahead to the big sports stories about to hit the headlines on Sky Sports News.
Covering sport abroad is always a challenge because of the amount of technical kit needed to make television happen. While my colleagues in the written press can get away with a laptop, broadcasters don’t have it quite so easy.
Having arrived at Munich airport last week I met up with my cameraman Dave Caine, who’d flown in from Manchester, laden down with camera, tripod, lights, microphones, luggage and cables. A highly experienced operator, Dave’s filmed sport all around the world, and it was good to be working with him, but not two tonnes of his equipment!
Our first task in Bavaria was to attend a practise session at Bayern’s training ground. Fans are regularly invited to watch training at German clubs, and hundreds were there, along with a huge press contingent.
International interest in the game was massive. Over 300 journalists were covering a match due to be shown in 120 countries worldwide. Our filming focused on the players of major interest to our audience, especially England’s Owen Hargreaves, who made my day by promising me a decent interview straight after the match on the Wednesday night.
We then attended a press conference with players Willy Sagnol and Mark van Bommel. Both agreed to answer my questions in English, van Bommel particularly impressive as he switched between four different languages!
I was concerned with getting comment on three main issues - David Beckham’s unfortunate withdrawl from the game with a knee injury, Hargreaves’ return to fitness after his broken leg, and some general comments on the big match against Real. Both players gave excellent opinion on all three subjects and I’d got what I needed to file a preview report on Sky Sports News.
Because we’re working in a 24 hour news environment it’s crucial to get our material back to London as soon as possible. Sometimes we have our own satellite facilities with us, but in Munich we visited our friends at German broadcaster RTL and sent back our pictures to Sky HQ with their equipment.
By recording a voice track and sending that ‘down the line’ too, an editor and producer back in London were then able to cut my report for our morning output, and within an hour of Sagnol and van Bommel talking about Beckham’s injury, their comments were on air in Britain.
The whole procedure was repeated the next day when Bayern’s captain Oliver Kahn and coach Ottmar Hitzfeld were due to speak. This was a more testing experience. Having politely asked if he’d answer my question about Beckham’s absence in English, Hitzfeld looked at me as if I’d mentioned the 1999 Champions League final defeat to Man Utd.
Bayern may be a big club but their media room certainly is not. Two hundred journalists were forced to squeeze into a room the size of a matchbox, and it was a relief when the press conference was over, and we could make our way to the stunning Allianz Arena on the outskirts of the city.
Real Madrid had arrived at the ground for training and Fabio Capello was due to speak. The under-fire coach gave little away, throwing the assembled media from Spain and Germany by speaking mostly in Italian.
He did say that Beckham’s injury was a major blow for his team though, and having secured a translation from a friendly UEFA delegate, we were once again back at RTL, and filing our report for the next morning.
Matchday had arrived and it was important we gave viewers back home a sense of the atmosphere in the city as the big kick off approached. There was one place we simply had to go, and that was the world famous Hofbrauhaus.
Munich’s renowned beer drinking hall was full of Real fans, and having persuaded the owner’s to let us film inside we got some great interviews of the excitement among the travelling fans.
The newsdesk at Sky Sports News needed the material in order to build up to the match during our afternoon output, so we made out third and final feed from RTL and then made our way to the stadium to prepare for the match.
Despite torrential rain, the atmosphere inside the ground before kick-off was among the best I’ve experienced, with the home fans determined to help their side overcome a one goal deficit from the first leg.
With the tie evenly poised, and with so much at stake, I’d predicted a tight, cagey and goalless first half. Within ten seconds Bayern were one up. Roy Makaay scoring the fastest goal in Champions League history. What a start!
With the score at 2-1 and five minutes left, Dave and I made our way into the tunnel area to get in position for the post-match interviews.
Real’s Mahamadou Diarra, who’d just been sent off, was there watching the action on a monitor. With just seconds remaining Ramos appeared to have scored a dramatic equaliser to send Real through. But his ‘goal’ was ruled out for handball. Diarra, who’d been jumping for joy, suddenly started crying with despair, tears rolling down his face. And they say footballers don’t care enough!
Bayern prevailed, and Hargreaves, true to his world, gave me an excellent interview on the victory, and his hopes with England, that made the headlines on Sky Sports News. The host broadcaster sent our interview back to Sky from their satellite truck outside the ground and our job in Munich was done.
Today I’m pleased to be reporting live from the new Wembley Stadium on the day the draw’s made for the Semi-Finals of The FA Cup. I’ve covered the long story of the ground’s construction regularly over the last few years, and it’s good to be here again now a happy ending’s on the horizon, and the keys are finally with The FA.
I was given a sneak preview of this magnificent structure a few months ago, and even got to take a penalty on the hallowed turf (I missed). We’ll be bringing fans all the latest as the stadium prepares to stage two warm up events here, and covering the build as the home of english football gets ready for business.
Do you want to send Dan a question? You could ask what his most difficult interview was? How did he get into journalism? Click here to email Dan.