Alex is, to the best of his knowledge, the only out gay sports print journalist working in the mainstream UK media. He currently works for the Daily Mail and is part of their coverage of the Olympics. When he has time, he goes to 5 a side with the London Titans and he recently agreed to give us his first interview where he talks about life in sports media and being a gay journalist at the Daily Mail.
GFSN: Which team do you support and what was your first game? AK: Spurs! I think I went to a game when I was six, but my first real memory was of Spurs’ victorious 1991 Cup run. I was only 7 at the time and my dad took me to the final at Wembley, but was only able to get tickets in the Forest end. It was the game where Gazza should have got sent off, Forest took the lead but we ended up winning 2-1 in extra- time. GFSN: How did you get into journalism? AK: At university. I was at Edinburgh and initially covered the sports section before becoming its editor. I got work experience out of term time which included a year out working for English language papers, first in France and then Argentina.
I was in Argentina for the 2006 World Cup which was a great experience but I found that I couldn’t deal with the arrogance of some Argentines so ended up supporting Germany in the match between them when the Germans knocked them out! GFSN: What was the reaction in the industry to your coming out? AK: The reaction has been great, I mean it’s not really an issue. Some people know, others don’t but people have been really supporting and no-one cares. GFSN: The Mail doesn’t always have a great reputation with LGBT issues, how has life been there? AK: It’s been fine. There is a general misconception about people who work at the Daily Mail, there is a wide range of the type of people who work there and I have not even had a hint of a problem. The reality of the Daily Mail and the perception of it are wide apart and I think this comes from people not reading the paper; their only exposure to it is when they read reports of it in other media. While the paper may be seen often to defend ‘traditional values’ the paper’s editorial is not anti-gay in my opinion. GFSN: but how do you feel when you read some of the columnists who do come across as anti-gay, Melanie Philips for example was voted Bigot of the Year in last year’s Stonewall awards? AK: Like with any paper, you are not going to agree with every word of every columnist. But any reputation of the paper being anti-gay is unfair. One of our most high profile columnists, Andrew Pierce, is gay and another columnist, Abjijit Pandya, recently gave a strong piece attacking the churches opposition to gay marriage. I would ask that those who do not read the paper keep an open mind. GFSN: it has been suggested that professional gay players have not come out partially in fear of the media’s reaction, why don’t you think that is? AK: I am not sure the media will be that interested in it, people are moving on and being gay is not longer as big a story as it once was. The media’s reaction if someone comes out will largely depend on who it is. There was a large interest in Gareth Thomas as he was someone who had been married and had been at the top of his game, whereas there was far less interest in Steve Davies even though we was a member of the England Ashes tour party.
I think once the initial story dies down, the media attention will only be maintained if the player wants to have a high profile, Thomas went into the Big Brother house. It will be interesting to see how football supporters will react, I think it is naive to assume that football fans will react differently to rugby fans. There might be a few silly songs, but I think it will be quickly forgotten. GFSN: do you think it might affect a player’s form? AK: it depends on the reaction of the clubs and the supporters. John Terry’s private life exposure in the media didn’t really affect his form, but it is clear that for a while Wayne Rooney’s did. It is a difficult and emotional thing to come out and you would be a robot not to be affected by it, but at the same time it removes a weight off your shoulders and players might find that it helps their form in the long term. GFSN: what’s the biggest ‘scoop’ you have had to date? AK: I have had one or two breaks, for example I broke the story that De Gea was coming to United and I was one of the first to interview Anton Hysen when he come out, but for me it’s not so much the scoop that I will remember, but the bonkers things I have been lucky enough to do. One of the strangest was experiences I had was going to Chechnya to interview Ruud Guillet. Every person had a gun, I mean every person, even the postman! We sat for seven or eight hours eating pancakes with Jennifer Lopez music playing on a loop in the background.
I also flew out with Martin Keown to see Tony Adams in Azerbaijan. We drove for three and a half hours in a car to the middle of nowhere to this 500-room, 5 star hotel where Adams and his two mates were staying, and no-one else!. It is a real privilege to get these kinds of experiences. GFSN: what is the biggest sporting occasion you have covered? AK: I do enjoy covering Wimbledon and I was lucky enough to cover a Real Madrid vs Barcelona match at the Bernabeu, but I would be very disappointed if this year’s Olympics don’t end up being one of the biggest events of my career. GFSN: did you experience any barriers in coming out and do you believe there may be any barriers to your career progression now you are out? AK: Nothing so far and I would be amazed if anything arose in the future, I have no reason to think that anyone would have a problem. It will be interesting to see what happens if a player comes out before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. I am not sure what boycotting such countries achieves, but I do think people need to be careful. GFSN: final question, do you think that the football authorities are doing enough to encourage equality in sport? AK: There are many strands of discrimination, but in terms of LGBT issues it is very difficult without an ambassador, a gay player who is able to talk about the reality of football because at the moment we are just talking in hypothetical terms. I think that overly chastising the football authorities for what they are doing now is dangerous. We really do not want to turn the search for equality into a witch hunt, it’s a difficult balance to strike.
