“The sports press is very specialized; not just anyone is worth it”

Diego Calvo, president of the Cádiz Press Association, was the moderator of the round table organized by the Cajasol Foundation and was in charge of introducing each of the members: Vicente Jimenez, director of the newspaper AS; Alfredo Relaño, Honorary President of AS; Jorge Valdano, former soccer player and commentator; and Santiago Segurola, columnist for El País and AS.

After the presentations, it was time to start the debate and the first to speak was Relaño, who stated that he offered his opinion on the change in language in journalism. “Now there is a lot of coaching slang, but it is also better written in the newspapers than before. Years ago you were extremely careful with the language on the radio.”

Vicente Jiménez was on the same page as Relaño. “There have always been good sports writers. The difference is that now in football you see everything. Before you saw one or two games and now we see them all and from different countries. In the 1940s, there was probably a chronicle describing the place because Before you didn't travel, now everyone already knows the places. Yes, there is a lot of tactical explanation and sometimes the algorithm fits badly because a match is won by something specific that is done. “

Later Santiago Segurola offered his opinion on whether or not the work of the chronicler has changed. “Now the immediacy of the Internet rules. You have to find a perspective in which you generate interest after everything that has already been said. You have to find another way for the reader to reflect on what he has seen and has already read and heard. Now everyone watches the games and leaves us all at the same height. He cuts the position of the chronicler. “

Finally, Jorge Valdano took the floor. “The battle between tradition and the new is being won by the new. Before, football was just football, but now it is part of the economy. Technology begins to have a leading role, for me, excessive. Football is something primitive. Soccer has to stay where it is because that's where it can compete. The word is diminishing its power. You have to have a lot of talent to capture the reader. “

The arrival of technology was also another of the topics discussed and Vicente Jiménez offered his vision as director of AS. “Today it is more a platform than a newspaper to use. The dictatorship of the digital is the immediacy. We try to invent how to break down the parties, that almost a forensic work is done with technology. When we have more strategies than ever, it is when more complex seems to understand the regulation. We have to adapt to new realities. When technology arrives and is installed it transforms us. I ask people to be agile when it comes to understanding how people consume. ” To this reflection, Segurola added that “Marca came to rescind the chronicles predicting the actuality, although they later resumed them.”

The director of AS picked up an old saying against sports journalism and dismantled it. “Before it was said what is worth is worth and what is not to sports. When you do sports information in a year you touch all genres and it is not valued too much. When there is a sports journalist who has worked for many years and works in something else, it shows that He has been a sports journalist because you can see that agility and mischief. The sports press is super specialized, not just anyone is worth it. “

Later Valdano emphasized that soccer goes hand in hand with the culture of each place, stating that “It is impossible to come to Cádiz and not talk about Mágico or the options that the team has to stay. Soccer has invaded everything and it is a cultural phenomenon that the poor could afford. Then other possibilities opened up and everything has invaded. “

On the controversial audios that have come to light by Florentino Pérez, Relaño was forceful. “Football must be exemplary. I like coaches who set an example when they appear in the news, not those who go against everything. I prefer that they have that image of Florentino Pérez because it is more real than the one they have. He has the obsession to intervene In the press”.

Once the speaking time was open, Pepe Mata, president of the Cádiz CF Foundation, asked about the expression of “the following” to refer to the superlative. Vicente Jiménez is clear about it: “It is mental laziness to use one word for everything. In the case of football there has been a process of Spanishization. Before it was called 'referee' or 'orsai' to refer to the referee and offside, but they are no longer used. The corner is used, but corner kicks are also used. Soccer has a wonderful thing and that is that expressions come from South America “.