First For Sport (The Sport First)

Member Name: blackjane

Product:	The Sport First
Date:	06/05/01 (118 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Devoted to sport, Great depth of coverage

Disadvantages: Only issued twice a week, No website (as yet)

Sport First

[Background: If you are the type of person that somehow feels that the sports sections of other national newspapers don't quite provide you with the depth of information that you require then Sport First is most definitely for you!]

I am a recent convert to Sport First, having been disappointed with the coverage in most other newspapers. I am talking in particular here about the Sunday editions. Sport First is actually issued twice weekly, on a Sunday and also on a Wednesday. However, certainly during the football season, it is the Sunday edition that contains the most relevant information.

In my experience, my usual newspaper of choice, the Sunday Times, consists of about fifteen sections, and probably took half a dozen large saplings to produce each one. Worse than that, the sports editor only usually sees fit to include about two or three lines about the Nationwide Division One match that I had gone to see the previous afternoon, at the expense of the high profile Premiership matches.

Sport First has excellent coverage of football at all levels, right down to the non-league. Each match from the Premiership right down to the Nationwide League (as well as all the Scottish Leagues) has a proper write up, rather than just a token mention.

There are also copious statistics, showing league tables, recent form, attendances, disciplinary records as well as all the individual match facts and 'Team of the Day'. Handy ratings are also included (on a scale of one to ten) for all the players in each of the matches.

Although most Premiership games are well covered in almost all other newspapers, there always appears to be more of an insight into the games in Sport First. They have a handy 'Fan's View' section for each Premiership match, which often gives a useful alternative viewpoint to the events of each match.

The editorial in this newspaper is also top notch, with incisive ar
ticles on all the relevant issues in sport at that time, and not just football.

Other sports, including cricket, rugby, horse racing and motor racing are also covered. Obviously, during the main cricket season, a much larger proportion of this publication is devoted to it.

In total out of the 48 pages in last Sunday's edition (Issue 163) there were 7½ pages of adverts (including three full pages from ClubCall, which have specific snippets on each Nationwide football team - along with details of premium rate phone lines). That leaves over forty full pages devoted to sport and nothing else.

Admittedly, during the football season around three-quarters of the remaining pages are devoted to football, which is fine by me. However, I suspect that some other sports fans will bemoan the fact that their sports (rugby, cricket, horse racing etc.) do not receive wider coverage.

One downside is that Sport First does not yet have their own website, with only a test site at present at www.sportfirst.co.uk. However, hopefully this will be developed in time.

In conclusion, Sport First is an excellent sports newspaper that appears to be finding an important niche in the market for those who want better depth in their sports coverage.

{An original Dooyoo opinion
© Blackjane 2001}

Summary: