“You have to be boring. You can’t not be boring.”
Andrew Trimble feels safe enough in his own skin, as a player and as a man, to make this admission.
Sports and the press have a symbiotic relationship – both need and feed off each other. Still, there is a healthy scepticism and distrust between both sides and it may never change.
The Hard Yards caught up with Ulster and Ireland winger Andrew Trimble to get his take on dealing with the media [from 26:22 below] and found him in refreshingly honest form.
Having admitted that he is often cautious of giving too much away in press conferences on the Irish Rugby documentary ‘Four Days in November’, Trimble told us why he can’t always say what is on his mind.
https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/episode-13-the-future-for-munster-and-leinster-dealing-with-the-media-and-mike-ross-stories
Trimble said:
Andrew Trimble, Rob Kearney and Ronan Loughney pictured at the rebrand launch of Rugby Players Ireland ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan“Quite often there are press conferences before games so, week to week, you’ll often come out and say the same thing, time and time again. You know, ‘It’s a big challenge this weekend. We’ve got to get up for it’.
“Either ‘you can’t take this team for granted’ or ‘it’s going to be a massive, physical challenge this weekend’. All that sort of stuff but you say that sort of stuff all the time. You have to find that balance… [but] there’s so many clichés.”
“Players as well as journalists,” Trimble added, “and I’m looking at you here, you must be so fed up and bored of listening to this stuff.
“But you’ve got to keep churning it out because if you don’t keep saying that, you end up saying something stupid, you come across cocky or you come across defeatist. One or the other, so you’ve got to use the clichés.”
Trimble gave the example of a press briefing he had before Ulster’s recent game against Munster at Thomond Park. He commented:
“Three big games left to make the playoffs and what did I say? ‘We’re all just looking forward and going to take it one game at a time, aren’t we?’.
“What a ridiculous, boring cliché but it is true.”
The 32-year-old pointed to Ireland’s latest Six Nations game and admitted they may have been guilty of looking ahead to the finalé against England and faltering against Wales in Cardiff.
“Maybe if we had bought into that one game at a time cliché it would have made for a healthier mind-set for us.”
There you have it. Sometimes clichés can be good for you.
