You can catch it on YouTube. It’s July 1981 and John McEnroe has just withered the grass at Wimbledon with his “you cannot be serious” eruption.
He comes in for his press conference as he must, having signed a participation agreement to do media for the promotional benefit of the sport and tournament. Then someone pipes up. “John, have you and Stacy split up.”
Nothing at all to do with tennis, rumours had been circulating about the status of his relationship with his then girlfriend, Stacy Margolin. But the question triggers McEnroe, who storms out of the conference. Then it kicks off.
Inside with nobody to talk to, British and American reporters continue along McEnroe’s on-court theme of lacking respect – or was it demanding respect? – and the exchange of words escalate into a brawl involving Express journalist Nigel Clarke and a US reporter. Papers go flying, chairs are knocked across the floor as a mass of fourth estate bodies wade in to break them up.
Over three decades later Clarke, for many years also the Daily Mirror ghost for Bobby Moore and then Sir Alf Ramsey, was given an award for 50 years at Wimbledon. Unbowed he returned to the incident.
“I had the presence of mind to stand on a chair and punch downwards,” he said.
The press conference as a perfect forum for respectful exchange is largely a myth. The issue arose this week in a Stephen Kenny press conference after Ireland’s defeat in Greece. The Irish football coach spoke of the R word, feeling it was absent.
“The lack of respect at times at press conferences shouldn’t be tolerated . . . it’s absolutely terrible at times,” he said.
There really ought to be a conference about press conferences. Who came up with the idea? Notionally a promotional tool, pressers are the garden rake sitting on the lawn waiting for someone to come along and step on it.
The manager’s team goes down 5-1. Crushed, he comes in and the first question asked is how it feels to be on a six-match losing streak?
When he begins his answer with ‘I’ll tell you how it f**king feels . . .’ you know at that point respect is no longer part of the process. We often hear from sportsmen and women that controlling the controllables allows them take out aspects like referee decisions and crowd hostility.
But a presser is absolutely not controlling the controllables. A presser is sparking the flammables, poking the tiger, baiting the bull. It’s a place of inquiry, more like a court appearance for a manager or player. In the dock, robust questions dropping like dirty bombs with their pejorative payloads.
In Joe Kinnear’s first press conference after taking over at Newcastle in 2008, he took exception to Daily Mirror journalist Simon Bird’s story that players were given a day off on his first day in the job.
Kinnear launched a stream of expletives, subsequently counted as 52 swear words, during which time he accused journalists of being slimy, untrustworthy and generally out to get him and the club.
In 2018, and just 11 days before the Ulster football final, Fermanagh blocked members of the Donegal press from entering their media briefing. Didn’t give a reason. Just said no, can’t come in.
In 2021 Naomi Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam singles champion, announced that she would not do any news conferences at the French Open because they can often be damaging to the mental health of tennis players. The 23-year-old is one of the game’s biggest stars and made the announcement four days before the start of the year’s second Grand Slam.
She said that she had watched too many players break down during press conferences and leave the room in tears and described the process as like “kicking a person while they are down”. She added that she would accept any fines levied against her for skipping the conferences and requested that the funds be donated to a charity dedicated to mental health.
Pressers are not always adversarial, but often are. They are not always combative, but sometimes are. A smorgasbord of emotions, some questions are informed, some lazy and some stories apocryphal.
“How long have you been a Black quarterback?” Doug Williams was supposedly asked on Media Day during Super Bowl week of 1988.
“I’ve been a quarterback since high school,” Williams replied, “and I’ve been black all my life.”
That exchange has endured, but it didn’t actually take place.
What did take place some way back was a question about the New Zealand prop Leinster had recently signed. Michael Ala’alatoa is from Australia, coach Leo Cullen serenely replied.
Mostly though, press conferences are one of sports’ most mundane events in an otherwise exciting world. Reporters ask the same questions and athletes reply in kind with the same snoozy answers. Many players despise them and see them as inviting as cleaning up after the dog.
During the regular season Marshawn Lynch, the former NFL running back, ignored reporters and just ate the hefty fines. But when Super Bowl XLIX came around he had to make himself available on the Media Day. He gave the same answer for five minutes: “I’m here so I won’t get fined”.
Talking fines and it must be Nick Kyrgios. Last year after he spat towards the crowd and then delivered a fiery press conference claiming “a lot of disrespect was thrown today”, The Daily Mail described the Australian as “the most cretinous player at Wimbledon”.
Respect – where can you find it these days?
