Rugby League radio team still making waves

JACK DEARDEN

MORTAL peril, the danger of warm beer and a precarious perch on a wet ladder.

It’s all part of the job when broadcasting rugby league.

Royton’s Jack Dearden and his colleague Trevor Hunt have been devising and presenting BBC Radio Manchester’s weekly ‘Rugby League Extra’ show for 20 years.

No other game fits quite as snugly into the corporation’s public service remit. And what other media men will go to the lengths Hunt did when covering Oldham’s third-tier play-off game at their humble Whitebank home?

“I was at Oldham’s game with York five years ago,” Trevor explains. “I had to borrow a long power lead from one of the cabins. I was standing on a ladder watching the game when it started to rain. Every time I touched the fence I got an electric shock.”

That’s the sort of tale that has illuminated discussions on Thursday evenings over two decades.

Whitebank is a throwback to the unsophisticated past in a game that has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years.

What hasn’t changed is the circles players and supporters move in. Secret player entrances and guarded, gated training grounds are not the rugby league way.

And when it comes to “Rugby League Extra”, the top officials and stars aren’t just happy to accept requests to come in for a chat, they often ask to appear.

“The game definitely hasn’t lost its personalities,” Dearden said. “Players have always had that accessibility. Top players are known personally to their fans. We get them on our show. Ask them anything and they will give an answer.”

And it’s not the usual innocuous chat, either. The duo behind the 2011 Frank Gillard award-winning show are keen to delve deeper: “The ‘Extra’ is important,” said Dearden. “It’s not just about the league tables or the latest injury news. We want to get into the characters and personalities, and we can’t do that without the cooperation of the people who take part.

“The biggest compliment is that they often approach us to come on the show. We have had so many really memorable interviews.

“Sean Long and Martin Gleeson came on after the betting scandal broke at St Helens and Sean told us how he answered the door in his boxer shorts to a load of photographer flashlights going off outside.

“All the Aussies used to get directions to our old Oxford Road studio from the Walkabout pub. Adrian Lam finally turned up once with only 10 minutes of the show left.

“And Sam Tomkins came on when he was just breaking through. He now listens online and we speak to him from New Zealand.”

It isn’t all immaculately-crafted fare with the movers and shakers. Live radio entails thinking and talking on your feet, as Hunt memorably describes.

“Steve Simms was in the studio with one of the Salford players and they shot out after the show had finished,” he said. “We were waving them off at the door when we were told that the people for the next show (Jewish faith programme “It’s Kosher”) hadn’t turned up due to a mix-up. We all had to go back in and do another half hour off the cuff!

“After that the newsroom stood and applauded - though there was one phone caller who said we were as disgrace to the Jewish faith...”



RUGBY League Extra, BBC Radio Manchester, every Thursday from 6pm.