Anyone who has read Fiona Oakes’ Running For Good might recall when being prepped for a prime time TV interview about her international running achievements the producer asked that she didn’t mention the ‘V’ word.  But she went ahead and mentioned the V word anyway 😊

Recently a club member, Adrian Pope, was interviewed for the BBC South East lunchtime news concerning a football exhibition that celebrates the life and legacy of Isaac Newell who was an inspiration for football in Argentina.

There is a club called “Club Atlético Newell’s Old Boys”  in Rosario, Santa Fe in Argentina. That club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football.

When working in Argentina twenty years ago, Adrian, a Gillingham FC fan watched a Newell’s Old Boys football match and became curious about the English-sounding name of the club and did some research.   Over the last two decades, Adrian has campaigned for the story of Isaac Newell to be told.

So, Adrian was a logical choice to interview for the BBC local news coverage of the opening of the exhibition.

Adrian chose to wear the Vegan Runners club’s race day jacket for the interview (naturally).    It’s no surprise to some of us that the BBC asked that Adrian take off his race-day club jacket but he refused and compromised just a little by unzipping it slightly.

So did the BBC then deliberately take the club name out of focus in the long shot ?  Was it intentional that the close up cropped off the club name?  We can only speculate but they do have a track record (and we won’t mention Country File).

So well done Adrian in his determined attempt to champion the club’s logo on TV.

The news recording is no longer available on the BBC website but there is a youtube posting here.