About Jim Stokes (0)
- 15 Jul 07, 01:49 PM
I was always a man of letters ... I worked as postman for two years before changing tack.
My first job as a sports journalist more than 30 years ago, was as a sailing correspondent at the Belfast Telegraph, that is, until I became becalmed one weekend on and ended up writing about the wildlife.
That trend continued when I became rugby correspondent.
For 16 years, I was a dedicated traveller covering the game from the days of the amateur ethos to the present professionalism of playing by numbers and taking in four World Cups. And I finally succumbed to a change of life when I joined "Auntie" six years ago.
It was inevitable that I would end up as a sports journalist. Sport was my life from my early school days with rugby, football, basketball and cricket my tour de force.
I played rugby for my local Belfast team Malone, and captained the club back in the 1972/3 season and collected an Ulster Senior League medal and Ulster Senior Cup gong.
I was a bit of a rare breed who started life as a fly-half one season, and ended up playing number 8 the next. I don’t think the rugby world was ready for a side-stepping, dummying, two-footed kicker in the back-row who had a penchant for dropping goals from the base of the scrum.
During a short break from rugby, I played for the Northern Ireland Youth international team in the 1962 European Championships as a goalkeeper.
But some fella by the name of Pat Jennings strangely got to play in the final against England at Wembley.
They won 4-0. Soon after that, won two caps in the Home International series that year, drawing 1-1 with England at Boundary Park where George Best wore the Northern Ireland jersey for the first time.
Now, my engine just keeps on running, literally. I’m a regular jogger and cyclist, having done a couple of marathons and a stream of 10Ks. I can still give my 24-year-old twins a run for their money, much to their chagrin.
