What have the Gwent Gazette got against Abertillery?

The Sec · What have the Gwent Gazette got against Abertillery?

It seems that no matter how well Abertillery BG RFC perform and no matter how early we send them our match report, the Gwent Gazette find it impossible to publish a report! I can guarantee that every league match this season has been reported to the paper but with very little response.

It seems that unless we are a junior football or rugby team, roller hockey that well know 'sport', champions of the illegal immigrant pool league or a third cousin of the editor then we have little chance of our matches being reported.

There are of course exceptions to this rule, if the side in question is from Ebbw Vale then of course they will get front and back page coverage.

Now obviously I except that we are now longer in the higher reaches of the Welsh rugby league structure but the population of Abertillery has not dropped to such a degree that local sports news in town is no longer significant.

I've come to the conclusion that the only way forward is for all Abertillery RFC supporters to E-mail, write or phone the 'local' paper and complain otherwise nothing will be done about this pathetic coverage!

Evil or Very Mad

Aber at heart · Gwent Gazette

I totally agree with your comments about the Gwent Gazette. Two weeks ago i went in to see the Abertillery colomnist Cheryl Morris about the matter plus also to mention it was nice to see Elvis had come to in Abertillery in droves Laughing

, which was mentioned,and she actually said for the same to be done as in emails, phone calls etc so come on Aber supporters lets get us back on the back pages and turn the Ebbw vale Gazette , which it should be called, into a back page spread of our own its not that we have not done nothing to get noticed we have lets let them have it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Running Bear

Good news coverage on any subject matter leaves Abertillery out in the cold for a good few years now it has either been bad, sad or controversial that grabs any reasonable noteworthy news spot back page or otherwise.

It beggars belief that Abertillery should be considered less newsworthy than any other town in Blaenau Gwent. Greater emphasis is and always has been placed on events especially sporting in Ebbw Vale, by it's editor and reporters. Is the reporting dependent on any concentration of political, readership or sales bias favouring only their own interests?

The Abertillery columnist Cheryl Morris like the other correspondents are I believe paid by the word and I do not think they are restricted as to the length each column is able to run, some write more than others unless there is also a bias towards columnists. Therefore the more news they are handed the more they get paid.

AberFan

I have written an email and sent it to everyone at the gwent gazette.

I hope it has an impact, just watch this space.....

suzanne

I am assuming you saw the article about Aber and the club in last Saturdays Western Mail? What the papers want is an story to hang the coverage on - it worked well for me with the article so maybe give that a try? I dont work for the paper or anything I simply e-mailed the story to them and they decided to run it - beginers luck maybe?

AberFan

I have had a reply from the Gwent Gazette! If anyone would like to read it then please let me know.

Fred Flintstone

Hi Aberfan,

Why not post a copy of the transcript of the reply here on the message board for all to read?

AberFan

This is the reply I got from Jamie Robins at the Gazette......

Hi Keira,

Thanks for your e-mail, it may have been a good idea for you to phone first so I could explain how the sports section at the Gazette works.

We published the following report on August 17 and the surrounding weeks, explaining how important it was to follow our new guidelines.

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CALLING all sports clubs!

If you would like to see your club news published in the Gwent Gazette on a regular basis then you need to contact us now!

From next week the way we publish sport at the Gazette will change.

If you run or belong to club then you need to appoint a press officer and get them to contact Sports Editor Jamie Robins on 01495 304589 before Friday, August 18.

You still need to contact us even if you already send reports to the Gazette.

You can also e-mail us at jamie.robins@wme.co.uk

Thanks for all your efforts.

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I was never contacted by anyone at Abertillery BG at the time and as you can see the people who did get their reports published every week, usually without fail.

I could put you in touch with a number of very happy supporters from other clubs who are more than pleased with the way sports at the Gazette changed for the better this year.

And that is not just down to me but it is down to the excellent work their new press officers put in every week.

David has always been an excellent sports contributor but unfortunately there has been a mix up this year and for some reason or other the reports are not coming through with everyone else's.

This could have been easily sorted in the first few weeks if you had not left it until now to let me know about the issue.

We do not have time every week to chase sports reports and that is why it is so important to establish a good working relationship at the beginning of every season.

If you can pass on the following information I would be grateful:

*The reports have to be sent to jamie.robins@wme.co.uk (we no longer accept reports from other e-mails because some of them - like the gwent.gazette@wme.co.uk address - are too full to use reliably every week.

*The reports have to be sent so they arrive no later than 7am Monday morning - after that the deadline passes and we will not accept anything else.

*If there is an important game or a match you would particularly like to have picture covered you need to give me as much notice as possible and I will phone to confirm whether a photographer is available.

That is a summarised version of the notes I sent to everyone who contacted me at the start of the season.

Unfortunately it will be too late for Abertillery BG this season, but I hope it will help for the remaining games of this season and please look out for the notice we will publish before the 2007-2008 season starts.

Sorry to send you all this by e-mail - if you had phoned or included a contact number I would have spoken to you in person.

If there is anything else I can help with please contact me by phone on 01495 304589 rather than e-mail.

Regards,

Jamie.

The Sec

In reply to this E-mail from Jamie Robins I can assure you that both David Llewellyn and myself have constantly tried to contact Jamie by phone and e-mail but to no effect.

At least we've now put our point over to the gazette lets hope that this weeks match report is included.

Thanks Keira for your highlighting of the situation and actually getting a response!

admin

First I have to say that in my opinion, the Gazette and Jamie Robins have always been very supportive of the club in the past. I do find however that the explanation from the Gazette is a little odd in view of the following:

1) I was not made aware of the email address change they mention (I am not on the club committee so I can't comment whether such a letter was received but the Secretary always gives me the requisite information). However, I had used the Gwent Gazette (gwent.gazette@wme.co.uk) address for most of the season to send reports by email (on some occasions they went through the Sec) and they published them up until the start of March! So why they didn't pick them up and use them after that is somewhat strange.

2) I made two calls to the Gazette to ascertain whether they had received my email reports when there were no reports in the paper and was told they would get back to me but I never received any return calls, although that is not to say they didn't try of course (it was a landline number so I have no records of missed calls).

Anyway, I hope that gives the whole picture. As I said I have always found personally the Gazette and Jamie Robins very supportive of the club in the past and it appears that for some reason there has been a hiccup for whatever reason in the last few weeks. I trust that next season will see a renewal of that excellent relationship and where we can improve things from the club's side or on my part then we will endeavour to do so.

ian mounter · Gwent Gazette

I know nothing about the press but surely not even the Gwent Gazette can ignore a town team that are crowned champions?
Isn't there such a thing as being interested in the town's rugby club that has risen phoenix like from the ashes?
Surely there can't be so many champions in the town?
As for their reasons for not reporting the club sounds like a case of them protesting too much to cover their own omissions!!
Ian

PENNO

Write up looks good in the gazette. Although they say miles had the last try? it was me who had the last one Razz

The picture looks great aswell.

admin

My fault - I didn't understand my own writing Penno! I will amend the match report and scorers on the results page.

Have sorted things with the Gazette ready for next season,. was a very good write up although thought it very cheeky to say the least to say "writes Jamie Robins" as I wrote it not him!

leigh · WHAT HAVE THE GWENT GAZETTE GOT AGAINST ABERTILLERY

Just got my copy of this weeks the gwent gazette and look at the big kick off section their are 94 teams fixtures from teams as far banwen and glyncorrwg but not abertillery/bg
So what have the gwent gazette got against abertillery/bg

What have the Gwent Gazette got against Abertillery?

Gwent Gazette

Gwent Gazette

WHAT HAVE THE GWENT GAZETTE GOT AGAINST ABERTILLERY