AddThis SmartLayers

‘Hugely respected’ sports journalist dies aged 82

A sports journalist whose career with a South Coast daily spanned five decades has died, aged 82.

John Vinicombe, left, wrote for Brighton based title The Argus where he was the reporter for the Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club and Sussex County Cricket Club.

Among his scoops was the news that legendary football management duo Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were joining Brighton in 1973 having been sacked by Derby County after winning the League Championship.

John died in a nursing home last week after a battle with skin cancer.

He began work at the then Evening Argus in the early 50s having previously served with the RAF. He had also worked at the Worthing Herald and Press Association.

Argus sports editor Chris Giles said: “John was a formidable journalist with an impeccable reputation.

“He was hugely respected by his colleagues at The Argus and his name will always be synonymous with his robust reporting of Albion and Sussex cricket.

“After retiring, we were delighted John was able to continue covering golf in Sussex.

“Golf was John’s other sporting passion and he was responsible for starting the Friday column in The Argus many years ago.

“He was still writing for this newspaper until a couple of weeks ago. It is a very sad day.”

John, who continued as the paper’s golf correspondent until his death, had covered Brighton Albion Football Club in all four divisions of English football.

He was also cricket correspondent for the paper, reporting on Sussex at several major finals at Lord’s, as well as captain Tony Greig’s shock departure to the World Series with Kerry Packer.

When he retired the cricket club presented him with a barometer.

John was a widower and had three sons, eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

 

8 comments

You can follow all replies to this entry through the comments feed.
  • October 11, 2011 at 9:22 am
    Permalink

    When I joined the Argus in the mid 70s John was in his pomp and the Argus was a massive beast with a circulation well over 100,000 and five editions a day.
    Brighton and Hove Albion are not any old team and the supporters are demanding and opinionated. I know, because I am one.
    There wasn’t much John didn’t know about what was happening at the club and his match reports, dictated line-by-line to the large team of Saturday afternoon copytakers, were always works of art.
    Likewise with the cricket. John made it look so easy but he filled those pages with sparkling stuff with the likes of Jim Parks and Tony Grieg smashing the ball all over the County Ground.
    When footballers and cricketers got up to mischief away from the sporting arena, John would (as with all the best sports reporters) show utter disdain and make it very clear that this was news and nothing to do with him. His contacts book remained closed.
    So it was my job to chase the very famous defender whose private life hit the national headlines. Or speak to the first team cricketer who crawled across the sloping roof of his house after a “domestic incident”.
    It took a few years, but I won john around and behind that hard exterior was a warm and funny man who was always at the top of his game. A true sporting legend. A true Argus legend.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(2)
  • October 11, 2011 at 10:04 am
    Permalink

    It was my pleasure to work with John on several magazines at Portman Publishing, after he left the Argus.

    Obviously I knew of him before then as his reputation in local newspaper circles as a reporter went before him.

    He was professionally superb and personally wonderful company. A great raconteur with a wicked sense of humour. I always looked up to him and enjoyed spending time with him.

    A very sad loss. My thoughts are with his family.

    Dave Bowers

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • October 11, 2011 at 2:35 pm
    Permalink

    John was one of the truly good guys among those who choose to stay as a big fish in the regional pond rather than move on to make their name – as he surely could have done any time – at one of the nationals.

    In the 60s and early 70s, when I followed Reading around the lower league outposts as sports editor of the Reading Chronicle, John was among a group of stalwarts we met twice a season, shared a drink and a yarn with and could always rely on for transfer tip-offs and a phone chat along the way when relevant.

    Sad though his passing is, getting to 82 is, I suppose, not a bad innings, and I’m sure he would not have swapped his journalistic life with anyone. Watching the Albion, even in their lower league struggles, and Sussex cricket, for a living is not a bad way to spend a career.

    It wasn’t all Bovril at the Goldstone or cucumber sandwiches at Hove, along with that came the serious business of identifying, and telling, the story in a factual and interesting way. Modesty probably prevented him relishing what great pleasure his writing brought to readers of the Argus over so many years …and the way our industry is now unfolding, he would probably have agreed that those of us in or around his generation had the best of it.

    Circulation of the Argus in John’s heyday, 100,000-plus. Now 25,000 if they’re lucky. Circulation of the Reading Chronicle in my time there, 40,000-plus. Now 7,000 on a good week.

    Thanks for the memories John, and RIP.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • October 11, 2011 at 5:05 pm
    Permalink

    We first met more than 40 years ago when I had the pleasure of working alongside John on the Argus sports desk. He covered the Albion, I covered the Sussex football scene.
    It wasn’t long before I was marvelling at John’s knowledge of sport in general.
    For, while his role as the sports writer covering Albion gave him his most frequent and high-profile platform, when you worked with John you came to realise that it was his even greater knowledge of golf, cricket and boxing which commanded even more respect.
    I had been playing golf on Friday near my home in Spain before returning to open an e-mail from a friend and former colleague who told me the sad news.
    I had thought about John on that very day as I managed to play out of a poor lie and recalled how John had taught me that very same shot.
    But it was not unusual to think about ‘Vinners’ when on the course. He taught me so many things about the game, including etiquette – he was a great stickler for that!
    When I left the Argus in ’75 to cover Oxford United I always looked forward to returning for the Albion-Oxford games and to welcoming John on his visits to the Manor Ground.
    Thanks for the memories, John (Dear Boy!)

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • October 11, 2011 at 6:02 pm
    Permalink

    When I was sports editor of the Sussex Express in the ’70s I wrote a piece to the effect that Peter Taylor was likely to take on the Brighton and Hove Albion management role solo following the departure of Brian Clough. When this prediction proved correct, my editor complimented me in his leader column and enquired when I was going to tip some horses. I hadn’t the heart to tell him that my ‘brilliant’ prediction had been based on a spot-on hunch by the great John Vinicombe in the Argus! I wallowed in reflected glory then; I salute a master of his craft now. My condolences to his family.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • October 11, 2011 at 6:21 pm
    Permalink

    IT should be noted that John’s correct prediction that Peter Taylor would manage the Albion without Clough might have had something to do with the fact that Taylor’s daughter Wendy was a reporter on the Argus at the time!

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(2)
  • October 12, 2011 at 3:47 pm
    Permalink

    John was one of the old school – like myself and Robin Perry at the Evening Post in Bristol – who worked in the days when genuine stories made back page leads, unlike the will-he-won’t he recover from a toothache to play on Saturday stuff we now have to endure.

    We dug for news and had no internet to rely on to make our lives easier. We spoke to players, officials, managers, players, supporters and were far closer to the hub of clubs than youngsters today are permitted to be by PROs and officialdom that seems to dictate what is reported and written.

    Evening paper reporters were always willing to exchange ideas, stories and background news – in fact, we relied on this co-operation – and John was one of that kind.

    Our paths crossed for decades, at Hove and in Bristol both for the cricket and football. We got on well, respected each other’s work and always helped one another. He represented a branch of sports journalism I was proud to share.

    But, despite us both being involved in golf writing since leaving our respective papers, later contact was limited. The good old days were surely in a vibrant, competitive world of evening newspapers that sadly is of a bygone age.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(2)