I KNOW some readers will be in a bit of a younger demographic, but for those of us who remember it, The Echo’s Sports Pink was legendary.
I still have bags full of cuttings from my career at home, and a lot of those come from The Pink, which I used to queue up to get on a Saturday evening.
The world’s very different now, and everything is instant – match coverage, reaction, analysis, it’s all on the Daily Echo immediately after full-time.
But back in the day, in the 80s, 90s and 2000s, if you were a sportsperson or Saints fan, you would be rocking up at your local newsagents or garage.
Vans used to dash around all the outlets in town, taking the newspaper from the printers, and you’d be stood waiting for them to come at around 6pm.
A cartoon of me drawn by Don ‘Oz’ Osman(Image: Franny Benali)
I don’t know how they used to turn them around in that time. From my memories, there would also be the big front page from Graham Hiley at the Saints game.
As I am writing, I’m flicking through one slightly newer edition now – it was released in 1996, and it cost 28p. You could not get much for that nowadays!
There are reports, interviews and features inside, and there was always a spot-the-ball competition, which you’d comb through, fill in and send off.
It covered all kinds of sports, not just the local football and junior football, so it was almost like the go-to paper to get all your sports on the weekend.
Over the years, I’ve collected pages from as far back as when I scored a goal with Winsor United in the Tyro League and got a little mention.
Then it would be from my times with Southampton Schoolboys, and I think there is a feature from when I played for England Schoolboys when I was 15.
And needless to say, I have got a few copies of the day I scored my goal. I think my family brought quite a few of those to me, the paper sold well that week.
It’s a real nostalgic thing, and I don’t know why they did the pink paper colour-wise, but it was quite clever in a way and it made it instantly recognisable.
I remember my grandfather would buy one and when I started playing for Southampton Schoolboys, I might get a little mention, which I’d look out for.
I think we all know paper’s are probably a bit of a dwindling thing with the modern-age and technology, but my father-in-law is still a daily purchaser.
I know many people still are, so it’s something that many people enjoy, and hopefully enjoy what I contribute with a piece in on the Saturday each week.
One of the reasons I am writing about this today was because I’d come across some little cartoons of myself that I had kept hold of all these years.
You may remember Oz, or Don Osman, as the Echo’s cartoonist, who contributed over 15,000 cartoons to the paper before sadly passing in 1999.
Another one of my favourite ‘Oz’ cartoons(Image: Franny Benali)
He was a journalist first and foremost throughout his career, but he was extremely talented with the pencil too and I always liked to see his illustrations.
I got to know him personally when I asked to do a few bits for my testimonial, and it’s always nice to take a moment and look back on my life in that way.
He must have been an intelligent guy because he seemed to have knowledge about everything – his cartoons would literally cover every topic.
If there was something political going on, he’d do something, he’d do the sports side of it, and if there was something locally that was a big story.
He always had a view and opinion and put it in an amusing way or a thought-provoking way through his cartoons, which was always interesting to see.
I have to thank my wife, Karen, because she’s always been the one who puts together a little scrap book, and there’s a few on the shelf to look through.
I think that in an era where things are so instantaneous and can be intense, the chance to sit back and flick through your memories in physical form is brilliant.
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