Never mind doing it on a cold night in Leicester, how about then having to do it all over again the following night in Mansfield?
For Bryn Law, veteran sports reporter and lifelong Wrexham supporter, braving the elements to work when anyone sensible has their feet up at home in front of the fire is nothing new.
What set this weekend apart, however, is he is spending back-to-back evenings commentating on two clubs who have dominated his footballing affections, Wrexham and Leeds United — where in three decades charting the goings-on at Elland Road he’s experienced promotion, famous European victories and surviving a plane crash.
Law’s hectic weekend is due to the demands of his television work, with Sky Sports shifting Leeds’ trip to Championship leaders Leicester City to the Friday for live coverage, while Welsh language channel S4C opted to show Saturday’s FA Cup first-round tie between Mansfield Town and Wrexham 24 hours later.
“Wrexham have always been my team,” says Law, now into his fifth season as head commentator for Leeds’ in-house channel, LUTV, after previously covering the Yorkshire club for BBC Radio Leeds and Sky Sports News.
“There’s a total emotional investment, whether I’m there working or just as a fan. But, after all these years covering Leeds, where there’s been good times and some very bad times, how could I not have an affinity there, too?”
Law commentating on a Wrexham match for BBC Wales last season (Photo: Bryn Law)
The Athletic has joined Law, a former president of the Wrexham Supporters Trust when the Welsh club was fan-owned, for his own personal double-header. With his preparations for the two games done, the conversation turns to the previous Saturday when Leeds beat Huddersfield Town 4-1 and Phil Parkinson’s Wrexham side beat promotion rivals Notts County.
“It’s rare when things work out like last weekend,” he says. “Often, one will win but the other won’t. A prime example came last season when I commentated on Fulham versus Leeds at lunchtime and then raced to The Racecourse for the Boreham Wood game.
“The ultimate day of contrasts, with a big nail put in Leeds’ relegation coffin by losing the 12.30pm kick-off and then Wrexham winning promotion later that evening. If there was ever a day that sums up the relationship I have with the two clubs, that was it.”
Stansted Airport, London. March 30, 1998.
George Graham’s Leeds have just lost 3-0 at West Ham United in the Premier League. The mood is downcast as the players, staff and corporate supporters wait for take-off on their already delayed flight home from the capital.
“We’d been sitting on there for ages when the plane finally took off,” says Law, then working for Radio Leeds and the only journalist on board. “As we left the tarmac and the plane started to climb, the engine on the right-hand wing suddenly exploded and caught fire.
“Robert Molenaar, the big centre-half, had watched it happen so told us all straight away. You could feel the heat through the window. The plane was still climbing at this stage so the crew immediately called out for us to adopt the crash position.
“I’ll admit I thought this was it, that we weren’t going to survive. Either the engine would completely explode and take the plane with it. Or we’d crash land somewhere.”
GO DEEPER
‘I saw the sparks as we went down the runway. Then I saw the explosion. We all feared for our lives’
As a sense of terror gripped the cabin, flight captain John Hackett had two options: either keep climbing, as protocol dictated, to starve the fire of oxygen, or bring the Hawker Siddeley 748 aircraft down from its height of 250ft and hope to touch down on some part of Stansted’s unusually long runway. He opted for an emergency landing.
“Our first contact was with the end of the runway and then the plane bounced,” recalls Law, “ending up nose down on the turf about 200ft from the M11 motorway. Any further and it would have been carnage.
“The next shout from the crew was how the plane could blow up because the fire was still burning and we had to get off. Norman (Hunter, former United defender and then Radio Leeds’ summariser) always used to complain about his dodgy knees but he was up and gone like a shot! I was a step behind him.”
Law, right, with Hunter while working for Radio Leeds (Photo: Bryn Law)
Once all the passengers, including the 18 players plus coaches David O’Leary and Eddie Gray, had been accounted for at the side of the runway and ferried back to the terminal by bus, Law broke the news via a call to BBC Radio Five Live. He spent the next few days fielding calls from the world’s media.
Such a terrifying experience, plus all those years covering the often tumultuous goings-on at Elland Road, explains the bond he feels with Leeds. It is why even initially calling the wrong goalscorer in a 1-0 win for Daniel Farke’s men against Leicester couldn’t spoil his Friday night.
“I did wake up at 3am and the first thing I thought about was calling Sam Byram as the scorer when his header had been saved and Georginio Rutter fired in the rebound,” he says.
“I delayed as long as possible, as I really wasn’t sure. Even the TV camera picked out Byram celebrating so they weren’t sure, either. The main thing, though, is Leeds won.”
There are no such problems 24 hours later when identifying Sam Dalby and Paul Mullin as the goalscoring heroes in a 2-1 triumph over Nigel Clough’s Mansfield. He and former Wales international Malcolm Allen did, though, have to cope with their TV monitors temporarily going down as the teams walked out of the tunnel before kick-off.
It meant having to second guess what pictures the producer was showing during the Remembrance commemorations, including the playing of the Last Post. Happily, the monitors came back to life moments before the tie got under way.
Almost 40 years have passed since Law’s first foray into commentating on Wrexham games for the local hospital radio, where he learned many valuable lessons.
“There was this dull 0-0 draw against Stockport we did in the days when commentary was shared between me and this older guy who had been doing it for donkey’s years,” he says. “I looked across a few minutes after he’d handed over to me and saw he was asleep. I realised then I had to liven up my delivery a bit.”
Since then, Law has commentated on Wrexham games for Marcher Sound and, more recently, BBC Radio Wales. Then there were his near 20 years with Sky Sports, which included the 2007 final day relegation shoot-out against Boston United at The Racecourse to decide who would drop into non-League.
Few, least of all Soccer Saturday host Jeff Stelling, will forget the tears of joy rolling down Law’s cheeks on screen at the final whistle as Wrexham secured their League status with a 2-1 win.
Law with Malcolm Allen commentating on Wrexham against Mansfield (Photo: Bryn Law)
Tonight is a lot less stressful than that infamous afternoon, even allowing for this being his commentating debut for S4c. “There’s honestly no better feeling than commentating on a Wrexham win,” he says. “I can’t pretend otherwise. Nights like this — and Leeds’ win at Leicester, to be fair — make this not feel like a job at all.
“Last year was so up and down, with the atmosphere at Wrexham games so upbeat and in total contrast to Leeds, where the defeats took their toll on everyone. It was hard to get up for games at times, such was the low mood.
“Thankfully that is no longer the case. From what I’ve seen — not just this weekend at Leicester and Mansfield, but also in recent weeks — I’m pretty confident that both teams are going to give it a right good go.”
Microphones packed away, Law is ready for home. We, though, have one last question. Leeds and Wrexham have never met in a competitive match. What happens if they ever do?
“I’d obviously want Wrexham to win,” he says, quick as a flash. “But I suppose the big thing would be how I commentated on it for LUTV. I’ve been in a similar position before, when commentating on Wrexham v Bradford City for Radio Leeds.
“Chris Kamara, at the time a Bradford player but injured so not involved in the game, was my co-commentator. Wrexham were 5-0 up at half-time and Kammy was angry. Very angry, in fact. That meant I had to be suitably appalled at how Bradford had been absolutely blitzed, even if inside I felt very different.
“The funny thing is I got a letter a few days later from a Bradford fan, how he had felt my sadness at how bad things had gone. So, I must have been convincing!”
GO DEEPER
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(Top photo: Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney with Law earlier this season; by Malcolm Couzens via Getty Images)
