One of the traditions in recent years has been that of a Sky Sports reporter giving live updates from outside a Premier league stadium or in some cases training ground, however that has been stopped this year for the sfaety of the reporters.
The positioning of a Sky News reporter outside a stadium etc in truth was nothing more than a colourful addition to liven up deadline days, I cant remember any of them actually coming out with a real scoop about a big deal no one knew about, mostly it was just about embellishing the story and pointing at a brightly lit stadium and insinuating that a certain player was in there at that very moment, indeed i can rarely remember even a sight of said player on camera.
But in recent years it had a more sinister tone, early years saw reporters struggling to find someone for a quote outside a deserted football stadium at 11pm on a clod winters night, but that changed and in recent years reporters have struggled to give their reports as crowds got bigger and then more boisterous.
A certain element at each club thought it hilarious to jostle for space in front of the camera and with each transfer deadline day the behaviour got worse, some just thought it funny to merely shout out things like hello mum, whilst others thought shouting obscenities on live TV would make them the hero of their social peers.
But in the past year it has got worse, reporters although not being physically violently attacked would be subjected to minor assault like having their hair ruffled or ears flicked in some cases , with one having the ignomity of a sex toy being poked in his ear.
To date no members of a deadline day crowd have been signed up for their own comedy series, but that didnt deter them from turning up to try and get their five seconds of fame.
But enough is enough for Sky and this year there will be no reporters outside grounds for fear of the safety of the reporters and camera crew, the next step would be someone would get hurt be it a Sky news employee or a member of the crowd who in their clamour for fleeting fame would eventually get the hump with one another and come to blows.