Renowned Northern Ireland sports editor, Dr. Malcolm Brodie receives 2007 Texaco Sportstars Special Achievement Award
DUBLIN, IRELAND 11 DECEMBER 2007 – Renowned Northern Ireland sports journalist and editor, Dr. Malcolm Brodie, is the recipient of this year's 2007 Texaco Sportstars Special Achievement Award. Sports editor and football correspondent of the Belfast Telegraph for more than four decades, the Award is presented to Dr. Brodie in recognition of his distinguished service to sport and the profession of sports journalism.
A member of the Texaco Sportstars selection panel from 1958, the year after its inauguration, until 1992, Dr. Brodie is widely regarded as one of Northern Ireland's leading sports writers. He has won many awards - Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ulster; MBE in the Queen's Honours List; Northern Ireland Sports Writer of the Year, 1979; highly commended in the British Journalism Awards, 1979, 1983 and 1986; inaugural recipient of the British Journalists Association prestigious Doug Gardiner Award, 1991, for outstanding services to the profession and the Paul Harris Award from World International Rotary for journalism and community service - a unique recognition for a non-Rotarian.
FIFA Football's world governing body awarded him the gold replica of the Jules Rimet World Cup Trophy for setting a record in covering 13 World Cup Finals from 1954 and hopefully it could be 15 when South Africa comes around in a couple of years time. It is doubtful if it will ever be surpassed.
He has covered every Northern Ireland international football match, home and abroad, since the end of the Second World War; all post-War FA Cup Finals apart from four when he was on Northern Ireland duty; travelled with the Republic on their European Championship adventures to Italy, USA and Japan/South Korea; establishing a rapport with managers from Jackie Carey to Jack Charlton; world title fights in the United States and followed the careers of Rinty Monaghan, a previous Texaco Hall of Fame winner, Barry McGuigan, Johnny Caldwell and Freddie Gilroy on the great occasions at the King's Hall, Belfast.
He is the author of 12 books including 'The Tele' the official history of the Belfast Telegraph and the official histories of the Irish Football Association, the Irish League, Linfield, Glentoran and Glenavon. Another was Anatomy of A Star on George Best whom he knew from boyhood.
Charity has played a major part in his life. He was secretary of the fund raising committee which established the Mary Peters running track complex in Belfast - a track for cross-community use - in recognition of Dame Mary's 1972 Olympic Gold Medal triumph at Munich. Each year since 1966 he has published the Northern Ireland Football Annual, described as the bible of the game there, which has raised more than stg£100,000 for across-the-board charities.
In the course of an illustrious career, he has travelled to every part of the globe. He has covered many major stories from the Manchester United Munich air crash; the Ibrox Park disaster, in which 66 Rangers fans were trampled to death on Stairway 13; interviewed world-renowned personalities such as Sir Donald Bradman, Pele, Maradona, Joe Louis, Bill Shankly, Matt Busby and legends of rugby, including Jackie Kyle, a former Texaco Sportstars winner, whom he considers epitomises the spirit of Olympic sport.
Acclaimed by his fellow professionals and those in sport for his principles and integrity, Dr. Brodie was born in Glasgow and was a war-time evacuee to Northern Ireland, where he completed his education. Still involved in journalism, he is an honorary life employee of the Belfast Telegraph and a columnist for them. He is also Northern Ireland sports correspondent for Rupert Murdoch's News International Group and the London Daily Telegraph.
The award will be presented to Dr. Brodie at the annual Texaco Sportstars Awards ceremony which takes place in Dublin tomorrow evening at which An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern TD will be guest of honour.
Introduced in 1970, the Texaco Sportstars Special Achievement Award is presented annually to those whose contribution to Irish sport is recognised by the judging panel yet who, by virtue of their role within the world of sport, cannot otherwise qualify to win a Texaco Sportstars award.
Commenting, Enda Riney, Country Chairman for Chevron, which owns the Texaco brand, described Dr. Brodie as ‘a true friend of the Texaco Sportstars Awards’. ‘His involvement as a member of the Texaco Sportstars selection panel over four decades contributed enormously in establishing the reputation which the Texaco Sportstars Awards enjoy today and in bringing them to the 50th anniversary which we celebrate this year’ Mr. Riney said.
-ENDS-
Notes to editors
1) There are approximately 230 Texaco-branded service stations in Ireland and more than 1,300 across Europe. Chevron (Ireland) Limited, an indirect and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chevron Corporation, operates in Ireland under the Texaco brand, also provides aviation refueling services at Dublin and Shannon Airports, has an extensive commercial and industrial fuels and lubricants business and holds an equity stake in four fuel storage facilities in the Republic of Ireland. For more information, visit www.texaco.ie
2) For further information on the Texaco Sportstars Awards, contact Don Hall, Hall PR on 01 660 9377 or email don@hall.ie. For more information on Chevron (Ireland) Ltd, contact Daniel Schraibman on 0044 207 719 4459 or email danielschraibman@chevron.com
3) Chevron Corporation is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies. The company has about 58,000 employees, and Chevron's subsidiaries conduct business in approximately 180 countries. Chevron operates across the entire energy spectrum-exploring for, producing and transporting crude oil and natural gas; refining, marketing and distributing fuels and other energy products; generating power; designing and marketing large-scale energy efficiency solutions; and commercializing the energy resources of the future, including biofuels and other renewables. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.
