David Norrie, the long-time cricket and rugby correspondent for the News of the World, is the latest established sportswriter to leave the Wapping titles as a consequence of News International’s round of redundancies.
The redundancies will see News International’s four national titles axe nearly 100 journalists, or around 7% of its editorial workforce, to save more than £30 million.
Dave Thomas, sports editor at Sun Online, is another to be leaving, and while the sports desk at the Sunday Times appears to have escaped the cuts, it seems that David Walsh, the former chief sports correspondent and a past SJA Sportswriter of the Year, will not be rejoining the newspaper as previously planned.
At The Times, sports news correspondent John Goodbody and athletics specialist David Powell both announced their departures last month.
Norrie, who has been covering rugby for the News of the World since 1979, had made his decision some time ahead of last night’s announcement that Paul McCarthy was to take over as sports editor at the News of the World.
“I had a very enjoyable 21 years as the News of the World‘s cricket correspondent plus 28 years as the rugby man,” Norrie told sportsjournalists.co.uk.
Norrie has always been a prolific writer, ghosting a library’s-worth of sports books, most recently including the official biography of Darren Gough, as well as working with commentry legends Richie Benaud and Murray Walker, former England rugby captains Will Carling and Roger Uttley, and with cricket skipper Michael Atherton, who of course has gone on to become a respected sportswriter since hanging up his batting pads.
In recent winters, with the England cricket team earning the SJA’s plaudits following the Ashes victory of 2005, Norrie has been a great help to the Association in making players such as Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan available for our satellite link-ups to the SJA Sports Awards.
A director of Colorsport, the photographic agency, Norrie will continue his involvement in the business. “As regards my future, I’ve got some other business interest and I will spend the rest of the summer chilling out and taking a careful look at my options,” he said.
He can continue to be contacted at t: 01306 631922 m: 07836 572166 and e: davidnorrie@btinternet.com.
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