Football’s post-match interview is a peculiar institution
Earlier this week a clip featuring Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland went viral on social media. Unusually, it wasn’t a video clip of one of his many beautiful goals, but instead a post-match interview.
Conducted by broadcaster Viaplay during his time with former club Red Bull Salzburg after a Champions League, Haaland is asked how it feels to be youngest player in Champions League history to score a first half hat-trick.
His answer? “I feel very good.”
The clip, which has been online for months but was this week shared by a prominent journalist, led to number of discussions – initially about how reserved Haaland appeared on camera, and furthermore about the purpose of post-match interviews as a whole.
Do they play an important role still? Or in this age when players are over burdened with media commitments, is it unrealistic to expect true insight after they’ve played 90 intense minutes?
We spoke to Adam Hurrey, a football journalist at The Athletic and the man behind Football Cliches, who explained why we should perhaps change our expectations of post-match interviews, and enjoy them for what they are.
"Fundamentally you're dealing with people that don't want to speak to you."@FootballCliches explains the awkward art of the post-match interview. pic.twitter.com/kOEs6HvNHe
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) May 20, 2020
