Sport-Express has been setting trends in sports journalism for 35 years

The newspaper Sport-Express, which at one time overturned the usual idea of sports journalism, celebrates its birthday. Exactly 35 years ago, the first issue of the publication was published. The newspaper immediately became one of the most widely read in the country. She still does not give up her leading position, showing with every publication who sets modern trends. Pavel Matveev, a correspondent for Izvestia, told about this on August 14.

On your birthday, you can afford a little pathos and say that the lives of fans in August 1991 were divided into "before" and "after". Then the first issue of Sport-Express was published. Even the football workshop gurus were perplexed by the four pages only about football with numbers and analytics.

"I tell them, 'Why are you talking so thoroughly about everything?' And they answered me.: "We will work in a new way," said Yuri Semin, former head coach of Lokomotiv and the Russian national team.

Sport-Express was founded by people from Soviet Sports, who became cramped within the proposed framework. In those years, the publication did not hold the banner of Soviet sports. Something new was needed.

"It was a real revolution. Everything that happened yesterday should be in the newspaper today. This now seems to be the absolute norm. Back then, this was not the norm," explained Igor Rabiner, a Russian sports journalist and columnist for the Sport-Express newspaper.

Current sports stars and even former ones literally grew up on "SACKS" — that's what "Sport Express" is still called by the people. In those years, Andrei Arshavin, who later scored four goals for Liverpool in one match, also ran for a newspaper.

"Grandma was selling the newspaper Sport-Express on Victory Park, and she only had three or four issues, and she left it to me. I bought it and read it on the way to school," the football player shared.

This is probably the main secret of the publication. "SE" is not just about points, goals, and seconds. These are personal stories, including those of the current editor-in-chief: in 2004, he came to get a job.

"There was a live queue near the editorial office on Krasin Street. 200 people came. These are the people who were standing at the entrance. Other people were passing by, laughing, asking, "What's the deal, can we get in line too?" Yes, I came early and stood in line too. I was taken upstairs to the editorial office. When I saw 200 people, I didn't even think they would hire me. That's what Sport Express is for me. That's how it started for me from the inside," said Maxim Maksimov, the newspaper's editor—in-chief.

This is personal for everyone — journalists, athletes, and fans.

"When the trees were big and the prices were different, the Sport Express at the kiosk near the house cost 8 rubles, and at the subway — six. The toad is suffocating. You go and buy from the subway for six. And it smells so good that then you take another coffee for 10 and sit on the bench until you finish reading it," the journalist said.

Much attention is paid to the Russian language at SE. What is only the sarcastic "railroaders" worth, when the strong at that time "Locomotive" did not beat the Macedonian club "Workers". What are the reports of Alexander Belenky about boxing, in which there was less boxing than literature, not to mention the "Conversations on Fridays" by Yuri Golyshak and Alexander Kruzhkov. This is a poem that has stretched over the years: the personal stories of people of sports and near-sports for a whole strip.

"I recently visited the Alexei Tolstoy Museum on Nikitskaya Street, and after the tour we talked with the guide. He was just stunned, he said, "Is this really the "Friday Night Conversation"?" It's such a revelation that people read it all, that people somehow perceive it that way. And every time it's a great pleasure for me," said sports columnist Yuri Golyshak.

In the digital age, there are many sources of information — it is difficult to compete. But Sport-Express does not follow trends, but sets them, just as it did 35 years ago.

The Silenced Voice: how Vladimir Molchanov changed television

How did colleagues and friends remember the host of one of the most popular perestroika programs?

On August 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Sport-Express on its 35th anniversary. The Head of State noted the contribution of the journalists who stood at the origins of the publication. According to him, they shaped the direction of the newspaper's development, the style of presentation of materials and the high standards of the editorial staff.

Putin stressed that Sport-Express promotes the values of physical culture among society. The President also wished the newspaper's staff new successes and inspiration.