Sky Sports apologises for deadline day chaos as reporter forced to flee after … – Telegraph.co.uk

The Palace incident was the most serious of several to mar Sky Sports News
HQ’s biggest day of the year, all of them involving members of the public
attempting to disrupt updates from its team of roving reporters.

Ofcom received eight complaints from viewers who witnessed one man shout
something obscene about a sex act – a copycat example of an incident that
has dogged several live broadcasts in the United States recently.

One reporter had a sex aid waved in his face, with a blow-up doll making an
appearance during another on-location update.

A third reporter, Gary Cotterill, resorted to using a can of the vanishing
spray that has been introduced to English football in order to keep members
of the public at a safe distance – to little avail.

Monday was not the first time Sky Sports News HQ’s deadline day coverage had
fallen foul of attempts to disrupt it but previous incidents were arguably
less serious in nature.

A Sky Sports spokesman said: “Millions of viewers followed our coverage
of Transfer Deadline Day, which included more than 270 live reporter updates
from outside football clubs over the final 24 hours.

“We apologise to those whose enjoyment was spoiled by a small number of
incidents and we’re looking into ways to avoid this happening again in the
future whilst ensuring fans remain a key part our live coverage.”

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