RIP Bob Crampsey

Very sad news to hear that Bob Crampsey had passed away at the age of 78.

I had the privilege of hearing the great man doing an after-dinner speech in the Gorgie Suite a few years ago for the Hearts Shareholders’ Association, and he was everything that you would have expected and more.

The one thing about Crampsey that struck me the most (and others it would seem from the many tributes I’ve seen pouring in from the football world), was that his extensive knowledge was not limited to just the game of football. That unique, ‘gravelly’ voice was able to deliver anecdotes covering a large number of subjects, and it was with no lesser wisdom that this renowned historian did so even when it bore the littlest of relevances to the beautiful game.

I’m sure that everyone knows people who like to ‘talk a good game’ – you know the sort, they can project themselves so impressively that they sound as though they are highly knowledgeable about their choice of subject, even if the truth is in fact quite the opposite. Politicians can be masters of this, as can brown-nosing middle-management staff in offices, who tend to take a few pieces of information that they know a little bit about and use that as the basis for making them sound like Einstein on all manner of topics! It’s very annoying for the majority of people in life, but nonetheless can be a very useful skill to have – it takes a lot to question someone who sounds 100% confident about what they are saying.

Thankfully Bob Crampsey was the real deal when it came to knowing his stuff, and he was frequently able to show up those who fell into the above category when he was in their company, particularly pretenders such as Chick Young or James Traynor on BBC radio’s Sportsound programme. Not that the Bob would have deliberately done so of course – Crampsey didn’t appear to have a malicious bone in his body, but he would regularly be able to correct his colleagues in his own unique non-offensive way, and it was truly marvellous to hear the likes of Young being embarrassed behind the microphone by the seemingly photographic-memory of Crampsey at times. It was all done in such a matter-of-fact way too, and it said much of the esteem in which he was held that very seldom did anyone seriously question him – Bob Crampsey was not a man to say something simply for the sake of it, and everyone knew it. If you wanted to argue, then you’d better have been prepared to do so with hard facts!

Sadly now that Crampsey is gone, I fear that we may never see his like again in the sporting media. The ‘old professors’ of the past, people whom you could genuinely feel as though you learned from after listening to an hour or two of their eloquently put words (golf’s Peter Alliss would be another good example of this), seem to be getting phased out in favour of controversy-seeking amateurs, which is of course a great shame. I do hope this is a trend that does start to reverse at some point though.

As for Mr Crampsey, he is definitely a man who left a considerable mark on life in this country, and someone who will most definitely be sadly missed. RIP Bob.