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AS people continue to spend more time at home owing to the covid19 pandemic, many are learning new skills and discovering hidden talents. This is no exception for 25-year-old David Scarlett who now hosts the podcast Biased Bruddas, which aims to give local football fans a voice.
Scarlett grew up in Princes Town and now lives in Gasparillo. He told Newsday his father and his three younger brothers were all involved in sports, which is how his love for it began.
“Dad played basketball and football, all my brothers grew up in athletics and football…So sports is basically our thing but I’m the only one interested in pursuing it as a career.”
He competed in 200-metre and 400m sprints with Chiropractic Brooklyn Sports Club which also produced Olympic medalists Machel Cedenio and Ade Alleyne-Forte.
But he said his involvement in athletics “plummeted” after an unfortunate event.
“The year I was aiming for (the) Carifta (Games) (2010), the club split up after our coach – Zeno Constance – died.
“One of the coaches – Alicia Tyson – stayed on and tried to keep the club alive but she was basically on her own and couldn’t keep it running for too long. And when the club collapsed, so did my athletic career.”
But it was when he began attending Naparima College that he decided to try football. He played for the under-14 and under-16 teams while there.
“But later on, my dad kind of pushed me more into the academic side for me to focus on CSEC and CAPE examinations.”
But this came as a blessing in disguise. Despite no longer playing, he was still actively involved in the sport. He founded the school’s Sports Media Association which is still up and running today.
“So I was always in around the team, covering games and giving updates and commentary. And from that, it’s kind of where my interest in sports journalism formed.”
But he also had a love for information technology (IT) throughout secondary school. Because of this, he wanted to do tertiary studies in database management.
“But UWI (The University of the West Indies) didn’t offer what I was looking to do…So I looked at other options and came to the conclusion that sports management was the next best thing to me.”
Still taking a bit of a risk as he was not 100 per cent sure what he wanted to do after graduating, he did a bachelor's degree in sports management which he completed in four years.
[caption id="attachment_872909" align="alignnone" width="683"] Host of the Biased Bruddas football podcast David Scarlett. - CHEQUANA WHEELER[/caption]
“I think it was just going into it and seeing what would happen, I didn’t have a clear-cut plan and goal at the end. I just took things step by step
“The first year was a struggle because I didn’t have a background in economics and accounts…But from the time you get into year two, it is okay.”
He is also a qualified level three referee and his interest in this type of work began when he was unexpectedly asked to be a linesman at a match in 2011.
“I was playing under-16 but for that game, I was on the bench and only the referee came. He didn’t come with any assistants so he needed a substitute player from each side to run the line and I immediately jumped at the opportunity.
“I always liked everything in football from coaching to refereeing to playing and from that day, my interest in refereeing just soared. Instead of wanting to play, I wanted to be a linesman or referee.”
After graduating from UWI, he did the CFA (Central Football Association) referee course and was doing so well that he was allowed to cover games before completing it.
“It’s been good it’s a learning experience. Refereeing is something that you have to unlearn everything you know about football. What you think you know, you don’t’ really know after reading through the law. So I had a lot of unlearning to do. And now, I enjoy refereeing more than playing.”
Also after UWI, he applied for two English universities to do his master’s in sports journalism – Sheffield Hallam University and St Mary’s Twickenham University. He got accepted to both but chose the former.
He was supposed to begin in 2019 but his family started a business which led to most of the cash that would have been used to assist him being invested into that.
And then in 2020, the covid19 pandemic happened. Luckily, he can defer for up to two years and the university is also taking the pandemic into consideration.
He recalled that he started an online blog called The Football 4Tress in 2011 and a then YouTube channel in 2019 and began wondering what else he could do to remain productive during the pandemic.
“That (blog) came about from me just asking people if they wanted to see articles from me for the FIFA World Cup. So, I started it based on that and from the articles I said I wanted to make things visual and I started a YouTube channel.
“For the first show was w a guy called Chris and we review Premier League games and games around Europe and things with the national team.”
The YouTube show Biased Bruddas began in early 2020 but after the group was unable to meet physically, again because of the pandemic, Scarlett said he “spent the whole of August trying to think of something to do before the new Premier League season started.
“I realised more people were becoming interested in listening to podcasts and giving fans a voice was basically my goal…I was never one to talk on that level so I had to get out of my comfort zone for a bit as well.”
It officially launched in September 2020.
He has since had guests like former senior men’s national team captain Kenwyne Jones, sports journalist Lasana Liburd, national defender Aubrey David, among others. He hopes to also interview former national players Shaka Hislop and Stern John.
“We started to contact players and coaches and try to bring them on the show. We got Weslie John. It was an honour to have him on and for him to open up and speak about his experiences.”
But other than these interviews, he and around 12 other football fans simply discuss local and international football. From managers to kits to squad depth, they speak about all of it.
His friend, fellow member of the podcast and sometimes co-host Jomo Johnson shared similar sentiments, saying, “The experience has been an enjoyable one. I’m a fan of the local game – definitely. So, to get the opportunity to speak with players, hear their experiences…
“I think plenty of times, the interviews with players expressing their views and opinions (locally) isn’t really done.”
He said he hopes when the pandemic is over and local leagues resume, they would be able to reach out to even more players for these more casual, relaxed interviews.
There are also some women on the podcast and Scarlett believes having female voices are always important.
“I think that women and girls are underrepresented when it comes to fan opinions. A lot of people who have such shows and podcast barely have women giving their opinion.”
The podcast is on various streaming platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Radio Public and Overcast.
He said his long-term goal is to be involved in international sports media.
 
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