Tributes to Pat Gibson, passionate Grimsby Town reporter who became ‘best cricket writer in the business’

A former Grimsby Town reporter who went on to become one of Fleet Street’s most respected sports writers has died at the age of 81.

Tributes are being paid to Pat ‘Gibbo’ Gibson, who died at his home in Surrey following an illness. He leaves behind his devoted wife Enid, son Sean, two granddaughters, Kasia and Maya, and the many friends who loved him.

After learning his craft on the Telegraph, Pat went on to become one of the best cricket writers in the business and made friends around the world. He wrote for national newspapers including the Daily Mail, Daily Express and The Times.

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Pat was born in South Ferriby in 1942, to parents Sidney and Dorothy. He was the eldest of three children, with sister Susan and brother David.

He attended grammar school in Barton-upon-Humber and when he left at 16, he began work as a junior reporter for the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph. In the mid-Sixties, Pat achieved his lifelong dream when he landed the role of Grimsby Town correspondent, writing under the pen name “Blundell”.

It was through football reporting that he met his wife, Enid Bennett, who was a Scunthorpe United reporter for the Scunthorpe Star and subsequently the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph. Despite the rivalry between the two teams, the couple “still got along”.

Enid said: “I used to work for the Scunthorpe Star in the press box on a Saturday afternoon at the Old Show Ground – the old Scunthorpe football ground – and I was a keen Scunthorpe United fan, but he was a mad Grimsby Town fan. I moved to the Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph and we worked together in the Grimsby office.

“There was a big rivalry between the two teams, but we still managed to get along, and I’d work alongside him in the press box, in the days where you wrote all your copy down on paper. He was still a real fan until the end, following the games even while he was really ill. He always wanted to know what the Grimsby Town score was.”

Following his stint as a Mariners reporter, Pat worked for the Yorkshire Post and then the Nottingham Evening Post, before becoming a cricket correspondent in Fleet Street for the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Sunday Express. In his later years, Pat wrote for The Times and was the Chairman of the Cricket Writers’ Club.

During his career, Pat travelled all over the world alongside the England cricket team, making lifelong friends in the Caribbean, Pakistan, India, South Africa and New Zealand. Enid said: “He had a very dry sense of humour, he was very honest in his writing and very loyal to people. He was a loyal friend to many cricketers, umpires, managers, players and journalists.”

Son Sean said: “He was known for his sense of humour and for being very welcoming and supportive of junior colleagues. Sports was all-consuming for him – when he wasn’t watching sport for a living he was doing it for relaxation.

“He would spend the week covering cricket matches and would go to football on the weekend. Newspapers were a way of life for him, too, and he’d sit and read the newspapers to relax. We shared a passion for sports, that was how we communicated – watching Grimsby Town and cricket together, and playing football and cricket in the garden.”

Until his later years, Pat would travel to Grimsby to watch his team play at Blundell Park. “He was very connected with it and he was well known amongst his colleagues as a Grimsby fan, he never lost that connection to the region,” Sean said.

Poignant tributes to Pat have poured in. The Cricket Writers’ Club wrote: “We are deeply saddened to be sharing the news that our former chairman, Pat Gibson, passed away, aged 81, having been unwell for some time. Our thoughts are with Gibbo’s friends and family, especially his wife Enid.”

Neville Scott wrote: “Heard about Pat Gibson this morning with immense sadness. By coincidence, a band of we cricket writers had been meeting for autumn pints over the last two days and spoke of Pat a lot: he was, indisputably, the best in the business. And he showed me great kindness. A deep loss.

“In the Grimsby Telegraph, his first paper decades ago, Pat Gibson wrote pieces under the name ‘Blundell’. He was of course a massive Mariners fan. Aptly they retired the byline when he left. He was thus the last Blundell. And the last – and very best – of old-school cricket writers.”

Edward Bevan wrote: “Very sad news. Pat was a colleague for many years in various press boxes, an outstanding journalist and admired by many. RIP Gibbo,”

Nigel Gardner said: “Pat was one of the best in the business and a fine man. Enjoyed a pint and a good jazz band. It was a privilege to know him.”

Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe