By Alejandra Sanabria
Journalist Christian Martin embarks on a new challenge: to cover the war in Ukraine. The former rugby player spoke with The Economist about your feelings. Before that, she talked about his beginnings in the business.
How did you go from being a rugby player in Argentina to being a journalist in England?
At the age of 6 I had my diary in primary school. I made 100 copies and financed it by collecting advertising around my neighborhood in the businesses where my mother bought. The vocation to interview was always in me. Growing up, rugby is very competitive and I played for the biggest club, Club Atlético San Isidro. Our level was competitive but it was amateur. When we went abroad, they invited us to stay, to do some work experience. I first tried it in France, in ’94, but in ’96 rugby officially became professional. Since it was something new, sport acquired the status of work with rights and obligations. I was the first Argentine with a work contract in an English club, where everything was new, we continued working, studying, I took the opportunity to take courses at the BBC, and that is how the transition took place. I played five years professionally, I retired in 2000 and returned to the career of communicator.
Have you ever been interested in doing a sport, like football, that you always cover?
No, rugby, boxing, judo, and weights. Soccer is my job, but not to play it. I weigh 125 kilos, I need a taxi to play soccer.
How was the transition from sports journalist to news in general?
I’ve always done things outside of sport for European media, and I’ve also always done behind-the-scenes sports for FIFA and UEFA. I am a correspondent for Fox Sports in Europe where soccer was the predominant sport. But I always liked to read history, politics, economics, and maybe The first time I had the opportunity to show myself outside of sports was in the case of Emiliano Sala, where it involved an athlete, but it was a search where it involved elements other than those of sport. Search for a raft, a plane, in the English Channel, breaking cultural and language barriers, learning navigation. I like that on television, with the little time we have, people understand what we are explaining and that they find it relevant. If people understand it in minutes my job is done. I like to inform and be as objective as possible.
What was the moment you remember the most as a journalist?
On April 20, 2020, when I interviewed Adrián Hill, a scientist from the University of Oxford who was telling me how advanced the vaccine was and that it was going to be ready for that year, which ended up happening. I had the opportunity to give the world premiere. The next day the British Government reported it. When I listened to him I thought of the millions of people in my country and throughout Latin America in anguish. At a time of the pandemic where it was all darkness where showing a light at the end of the tunnel was an exciting, relevant, important satisfaction. I choose this moment that day.
Do you think you can get used to living in Argentina or another Latin American country?
In the United Kingdom I put together my family. My wife is French, my boys are English. It would be difficult. Not for me, but for the family yes. When you have a family, you evaluate everything as a family. Argentina has a lot of good but a lot of bad. The good thing is the people, the friends, the fun. But as for life, the injustice, the cruelty, the lack of basic services would be very complicated.
When was the last time you visited Argentina?
I was in 2019, in November.
When you left for Europe, Argentina was in a good moment…
It happened naturally, I left in ’94, I came to have an experience. I played in France, in England, in Wales. Physically it was hard and I am very proud of what I achieved, but I went back to normal life, I met my now wife, and then I was able to take British citizenship. My children were born in 2005 and 2009. That makes one have roots here. In 2016 I lost my parents, I have an aunt in Mendoza, my cousin lives in Madrid, so I only have friends in Argentina. The ties were breaking a little. I miss and love my country, I want to go back, although I don’t know if to live, but I miss it.
So they’re both foreigners in the UK…
Yes, and we adapt well. From two cultural sides we were adapting and complementing each other and the truth is that we are happy and we have formed a home from nothing. We are in neutral territory and it helps us. It’s still hard for us but we adapt. The English are structured, they are not ideal, no society is ideal. But it has allowed us to build a home. Now with so much technology, it may be that they are more sensitive than before, but I think that happens all over the world.. The big problem is alcoholism, which is something that does not fit me, because it is the way of socializing.
Now you are going to go to Poland because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, how do you feel?
It is a journey into the unknown. I know the country, but it is a war situation. We will try to respect the principle of communicating to people in a context that is understood from the other side of the world, and doing it in the most professional way possible. I try to put my emotions aside and it is a professional challenge. I’m not a war freak. I wish there was no war, that no one died. But I take it from the most professional point of view and that’s how I’m going to do it. I am the correspondent, I am careful, I am not suicidal or Superman.
What securities do they have?
There are protocols. It depends on where it is covered, it depends on how exposed it is, we are going to try not to take unnecessary risks, to cover without being tabloid, without being sensational. Show what a warlike conflict is that surprised us all and that many people did not expect.
What chance do you see of something happening in Poland?
Look, we’re going to try to get to the border with Ukraine, and you can’t say what’s going to happen because the Russians said they weren’t going to do what they did. Therefore, the possibility of crossing the border into a NATO member cannot be ruled out and that would be World War III. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen. With how quickly the Russians moved and how they surprised everyone, it would be unwise to say that it can happen.
