There are still too few women working in sports journalism, but when Catherine Fraser joined The Times in 1999 there were no more than a handful on national newspapers. Over nine years, she burnished a reputation as a talented, witty and knowledgeable writer, more than able to hold her own in the press box with her male colleagues.
Catherine Riley, as she was, began her career in journalism at The Sporting Life and The Independent before moving to The Times. Hired as a Jill-of-all-trades, she could turn her hand to most sports and took on whatever tasks were thrown at her with good grace, even if through gritted teeth. They included passing herself off as Krystal Balls, a football astronomer.
Her main loves were motorsport and football, particularly as an Arsenal season-ticket holder. Promoted to deputy football editor, she helped to launch The Game, the Monday supplement, and reported on the 2002 World Cup from Japan and South Korea. Her normally meticulous organisation let her down when the birth of her daughter, Dulcie, coincided with the climax of the 2004 European championships, an error of timing compounded by the football editor having been allowed to go on honeymoon the same week.
In 2005, she became editor of the Bricks and Mortar property supplement, fulfilling a passion for home-building that had been sparked by motherhood. After a year, she returned to the sports department, taking up the post of motoring editor, a role normally held by middle-aged men in corduroy jackets. Colleagues recalled a woman who was strong-willed but fun. No one who worked with her could ever forget her idiosyncratic sneeze, either. It was said that a Riley “wiii-cheee” could pierce even the noisiest pit lane.
She was married twice, latterly to Dulcie’s father, Dominic Fraser, a photographer, from whom she was separated. In 2008, she returned to her family roots in Devon, where she worked as a journalist and for Exeter City FC. She is survived by Dulcie and by her partner, Jamie Vittles, who also works at the football club.
Advertisement
She had cancer diagnosed in 2013 after she volunteered for the sake of a story to test an innovative thermal imaging technique.
Catherine Fraser, journalist, was born on July 7, 1967. She died on August 24, 2015, aged 48