A dispute between Hartlepool United and two of its local newspapers ended with some of the media being barred from reporting games. The Hartlepool Mail was red-carded in 2008 by the club for refusing to sign a commercial agreement, then the Northern Echo was barred for supplying the Mail with match photographs. While the dispute ground on the Echo reported from the terraces instead of the press box and got around the photography ban by producing a Roy of the Rovers-style strip cartoon of the day’s action.
