Ball in their corner

Jason Dasey and Jay Menon

THE look in her eyes says it all. No, she’s not in love but babelicious Mix.FM deejay Jayshini Menon obviously digs her co-host on Astro’s latest football offering, FourFourTwo, a weekly football news and magazine programme that will hit the screens this Tuesday on Astro SuperSport, Channel 811.

More popularly known as Jay, she says: “Before I met Jason two months ago, I actually ran a search on him on the Net.” Jason is Aussie Jason Dasey, the extremely experienced sportscaster whom she’s paired with in her maiden outing as a sports presenter.

“Can you believe the amount of ‘hits’ there are on this guy? He’s like… huge!” But, adds Jay, despite his veteran status in the industry (30 years in journalism and broadcasting), Dasey was surprisingly without airs when they first met. “I was expecting someone who’d be blowing his own trumpet, but no… he’s not like that at all.” Dasey, who’s worked for the likes of the BBC, CNN and ESPN, isn’t short of admiration either for the versatile DJ-model-actress either.

“Jay’s an experienced performer in the media. I’m the seasoned journalist, the guy who’s worked everywhere and been around football.

What I was looking for was someone who could balance that… someone who could connect with the Malaysian public.” The Sydney-born, 47-yearold Aries continues: “The thing about Jay is that she’s been successful in many areas. So in many ways, this is a new frontier, a new challenge for her. Can she make it as a sports host? It can open up many different areas in the media.” Looking encouragingly at Jay, the Queens Park Rangers (QPR) fan adds: “We’ve seen how female sports hosts have boomed in the last five to 10 years. I’ve worked at ESPN so I know what a successful formula that is. But I also know that you have to have people who not only look or sound good but who are also smart and willing to work hard.” The 29-year-old Jay, whose ultimate dream is to one day open her own restaurant, has already had her baptism of fire — in the form of Manchester United’s gaffer, Sir Alex Ferguson, no less.

When Manchester United, the reigning English Premier League champions came here recently on the Malaysian leg of its Asian 2009 tour, it was Jay who had the honour of getting to grips with the fiery Scotman, not the studio-bound Aussie.

“She did great,” enthuses Dasey.

Jay grins. “I’ve done outside stuff before but never that crazy. There were so many people crammed into the stadium. It was a ‘live’ feed and I couldn’t even hear the studio, or my thoughts – that was the scariest part. We did prepare but nothing can really prepare you for something that enormous.” Adds Dasey: “It was Man U’s first visit to Malaysia in eight years. They played two games and both days, it was fullhouse at Bukit Jalil. For many people, it’d be their fantasy to interview Sir Alex Ferguson once… Jay did it four times.

And she got to talk to Michael Owen!” Jay, who doesn’t have a favourite EPL team, chuckles. “Contrary to popular belief, Sir Alex was such a nice guy.

He was in the mood to talk, smile and laugh. That was good. Oh, and Michael Owen was sooo unbelievably handsome!” But even as Jay was juggling with her nerves on location, she wasn’t far from Dasey’s thoughts. “He did something, that really touched me,” confides Menon, a big tennis fan. “Jason made the effort to contact me at halftime when I couldn’t halftime when I couldn’t even hear my own heartbeat! He called to tell me that I was doing a good job, and that I looked and sounded good. It was the nicest gesture.” Smiling, Dasey, who’s a big fan of mystery crime novels and physical fitness, says: “Well, I’d been in that position before so I knew what she was going through. There are 90,000 screaming fans and you’re not sure whether the camera is working properly or how you sound. It’s literally like you’re in a void. I wanted to tell her that she was doing fine.” Viewers can look forward to the Ferguson and Owen specials in the pilot episode of FourFourTwo. Other features set to make this programme fun, aside from the latest EPL news and European highlights, will be a fantasy segment where viewers can become their own EPL managers.

“And we’ll have an interactive segment where we speak to London every week to get the latest EPL gossip, which Jay will do. Everything will be fresher,” says Dasey, who’s entrusted with providing the newsy and more analytical side in liaison with experts, while Jay will focus on the lighter side, the interactive side, and in some areas, be a conduit for the fans.

As they eagerly discuss some of the things they’re looking forward to, I pose the duo a final question: What would be a dream hosting gig and who’d be their ideal co-host? Dasey is the first to respond: “I’d love to do a talk show, not just on sports, but the whole spectrum. I’d like to work with someone like David Frost. Maybe he can be the executive producer and I’ll be the host!” Grinning, Jay chips in: “I’d say Anthony Bourdain but I just don’t see how he could host anything with anyone. He’s the man! It’d be great to do a travel show with him. His take on things is just out of this world. Bizarre, interesting, entertaining... he’s really smart.”