Francis Vincent Keating (4 October 1937 – 25 January 2013) was an English sports journalist and author, who was best known for his regular columns in The Guardian newspaper.
Keating was described as "a giant of sports journalism" by journalist Phil Shaw in his obituary for The Independent newspaper.
By the late 1970s he had gained his own regular column of commentary, interviews and reminiscences, particularly covering cricket, football, rugby union and horse racing.
His columns were admired for their "fresh, inventive phraseology", and his "remarkable gift for phrase and observation" and "jaunty, ornate prose".
[2][3] Keating wrote several books, including Another Bloody Day in Paradise (1981), about the English cricket team in the West Indies in 1980–81 tour; Long Days, Late Nights, a miscellany of previously published articles in 1984; High, Wide and Handsome, about cricketer Ian Botham; and biographies of Geoffrey Boycott and Graham Gooch.