On the other hand, in a scrum, AF would be useful. There's a 35mm f/2 AF lens out there - I don't know much about it, but it is cheap and INCONSPICUOUS.
Really, for photojournalism above all other genres, a functioning brain with some ability to predict crowd flow, likely individual behavior, what the most likely action shot will be, etc is more important than any lens.
If you wanted a compact fixed lens camera, you could look at Fujifilm, Ricoh, and Sony offerings, all with 28 to 35mm f/2 lenses.