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In the latest Women in Football webinar, members were treated to insider wisdom from the media industry as an all-star expert panel offered advice on breaking into sports broadcasting and journalism.

WIF board member Jo Tongue set the wheels in motion by introducing Eilidh Barbour, whose impressive CV includes work on the Premier League, Scottish Premier League and FA Cup for both the BBC and Sky Sports, as well as Olympics and golf.

Eilidh, in turn, handed over to Heather McLean, who gave an overview her work for SVG Europe – an association of sports broadcasters and tech providers across the continent – where she runs networking events for women in the industry.

She touched on the particular challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic to those looking to build a career and "how to network when no-one's actually face to face".

Next to be introduced to attendees was Carrie Brown, broadcaster and senior correspondent whose work has covered an array of sports and who in 2019 became the first female chair of the Football Writers' Association.

Getting started

Carrie shared her journey into the media, which began when she pitched a report from her junior hockey team to the local newspaper. While studying at university she secured a weekly work experience slot with ITN and was taken aback when offered time on the sports desk.

She said: "While my dream had become to be Kate Adie, oddly – even though I was the sports editor of my paper at uni and sports captain – I thought a woman couldn't do that job, because there weren't enough examples then to really believe it could happen!"

Before establishing her agency Tongue Tied Management, Jo was a football writer and editor on the BBC's 606 show. Before that, she admitted, "I used to go to bed with a radio under my pillow listening to football commentary. Yes, I was a bit of a geek, but I just loved it, because if I couldn't be at football I wanted to feel it and I wanted to know what was going on… so I basically knew every commentary voice."

Jo added that the most important prerequisite for a career in sports media is both to know and to love your subject area. "This job is hard and it's amazing," she said. "You have to really have a passion for it because it does get tough – it's a lifestyle rather than a job."

Carrie stressed the importance of creating content all the time, and using mobile technology to do so – which she said was vital in helping her mentees to overcome shyness. "Make you're broadcasting every day, make sure you're writing every day – even if it's only three minutes! You've got that phone, it's in your hand, use it!"

Building a network

The panel agreed on the significance of networking, but Jo set out to demystify the practice: "Networking is effectively just being interested in people, in my book." Early in her career, she said, it was not a skill that came naturally.

"I was sent out to press conferences and I would be the only girl in the room. I was really young, 21 years old, and I was confident in myself, but I was very nervous about my football knowledge, the job – I didn't want to let down the BBC. Everyone knew each other – it was very cliquey."

It was connecting with other women in the same position and building a network, Jo added, that helped Jo to gain confidence and flourish in her career.

A foot in the door

Carrie and Heather discussed the usefulness of developing a specialism. "If you take NFL or something," said Heather, "then find that niche and say, right, I'm going to be the expert on NFL, nobody else is going to know anything about it that I don't know or that I can't do better. Then you use that niche to your advantage and take over that area, then you move into your next American sport… right, baseball!"

Your boss is too busy to create your career path, said Carrie, so you have to map it out for yourself. "Make it as precise as you can to get your foot in the door to start with. Saying I like broadcasting or I want to work in football doesn't really help. Do you want to be a reporter? Do you want to be a sports news reporter? Do you want to be a writer, a columnist, or do you want to be filing match reports?

"Decide where you want to start – it narrows down where people can place you to start with. Then when you've got your foot in the door and you're in the industry, you can move and shift."

At the end of the webinar Eilidh thanked the panel and summed up. "I'd have loved this when I was starting out," she said, "so thank you Women in Football for facilitating it all today... good luck everyone!"

To take part in WIF's online webinars, watch live and send questions to the panel, join Women in Football for free and receive your invitation in our regular member newsletter.

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