MATCH DAY LIVE

Ed Tucker and Callum Scott reflect on the transformative effects of their roles at Matchday Live

“I was definitely a very fed-up student after two years of Covid and an internship that didn’t work out,” says Ed Tucker, a 23-yearold third year Multimedia Journalism student from Arundel, West Sussex. “But then I got involved with Matchday Live, and that has definitely been the highlight of my university career – 100 percent.

“Doing commentary on live games made me nervous at first but I wanted to try it, and I found out that I was quite good at it. I absolutely love it: netball, futsal, rugby, football – just give me the mic. Now I want to be a professional commentator, and I’ve got 15 hours of commentary to choose from for my showreel!”

Ed pauses to take a bite of his spicy Indian samosa, snacks that have become an integral part of the Matchday Live production experience at the Platt Lane Sports Centre.

The Manchester Met sports livestream show was launched this year from the university’s sports hub in Rusholme by Sports Journalism unit lead and former BBC producer Vince Hunt and university Technical Specialist Sam Heitzman. Sam has built a sector-leading broadcast system at Platt Lane from scratch, with remotely-operated cameras indoors and outdoors showing live coverage of university sports teams playing football, rugby, basketball, volleyball, netball, lacrosse and more recently, a Sunday morning futsal team cup run.

In its first term of Wednesday afternoon and evening broadcasting on the MMU Sport YouTube channel, Matchday Live notched up a global audience of 16,000 viewers.

“Aside from the actual experience itself including the discipline of prepping for the game, doing research and talking to the players and coaches, it has definitely made me more focused on my uni work,” adds Ed.

“It’s given me an outlet for journalism I enjoy doing, where before it felt like: ‘Here’s your work, here are your deadlines; now go off and do it.’ And sometimes I’d be thinking: ‘Nah, I’m not doing this anymore.’

“But Matchday Live has completely changed that. I’ve got Firsts in both [of the assessments] I’ve submitted for this first semester, and maybe I’m trying a bit harder, putting more effort in, because I’m enjoying being here more, too. And the things that I’m doing, like the interviews after the games, have made me so much more confident.

“I’m thinking to myself: ‘I can do this on the fly, and I’m able to interview people I’ve done research into’. That’s given a real boost to my confidence and helped me grow into the role. Now I’m way more confident when I open my mouth – which is a lot, to be fair –and I’m confident in front of a camera, on a mic, talking to players, coaches … everything, in fact.

“I’d go as far to say it’s changed everything about university for me. Without it I would not be enjoying myself right now, being a third year. My house is a bit depressing right now, and Matchday Live has kept me going.”

More than 40 students have worked on the 18 games streamed since its launch in October 2022, reaching an online audience including France, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa and Australia. The student broadcasters and journalists come from a background of disciplines, including filmmaking, marketing and multimedia journalism.

Preparation for the weekly show involves student journalists working closely with MMU Sport’s team coaches, recording preview interviews and researching and making contact with visiting sides.