MATCHDAY LIVE HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING ABOUT UNIVERSITY FOR ME. ‘‘ ”

The show then goes out live from a dedicated studio, with directors and vision mixers working in technical roles alongside the commentators and producers. Featured games are trailed and live-tweeted by a social media team. Away from the classrooms of the campus, the studio becomes a place where innovative teaching can happen, as Vince and Sam train students in industry methods using state-of-the-art equipment.

“The students who have worked on Matchday Live are some of the most dedicated and energising colleagues I’ve ever worked with,” says Sam. “They have enthusiastically defeated every single challenge they have been posed during the broadcasts, and once you go live, you just have to deal with it.

“I love the way this project is giving students like Ed the chance to blossom, develop their talents and get a new sense of direction as a result. I can’t wait to see what amazing things they all do in the future.”

A former Sports Journalism student, Callum Scott was among the first volunteers and seized the opportunity to host the first show live, reading to camera from an iPad autocue he developed himself. Before long Callum was interviewing coaches immediately post-match, and enjoying the thrill of the live broadcast environment.

“For me, Matchday Live has offered me experience in areas that I needed to improve, as well as giving me access to the very best equipment to do that,” he says.

“Coming into my third year, I’d [built up] experience producing plenty of written content with The Northern Quota, and covering elections gave me a good range of live coverage experience but I knew that I needed to develop my on-camera portfolio too.

“Presenting was something that daunted me initially, as I’d never done anything like that before, let alone doing it live, but we talked through what I needed to do and say – and when to speak and when to stop – and we gave it a go!

“Standing in the foreground of a basketball double-header, the nerves were jangling. I had Sam’s voice in my ear counting down to when we were on air, and Vince racing behind me to bring over the team coaches I needed for the interviews.

“Manchester Met lost, and the commentary team were waxing lyrical about the visiting team’s performances. We cut to me about to interview the star player of the winning side, Nottingham Trent’s Moho Adekeye. Having known I was going to interview him for all of 30 seconds before we came to air, this was something that you might call an ‘industry standard challenge’!

“But the feeling of interviewing him well, of responding to his delight at the victory and me getting the sequence over the line without a hitch was something I’ve never felt before: a mix of pride and relief.”

Callum adds: “You can’t get better experience than a day of sport at Matchday Live, and you can build yourself a portfolio powered by a great team, and excellent samosas…”

Matchday Live launched its second season in January 2023 and is open to all interested in gaining live television production experience. To get involved, contact Sam Heitzman at s.heitzman@mmu.ac.uk

As aAh! went to press, 3rd year BA Filmmaking student Callum Hughes became the first Matchday Live Hall of Famer, accepting a job as Junior Technical Operator at EuroSport.

Design Anita Belous

Photography Joshua Fielding & Maxine Douglas-Morgan