I spoke to Welsh Premiership Rugby Club Bridgend Ravens’ Media Officer Aled Thomas. Aled is part of the media team at the club and runs the Twitter account and posts regularly on their Website. A matchday can be a very busy day for a Media Officer and there is a lot of behind the scenes work that needs to be done, especially throughout the week.
“Day to day is particularly varied, depending on what’s going on that week. If it’s a usual Saturday game, then my primary role is to ensure that the other members of the Media Team are briefed on what needs to be done, and by when.”
“On a Monday, we look to upload the match preview from the previous weekend’s game, and this will also be emailed to all club members. From Tuesday onward, our social media is really driven towards the next match. We’ll look to upload clips of previous games between the sides, or an interesting stat to ensure that the next game is at the forefront of everyone’s minds.”
Aled spoke about the work he must put in on a matchday to make everything run smoothly. “For a home game, I like to arrive a few hours before kick-off to get everything set up well ahead of time. The opposition’s media team usually arrives around an hour before, so it’s important to make sure that they are settled. You’ll sometimes get visiting press, who also need to be looked after. Around an hour before kick-off, I’ll go to see the Team Manager to confirm that the team, which then needs to be communicated back to the press.”
“At the conclusion of the game, it’s all about ensuring that the visiting press and opposition media team have everything that they need before closing the press area down. As a matchday committee, we’ll then get together post-match for a drink and a debrief.”
Aled has worked with the Ravens media team for nearly 10 years now, he’s experienced many different situations in the job. “I really enjoy what I do as a volunteer Media Officer and I’d be lying if I said there was no pressure at all. The world of media and social media is always evolving so it’s important to keep abreast of everything so that things don’t go stale. The burden is eased somewhat by having a fabulous Media Team around me where we all help each other out.”
Social media can be a dark place at times and you’ll always see some negative comments from trolls. Aled states that “the positive comments always outweigh the negative ones. We are often complimented on the quality of our social media output which is invaluable as a volunteer.”
“Personally, the only personal insult that really stands out is an Ebbw Vale supporter that described the guy who runs the Bridgend Ravens as a ‘tool’. If that’s as bad as I’m going to get, then I’m pretty happy with that” he added.
by Tobias Hunt
Tobias' Sports Journalism Blog 