Join Our Journey: USW sports journalism student’s story of a memorable day at Cardiff City Stadium

BA Sports Journalism student JOE SMITH experienced what it’s like to be a working professional when he covered the Cardiff City v Blackpool match from the press box at Cardiff City Stadium. Here he tells the story of a memorable afternoon.

Cardiff City v Blackpool was my first time of experiencing what it’s like to work in the press and cover a game at the stadium.

It’s one I shall not forget in a hurry. It was a fantastic opportunity – and the sights and sounds of the day will probably stay with me and my classmate James Morris who accompanied me for a long while.

On arrival we went to the press accreditation point outside the ground and collected our passes, informing the woman at the booth it was our first time and we didn’t know where to go.

We need not have worried because we were very well looked after.

We were led by one of the security guards right to the press box and shown to our correct seats. Once we got settled, it was great just to be there in the right place and able to soak up the building atmosphere.

First job was to set up the laptops, make sure there were no technical problems and that we were hooked up to the wifi and able to send whatever we needed to our course website exposport.co.uk. We also needed to be able to tweet throughout the game.

Then it was down to the press room. It’s a short walk down a flight of stairs and along a corridor from the press box at Cardiff City Stadium. The room is a warm and comfortable place which journalists can use as a base. There was a TV in there showing the Sky Sports match between Fulham and Huddersfield and pictures hung on the walls of famous ex-players and football writers.

We helped ourselves to the complimentary tea and coffee which was very welcome on such a cold day and there were some mouthwatering pies on offer as well, though I opted to abstain on this occasion! The whole environment was welcoming and friendly.

Having regularly gone to the USW Sport Park to report on the student sport on Wednesday afternoons, this was a different level. It was a novelty to be able to work on a proper desk right by the side of the pitch, with a power point and a little TV monitor which showed action replays if we missed anything in real time.

By the time we were back in our seats the buzz was really building as kick-off neared. At Cardiff City, I think the press box is in a great spot – it’s a good vantage point but it is also not detached, you are surrounded by fans and feel like a part of the whole match experience.

We sat next to a journalist who was writing for Cardiff City and who has done so since they were in the Premier League.

He gave us some really good information on the line-up and the stadium as well as elements behind the scenes. It was good to talk to somebody like that because, again, it made us feel welcome and more involved.

The first half was fairly dull. In fact, it was difficult to know what to write about apart from the fact that Blackpool had taken an early lead and remained 1-0 in front.

At half-time I looked over my notes and started to type my match report, at the same time thinking of multiple headlines for different outcomes that I thought might happen.

The second half was a lot more interesting with both teams really trying to win the game, along with the referee making some controversial decisions which fired up the atmosphere. A Cardiff equaliser also helped!

At full-time I typed up my final match report and checked the scores in other games to see how the Championship table was looking, and how Cardiff and Blackpool were affected.

Finally, I packed all my kit up and took a couple pictures of the now empty stadium and made my way out of the ground.

I really enjoyed the day. It was a surreal experience to be writing on such a high level game in the flesh and it was a massive step up to what I was used to doing beforehand.

I’m sure I’ll be a lot more confident when I next go, which hopefully won’t be too long.