Sports Journalism alumna Ailsa talks about her career

From a young age, Ailsa enjoyed writing and playing football and chose to study BA (Hons) Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, so she could pursue a career path that brought her two passions together. Talking about her degree choice, Ailsa said: “The facilities, the location, the lecturers and the passion for journalism struck me straight away. I knew it was the place for me to start my journey.”

During her time at University, Ailsa took part in industry-standard news days which Sports Journalism students experience from year one. On Ailsa’s last news day, she reported live from pitch side at Bolton Wanderers F.C. using the equipment that she was trained to use during her time in the T.V studios at the University.

Talking about her degree experience, Ailsa said: “Our course leaders, Steve and Gerrie, left a lasting impression on me that hard work and passion for sports journalism is what will get you where you want to be.”

After graduation, Ailsa quickly secured a freelance role with BBC Radio Manchester as a Broadcast Assistant. This involved working on their Sunday football programmes. Alongside her role, Ailsa did some commentary for BBC Radio for Salford City F.C., Rochdale A.F.C. and Manchester City W.F.C.. This led to BBC Radio London reaching out to Ailsa and asking her to cover some Premier League matches for them, including Liverpool F.C. vs Arsenal F.C. and Burnley F.C. vs Chelsea F.C..

After freelancing for a while, Ailsa wanted to try something different, so she took a role at Cognitive Publishing as an Editorial Lead. This allowed Ailsa to see the PR side of the industry.

The draw of sport took Ailsa away from her role at Cognitive Publishing and she started freelancing for football news site, GOAL. After a stint at GOAL, Ailsa’s former course leader, Steve Canavan, contacted her about a social media role being advertised at talkSPORT. Ailsa was successful in securing the job, where she spent the last couple of years editing and maintaining their social media channels and working directly with the editorial team to help grow the talkSPORT community. “Getting the job at talkSPORT was the biggest pinch me moment I’ve had since finding out I got a first-class class degree! I never dreamed I’d get to work somewhere like this, especially after graduating only a few years ago.” Ailsa said.

Ailsa spent the last six months at talkSPORT moving across to their writing team, which allowed her to delve back into a part of journalism she missed. "I thoroughly enjoyed my time working on the social media side of things but it was nice to go back to what felt like my roots." Ailsa said.

The experience certainly paid off as Ailsa is currently gearing up to join GRV Media as an SEO Writer, writing across their numerous sports news brands such as HITC, EFL Analysis and F1 Oversteer.

When asked about what advice she’d give to those wanting to do something similar, Ailsa said: “You’ve got to be prepared to put the hard work in, nobody ever got to their dream destination by just cruising through and doing the bare minimum. Also, do the work experience, even if you think it’s not the most exciting offer, you never know what’s going to come off the back of it. Most of the time you wouldn’t get paid for it either, but that’s just part and parcel of the journey. (Obviously don’t work for free forever, everyone has bills to pay!) Most importantly enjoy the ride, you will make mistakes and you will learn from them.”