CLEARVIEW SPORTS

In a webinar hosted by RTS, 2^nd year sports journalist students had an exclusive chance to hear from top sporting journalists like former Wolverhampton goalkeeper, Matt Murray and the first women’s Match of the Day commentator, Jacqui Oatley.

Jacqui Oatley is an English MBE broadcaster most known for hosting football and darts for ITV Sport. in 2015 Jacqui made history by becoming the first women to commentate on BBC One’s Match of the Day. She then continued to anchor Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018 for ITV Sport.  

Jacqui carved a path for women in the sports journalism industry by working her way up from Non-League football commentary to the big leagues of BBC’S Match of The Day.

When Jacqui was younger, she never thought she’d have a career in sports broadcasting. However, a bad knee injury became a blessing in disguise as it sparked her interest in wanting to throw herself into any sport possible. 

With her ambition to immerse herself in the sports journalism field, Jacqui found herself with a few days’ work experience at BBC Leeds where she worked on a programme called ‘The Non-League round up’. 

As one thing lead to another, many opportunities started to crop up from out of the ashes. After hundreds of hours of travelling up and down the country, working with Non-League football her big break was imminent. The BBC approached Jacqui with an opportunity of her lifetime by becoming the first woman to commentate on BBC One’s Match of The Day.

Jacqui spoke about her nervousness of the opportunity. She claimed that she didn’t speak to anyone for the week before her big moment as she didn’t want anyone finding out that she would be doing it.

Jacqui remembers her comments of – “Hopefully no one knows I’m not a geezer. Hopefully they don’t realise until midnight that night”

Inevitably the news broke which turned into a major news story on social media, in the newspapers and online. The thought of her commentating on such a male dominated programme sparked anger among many. She stated that she received comments such as “How can you let a woman who has never kicked a ball in her life commentate on men’s football”.

After breaking the glass ceiling to one of the hardest points in her career due to the atrocious comments online, she expressed that she has found it easier as times have progressed in the industry.