Students from Bournemouth University can engage in work experiences at matchday activity through the partnership between BU and AFC Bournemouth.
BU is the official higher education partner of AFC Bournemouth, a relationship that is stretching into its 14th season. The partnership works for the benefit of students, staff, supporters and the local community. Students work on matchdays in both the men’s and women’s game to gain experience behind the scenes.
In the past, this has included hands on placements and opportunities in areas like sports science, physiotherapy, equality and diversity initiatives, and in the Club’s media suite.
As a part of the partnership, students from BU’s journalism courses have the opportunity to work in the press box on matchdays, alongside national and international journalists, allowing them to learn from experienced journalists and work to deliver matchday content and gain valuable experience.
Finn Payne and Jack Hillman both attended the Premier League game vs Aston Villa to write match reports and deliver social media for Nerve, the student media outlet.
Jack and Finn, both third year Sports Journalism students, attend the match from the media suite, sitting alongside journalists to deliver matchday content.
Jack Hillman said of the experience, “It is really cool mixing with the best journalists and the people you see here are true professionals and just like seeing how they work just inspires us.
Finn Payne added, “I think it's a great experience, I'm not sure how many universities have that same kind of link with a local Premier League club, so I think it's quite rare. Throughout the course you can get really get hands on experience at the top level of the country.”
The partnership with AFC Bournemouth is what attracted Jack to the club. He said, “It was one of the reasons I joined because just to know they had links with the club with a Premier League side it's incredible and not many universities around the country have it.”
Both students hope that the experiences gained will enhance career prospects on graduating from BU next summer. Finn Payne said, “Not everyone is going to have this on their CV, I think it's going to be quite a rare thing for someone our age to have on their CV I think beneficial.”
Jack Hillman added, “It's not just the odd game, but this opportunity is for nearly every game this season and press conferences. It will just make us stand out against the field.”
As well as experiencing the media suite on a matchday, students can attend pre- and post-match press conferences and can even pose questions to AFC Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola.
Jack Hillman said, “The press conferences are quite a challenge because we're left to last to ask questions, which is quite a good challenge because you've got to pounce on what other people haven't asked, which means you're constantly thinking. You really take inspiration from the best in the business and see what they are doing and how they are doing it.
Finn Payne said, “You have people from the radio people from broadcast TV, people from print, it's interesting to see how all the different types of journalists approach the same thing. You see the written journalists trying to get their angle for a feature and then the TV journalists trying to get the main important questions for the broadcast. It really does like sum up our course being multimedia – you’ve got to know how to get across many outputs.”
The partnership will continue to deliver experiences and opportunities for students, who can also apply to purchase tickets to attend games on a matchday too. The Nerve matchday report can be viewed at: https://www.subu.org.uk/news/article/nervesport/Debutant-Rayan-earns-Cherries-a-point-in-1-1-draw/
For more information about the partnership between BU and AFC Bournemouth, visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/afc-bournemouth.
