Matchday Live
Matchday Live is a live sports broadcast project ran by Sam Heitzman and Vince Hunt capturing the thrilling BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) action live at Platt Lane.
Matchday Live was my first experience of camera operation for live sports broadcast and as part of it, I got to fulfil numerous roles acting as a camera operator court/pitchside for numerous different BUCS fixtures, commentating and editing highlights. It got me into numerous other projects and roles across different clubs and sporting organisations as a result and besides being one of the best projects I’d been involved in, is a testament to how impactful experiential learning can be.
Commentary
In preparation for my first game as solo commentator, I put in a lot of time into finding facts and statistics to be able to use in match. There was a bit of difficulty in doing so as the information available for BUCS fixtures is a bit less extensive as what could be found for players in professional leagues but I collated what I could finding results from the last “head to heads”, the league table as it stood, team form across the previous 5 fixtures, player GA stats, injuries, upcoming fixtures and the stakes for either team. This put me in a good position going into the game to be able to give viewers better insight into the match.
I then sought out feedback from a professional commentator (Caz Bullock) who gave me pointers going forward for me to improve from.
Sample Scripts (for highlights reels)
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Last Wednesday saw Manchester Metropolitan Women take on Chester University in a thrilling title deciding match – 3 points for Manchester Met at the lane would mean they would have mathematically won their division this season, whereas a loss for Chester could potentially place them in a position where Liverpool John Moores Women’s second team could catch them up, especially if the y win their fixture against Chester and their other game in hand.
ManMet had their foot on the gas from the offset with a goal from Pattison in the first minute, with another at three minutes by Naomi Lawrence.
It was also an important fixture for Lawrence who is gunning for top scorer out of the 18,000 odd players in BUCS – needless to say, the performance she put in proved why she’s in contention scoring 7 of the 10 ManMet goals.
Chester were unfortunate with what ended up being an own goal from Henry taking the scoreline to 6-0 by the 23rd minute.
Naomi then scored in the 24th and 27th impressively earning herself a double hattrick to take it to 8-0 before Chester’s No (11) Talia Morris was able to score their first goal right at the end of the first half.
With 8 goals scored in the first half to their 1, Chester was in dire need of a morale boost and a rethink tactically. Going into the second half, a clear shift was felt in their playing style although unfortunately for them, not enough so to bridge that enormous gap scoring a goal that was ruled offside.
Lawrence got her 7th and last goal of the match in the 68th minute before Horsley took ManMet’s scoreline into double figures in the 69th.
Manchester Met had an impressive 12 shots on target to Chester’s 3 by the final blow of the whistle which resulted in score line of Manchester Met 10, Chester 1.
A dominant display from Manchester Metropolitan Women which will surely boost their confidence going into their final fixture at Platt Lane against Salford Women who currently sit in the bottom half of the table. Man Met face Salford on Wednesday 28th February, kicking off at 1PM. Tune in to Matchday Live to watch coverage of the match.
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Another multi-goal thriller at Platt Lane as Manchester Metropolitan Women’s 1st Team took on Salford 1s last Wednesday to wrap up the BUCS Football action. With a 10-1 victory in their previous league match against Chester, Man Met were top of their league and mathematically impossible to catch placing them in a very enviable position for Salford who were in a much more precarious position in 5th.
In their last head to head the month prior, Salford were beaten 3-0 with Naomi Lawrence scoring all three goals. Going into the fixture, Salford’s league form was not the best having lost 5 games on the trot whereas ManMet had 5 back to back wins setting the scene for what would likely be a David and Goliath match.
For Lizzy Godley, Katie King, Izzy Magee, Beth Loftus, Anna O’Connor their skipper and Naomi Lawrence – this was to be their last BUCS fixture as they complete their studies.
Naomi Lawrence opened the scoring at 5 minutes, followed a minute after by Katie King at 6 mins. A mistimed dive by the keeper aided Lawrence to get her 2nd goal at 8 mins. Before Loftus was able to make it 4 nil at 17 mins For Naomi this game was her last opportunity to get top goal scoreer across BUCS against 19000 odd students throughout the country and a valiant attempt was clearly being made this match. With Naomi getting a hattrick by 18 mins, ManMet had bagged 5 goals within the opening 20 mins.
Katie King got a brace making it 6 nil in the 21st minute, and Naomi scoring again in the 25th.
An excellent long ball gave Salford a great opportunity in the first half which failed to materialise and with Naomi Lawrence scoring again in the 37th and 38th minute, Salford went into the second half goalless.
Another excellent ball from Devins to Lawrence gave ManMet their 10th goal a minute into the second half. ManMet’s corner gave them their first set piece goal at 66 minutes and Devin’s 7th goal that season before Ellie Richmond was able to bag one 71 minutes in.
Salford’s resilience bagged them a goal at 80 minutes but it was too little too late with King getting their hattrick at 83 minutes from a direct free kick and Naomi closing off the scoring with her 8th goal of the game at 84 minutes.
A nightmare for Salford who have one more game to play to save them finish bottom, but a dreamlike ending for BUCS veterans who end their experience at Platt Lane champions of the Aldi Women’s Northern Tier 3. It ends Man Met 14, Salford 1.
