Interview with Brendon Smurthwaite
Brendon Smurthwaite is the current Media Manager at Hull KR rugby club. Prior to this he has also worked as a press officer for Hull City football club for ten years. To find out more about Mr Smurthwaite and his career achievements, we asked him an assortment of questions to glean further information.
When asked how he gained his first steps into journalism Brendon replied, ‘‘I started of writing for free for Hull Daily Mail, mainly amateur football, rugby league, and speedway.’’
Being in the right place at the right time was one statement that Brendon outlined, but he also reiterated the need for hard work, and gaining vast experience.
Brendon’s involvement as a press officer for Hull City was one particular time in his professional life he selected to mention. ‘‘The Hull City experience was good. If I could have picked ten years (to work with them) in retrospect, I would have picked them ten years.’’
In highlight of his success, we asked Brendon to cast his mind back to when he finished his studies, and to how he became noticed as a prospective journalist. He said;
‘‘I did stuff for free. I went into the Hull Daily Mail. It started off being one day, and then it turned in to two, and three. I was more or less full time, but they still weren’t paying me. I was keen to do whatever I could to get stories in print. Then your name gets known, and you get offered more and more stuff if you’re good.’’
He went on to say, ‘‘It’s a brand awareness thing really, people need to know who you are, and if you get a good reputation, you get more work.’’
Brendon’s passion for sport and what he does was obvious. ‘‘I grew up around sports. News has never really interested me. Politics definitely didn’t, I use to miss that lecture at college. Sport was the one that I always wanted to do.’’
His hard work and commitment is testament to where he is now. ‘‘If you stick at it long enough then you get there in the end. To get where I’ve got to which is a reasonable position, you have to do some hard yards. In the Premier league we were working silly hours, 60 or 70 hour weeks.’’
Traveling experiences with Brendon’s job allows him to travel all over the world. When asked about the possibility of doing travel journalism he said; ‘‘possibly, although I think it’s a specialist thing. The travel sites, I’ve been lucky really. I certainly wouldn’t have been to Beijing. I’ve been able to go to all these places I wouldn’t have gone to without the job.’’
Brendon’s main advice to people interested in the media was to ‘‘work hard, be thorough in what you do, and be prepared.’’ He went on to say, ‘‘little jobs, once a week, they’re worth doing. The people that make it now are the people who knock hardest on the door. If you don’t knock hardest then the person behind you will run in front of you in the queue and they’ll knock harder on the door.’’
The game of football was Brendon’s surroundings for over ten years in his professional career. His opinion when asked who he feels the game is for today was that; ‘‘It’s mainly for the players, mainly because of the money. I think the fans nowadays are neglected a little bit. The media play a big part of that. They pay for it all. Without it, there’s no game.’’
‘‘The game at some stage has got to have a look and say, this can’t carry on. A lot of it’s about show business. They’re more like film stars than footballers. The top players don’t seem to want to put a lot back into their community.’’
Heartfelt opinion towards the future of football and the fans were evident, ‘‘the kids are the next generation of paying public, and if they can’t get to see their heroes, then they’re wasting their time sadly.’’
No comments:
Post a Comment