by Richard Early
IN the build-up to the USW Women and Sport Conference, Cardiff City FC’s Fan Engagement Manager and in-house television presenter, Amy McNiven spoke about her sporting past, dream job and how she got into her current role.
“I’ve loved sport from a very young age. My footballing interest started at quite a young age. My family are half Italian and half Scottish, so the Italian side are football fanatics and my grandfather was a physio for the Scotland national football team.
“Sport is something that I’ve always loved. I played netball and tennis at county level and sprinted at national level, but my dream was to become a sports TV presenter.
“Once I graduated from university with a degree in Sports Journalism, Film and Media, I moved straight to New York and lived out there for around nine months. I did a brief internship with Sports News TV, before coming home and deciding that it was time to find a job.
“I thought I’d try my luck and sent some examples of my work into Cardiff City, before being invited in for a casual interview and it all just started from there.
“I began by doing part-time bits and pieces and was then employed full-time by Cardiff City Foundation, before becoming full-time Fan Engagement Manager and in-house TV presenter at Cardiff City.”
Amy, who is now in her seventh season with Cardiff City, went on to reveal what advice she would give to women wanting to get into sports journalism and media.
“It is a very competitive industry, but my advice would be to stick with it and if you love it, carry on. If you’re interested in something, pursue it and the more interest you have in your subject, the more likely you are to produce something of interest and be successful.”
