Work Experience at the O's

Saturday 21st March 2009 - My first real experience inside a press office. The venue, Leyton Orient FC, on a matchday. My first thoughts before arriving were mixed; Would I be spending my time watching a football game in a press office? Would I occasionally shadow one of the journalists in the press room? Would I do anything?

It turned out there was only one person there representative of Leyton Orient, a man called Leo Tyrie, whose formal job title was Press Officer, and although there was a handful of old balding trenchcoat-wearing men in the press room, it would be this young suited-up man that would be my guide for the day.
Reveling in the whole experience, I was expecting to be rushed off my feet all day. However, the first hour I could sum up in one word - nothing. Quite literally, there was nothing to do but wait, which I was told was a wait for the teamsheets.
So. We waited for the teamsheets. At the time, I wondered why it took half an hour to make a team sheet, and why this was the only thing on Leo's schedule at 2pm, an hour before kick off; I was quite pensive.
Roll on half an hour, and Leo and I headed downstairs, out of the press office, past the administration offices, past the player's lounge, until we reached the car park - at which point I wondered if Leo had lost his way. But after a little walk, we reached a security guard, who let us into... the tunnel. Both managers came out, gave Leo the team sheets, and off we went upstairs. The whole time, players coming and going, giving Leo - and occasionally me - a friendly nod (One of who I knew, encouraging Leo to detail all of Charlie Daniels' successes at the club upon finding out that we used to play football together years back).
We went this time into the administration offices, where Leo proceeded to write up the teamsheets, with a vital role of my (shadowing) day being correcting the date from Monday to Saturday before giving the sheets out to the press, managers, cameramen etc etc. This was then relayed by Leo onto the Club Website, using an extremely easy-to-use publishing software that I had to take a picture of - simple things!

Another half hour of waiting commenced, with Leo having little to do until kick off. We entered the room where the announcer worked, whose role was to play the matchday music (Funnily, the track played at the end upon the consequent defeat was cleverly entitled "Lose" - the play count of the victorious "Win" had been played twice this season). Again, the switchboards and circuits in this room warranted a picture.

The game kicked off. We took our seats in the press gantry, sitting right above the television camera, with Leo scribbling away odd events in the game throughout the half. The match was a midfield battle - in other words, not worth much of a mention, so I won't. At half time, we hastily strode back to the administration offices, where Leo wrote up half of his match report for the website - The second half of which he later did, whilst I sat in the pub after clocking out.

Second half. A replica of the first, besides the missing opposition goal. Orient had lost. (I would write a figure here, but the play count of "Lose" is depressing, so I'll refrain).
After checking the scores of the other matches (subtly letting out a grin after reading Spurs 1-0 Chelsea), we went back downstairs and departed.

The whole experience was breathtaking, and the lifestyle of a journalist is one of great interest to me. Anyone budding to become a journalist needs work experience, alongside the experience gained, the tips and contacts you pick up will be fundamental in later life. I will hopefully be returning again before the end of the season - this time I might even accept a free pint afterward after refusing one this time due to my barren spell lately.

Pictures to follow.