Global audience for students’ Sale Sharks broadcast
Wednesday 22 August 2018
A GROUP of students from the University of Salford reached tens of thousands of people around the world when they filmed a live broadcast with Gallagher Premiership Rugby club Sale Sharks.
A team of Television and Radio (BATAR) and MA students filmed the Rugby Union team’s pre-season warm up match against Doncaster Knights, as well as pre and post-match interviews with players such as Josh Beaumont, Director of Rugby Steve Diamond and England Legend Mark Cueto.
Using professional equipment from the University's Digital and Creative Industry Collaboration Zone office at the MediaCityUK campus or hired from industry partners Blackmagic, students also created a series of graphics which were used during the broadcast, as well as showcasing the grass roots team Sale FC’s fixture against Sale Jets on the same night.
The broadcast was streamed across Sale Sharks’ Facebook Live page, reaching 120,000 people including rugby fans in Greece, Spain, Turkey and the USA who praised their work.
BA Television and Radio student Lauren Goldstrong, aged 19 from Bolton, said: “It’s amazing to think that something we did reached more people than could fit into Wembley Stadium, and it was very encouraging for us as a team of students to have been able to achieved this.”
MA Media Production student Fraser Oxlee, aged 25, from Middlesborough, added: “This was one of the best experiences I’ve had since being on the course. I’ve done live stuff before but nothing as involved as this before. It felt like it wasn’t a University project – we all treated it like a job and that professionalism filtered into everything and made everyone raise their game.”
The University is now in talks with the club about filming other games throughout the forthcoming season which aren’t covered by national television broadcasters.
Colin McKevitt, ICZ Media Production Manager from the University of Salford, said: “The event provided our students with unparalleled experience of setting up, producing and delivering a professional quality live broadcast of a major sporting event.
“We set them a real challenge, but with the equipment and support they had access to, they demonstrated they were more than capable of meeting that challenge. We’ve also demonstrated that there is a real appetite among the fans for us to deliver this kind of content and we hope we will be able to provide much more of this over the coming season.”
Sale Sharks Media & Communications Manager Sam Diamond, said: “To be able to broadcast our pre-season games in such a professional and organised manner was fantastic. Not only does it open the club up to new audiences, it also allows the families of our overseas players to watch the game, which is a huge thing for us to be able to offer.
“This was our first real attempt at showcasing a live event on this scale and we are really pleased with the results. Our social media engagements have gone through the roof since the broadcast. This is due to the digital environment created by the guys from the University of Salford which allowed our fans to converse and comment on the action as they would at a live game.
“We are currently in talks with the University to look at how both parties can utilise the opportunities, skills and equipment on offer within our partnership.”
For more information and to find out how to connect your industry to the University of Salford's collaborative programme please contact the ICZ office on 0161 295 7358 or email Colin at c.mckevitt@salford.ac.uk
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