Lionesses legend to lift the lid on playing, live TV and the spectre of sexism

An England Lionesses legend who is now a rising television football pundit will be passing on her top tips to the journalists of tomorrow when she visits the University of Northampton next month.

Sue Smith scored 16 goals in 93 appearances during a glittering England career that spanned 14 years, while also playing at the highest domestic level in England with Leeds United and Doncaster Rovers Belles.

She has always combined playing with media duties off the pitch, and is now a respected co-commentator and pundit for the BBC’s Women’s Football Show, plus its Final Score television results show and BBC Radio 5 Live.

Sue will be taking time out of her busy schedule to speak to undergraduates at the University on Thursday 9 March – after being invited by her Final Score colleague Marc Webber, who is Senior Lecturer in the Journalism department.

It promises to be an afternoon not to be missed for the journalism students, as Sue lifts the lid on her two careers, and the barriers she’s overcome to become a successful broadcaster.

“My colleague and close friend, Jacqui Oatley, was a real pioneer, becoming the first female commentator on Match of the Day in 2007,” said Sue.

“I remember she got lots of criticism, purely for being a woman, because people don’t like change – however, I thought she did a fantastic job. “But slowly and surely we have more female sports journalists in high profile roles and barriers are continuing to be broken down.

“Now I might walk into a press room at a football club and there will be two or three other female reporters there too, which is great.

“But, there’s still some way to go, as I found out when I was a pundit on Sky and I got some stick on social media, with people saying things like I should get back in the kitchen. Being a footballer, I’ve been brought up on a diet of changing room banter, so I can handle it, but it’s sad some people still think like that.”

Having played the game, Sue brings a player’s insight into her match analysis, but she admits it hasn’t always been easy to dish out criticism on screen.

“It’s easier for me to criticise a male player because I don’t know too many personally,” said Sue. “But it’s been tricky to talk about female players because I know so many of them, and count lots of them as friends.

“I quickly learned that you can criticise a player, but you need to do it in a constructive way.”

Sue has some solid advice for budding sports reporters, including making sure you do your research, especially if you’re on live television. Listening to more experienced colleagues is another must.

“We all look back on the things we have done, and I remember watching my first appearances on Final Score and thinking they required improvement,” said Sue.

“But my BBC colleague Rob Nothman went through the clips with me and explained how I could improve and that support was invaluable for me. I would give any broadcast journalist the advice to listen to their more experienced colleagues and learn as much as you can from them.”

Sue has also cleared up the confusion surrounding her playing career – after quitting Doncaster before the start of the season, she’s yet to get fixed up with a new club, but insists she isn’t ready to hang up her boots right now.

“I’ve not officially retired,” explained Sue. “I’m 37 and feel I have a couple of seasons left in me, but I recently moved back to Merseyside which meant training and playing for Doncaster was less feasible, due to all of the travelling involved.

“As my media career continues to grow, I need to retain some flexibility so I can be available for work, but I certainly don’t want to call it a day, playing-wise.

“I still train every day and I’ve been talking to a couple of clubs about the possibility of playing part-time – I’m in limbo at the moment, but will probably make a decision towards the end of spring.”

While Sue is keeping one eye on her playing future, she’s keeping the other on her phone, as she waits to hear whether she’ll be getting the call up to cover this summer’s Women’s Euro 2017 championships in the Netherlands.

She said: “Channel 4 have the television rights for the live games, so it’s a waiting game to see if the call comes in, but if not, I am sure I will be out there covering matches for somebody.”

As for the Lionesses’ chances of Euro 2017 glory, Sue’s quietly confident England can lift the trophy for the first time in their history.

She said: “The manager Mark Sampson looks to have the strongest squad we’ve had in a while – you just have to look at the good players who have been left out. He’s an astute tactician and there also seems to be a positive vibe amongst the squad that they can beat anybody on their day. When I played for England, while we were positive, there were times when we were playing the likes of the USA and Germany and we’d have it in the back of our minds we weren’t possibly good enough to win.

“This England side should be capable of getting to the final at least, and I can’t see a reason why they can’t go all the way.”