What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? by Harriet Drudge

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” My first answer, around age 7, was that I wanted to be a teacher. 

It was about the same time I started kicking a ball around and I have my brother to thank; putting his little sister in goal in the garden to be able to ‘lovingly’ pelt footballs at her face was one of his finest moments, though he stopped wanting to play with me when I began to improve. Bereft of back garden football, I joined my primary school team... a gobby keeper and the only girl, ordering all the boys around. 

Looking back, one of the main reasons I said I wanted to be a teacher was probably because it was a career I could see right in front of me. It was visible, accessible and the opportunities were there to learn about it.

In the industry I’m now so proud to be working in, visibility, accessibility and opportunity hasn’t always been there for young women. But we’re working hard to change that.

So, as you may have gathered… I’m not a teacher. I am a woman in football: a freelance football journalist, social media manager and consultant.

I was in one of my first ever Business Studies lessons when I was asked a slightly different variation of the ‘career’ question; this time asked to create an advert for my dream job. By this time 14 or 15, I’d played football for nearly eight years, been obsessed with watching it for the last six and Sky Sports News was on when my friends popped round in the morning before we’d walk to school together.

I was an addict. An obsessive. Playing, watching, talking about. The advert I created was for a Sky Sports News presenter. I’d seen Georgie Thompson most mornings on screen and thought: “Wow, I’d love to do that!” I soon realised broadcast wasn’t for me, but that writing and, later, social media was.

I was never confident I’d ever make it, though. I’d decided against doing a journalism degree largely due to fear of failure. I didn’t think I was good enough, so I went down another route. My plan was to gain experience in sports journalism without the pressure of exams alongside my degree. I studied Business Management and always had a back-up plan in mind: working business-side of a football club. 

One thing I was confident of was my capacity for hard work and the passion I had to educate myself about the industry I wanted to work in. I became Sports Editor of a university publication, an occasional co-host on uni radio and, of course, I continued to play. I also got a part-time job working as a betting cashier in the corporate lounges at Chelsea FC.

My lowly student job and a decision to send a particular Tweet turned out to be a game-changer. Twitter is a great 21st century way to network with people, so that’s what I did. Regularly. I started chatting to other football fans, followed people working in the industry and sent my first few football articles to some journalists, asking for advice.

It was a miserable snowy day in south west London in February 2012 (not the good kind of snow, the rubbish slushy, can’t-even-make-a-snowball kind of snow) when, still in bed and not wanting to go outside, I received a text message from my boss in the betting booths at Chelsea. ‘The game is on, normal start time. Get here as soon as you can.’ Manchester United were in town to face the Blues and I was due at work, pronto.

The thing was, the press didn’t know and were still speculating about whether the game would go ahead. In 2010, the same fixture had been postponed due to snow. I sensed an opportunity. I was ‘In The Know’. So I decided to Tweet about it.

100+ retweets and a few new followers later, I’d made a few interesting connections, including Head of Public Relations at the Football Foundation. 

We started to chat a bit and I asked for some advice about getting into PR in football. I sent my CV and a few questions over. A reply came, but not with any answers to my questions… just a link. A link to a job advert: PR & Comms Officer Intern at the Foundation (Placement Year). I applied, was invited to interview and got the job.

Not only did Twitter provide the ideal platform for me (and every football fan!) to rant and rave about the game, it also helped me land the perfect placement year job. My first step into the industry. I was beyond excited.

The same year, I met Lynsey Hooper and Kait Borsay who were just starting their venture into football podcasting with The Offside Rule. I became the podcast’s first volunteer, managing the social media accounts.

It was all going on around 2011/12, not just for me but in the industry generally. Times were changing. The sexist banter bus was on its way out, transporting Richard Keys and Andy Gray off of UK screens and BBC documentary ‘Sexism in Football?’ aired in April 2012. I was engrossed. I had experienced sexist remarks as a player but had never considered that I might, at some point in my career, experience it in the workplace. 

That was the first I heard about Women in Football, too. What an incredible organisation with extraordinary women at the helm. Six months later, I was at a Women in Football event with Kait and Lynsey. I couldn’t believe it! Jacqui Oatley was there, Shelley Alexander, Eva Carneiro, Jo too (hi boss!) - I was in awe. I barely contributed other than to introduce myself to a few people and felt like I didn’t deserve to be there amongst industry juggernauts.

Since then I have been lucky enough to learn from, work with and get to know a lot of the women who attend WiF events. We all have stories to tell. Some good, some bad. 

WiF are the most supportive network of people, doing all they can to make sure careers in football are visible and accessible to the next generation - and for that, I want to thank them wholeheartedly this International Women’s Day and pay tribute to Vikki Orvice. 

I didn’t know Vikki personally but I knew who she was long before I started working in the industry and was lucky enough to hear her speak WiF events.

She was a true inspiration and trailblazer, whose dedication and commitment to not only forge a path for her own career but for others’ too, in part enabled three young women (all volunteers on The Offside Rule), to be in the same press box reporting on Fulham vs. Manchester United last month.

Thank you, Vikki and every woman in football.