For the past 5 years I have been fortunate enough to work for the Werribee Tigers, a VFL team aligned with North Melbourne. I started there doing data entry on match day for the stats team, and through a strong work ethic and love for the work, I am now the head of stats and, more importantly, a member of the clubs web development and social media team. This role began this year, with me adding functionality and creating content for the site. It has also given me a unique insight into the role of a media team at a professional level.
My role in the media team is mainly online content, which is checked by the head of media and then published on the site. The club uses social media in particular to interact with fans and members, and offers different content on each site. Facebook and twitter are reserved for announcements or live feeds, with Instagram offering a behind the scenes look at things which people would not normally see. The site itself has more specific information, with events for the entire season outlined for those interested. Each site therefore offers something different to varying levels of interest.
Players, coaches and staff are heavily encouraged to represent their club on-field and off-field, and get involved in the community in as many ways as possible, fostering ideas of unity within the community through a love of football. It is important to represent the club in a positive light though. A recent incident had the club being represented in a negative manner due to the actions of past best and fairest player, Ben Sharp, who was arrested last week after it was discovered he was involved in a high level drug trafficking ring, as well as a robbery of a local petrol station. Almost every article had mention of his time at the club, as well as photos of him in a WFC jumper. When image is so important to an organisation, it can be very difficult for a media team to deal these incidents. This is unfortunate, as the Tigers have arguably the strongest community and cultural programs in the VFL, with a widespread influence amongst young school children to those in less than ideal conditions. It has taken a lot of work to get these programs up and running, and to receive any recognition for this work, and any damage to the clubs reputation makes it less likely that these programs can continue in this manner. Sponsors are less likely to attach their names to club which has been attached to scandals like this. It is therefore the media team’s job to manage the clubs reputation, something it has built not only through the success of the club on-field, but through intelligent use of its different media outlets as well as the level of interaction in the community outside of its match day commitments. The media does play a very powerful role in how the club is run from week to week. It is an interesting idea that the representation of an organisation can effect so many different aspects of its success.
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