Graduate Ali reports on Premier League

An MA Sports Journalism graduate is covering Premier League football for BBC Sport just 12 months after starting his LJMU postgraduate course.

Ali Telfer, originally from Northern Ireland, started his MA in Liverpool in September 2021 with “minimal experience”.

But he was soon covering a host of live sports events and press conferences on his course and writing digital content for Merseysportlive.co.uk.

Ali, who enjoyed running his own rugby podcast back home, was put in touch with BBC Sport Northern Ireland for some experience.

And the rest is history…

After enjoying a work placement and picking up almost all his NCTJ qualifications on the course, he applied for a position with BBC Sport at Media City and landed the job.

Ali said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my time studying the MA Sports Journalism at LJMU.

“It equipped me perfectly with the right skillset and experience to break into such a competitive industry.”

MA Sports Journalism programme leader Pete Leydon said: “Ali grabbed every opportunity he could during the course to further his knowledge and experience and was soon producing really good quality content.

Recommend him

“When I knew BBC NI were on look out for intern writers, I did not hesitate to recommend Ali and it is fantastic to see how well he has progressed.”

Ali added: “Through Pete’s fantastic contacts I enjoyed a placement at BBC Sport NI which led to my current position at BBC Sport in Salford.

“My role includes reporting on press conferences, writing news stories and covering general football news and events across the Premier League pages – amazing when only 12 months ago I had minimal experience.”