Lower Sixth Former Will Roberts’ love of reporting local sports news ramped up a level when he was recently appointed Lead Commentator at Bedford Football Club as part of an exciting new takeover by local bitcoin businessman, Peter McCormack.
Will, who will undertake the part-time role alongside studying for his A-levels, has already stepped up to the mic at the club to commentate on three live-streamed matches watched by, not only locals, but by a new international fanbase. This story was picked up by BBC Look East, and you can watch Will in action on last week’s evening show here:
Pete McCormack came across Will through his ‘Young Rugby’ work at Bedford Blues RFC, where Will was nominated for a Young Achiever Award in the Bedford Independent Heroes Awards 2021 for his entrepreneurship. Peter wanted a young voice to commentate for his new club and had been impressed with Will’s work and so got in touch. Will went along for a trial, which received an excellent reception, and so Peter booked him for the remaining 15 games of the season.
As well as commentating for the club, which has ambitions to get in the Premiership League, Will also plans to use his Young Rugby experience to help create awareness of Bedford FC on social media.
Will, who has only been commentating since October 2021, told us, “One of the tricky things about commentating is getting an understanding of the players. In rugby you get team sheets a day before, in football you get them an hour before, meaning less time to understand what players are playing where, and to familiarise yourself with the statistics.”
Will has been inspired over the years by his dad, Sam Roberts, who is a Teacher of English here at Bedford Prep and who got Will into sports commentary through his own commentating work for BT Sport, as well as at local rugby clubs, including Bedford Blues RFC.
Will has also found a mentor in famous rugby commentator, Nick Mullins, who he approached on Twitter. Will has been lucky enough to have a few conversations with Nick who sent Will some unvoiced rugby clips with ‘in ear’ information for Will to practise on.
Will explained, “The most difficult part of commentary is the ability to listen to someone else while talking at the same time. There is so much information being thrown at you, and the skill is to be able to extrapolate the important information for commentary. You can’t really learn it; you just have to do it.”
The role of Lead Commentator is more than just a weekend job for Will, it is something he is extremely passionate about, and an area he would like to build a future career on.
“It’s the ‘in the moment’ stuff I enjoy the most,” Will enthused. “I get wrapped up in the narrative of the game – there’s always a story to be told outside of simply naming the players. It’s the little stories that help bring the game to life. My dad told me that it’s all about the narrative, all about the stories – the extra bit – that’s what makes good commentary and so that’s what I aim to do every time.”
Will’s goal is ultimately to bring more people into football on an international level and to get Bedford FC on the map! With fans from all around the world tweeting him about last weekend’s match, we think that he is off to a pretty good start!