Broadcast Journalism graduate makes her commentary debut for Match of the Day

Pien Meulensteen, graduated from the University of Salford in Broadcast Journalism in 2019, and made her commentary debut for Match of the Day on the 9th of January 2022. The FA Cup game was between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield United.

Whilst studying at university she knew that she wanted to go into Sports Journalism and worked at the BBC alongside her degree. Since graduating she has also worked for MUTV and Premier League TV.

She said: “I’ve always had that upbringing of being around football and knowing about all different football teams and had that interest from a young age. I knew when I was younger, I wanted to do acting and I wanted to be on screen. I did a bit of acting when I was younger, and I didn’t really enjoy it. So, I was like well, what can I do now then?”

After working at local radio as a broadcast assistant, Pien was given the opportunity to report at football matches for BBC Radio Manchester and was then offered her first commentary on MUTV. Since then, Pien has commentated for DAZN, Premier League Productions and BBC 5live. And this is when her opportunity for Match of the Day arose.

Pien said: “It’s such a big thing, Match of the Day is just so well-known and everyone that knows football, knows Match of the Day. So, I think it was more the pressure of making sure I was doing it right, and I guess with commentary you have to get it right and you want to do a good job and you want to do a good job for the fans.”

Pien found that her degree gave her the foundations to build up to where she is now and her journalistic mindset to think of the angle for the audience. She said: “When you have to do your post-match interviews, you have to think what’s the story here, what is the news line that people want to know? Where can I get that little clip from that manager or that player that people want to hear?”

But throughout both her career and her degree she feels that one of the most important things that she has learnt is how essential networking is and making contacts. Pien said: “I know people always harp on about it, but it’s the only way that I’ve got to where I am because if people know who you are and know what you can do, then they’ll be like oh, we know you. They might not need you straight away, but then in a couple of months’ time, they’re like Oh yeah, I remember Pien, and she can do this.”

Paul Duckworth, a Broadcast Journalism lecturer at the University of Salford, said: “It's fantastic to see Pien making her debut on the historic Match of the Day. Her hard work since graduating, along with the skills she learned at the University of Salford, is really paying off. 

“The range of work our students go into is inspiring. 

“It's been great to see so many young women from the journalism course break into sport and that's a trend all our lecturers are passionate about continuing.”

You can find out more about our BA (Hons) Journalism courses.