Seb Hutchinson – Sports Journalism
Sports Commentary
Seb Hutchinson is a freelance sports commentator who has worked on the biggest tournaments and events in world, including the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Rugby World Cup and more.
Seb knew he wanted to be a sports commentator long before starting his Masters in Sports Journalism at Staffordshire University. His drive to achieve his childhood dream has since seen him travel the world working for some of the UK’s leading sports broadcasters, including ITV Sport, BT Sport and the Olympic Broadcasting Services, among others.
He said: “Since I was 12, I wanted to get into sports journalism and now I’m consistently working on the biggest sporting events in the world doing what I love. I always wanted to get into commentary and that’s why I went freelance after four years working in production at ITV.”
TV Career
Originally from London, Seb studied for an undergraduate degree in Media Arts at the Royal Holloway, in Surrey. He then moved to Stoke-on-Trent for a year to pursue sports journalism, starting his Masters in 2006. He said: “There were a few reasons why I picked Staffs. Back then there weren’t many courses that focused on Sports Journalism but Staffs had the foresight to see it as a specialisation and the lecturers had links and extensive knowledge of the industry.
“For me, one of the most important parts of the course was media law. Even in today’s social media world, it’s still not a free-for-all and say whatever you like, and many forget this. If you say the wrong things and cross the line, even in sport, it will come back and bite you.
“At the time there were ex-professional sports people on the course alongside us, which was great to see and learn from them as well. The University had great links with the local football clubs, Stoke City and Port Vale, where we were able to get practical experience. We also had our own news channel and it was great to contribute to that.
“This allowed me to create a showreel of stuff we had done on the course, which I sent out to different agencies. I got four or five responses and two of these were full time job offers.”
Seb joined ITV as an Editorial Assistant, with his first job working on the Rugby World Cup in France in 2007. After four years, he rose to Assistant Producer and had worked on the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the Champions League.
Freelance Commentator
In 2011, Seb left ITV and started working freelance, to pursue a career in commentary. “It was a gamble because I had a very good job at ITV, but I always wanted to do commentary,” he explained. “Since I left it’s been brilliant. I had the platform of industry knowledge and experience working in-house and this was good for setting me up to work freelance.
“Since then I’ve worked on the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups, 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in Paris, Rugby World Cups, Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, Rio and soon Tokyo. I’ve covered both the UEFA Champions League and Europa League for BT Sport. I’ve provided commentary for BT Sport on European football and with ITV on La Liga.
“My number one goal is to commentate on the World Cup, as it’s still the biggest competition in the world. More than 27m people in the UK watched England’s semi-final in Russia. It’s huge. I’ve worked on World Cups but not commentated yet. It’s a difficult role to get but it’s good to have goals. The other goal is to be consistently working on this thing that I love, which I can say is already going well.”
Alumni Connected Community
Connect with your classmates, receive career support, mentor future alumni, update your details, expand your professional network, create your own groups, share events and so much more. Or just keep in touch with us and let us know what you are up to.