English Premier League reporter Melissa Reddy on her rise in football media

Premier League senior reporter Melissa Reddy has spoken candidly about her journey from South Africa to the UK, detailing the barriers she faced as a woman and foreign journalist in elite football media.

Reddy, who has spent more than a decade covering the English Premier League, says she entered an industry where there were few women, no foreign reporters who looked like her, and open hostility toward outsiders.

She recalls early experiences of sexism and xenophobia in press rooms, including being made to feel unwelcome at her first major press conference.

"One of my first experiences: I was at Melwood for the first press conference I'd covered. After the press conference, I heard one of the journalists say to the press officer: ""Why are you letting them come over here and take our jobs? It's just because you want a little lick, don't you?"" And he did the whole tongue thing. He said it so loud, because he did want me to hear. He wanted me to feel uncomfortable and out of place and like I didn't belong, and that was the reality of the time. That was just the norm.

There were people like the press officer at Liverpool at the time, people who worked for the club, and lots of other clubs that didn't actually think that way. They looked at the quality of your work, and they judged you based on that rather than where you are from.

To break into the actual field in terms of newspaper reporting, press box - TV wasn't even an option at that point, neither was radio, because those doors were absolutely bolted down. It's really interesting to see the sea change over the last few years."

Despite this, Reddy stresses that she remained focused on her goal of reporting on top clubs and managers, adding that support from some clubs and editors who judged her on the quality of her work helped her persevere.

Reddy also addressed ongoing online abuse and misogyny, including false rumours and sexualised attacks, saying they reflect a broader problem in sports media.

She emphasises that staying true to her values and proudly South African identity has been her greatest achievement, urging young people to ignore external noise while pursuing their ambitions.

"What I'm most proud of is that I am true to myself. I'm true to my values. I'm true to where I come from. I don't keep quiet. If somebody of status, who's a huge former player or something, who might even be a colleague where I work, if he's saying something that's actually incorrect about Africa or an African player, I don't keep quiet. I say something, and for me, the fact that I'm still fiercely, proudly South African, the fact that I still stand up for what I know to be right and true is the best thing. For all the struggles, for all the things that I've been through, and for all the successes, the good and the bad, that I'm still Melissa Reddy in the truest, purest form - is the best thing.

When you are chasing something, whether you attain it or you get it and you want more, through that entire process, shut out the external noise, listen to yourself. But more than anything in that chase, don't lose who you are, because that's all you have."

To listen to Melissa Reddy in conversation with 947's Robert Marawa, click the audio below: