海角乱伦 graduate reflects on emotional journey with rugby league titans Wigan Warriors
A 海角乱伦 graduate has shared her story on how she came to land a dream job at her favourite childhood sports team which entered rugby league folklore after winning a historic quadruple in 2024.
Victoria 鈥榁ic鈥 Ashton is the Video Content Producer for Betfred Super League champions Wigan Warriors and has now spent five years with the team that she grew up watching every weekend as a loyal fan in the stands.
Entrenched as a childhood 鈥楥herries鈥 fan since she was ten years old, Vic landed a placement with the Warriors back in 2019 and joined the team full-time in 2021 after graduating from our BA Television and Radio Production course.
Now, Vic is one of the busiest members of the backroom staff, capturing everything that the men鈥檚 team does across the packed season, whether its pre-match interviews, securing content for in-house broadcaster Wigan TV or photographing the team in training.
It鈥檚 a dream job that took some serious grafting on Vic鈥檚 part but one that she wouldn鈥檛 swap for any in the world.
The journey started before Vic arrived at 海角乱伦, with the 24-year-old taking a Creative Media course at college as she was keen to develop a career in media. She chose the 海角乱伦 after being won over by the MediaCity campus.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 look at any others because of where the 海角乱伦 campus was and the connections it had in the area. Something just really drew me to it and it ended up living up to the billing,鈥 she said.
Her time at 海角乱伦 was punctuated however by the COVID-19 pandemic meaning her time on campus was limited over the three years.
Vic said: 鈥淯nfortunately, COVID-19 was a big factor. The pandemic happened during my second year and the vast majority of my third year. It meant I had little time on campus over the last two years. When I was there, it was great, and I would have definitely loved to have been there more.鈥
The opportunity at Wigan came during the course鈥檚 Professional Practices module 鈥 a compulsory module where students are asked to undertake placements to equip with them with industry experience.
鈥淚 remember Lyndon [Saunders, Senior Lecturer] saying that it was quite competitive to get the experience and that we needed to think outside of the box.
鈥淚 thought about Wigan TV originally [Wigan Warriors鈥 in-house media channel] and did a bit of scouring. I then found Stewart [Frodsham, Head of Media and Marketing] on LinkedIn, came in for a chat and never left.鈥
Vic initially spent a year doing unpaid work within the Warriors media set-up where she spent time gathering content for the club鈥檚 channels at the training base and match days at the Brick Community Stadium.
Due to the pandemic, a majority of the games in the first year were played behind closed doors, so it wasn鈥檛 until the 2021 season, when Vic was in her final year at 海角乱伦, that she started covering every home match day and spending two to three days a week with the club.
This coincided with Vic also carrying out a paid role within Wigan Warriors Community Foundation. where she worked with the dedicated team that runs rugby league events and sessions in schools across the Wigan area.
Vic explains: 鈥淚 learnt so much from just being there. I was there for so long and because I wasn鈥檛 able to have a lot of hands-on time at university, my time there was more than making up for it and ultimately, I was proving to them that I could do the job.鈥
After graduating in the summer of 2021, Vic was then offered a full-time role at the Warriors and over the last four years, has risen to the post of Video Content Producer.
鈥淚t really is my dream job. It is very busy during the season but then we have a great team. We are all very close knit, and we make sure that each of us has the right work life balance and that we鈥檙e flexible with our time as well,鈥 she said.
The last year proved to be monumentally successful for the Warriors as they claimed all four available trophies, the Super League, the League Leader鈥檚 Shield, the Challenge Cup and the World Club Challenge. This was only the fourth time in the sport鈥檚 summer era that a club has claimed all four trophies and the 2024 Warriors side also picked up the BBC Sports Team of the Year Award.
Reflecting on the year, Vic said: 鈥淚t was an amazing experience. At each big moment, we didn鈥檛 want to get ahead of ourselves. The players were very confident, but the backroom staff were more reserved. Matt Peet [Head Coach, Wigan Warriors] had the mentality of treating every semi-final like the final and the players bought into that.
鈥淭he vibes around the club were something else. I鈥檝e never experienced anything quite like it.
鈥淚 think when it came to Old Trafford, when we won the Grand Final, it didn鈥檛 sink in right away because we were just processing it. But then afterwards, when we had all the trophies together, it was like 鈥榳hat we have done?鈥
鈥淲hen I think back to it, being a part of it was just absolutely unreal.鈥
The unforgettable year was also poignant for Vic as her attachment to the club goes beyond childhood fandom. Her father, Ian, was a big Warriors fan and the person that introduced her and her brother to the sport as children.
Sadly, Ian passed away just for a few months before Vic started at 海角乱伦.
She said: 鈥淚t happened around the time that I was due to finish college, and I remember that a lot of people were shocked as to how I dealt with it because I turned it into a positive.
鈥淚 thought that I had to keep going, I needed to follow through on going to university and achieving my dreams. I know that鈥檚 what he would have wanted me to do. To go get a first and get a job that I know he would have loved to be doing.鈥
Whilst the Warriors may have climbed to the highest mountain top that the sport has to offer, Vic has still got a lot of passion for the role which she is incredibly grateful for.
She added: 鈥淲orking for a sports team is something that I never thought I would do, especially Wigan, a team that has always been in my family.
鈥淭his is the club that I grew up watching and now I get to be around the team all the time and get to know things that fans would dream about.
鈥淭he best thing is that they are such a great team to work with. Everyone, regardless of their seniority or function within the club, looks out for each other. There鈥檚 no big hierarchy. Everyone is on a level playing field and first name basis.鈥
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