“Matchday Live” commentator makes the jump from student sports to the football pyramid

Image: Sam Heitzman

Eddie Sneddon, a first-year student at Manchester Metropolitan University, has made the jump from commentating on university matches to co-commentating for Hyde United, who operate in the Northern Premier League.

Hyde United are based in Greater Manchester and play at Ewen Fields. They are in the seventh-tier of the English football league and so offer a big opportunity for Eddie to get his name out there and develop his skills.

The opportunity came as a fellow student in Eddie’s class was involved with the club, and had heard about Eddie helping out on “Matchday Live” – a student-led project that creates content around sports at ManMet – and who felt it would give Eddie a chance to try his hand at commentating on live sports.

Eddie had only covered a few matches before being offered the opportunity to help at Hyde United, but he recalled how commentating was always “something on his mind”. He mentioned how he always used to commentate on his FIFA games. “You go to celebrate and you describe it, I was mad for it.”

When talking about his first impressions of the Matchday Live setup he told me: “Getting the opportunity to do it for real, on an actual game, in a studio with mics and presenters – you just couldn’t really get better than that, I loved it”

He then talked about his second time commentating and how he thought he had “improved a lot” as he learned to become more “concise”. He explained how Vince, who runs Matchday Live and is also Eddie’s lecturer, had showed his class footage of his first match and what he could’ve done better.

Eddie’s first match making the step-up with Hyde United was a game against Ashton United at home, and he recalled how the level was a “stark contrast” from where he was at with his commentary, and that “it was great to have them alongside you to see how professionals do it.”

He went on to say that it was “surreal to be in a stadium where people are chanting, and then you’re sat in the back contributing to the club.”

So far he has been co-commentating and pitching in with his analyses when asked, however speaking to NQ, he talked about how he ultimately wants to be the one leading. He described Peter Drury – who currently works for Sky Sports – as an influence on his own commentary, stating: “I like how he gets passionate about the game and the variations of language he uses really resonates with what I want to do.”

Eddie later went on to say that “the idea of being the voice of excitement in the game is what appeals so much to me.”

His ultimate goal is to be on the likes of Sky Sports or TNT sports, and he said he’s “just got to keep chasing it.” He wants to keep up with the Hyde United opportunities and to keep developing his skills, both in commentating and in research.