Nemeton Spotlight Feature: Alannah Jones
Alannah Jones works in the sports office with the GAA BEO team as part of her work placement in the University of Limerick.
I started in Nemeton on the 11th of January as part of a work placement with college. I’m a researcher on GAA BEO which means I do ‘taighde’ (research) for the commentators & analysts on the GAA BEO games. On Tuesday morning I send emails to PROs looking for details of team arrival times, manager interviews, what jerseys they will be wearing etc. for their team’s match coming up that weekend. Any other day of the week I’ll reply to emails & update our files on the team using what the county’s PRO has given me (they usually send emails in the evening as a lot of them work full-time too!).
I look for relevant information or discussion around the team in various Irish newspapers & put these into a Word document, along with reports of any matches the team has played that particular season. Using said match reports, I will create an Excel sheet of stats including which players scored and how many of those were frees/penalties & who started each game.
An rud is fearr liom faoin bpost seo ná an t-atmaisféar. My favourite part of the job is definitely the atmosphere. Working in an environment where everyone has an interest in sport is really interesting, I come home feeling like an expert on all the latest GAA updates. Everyone I’ve met so far has been extremely welcoming and always up for a bit of craic!
My degree in college is actually Applied Languages so the main reason I looked for the position in Nemeton was for the Gaeilge.
In ainneoin nach raibh aon taithí agam sa mheán, tá rud nó dhó pioctha suas agam. Despite not having any experience in the media, I think from being around people talking about it 5 days a week I have picked up a thing or two & I might even be able to pretend I know what I’m on about! From what I’ve seen so far, it seems to be a rewarding job for those who like to work hard. Nothing is perfect the first time round and that seems to create a great environment for learning and trying new things.
My highlight working in Nemeton is the complimentary fruit! (This is provided to us every week by the Country Store in Dungarvan)
The most unique thing about this job is that I usually know someone or a friend of someone playing on whatever team I end up covering that particular week. The real-world element of doing up an Excel sheet when people you know are behind the numbers is fascinating to me!
