Well i have to say without a shadow of a doubt that 2013 was one of the most productive years i have ever had, not only as a reporter but also as a man. I started of the year i was a jobless wannabee reporter who was looking for work to pay the bills and fund my reporting trips. but i was detmined to get a little part time job whilst expanding my coverage and knowledge of being a reporter at the sdame time and ovber all i felt that i did that whilst exceeding my expectations as well.
But where to begin... well I think that there is only one place to start:
Gillingham FC League Two Champions 2012-13
At the beginning of the year, we were placed in the top 2 and I thought that as long as we don't mess it up like we have been in the past few seasons, then we will achieved our goal of getting out of this god forsaken division which we have been in for far too long - three seasons in my opinion is far too long for a team of our quality to be here in a league where no one wants to be and no one wants to travel to places like Accrington or Morecambe on a tuesday night for football - but as the winter months came and went, we maintain our points tally and obtaining our record best away season ever, I knew that we had a great chance to grab not only promotion but our first league title since 1964 and no one at the beginning of the season could ever predict that.
The game where i knew we would secure our promotion was the Rotherham United home game on Bank Holiday Monday. It was a hot day at the Priestfield and many of the fans knew that a win would put us one foot in League One. And it was a great win as a single goal from Deon Burton gave us all three points and knowing that a point in the following game against Torquay United - oh great another old stomping ground which could haunt us - would give us the promotion we deserved from this amazing season.
Come the day of the Torquay game, an ever bigger crowd was at the Priesfield to see local fan and local Sittingbourne lad Danny Kedwell get the only goal of the game to give Gillingham the promotion they so deserved all season. The party in the Blues Rock Cafe after the game was one never to be forgotten after the game was never to be forgotten. I have never seen the place so packed out before and when the players came in to celebrate, I managed to get covered in champagne from Leon Legge as the celebrations continued long into the night.
But there was one thing left to achieve and that was to get only one point from our remaining three games to secure the league title. And despite taking 1400 fans to Cheltenham only to lose 1-0, it was our last home game of the season where a point against AFC Wimbledon would see us achieve the title. and despite going ahead though Burton and Kedwell - against his former club - the dons did battle b=ack to get a draw which not only kept them up in the division but also managed to secure our first league title since 1964. The celebration on the pitch were totally memorable and everyone stayed behind to celebrate with the team as they were presented with the trophy at the end of a special day not only for the fans but also for the club.
Overall it was the appointment of Martin Allen which i believe was the reason why we got promoted. It was a brave decision from Scally to sign him and it was the 'breath of fresh air' we needed to move the club forward. Sadly it didn't last as he was sacked in November and replaced an the interim manager Peter Taylor who's appointment has got some results to move the Gills out of bottom four and hopefully staying in the division for another season.
Well I thought that was going to be the biggest sporting story i would be reporting on, but this was totally overshadowed a few weeks later in July.
2013 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup
When I heard that the tournament was going to happen at Medway Park in Gillingham, I immediately told Ian - editor of the Medway Times online newspaper - this is the major story that I have been looking for and we need to cover it extensively. and thats exactly what we tried to do. Luckily for me I had the week off work so i can dedicate myself to the tournament over the duration so i don't miss any of the action. I also tried to spread the word to many of my current contacts within the BBC and ITV News Network and luckily i had at least two contacts who would be interested about the tournament as some of the England players were based in the North of England so the pressure was on to make the coverage a success. I spent every single match at the side of the pitch writing on the action and despite some one sided games each match day had at least one game which was close and tightly fought. When it came to finals day, the best two sides in the competition fought out a classic with France winning by two points despite England having a great comeback and nearly taking the game to extra time. But overall the games were played in a fantastic atmosphere lead by some wonderful volunteers, the players from all six nations all took part in a professional manner who had to gave up their own time in order to take part in the tournament with equipment paid and raised by their own ways in order to take part in the torunament.
But for me It lead to some more doors being open for me. I got some wonderful contacts from all of the teams, the RFL, Medway Sport and Medway Council and I even bagged a trip to either Auckland or Sydney depending on who gets to host the next tournament so that was exciting for the future. but most of all we covered the whole tournament better than the local newspapers the Kent Messenger and both the local BBC and ITV news as well. And as a follow up as well I made contact with two new sides set up because of the tournament, one of the being the Gravesend Dynamite WCRLFC side. so overall for me the most productive 10 days since I graduated form university as a journalist back in 2009.
But I also had another great sporing story which I followed over the year.
Kent Kings Speedway 2013 season
I was aware that there was going to be a new speedway team being based in Sittingbourne at the same place where they race greyhounds just on the inside of the track. But I wasn't aware on how popular it was going to be. On the first race day at the new track over a thousand people turned up to see the new team but it did take me at least a couple of meetings to get the grasp of Speedway and how it works. What i didn't know that there was and still is some politics surrounding the team and the residents of Sittingbourne near to the stadium as they are not happy of them being there but a curfew was put in order to keep the peace between them and so far it is working wonders. On the track the team has been getting better and better, and there is even talk of them being a Elite league side in the near future which is great for Kent.
It also kept my reporting skills up during the summer months away from both the football and Rigby league. But again i have and will be keeping in great contact with the fans and the riders for next season.
I also had some other great success over the year. I managed to get and keep of of two normal daily jobs whilst i managed my journlaism work on the side and I also started my driving lessons which is long overdue but the timing is right to do it after finding a full time normal job as I won't get another opportunity to do it and with my career as a reporter being based on working from car it needs to be done.
I have improved a lot as a journalist over the past year but i want that to grow during 2014 and i have the determination, passion and belief to make this happen but it has to be done on inch at a time. there are some things that i want to happen to me in 2014 as well but I want to get the three most important things done this year.
Pass my driving test - get my own place - get a paid reporting job.
If you were to ask me will i get those three things done in 2014, i will have to answer a big fay YES!!!
Well to you all - that will do for now, so have a merry and enjoyable 2014 and i hope it will bring everything that you want from it.
Till next time,
I'll Sithee
