Press releases

Visitbirmingham.com  is calling on young football fans to put their commentating skills to the test following the launch of a competition to find Britain’s next top football commentator, with the help of Sky Sports football commentator and legend Martin Tyler.

As an official partner to Aston Villa FC, visitbirmingham.com is appealing to children under the age of 16 to show off their commentary skills by entering the competition.

The campaign, named visitbirmingham.com’s Junior Voice of Football, was launched with the help of Martin Tyler at the home of Aston Villa Football Club, Villa Park. 

Budding commentators are encouraged to visit www.visitbirmingham.com, where they will be redirected to a video clip. To be in with the chance of winning children need to create an audio or video file [links to YouTube also accepted] with their own commentary to the footage supplied and send their entries to voiceoffootball@hatchcommunications.co.uk

Entries must be submitted by midnight on Sunday 28th February. A panel of judges will pick the top five entries, who will then attend an Aston Villa reserve game and show why they deserve to win by commentating at a live game.

The shortlist will be uploaded online, where fans, friends and families can vote for their favourite. The young commentator with the most votes will win the star prize, including the a media tour of Villa Park, hospitality passes at Villa Park and an action packed family weekend in Birmingham.

Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler said: “I am delighted to help launch this campaign with visitbirmingham.com. Commentary involves a lot of technique which can be learned. But the main requirement is a love for football and a passion for talking about it. Don’t be shy and have a go. You never know what it might lead to."

Kate Eccles of Marketing Birmingham said: “Birmingham has an existing and historic association with football, with two great clubs in our city. By launching this competition, we hope we can find the next voice of football.

“Football has a global audience of 3.13bn so by working with Aston Villa we can show potential visitors to the city what we have to offer as a family weekend break destination.”