Calling the Shots at UEFA Euro 2020: Match Director Jamie Oakford on How He Will Tell the Story of Games from Wembley Stadium

Calling the shots at UEFA Euro 2020: Match director Jamie Oakford on how he will tell the story of the games from Wembley Stadium By Will Strauss, Editor

Friday, June 18, 2021 - 09:00

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The UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2020) is well underway, with all teams having played at least one group match now.

Tonight (Friday 18 June) sees another big fixture, particularly for TV viewers in the UK, as Scotland take on the auld enemy' England at Wembley in a game that the away team cannot afford to lose and home fans will expect to win.

The host broadcast match director for this crunch clash is Sunset+Vine's Jamie Oakford (pictured, above), one of the top directors in the business.

A stalwart of Premier League matches, his CV also includes the Champions League, the FA Cup and both Euros and World Cups, where has been at the helm of the final.

At Euro 2020, Oakford is stationed at Wembley, covering all England's group games plus a Round of 16 game, both semi-finals and, most prestigious of all, the final.

On the eve of the tournament, SVG Europe spoke to Oakford about his directing style, how he prepares for matches and how he plans to tell the story of Euro 2020 games at Wembley.

How does directing a major tournament match differ from directing a Premier League game?

It doesn't really differ that much really. You do get the fervour of the fans, but then you also get that in the Premier League. They're just more colourful and depending on where you are, there are [a few variations] like drumming and vuvuzelas [the South African horn]. One big difference is that as it's a bigger event, we get more resources and more toys to play with.

You're directing all of England's group games. As an Englishman, that must make you very proud.

I'm doing all the England games, and the semi-finals and final. That's a huge privilege but also a huge challenge. The eyes of the nation are on us. There are 11 directors and I'm really honoured to be representing our country.

You've been able to select your own 50-person Euro 2020 crew, which is made up of operators who have worked for both BT Sport and Sky Sports this season. When selecting your team, do you see yourself a bit like a football manager: someone who wants the right blend of skills, talent and experience?

Well, you certainly can't have a whole team of Maradonas [the late Argentinian World Cup winner]! You need a mix. You also need people who won't get on a super slow or close up camera and won't be disappointed about it.

I will have camera operators on the 14 key camera positions who are the same throughout. They're used to working with each other, they know how I work and they know what I'm expecting from them. They have done it a million times before. They know what to do in every situation. I won't have to go through every single set-play with them, for example.

If anything, the toughest challenge is getting the chance to use all the cameras. It's so hard to squeeze them into the coverage, because the game is so fast.

I've never really thought of myself as being like a football manager but when you're abroad you have to manage your crew in a certain way so it is a bit like that I guess. Most of these guys are mature individuals, they're not kids but you do have to make sure everyone is motivated to do the job you need them to do.

The great thing is that we are blessed in this country with a brilliant team of people who work on football week-in, week-out. The quality of camera, audio and replay [operators] is second to none. It's a dream job because we're doing all the big games at Wembley so I can tap into all the best people.

What personal preparation do you do before each game?

I will research the two teams involved. I will watch videos of [pre-tournament] games and then record every game in the tournament to watch later. I will look at team formation and the way the team plays and also research the manager: what is he like? Is he going to be sitting on the bench looking miserable or jumping up and down?

It's mainly just little things that you have in the back of your head so you go into each game armed with an idea of what might happen but of course every game is different.

I'll also look at the pre-match anthems to work out what sort of shots we might need will there be singing or crying? I will also get photographic headshots of the players and try to understand how they play. We provide headshots to the camera operators too.

With COVID-19 regulations in place, how will you brief, and communicate with, the crew?

Crew briefings will be done on talkback but where they need to be in person, we will adhere to social distancing guidelines.

The guidelines are that we shouldn't be in each other's faces. If anybody in the crew goes down [with COVID], the impact could be quite serious so most of the briefings will take place in large open spaces such as on the pitch.

Then I might do something individually with the replay guys as a small group and we'll talk to cameras, in small groups, to have some specific chats with people.

The standard configuration for all UEFA EURO 2020 matches will comprise a minimum of 36 match coverage cameras. An additional eight cameras will be used to cover other events surrounding the match (team arrivals, fan coverage etc.), providing a variety of supplementary content for all feeds. Find out more about the camera set-up.

How does that differ from what you are used to, what are you looking forward to making use of, and what challenges do you face?

We've got a crane, which is very common on the continent but not so much here because of space limitations inside the stadiums. So that'll be a nice little bonus. It's the kind

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