As the Invictus Games draws to a close I look back on how the preparations began on what has been a tremendous week starting with the launch show just a few days ago.

We shared facilities with ABC who are the host broadcaster in Australia and along with their production partner, JAM TV, we've set up camp in car park P7 of the Sydney Olympic Park.

The technical producer, James Bonnar, has supervised the construction of our broadcast set up. Home is a marquee which has been transformed into a busy production office, with our edits set up in porta cabins and our main OB truck for the final programme gallery.

It's a double expando, to use the local lingo where nearly every word is shortened and has an 'o' added. Our UK team was joined by some local soundos, camos and well, you get the picture.

A few of the team - myself included - worked on the Sydney Olympics here in 2000 and have been boring everyone else with tales of what it was all like 18 years ago.

A bit like in London the Olympic Park itself is out of town - about ten miles to the west of the city centre in the case of Sydney - so one of the challenges is to make the coverage have a feel of the city, even though it's only the Opening Ceremony and the first day of sport takes place in town.

But with sailing in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge and Cycling in the Botanic Garden, that first day of sport should look pretty spectacular.

The setting itself reminds us of the first Invictus Games four years ago in London when the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ was the host broadcaster and the bulk of the action came from our own Olympic Park.

Quite a few of the team from 2014 are back for this fourth edition of the Games including both our presenters. Alex Jones presented a One Show special covering the Opening Ceremony in London and back then JJ Chalmers was a competitor winning medals in cycling and athletics before turning himself into a TV presenter.

So with Alex and JJ at the helm alongside a top team of commentators and reporters with lots of experience from Olympics, Paralympics and previous Invictus Games, we were ready to go. The event's patron Prince Harry has brought huge publicity to the Games here in Australia with his and the Duchess of Sussex's Royal tour and recent announcement.

We were ready for a week of really inspiring stories of how 500 wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women from round the world have put their lives back on track thanks to the power of sport.

It has been an incredible week of sport and we still have the closing ceremony to go.

The closing ceremony is broadcast on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One on Saturday 27 October at 1.15pm and 5.30pm.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport began live-streaming matches from the FA Cup qualifying rounds last year, and ahead of this Saturday’s North East derby of Dunston UTS v Gateshead, director Ken Burton explains how it's done.

The idea came from the early rounds of the Rugby League Challenge Cup, where we pioneered having a single camera on a scaffold tower streaming the whole match live. It was very well received and the football unit saw it as a great opportunity for the FA Cup and for putting more grassroots football on.

The pictures are sent back live by a two-person team with graphics and commentary added in Salford. Conor McNamara, Mark Scott, Danny Webber and Leon Osman get what it’s about and how much it means to the teams and to the viewers, and they encourage people to get in touch during their commentary.

And people do get in touch on Twitter with the hashtag #³ÉÈËÂÛ̳FACup. They might be watching their home town team that they never thought would be on television, or seeing a work colleague playing on screen, or doing a shout out to their own team as they watch on a mobile device on their way to another FA Cup game later.

Even though it’s a single camera with no replays, no cutaways, and if it’s raining you can see the lens being wiped, people are staying and watching online and on the Red Button.

When Maltby Main FC played Frickley Athletic in the first qualifying round, Maltby goalkeeper James Pollard made an absolutely extraordinary double save, and thanks to working with colleagues across the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ it was on the homepage within minutes. 

We got a letter from the club saying it was the best game in their history, even though they lost 2-1, and thanking us. It’s a lovely letter to have, and one of the things that make all the travelling up and down the country installing the cameras and standing in the rain worthwhile.

Never underestimate how much non-League grassroots football is valued both by its watchers and by its participants.

³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One’s Football Focus tells viewers when we’re going to stream games and where to watch on the website. They tend to dip in to live games, and during the last two they’ve nearly had a goal on both occasions.

Friday night local and regional sports bulletins are also now being broadcast from the football grounds we’ll be streaming from the next day, so it’s all coming together across the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

You can watch Dunston UTS v Gateshead live on 20 October here.

This is the third UFC MMA (Ultimate Fighting Championship Mixed Martial Arts) fight that 5 live has covered, but as far as I’m aware it’s the first time commentating has ever been attempted on live radio in the UK.

It means to a large extent we’re inventing the genre of UFC commentary on the radio as we go along.

There’s been live boxing on the radio since the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ began, but UFC MMA is a different sport, the rounds are longer for example. It’s almost entirely descriptive for the commentator, to keep up with the action and give people as clear a mental picture as possible, whereas the expert analyst or former fighter will mention the details they’d notice and explain why what’s happening is happening.

There’ll be 14 fights and 5 live will only be broadcasting five of them. But we commentate, as though live, on fights early on to get into the rhythm. It’s a really good team, and hopefully we’ll nail it for Saturday night.

At the moment, Vegas is without doubt UFC’s town and Conor McGregor’s town. You just notice how busy the city is overall: the airport is right by the Strip where all the hotels are and over the course of the week you can watch this spot of tarmac, a ‘car park’ for all the private jets get busier and busier, hundreds of them arriving and being parked up. It’s a high rollers weekend, and just talking to people here it’s one of the biggest of the year.

We haven’t done anything live from any of the press conferences because of the time difference being eight hours behind UK time, although we did a live hit onto 5 live Sport earlier on Thursday from my phone with an app.

It was working on the Wifi, and while I’m not sure I’d do an hour-long programme on it, for a five-minute ‘this is what’s happening’ it’s great. Even during just the past few years, this sort of thing has become a lot more reliable and is becoming more prevalent in broadcasting.

I’ve got a bag of gadgets that means we can plug microphones into phones or five sets of headphones into one phone, and we've done a live programme standing out on the Las Vegas Strip, just in the street, via a phone back to the UK.

There’s a different setup for fight night, with a sound engineer and mixing desks, like a traditional studio. It’s a complicated event, as different feeds are ordered from the host broadcaster, to mix the crowd noise up and down, or inside the octagon so the sound of the punches slapping into the fighters or their footsteps on the canvas, or the MC who gets in the ring, or the two corners between rounds so audiences can hear what they’re saying.

It's one of the most technically challenging mixes for a sound engineer that we do, in terms of single day, two-hour programmes.

The mixing will be done on location, then sent to Salford studio engineers, and from Salford it’s broadcast to the world.

Social media will be incorporated into the coverage, working with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport online so our coverage feeds into their live text, joining up so people through their tweets and texts can be part of the show.

We’re a small team, but have produced a podcast every day, interviews, and an hour-long live show, as well as serving other outlets like the World Service or ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ television.

The main events of the week are happening overnight, so the way coverage is being planned is that all the material is there for you first thing in the morning, so you can wake up in the UK and see what you missed overnight, all the craziness, the press conference and weigh-in, the insults and so on. Ultimately though, who knows what’s going to happen!

Listen to all the action on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 5 live from 3am on Sunday 7 October, or listen to a replay of the coverage here.

This Saturday the PDC Champions League of Darts takes place at the Brighton Centre and will be broadcast live on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One from 1.15pm. Director Simon Wheeler explains some of the challenges involved.

Darts looks rather straightforward to cover but it’s actually one of the hardest sports to televise, mostly because you have to shoot the event in close-up.

It would be very straightforward just to put in one camera and a dart board and leave it at that, but then there would be absolutely no drama or impact!

Close-up is important because when a player, particularly on the last three darts of a leg, is going for a double to finish, that double has to fill the screen so you do it in close-up. You have to know which doubles they’re going for, and you also have to have a camera operator who’s quick enough to get to them.

The filming definitely doesn’t follow a script. That’s illustrated by the fact that a player might get to a finish with a certain number, say 161, and they’ll have a certain way of going out in three darts.

We have a spotter who’s familiar with each player and how they check out, as you’ve only got half a second to know where they’re going to enable a cameraman to get a close-up of the right double – so it’s a lot faster than it appears.

All of the crew work on sports, but some are specialists and work on darts a lot of the time. Using a split screen for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ darts coverage was introduced by my boss at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Manchester, Nick Hunter.

Split screen meant that you didn’t have to cut from the throw to the board, which made things a lot easier for the director, and it’s a lot less strain on the eye for viewers as well.

These days more cameras are put onto a game, which enables you to get more close-ups to air, but essentially I don’t think there’s a great deal of difference in the coverage now than there was 30 years ago, except for things like lighting and the quality of the camera.

In future, ultra high definition, or 4K which is four times what you see in high definition currently, is the way darts, and sport broadcasting, is going.

The Champions League Of Darts is the top eight darts players in the world at the moment, all playing off against each other, so the quality of the players is absolutely top notch.

It’s the first time that this event has been to Brighton, so I’d also urge anyone there this weekend to come along and watch as it’s an extraordinary day out - it’s unlike any sporting event you will have ever attended!

The World Cup is here, and excitement will soon be reaching fever pitch. Thirty two nations are competing, from the hosts Russia to Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, South Korea, Iran, Peru and - who can forget that booming handclap that took the world by storm at Euro 2016 - Iceland!

Amid all the excitement, you might spare a thought for all the football commentators and sports journalists who have to get their heads around some pretty tricky footballer names – and lots of them. But just how do ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ broadcasters know how to pronounce them?

Back at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ HQ, there is a small team of three linguists who make up the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Pronunciation Unit. We are all phoneticians who speak a number of languages besides English and we provide an advisory service for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ broadcasters - it is our job to research pronunciations and provide guidance.

All of our advice is anglicised so that it is pronounceable by broadcasters and intelligible to audiences. We use a phonetic system called to render pronunciations in writing, and in all cases, stressed syllables are shown in upper case.

In general, our policy is that where an established anglicisation exists, that is what we recommend. In cases like Paris, where the English and French forms are spelt identically, broadcasters are advised to use the established anglicised form: PARR-iss not parr-EE.

In cases where there is an established English place name, such as Moscow, pronounced MOSS-koh in British English, we advise broadcasters to adopt the English form of the name rather than the Russian form Moskva.

In the case of little-known place names, we recommend a pronunciation which is as close to native pronunciation as possible, but in keeping with the sounds of English.

One of the place names already getting a lot of attention is England’s base near St Petersburg called Repino, named after the Russian painter, Ilya Repin. The place name should be pronounced with stress on the first syllable: RAY-pin-oh (-ay as in day, note first syllable stress), although the pronunciations REP-in-oh and REP-in-uh (-e as in get, -uh as ‘o’ in cannon) are also possible anglicisations.

The Moscow stadium where the opening game takes place is Luzhniki, pronounced with stress on the final syllable: loozh-nik-EE (-zh as 's' in measure, note final syllable stress).

Nizhny Novgorod is often anglicised as NIZH-ni NOV-guh-rodd (-1st -i as in bit, -zh as ‘s’ in measure, -2nd -i as ‘y’ in happy, -o as in not, note first syllable stress) though the Russian pronunciation is closer to NEEZH-ni NOV-guh-ruht (-ee as in street, -zh as 's' in measure, -t as in top).

One of the host cities Kaliningrad is usually pronounced kuh-LEE-nin-grad (-uh as ‘a’ in sofa, -ee as in street, note second syllable stress) in English; the Russian pronunciation is closer to kal-in-een-GRAT (note final syllable stress).

What about some of the footballer names?

One of the stars of the Russia squad is goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, pronounced: EE-gor ak-in-FYAY-yuhf (-ee as in street, -g as in get, -fy as in few, -ay as in day, -y as in yes, -uh as in oven, -f as in fit, note stress).

Another player to watch is Alan Dzagoev, pronounced al-AN dzag-OY-yuhf (-dz as in bids, -oy as in boy, -y as in yes, -f as in fit, note final syllable stress in first name – unlike the English pronunciation of ‘Alan’).

To conclude, here’s a selection of player names from other teams in Group G:

Tunisia: England’s first match will be against Tunisia so look out for French-born midfielder Saif-Eddine Khaoui, pronounced SAYF uh-DEEN KHAA-wi (-ay as in day, -uh as in oven, -kh as in Scottish loch, -aa as in father, -i as ‘y’ in happy), although the French pronunciation is closer to kaa-WEE (-k as in king).

Belgium: Kevin de Bruyne – the anglicised pronunciation of his name is duh BROY-nuh (-oy as in boy, -uh as 'e' in oven) but the player himself uses the pronunciation duh BROE-nuh (-oe as in French coeur) in Flemish and English, which may be further anglicised as duh BRUR-nuh (-ur as in fur but 'r' is not pronounced). The pronunciation duh BROW-nuh (-ow as in now) is debatably closer to the Standard Dutch rather than Flemish pronunciation.

Panama: defender Luis Ovalle, pronounced luu-EESS oh-VIGH-yay (-uu as in book, -ee as in street, -ss as in less, -oh as in high, -igh as in high, -y as in yes), and midfielder Aníbal Godoy, pronounced an-EE-bal god-OY (-o as in not, -oy as in boy, note stress in each name).

At the time London 2012 felt like a one-off, both on the track and behind the scenes here at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. It was hugely ambitious and the first time we’d covered such a large number of events live at the same time. But it was clear how much people valued the service and we knew immediately this was how all major ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ events, not just Sport but elections, Glastonbury, the Proms, everything, would need to be covered in future.

Within a couple of weeks audiences were not only used to the range of coverage available to them online, but they’d embraced it and were hungry for more. It was a little like patting a high jumper on the back after a world record clearance and saying, “Well done. Now go away and do it as easily and as regularly as a hurdler” – it was a challenge we couldn’t wait to take on.

So, our team in Salford set about designing and engineering a new way to deliver national events to all audiences. We soon found out what people loved and couldn’t live without. The live video streams, naturally, ranked high on the list but the digital service people wanted much more than that from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

They wanted to follow breaking news stories as and when they could, to be notified when they were happening, to follow specific parts of an event, to read updates and stories for build-up and analysis, to listen in when it suited them, and to plan and personalise their experience. They wanted these things faster. They wanted them all in one place. And they wanted them on every device.

But above all, they wanted this kind of experience for more of the events they cared about. Not just Sport. And with an audience as large and diverse as we have, this went way beyond the marquee multi-event tournaments and festivals like Wimbledon and Glastonbury.

We also needed to move the technology on from London 2012 to something all ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ teams could adopt and adapt as they needed. It had to be easy for multiple teams to use, to be cost-effective and reliable, and it also had to give people a consistent and familiar experience for live events. We set about building a first version of a live platform for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, something that has evolved quite a bit since but still remains focussed on those key elements people wanted.

News is increasingly live online and was a natural first place to roll out our new live service beyond Sport. Major events like elections and breaking news involve many similar core features like live video, text and audio, but need to be tailored by the experts to best report the story. The initial results were very encouraging. And ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News’ digital coverage of the EU referendum was able to reach 17.6m global unique browsers across the week of the vote.

Music events were next – like Glastonbury where we brought multiple live streams back into the mix and gave people a choice of acts from different stages for the first time. This year over half a million unique browsers followed the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳’s live digital coverage of the festival.

And we continued to innovate our Sport service, introducing new features like in-play video highlights, which have already become a key part of how people follow certain sports. We also added new personalised and interactive features, like match alerts and a team selector for Euro 2016. And for Rio, we added an experimental live, drawing over 1m views across all platforms with hundreds of pieces of feedback to help us learn from it.

People come to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ for the big national moments and this year they’ve consumed more live content from us than ever before. We had the Scottish and European referendums, Glastonbury, Euro 2016, Wimbledon and now the Olympics to name but a few – all using the latest version of our live digital service. Well over 60m unique browsers followed these events live on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. And that’s purely live audiences, before you factor in the world-class non-live coverage, programmes, analysis and reporting.

It’s been a long road from London to Rio but the journey is far from over. We know audiences want more of this kind of service from us. And we know that live online content, whether it’s user-generated or broadcast quality, is increasingly important to people. That’s why one of our biggest priorities is to continue improving how we do this, taking audiences closer to the action, making it more social, connected and more participatory than ever before.

Chris Condron, Digital Product Director, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Design & Engineering

June 24 – 26 : Glastonbury on the Red Button

Marking the 20th year of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ television coverage of the festival, later this month there’ll be 25 hours of TV of the world-renowned Glastonbury festival across our main network services (³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Two and Four, plus their HD counterparts). You can find more details about all the acts on TV .

However, we know that for some of you that’s just not enough music so additionally, during the festival, there will be up to three broadcast red button streams and one of those streams will be simulcast in HD, all depending on how you receive your TV. Our three broadcast red button streams are all scheduled services covering six of Glastonbury’s stages (namely Pyramid, Other, John Peel, West Holts, The Park and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Introducing).  Unlike the live streams on the website and our internet-powered Red Button+ service, our standard red button service has recorded performances from those six stages, but there’s no presenters, just pure music. A table of what’s available on each platform and on which EPG numbers is shown below.

Unfortunately, as for the Euros coverage and owing to capacity restrictions, we’re unable to offer more than the one existing Red Button stream to DTT viewers.

However, if you’ve got access to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳’s Red Button+ application on your connected TV, there will be six extra streams with live access from a range of stages. Our Red Button+ app is supported by Virgin TiVo and YouView devices as well as a growing range of smart TVs once they’ve been connected to the internet. You can find out if your TV set can get our Red Button+ service .

At bbc.co.uk/music, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Glastonbury website and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer via PCs, tablets and smartphones, you’ll also be able to access the same live streams of the six stages, across the weekend. There will also be around 120 performances available on demand at  and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer so you’ve no need to worry about timetable clashes for your favourite acts.

And finally, for your fullest Glasto hit, don’t forget our recently-launched ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Music app, available on mobiles and tablets.  Go in now, highlight your favourite acts and come back during or after the festival to catch all their appearances as recorded for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Glastonbury.

27 June - 10 July : Wimbledon on the Red Button

Whilst the happy campers at Glastonbury are still packing up their tents on Monday morning, the tennis at .

On our standard broadcast Red Button service on satellite and cable platforms you’ll find a total of six red button streams in SD plus one of which will be simulcast in HD.

As is the case with the Euros/Glastonbury events, unfortunately there’s not enough capacity for us to be able to offer additional streams to all Freeview viewers but if you’ve got access to our Red Button+ app on your TV then see further below for more details …

For our broadcast red button services, the channel numbers are as set out in the table below.

Even more tennis online and with Red Button+

In 2016, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport will deliver a wealth of Wimbledon coverage, enabling you to follow an unprecedented amount of action, whenever and wherever you want, with up to 15 live streams. Available online from and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ iPlayer and their respective apps for mobiles, tablets and connected TVs, as well as on Red Button+, you’ll be able to access the widest range of on-demand and interactive content for Wimbledon, including:

• Up to 15 live HD video streams – giving you the most choice during the busy early rounds
• All the action wherever you are, on the devices you use –check out ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport’s live coverage page, which will bring together the multi-court video player, text commentary and the best audience interaction in one place
• Highlights and full-length replays of key matches – available on-demand to ensure you can catch up on the best of SW19

How to get our additional streams on your TV

• If you have , you should not have to do anything. If you do have a problem receiving any of our channels, you can try turning your Sky set-top box off at the mains, waiting 30 seconds and turning it back on again. If that doesn’t resolve your problem you can find more help at .
• If you have the new streams should appear automatically. If you do have a problem receiving any of our channels, you can find more help at . For Virgin TiVo users the broadcast Red Button streams will be listed in the 980s in the guide – alternatively, pressing red when you’re watching on one of our TV channels will take you to the additional coverage and expanded offer on our ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Red Button+ service.
• If you have and you do not pick up the new channels automatically, you may need to put your digital box or TV into standby for 30 seconds and then switch it back on again. If the channels are still unavailable then carry out a Freesat channel retune. Full instructions can be found in the manual for your digital TV or box. Further help with retuning can be found at or by calling the Freesat customer support team on 08450 990 990. For those that need it, full DSAT transponder information can be found on our .
• Red Button+ is only available on certain platforms and smart TVs which also need to be internet-connected. You can find more details .

Kieran Clifton is Director, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Distribution & Business Development.

Nowadays, booking an ISDN or pointing a satellite in the right direction and you can broadcast anything from anywhere in the world, probably on a smartphone smaller than one of those jackfields of old. Back then we broadcast and edited on tape, using waxy “chinagraph” pencils and razor blades to cut and splice the tapes. Mind you, woe betide any producer who attempted to do their own editing. A stiff rebuke ensued from some severe nylon-shirted technician in an editing channel.

I’m proud how our regional sports coverage has expanded. In the 1980’s at Radio Scotland, we were restricted to second half football commentary plus - curiously - the last five minutes of the first half. Oh how we lived for those few extra minutes! Now ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Local Radio has a massive commitment to sport, following their football, cricket and rugby teams with passion and professionalism.

Our online world has expanded hugely too. There’s commentary on many football and rugby union games online and, thanks to a partnership with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport and cricket’s governing body the ECB, we’re into a fourth season of commentary on every ball of every county cricket match. It’s popular enough in the UK, with well over a million daily unique browsers to our live radio and online page, but followed avidly too around the world by cricket fans who email and tweet from dozens of countries. It’s a service described in a magazine article as “unglamorous, odd, accented, addictive…imperfectly brilliant”.

Our television output has reflected the regions we live in as well. The Super League Show is essential viewing for rugby league fans each Monday, a slate of fine documentaries on everything from the financial plight of Portsmouth FC to the legendary Sir Stanley Matthews have been produced and, with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport now at Salford, it all feels very joined up.

Terrific talent

One thing has not changed is the people I’ve worked with on sport at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. They’re people with terrific talent who would shine in any era, from Peter Jones to Dan Walker, Bill McLaren to Eleanor Oldroyd. At Radio Scotland I listened to commentary on a cassette from someone who’d originally been in touch as a 17-year old Aberdeen schoolboy. A combination of luck and illness meant I decided to give him a chance on air, which he took with both hands. Derek Rae has since become an outstanding commentator, a Sony Radio award winner at 19, working at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and in the USA, and now at BT Sport.

Attending a showjumping event abroad in 1996 I was rung by my boss, and asked to keep an eye on a rookie reporting from her first radio OB. She learned the ropes in no time, was more than ok, and I don’t think Clare Balding has done that badly since then.

In spite of the pressure the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has come under on rights over these 34 years, and I’ve heard reports of our demise more than once, we’ve remained a leading player in sports broadcasting. A peerless interactive offering, world beating on website and mobile, comprehensive national, regional and local sports news coverage adding to our TV and radio rights portfolio, I think the next 34 years will be a fascinating journey. I’ll be watching, listening and logging on, but sometimes wonder whatever did happen to that matchstick ship in a bottle?​

Sarah Mulkerrins is the presenter of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service's Sportsworld. In this post she tells the story of how the 2016 ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Women's Footballer of the Year received her award.

I never knew how hard it was to keep a secret. Until this project. 

US Immigration Officer at Seattle Airport: Why are you here?
Me: Oh you know, just business.
Officer: What do you do?
Me: I work for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.
Officer: Why are you here?
Me: Erm… a special project…
Officer: What project?
Me: Oh, just something to do with sport, radio, tv, women’s football…
Officer: Like what exactly ma’am?
Me: Erm I really prefer not to tell you if possible...

That's never how you want a conversation to go with US Border Control! But I was let through without revealing the big secret. 

Three days later, I was hiding in a well-worn dressing room, falling over footballs and cones. USA World Cup and Olympic Winner Shannon MacMillan was struggling to contain her laughter as we tried to keep quiet amid the chaos. Along with our great team of Alex South on camera and Anneka Radley as producer, we also had five of Seattle Reign’s media team in with us in this over-stocked room. You could feel the nervous energy. We were waiting for all the players to arrive into their dressing room next door before surprising our 2016 ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Women’s Footballer of the Year, live on Sport Today on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service. 

When the moment arrived Shannon and I padded out into the hallway, trying to broadcast in hushed whispers. We knocked on the door, entered and were confronted with what felt like 100 enquiring faces. The whole squad and back room staff were there. We announced that Kim Little had won the award and then couldn’t hear ourselves speak over the raucous cheers for Kim.  

There, in that dressing room, where the team bond over so many moments of varying emotions, it was lovely for us at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ to experience first-hand one of those raw instances and bring it to our audience. There was no denying the joy and pride from the squad that Kim was getting the recognition they felt she deserved. Kim is a humble star and she lets her football do the talking. So it was lovely to see 'her magic on the pitch' according to coach Laura Harvey, being honoured. 

The women's game is big business; it's no longer fair to say it's a niche sport. 25 million viewers in the USA tuned into last summer's Women's World Cup Final. That beat the Summer and Winter Olympics, Baseball's World Series and the NBA finals. There were record audiences for the tournament all around the world, including viewers from England, Germany, Japan and France.

The different domestic leagues are catching up too with increased investment and support. Kim was the only player nominated who didn't appear at the World Cup and the fact she the award by public vote shows the growing interest and knowledge of the domestic leagues around the world. This is the next step for the women's game.  

This was the second year that the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service had presented the award, the first going to Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala in 2015. It was launched to recognise the growing importance and recognition of the women’s game on the global stage. For those who didn't know about Kim Little or the other nominees before all this, their profiles and talents have now been brought to a whole new audience.  

A young generation of girls now have role models. That wasn't the case at the first Women's World Cup in 1991. The USA won, but the final wasn't televised there and there was no prize money or welcome home party. 

But 25 years later in Seattle, there was a party, there was a trophy and there was media coverage as we honoured Scotland's and Seattle Reign's Kim Little – voted the . 

Sarah Mulkerrins is Presenter, Sportsworld, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ World Service

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Listen to a clip of some commentary in all four languages above and visit the for more details.

Hannah Khalil is Digital Producer, About the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ website and blog.

Charles Runcie, Head of Sport for English Regions, goes behind the scenes with the sports teams of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Local Radio, to explain more about the 2,500 plus football commentaries they bring to their listeners each season.

With TV and radio sports channels, texting and social media, is there still a place for local radio football commentary?  This season ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Local Radio will be the only regional radio stations in major cities, including Liverpool and Birmingham, providing commentary on the latest matches that matter in their area each week. This development has brought into sharp focus the coverage our ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Local Radio stations provide for fans of around 90 clubs each week and emphasises why the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ must remain committed to promoting regional football at all levels of the game.

From Manchester City - all glitz, galacticos and Champions League glamour - to homely Harrogate Town in National League North, sports coverage is woven into the fabric of our 38 stations. The behemoths of the Premier League may command most attention, and we do commentary on 17 of those 20 teams, but it's further down the footballing food chain where ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Local Radio comes into its own. While their results get mentions on national 5 Live Sport or Final Score, we’re able to expand and concentrate on our local sides, with informed passion being the normal house style.

Some go to huge lengths to satisfy their demanding fans.  Such are the county rivalries that Radio Devon splits in three on Saturdays, for separate commentaries on Exeter City, Plymouth Argyle and Torquay United.  Meanwhile Radio Shropshire’s Nick Southall and James Bond (yes, it really is his name) went to Hungary to cover The New Saints in … a Champions League qualifier.  Although TNS are Welsh Premier League champions they’re actually based at Oswestry, so off went Nick and James on the team bus. They shared the commentary with Radio Wales, a dramatic game which went to extra time before TNS went out, and I’m told returned home neither shaken nor stirred.

Radio Guernsey also clock up plenty of air miles following their team in the Isthmian League Division 1 South. Flight times to the UK are as much a part of their sports teams’ preparation as the team line-ups.

It’s not just the tens of thousands of miles covered or resources devoted to those 2,500 or so commentaries.  Even getting on air can be an adventure. ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Hereford + Worcester’s coverage of the FA Cup’s longest-ever penalty shoot-out, when Scunthorpe United eventually beat Worcester City 14-13 in a 2nd round replay, was all the more remarkable as the station’s broadcast lines failed that night. The match was done via sports editor Trevor Owens’ iPad, with him sitting between the commentators holding the microphone between them while monitoring the strength of the signal. Radio on a wing and a prayer, and without doubt the longest night of Trevor’s life.

The relationship extends off the field too. ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Coventry + Warwickshire marked 10 years since Coventry City left their 106-year-old former ground with stories, conversations, experts and memories with fans in a week of broadcasting called . They also . 

Jamie Hoyland, former Burnley midfielder and ex-Preston coach, is a popular, funny Radio Lancashire match summariser. He says what he sees with enormous passion and knowledge of local football, and even wins over fans from clubs he never played for. On Olympic Way at Wembley prior to May’s League One play-off final between Preston and Swindon, the 100th game he’d watched that season, he encouraged supporters of both sides to take part in #Hoyland100 on social media.  Fans came up to take selfies, with a huge amount of positive reaction following. One group of fans even recognised him, and invited him to a forthcoming wedding.

Sport never stops for busy Radio Manchester, with both codes of rugby, boxing and cricket having to jostle with coverage of their seven clubs.  Presenter Jimmy Wagg has seen it all.  Starting on sport in 1989 he’s been to Wembley 18 times, 6 trips to Cardiff, and in 1995 won a Sony Radio Award for a live programme done a couple of hours after the death of the legendary Sir Matt Busby.  On Saturday 5 September Jimmy presents his 1000th sports show – and he’s never missed one.  As he told me, “Working in Manchester, the epicentre of English football, has given me the chance to pursue my passion for football and pretend it's a real job.  Any wonder my friends call me lucky?”

Covering our local football teams is part of the DNA of any ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Local Radio station, and something we’re expected by listeners to do and do properly. Our local radio coverage is a unique part of the sporting landscape which provides a much needed lifeline to die-hard fans following the Premiership to the National Leagues up and down the country.

Charles Runcie is Head of Sport, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ English Regions

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