BEING a black sports journalist in 2015 is still a rare thing. I often find that I am the only ethnic minority in the press box and it is an uneasy feeling.

Other reporters are not rude in any way but I personally feel like I am not meant to be there, that I stand out in a room full of white men.

The reason I mention this feeling is that I have never thought about what it would feel like to be a woman in a press box. I’ve never had to and when I do come across the few, they seem a lot more at ease in their surroundings so the thought that they are uncomfortable never crosses my mind.

That changed on Monday.

I was privileged enough to attend the Women in Football seasonal awards in London. It was an amazing evening and I met some inspirational women, including Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, Claire Rafferty and Eni Aluko of Chelsea and England, as well as journalist Jacqui Oatley.

I arrived with Star colleagues Faye Lipson and Suzanne Beishon and from the start I felt a bit out of place.

This had nothing to do with the women that were in attendance. Everyone was smiling, happy and everyone I spoke to was extremely friendly.

But it was clear that there were not many men in the room. I spotted one other man and he came over straight away to talk to myself and Lipson.

That could just be because he had spoken to everyone else and was making his way over to us. Or could it have been because he felt it easier to engage with another man than it was to talk to one of the many women in the room?

When I pointed out to Lipson and Beishon that I felt like I shouldn’t be present, Lipson reassured me that I deserve to stand among these women for what I achieved at the Star and the reputation I am building outside of the paper.

But after pointing out that it was because of my gender that I felt like going home, Beishon told me that this is how she feels everytime she attends a match for the Star.

She is often the only woman reporting from the game. She may come across Oatley, Amy Lawrence or Alyson Rudd. But the fact that there are such a minute number of women in sports journalism, how often will two of them be at the same game?

It is a strange feeling to describe. That you are alone in a room full of people. How do you approach someone?

Networking is difficult as it is, you have to have the confidence to go up a random person and start talking.

Some people find it easy, others don’t. For those that don’t, like me, I often find that hovering around a group of people and waiting for one of them to notice you and invite you into the conversation can sometimes work.

But I didn’t want to stand next to a group of women who were having a conversation. And I also didn’t want to just walk up to them and interrupt them.

Eventually I began introducing myself to people and it went fine. I met two young women currently studying sports journalism at university, as well as a load of broadcasters and writers.
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ut throughout, the overriding feeling of being alienated in a room full of friendly women is something that would not go away.

I never want to feel that again. It is something I don’t want any woman to feel this weekend, when they step into the media room at a football ground.

As for the event, it was remarkable. Listening to a group of women discuss how to tackle the problems at Fifa, and Hayes discussing the possibility of one day working in the Premier League was fascinating.

Knowing that there is a generation of young, talented women coming through in sports journalism is great news. I want to see them succeed at the highest level and hope that they start to fill press boxes up and down the country over the next few years.

For those that want to work in front of the camera, I hope to see them on the telley and really usher in a new era in sports journalism.