Darren Crawley – Communications Portfolio

Experience

Press Officer

Dundalk Football Club

  • Full management of all aspects of Dundalk FC’s external communications, bringing vision, professionalism, and the capacity to represent an organisation.
  • Gained exposure to high-profile event communications, including League and FAI Cup ‘Doubles’, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League Group Stages in both 2016 and 2020.
  • Operational management of the press office, functioning as a key point of contact for media enquiries.
  • Displayed a high capacity to manage multiple concurrent priorities, while ensuring exceptional clarity of communication and promoting a positive club image.
  • Agile in relationship management with national and international media outlets, skilled at connecting with relevant journalists and editors, applying confident interpersonal skills.
  • Production, editing, and proofreading of a range of press releases and communications content for use across traditional and digital channels (team news, club updates etc).
  • Deeply skilled at written communication, preparing concise, engaging, and informative content.
  • Representing the club during media engagements, organising press conferences for Champions League, Europa League, Conference League and domestic competitions.
  • Providing communications training and guidance to players and club personnel, protecting the club’s reputation and functioning as a source of expertise.
  • Experienced managing crisis communications, preparing intelligent responses and thinking strategically to minimise reputational damage.
  • Coordination of all social media communications, ensuring consistency of tone and managing community engagement, in addition to full website management.
  • Application of strong research and analysis skills, monitoring media coverage on the club and staying constantly alert to league and wider events.
  • Functioning as club spokesperson, engaging in club marketing and promotion, and providing key communications advice to club leadership.
  • Highly analytical, utilising data to assess media activities and inform future planning, as well as providing data and research on player statistics, news, and video analysis to support the team manager.

Select achievements:

  • Winner of SSE Airtricity/SWI Press Officer of the Year on five occasions – 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020.
  • Successfully established and grew the club’s social media presence.

Internal Communications

Boylesports

  • Initially joined Boylesports in an operations role in 2013, pivoting into management of the internal communications function in 2022.
  • Ownership of all aspects of internal communications across a variety of channels, driving a culture of transparency and engaged employees.
  • Preparation of a variety of communications content, designing and writing the company newsletter, promoting a positive internal company reputation.
  • Keeping personnel up to date with internal and external events and activities.
  • Liaising with management and various departments regarding specific agendas, supporting collaboration efforts and employee satisfaction and retention.
  • Skilled at document management and the use of IT for communications, including managing SnapComms and the company intranet.
  • Ensuring flawless accuracy of all communications, building a high-quality knowledge base of internal resources.