Jacqui Oatley: How I was trolled by a schoolboy on Twitter
She is more used to being in front of the camera commentating on football, but now Wolverhampton's Jacqui Oatley has spoken about how online abuse can put off new female sports journalists from following her into the limelight.
The sports presenter, who lived in Codsall, was the first female commentator on the BBC's flagship football highlights programme Match of the Day, which she went on to present in March 2015.
As well as Match of the Day, she has also fronted Final Score for the BBC and The Football League Show, completing the set of five broadcast roles on the show, and World Football Focus.
But despite her successes, Jacqui has experienced abuse online.
She said: "I think anyone with a public profile is likely to experience some sort of trolling.
"I'm keen to make sure that the abuse doesn't put people, especially young women looking for careers in sports journalism."
Jacqui has had around three occasions of online abuse during her career, including receiving abusive tweets from a referee who was still at school.
Jacqui said: "I reported it mainly for his benefit.
"He said he wanted to be a primary school teacher and was a referee. I contacted his school and someone in the refereeing department at the FA.
"I just wanted him to be made aware of his actions and how they could impact his future career."
Jacqui believes that those looking to get into sports journalism, as well as other male-dominated sectors, should not be discouraged by the potential of online abuse.
"I want to encourage young girls to come into this business.
"I don't want them to be put off and think, 'well, if I go into this job it's going to result in lots of abuse' because that's just not the case.
"It does happen, but not that frequently, and whether you're male or female, anyone with a public profile is prone to it.
"The key is to make the people doing it aware of the consequences of what they're doing and how it'll impact their life."
As part of the offensive tweet, Jacqui received threats from the teenager who said he would 'cut her' and do other 'unmentionable things' to her.
Officers tracked down the social media user to a house where the sixth-former apologised to Jacqui but claimed the Twitter account had been hacked.
Jacqui was also targeted by a troll while covering the latest European Championships after a fan messaged her saying she should 'be at home cooking tea'.
Over the years, the well-known TV personality has also received letters from members of the public telling her to leave sports commentary to men.
She never found out who wrote the letters and the BBC redirected her mail.
"I don't want people, especially young girls, to be put off by this sort of thing," she said.
"I think if you have a positive attitude and a glass-half-full approach, you won't let it affect you.
Earlier this year, the online abuse suffered by female sports journalists became the subject of a new YouTube video aimed at highlighting the problem.
As part of Just Not Sports #MoreThanMean campaign, random men were asked to read nasty tweets sent to American female journalists Sarah from ESPN.com and Julie from 670 The Score.
The video starts off with the men reading out some more light-hearted jibes.
Bt the tweets quickly become much more hurtful and the men, who hadn't seen the tweets beforehand, struggle to read out the insults, with some looking on the verge of tears.
The women appearing in the video hope the campaign will shine a light on the daily abuse they have to battle purely for being a woman working in sports.
The other aim is to prompt Twitter to take abusive tweets more seriously.
Jacqui also hopes her speaking out will encourage people to take abuse more seriously, whilst encouraging more young women to become sports journalists.
Jacqui, who made her first appearance as a TV presenter at the end of 2010, has been a regular member of the BBC's football coverage team, working for Radio 5 Live and the corporation's TV channels.
In 2015, she signed up with ITV to report on football and darts.
Her efforts to champion the role of women working in football and TV work earned her an MBE in the 2016 New Year honours list.
Last month, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Wolverhampton for her contribution to sports broadcasting.
The news comes as the Crown Prosecution Service announced on Monday new rules on offences for which online users can face criminal charges.
The new rules detail an extensive list of examples of online behaviour that could result in legal penalties.
The updated guidelines attempt to widen the police's remit against online abusers and help protect victims.
