Hello, welcome to The Ultimate Guide to Jobs in Sport! 👋 

Here you’ll find interviews with (almost) every job in the sports industry.
We ask people living the dream:

“How did you get your job?” and “What does it actually involve?”
So that you can land a dream job in sports too.

Enjoy!

#339: How to become a General Manager before 30 with Josh Marton, GM of Corporate Affairs and Marketing at Golf Australia

Meet Josh Marton, the General Manger of Public Affairs at the PGA of Australia and Golf Australia.

In this episode, we follow Josh’s journey from starting in journalism, to being a Marketing and Communications Account Executive at TGI Sport, to working at the Australian Open Golf tournament where he was part of the leadership team that brought Rory McIlroy to Royal Melbourne.

We also take a deep dive into Josh’s time at Cricket Australia where he was the Head of Communications working across the Ashes and the Cricket World Cup and also at Fox Sports where he was the Partnerships Executive.

If you’re looking for a job at Golf Australia, Josh provides what we looks for in applicants and what you can do to help to help break into the sports industry.

There are still tickets to the SportsGrad Adelaide Meetup on December 16, so come along for that if you’re in town.

🔥 Quickfire Questions

1. What inspired you to work in sport?
   Loving footy growing up and specifically wanting to work on the footy show!

2. What was your first sports-related role?
   First paid gig was actually as an umpire when I was 13. I interned for the local paper writing sport in year 12 and was a casual after that when I was 18, and I also produced both my footy club and the leagues ‘budget’ booklet thing from when I was 18 while I was at uni. I also was on the footy club committee at some point.

3. What did you study after high school?
   Bachelor of Journalism and a Bachelor of Marketing/Management. I finished my journalism degree straight away and then took 7 years part time while I was working to finish the other one.

4. What's one interview question you were asked to answer for this role?

   I don’t have any exact recollections except the fact I got asked how old I was which I obviously wouldn’t recommend. Rather than a specific question, it’s probably a range of questions and chatting to referees about understanding candidates mindset and they’re learning styles to understand how to get the best out of them and if that style fits our team.

5. A book or podcast recommendation that's helped your career?

   Peak Performance

6. If you could try another job in sports for a day, what would it be?
   My equivalent job at the Bombers, just to see if I could manage my own passion for the team!

What exactly does your job involve?

My job is to work with our team to inspire more people to love and play golf. We have a range of products and areas like major events, participation programs, pga membership advocacy, professional tours, clubs and facilities, coaching, the PGA Institute and many more that were responsible for promoting and growing. We manage communications, marketing, brand, content and gov relations out of our team. We’re also responsible for telling our story better and building the overarching interest in golf and creating more meaningful relationships with our fans, members and stakeholders. A typical day involves a lot of meetings across the GA and PGA exec, stakeholders from around the business, working with our team to get the work done and dealing with external stakeholders, all in the name of achieving whatever our goals are.

What are some of the responsibilities of your role?

Media relations. Corporate position and writing. Brand development and enhancement. Issues management. Team and stakeholder management.

What does your career journey look like?

I have it well documented in my LinkedIn and can chat through all the things I did prior to my first job. Would love to tell that story as I hope it can be helpful to others! Particularly my first job with TLA when I had an internship midway through my second year of uni.

What’s your #1 ‘pinch me’ moment working in sport?

It’s funny you say that. I haven’t often felt star struck in sport. Athletes are just people and that’s how they want to be treated! Working closely with rory this week was pretty cool, particularly when he gave me a meaningful two handed handshake on Sunday which Phil Smith happened to witness while he was waiting for rory to sign stuff for his kids. The other this week was working with Gerard Whateley on the Q&A with rory, Adam and min woo at the gala last week. I grew up with a radio on every morning which lead to my obsession with radio and radio commentary and Gerard is one of the greats, so to get to witness how he prepared and delivered was pretty cool.

What do you think your life would look like if you hadn't pursued a career in sport?

Who knows! I tend not to spend much time looking back. Loving sport, I considered studying physiotherapy which I’m pretty pleased I didn’t!

Others you might like to learn from:

#231: Journey to Commercial Partnerships Coordinator at Golf Australia with Clayton Henderson

#338: From the AFL, to Cricket NT CEO at 29, to Executive GM at Cricket Australia with Joel Morrison

#333: Managing Partnerships for the Nike Melbourne Marathon at IMG with Clayton Henderson