Snapper chalks up a Premiership first

Freelance photographer Magi Haroun has become the first woman ever to get Premier League accreditation.

Haroun, who is based in Manchester, said: “It’s absolutely fantastic news.

“You
sometimes see women working the big football matches for agencies or on
behalf of newspapers but I am the first to be granted accreditation to
work on my own.

“I have been taking photographs of sporting
events for 25 years and have been a press photographer for 20 years and
this is a real achievement.

“It’s rare for a woman to have accreditation.

I’m
really thrilled. I remember when Aston Villa didn’t even have a ladies’
loo in the press room. All the guys had to clear out so that I could
go.� Haroun studied photography at Manchester Art College and was given
her first break by her father, who was on the Old Trafford board.

“I
had a camera and a degree in photography and he asked me to take some
pictures at the ground. “Some of the things I saw you just wouldn’t
believe.� After running an advertising company, in 1989 she moved to
London and worked as a freelance photographer for the Today newspaper.

While she was there, she photographed hundreds of top-level sports events including Arsenal and Crystal Palace matches.