Answer extracted from the The Purpose People Podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How did persistence lead to breaking into sports journalism after receiving multiple rejections?
After writing 12 rejection letters to Sports Week with no response, Ian Stafford made a direct call to the office, convinced the sub-editor Roger Sims to connect him, claimed he had a meeting nearby, and secured a five-minute slot that extended into a ninety-minute conversation—and a job offer. The breakthrough came not from perfect credentials, but from refusing to accept silence.
The Cold Call That Turned a No Into a Yes
Silence after multiple submission attempts is a common wall in journalism. Stafford had already done everything a young aspiring journalist was supposed to do: he became editor of his school magazine, studied history at King's College London specifically because it sat just 600 yards from Fleet Street—the epicenter of national newspapers—and logged extensive work experience.
But applications and letters alone weren't enough. The turning point came when he stopped waiting and picked up the phone. Rather than accept the rejection letters as final, Stafford called the Sports Week office directly. When he reached the sub-editor Roger Sims, he didn't ask for a formal meeting or explain away his prior silence. Instead, he claimed he had another appointment nearby and could spare five minutes.
This tactic—honest enough (he was nearby) yet urgent enough to feel real—worked. Sims agreed to a brief meeting. What started as a five-minute conversation stretched to an hour and a half, and by the end, Stafford had secured a job offer. His first role was gopher work: photocopying, making coffee, the unglamorous foundation that every newsroom needs filled.
As Ian Stafford explains in the full episode, this break into Sports Week in the mid-1980s launched a career that would span decades—eventually extending into 23 published books, four of them participatory sports investigations where he competed against elite athletes globally.
"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent—and I love that quote because I don't know anybody who's been successful who hasn't been persistent."
Ian Stafford — Founder, The Sporting Club. A sports journalist whose career began in the mid-1980s at Sports Week magazine following his persistent outreach to the editor. Stafford has authored 23 books, including four participatory works in which he competed against elite athletes globally to explore their mindset and how sport serves as an escape from poverty. He has worked extensively in television and radio, including shows on TalkSport and appearances on programs like Going Live and This Morning.
The lesson embedded in Stafford's story is specific: rejection silence is not the same as rejection. Twelve unanswered letters might feel like a wall, but they are not a door closing. They are simply a conversation that hasn't started yet. The next step—the call, the claim of proximity, the willingness to show up in person—transforms the dynamic. A gatekeeper who ignores a letter will often respond to a voice on the other end of a phone.
If you want to hear more about how Stafford navigated those early rejections and what happened after that first gopher role, the full conversation covers his climb through the ranks and the pivotal moments that shaped his approach to persistence in journalism.
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