Steve Rider

Stephen Rider (born 28 April 1950 in Dartford, Kent) is a well known English sports presenter, and is currently anchorman of ITV's Formula One and live Champions League Live coverage.

Early life

Rider attended the John Roan Boys' Grammar School on Maze Hill in Blackheath. He began his career working for a newspaper in south-east London, followed by writing for sports news agency [http://www.haytersteamwork.com Hayters] . [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/grandstand/811837.stm Steve Rider: Presenter profile] ." BBC Sport- Grandstand. 3 July 2000. Accessed 2 April 2006] [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5923-2061238,00.html "Rider opts for some driver practice] ." The Times. 4 March 2006. Accessed 2 April 2006] Early in his career he was a sports reporter for Independent Radio News and also covered motor racing for Anglia Television, later becoming Head of Sport on the regional news programme About Anglia and lived near Halesworth in Suffolk.

Broadcasting

ITV

Steve worked for ITV Sport for several years providing reports for the now-defunct "World of Sport" programme, and reporting from the 1980 Summer Olympics. He was also a presenter for some of the golf coverage on Channel 4 and presented some live European football for ITV.

BBC

Rider joined BBC Sport in July 1985, taking over from Harry Carpenter on the network's now-defunct Sportsnight strand, which he presented for six years. He became a familiar face on British television, presenting shows such as "Grandstand", "Sports Personality of the Year" and much of the BBC's motorsports, rugby and golf coverage. In 1996 ITV attempted to recruit Rider, when it was announced that Formula One coverage would move from the publicly funded BBC to ITV, however he chose to remain with the BBC and ITV F1 frontman role was handed to Jim Rosenthal.

ITV again

In October 2005 it was reported that ITV had secured Rider's services and would replace Jim Rosenthal from 2006 onwards to present coverage of Formula One. He later said that a factor in his decision to move network was the BBC's unwillingness to agree his long-term future, he told The Times "I went...to the BBC and said "Look, you know me as a presenter, you know the way I work, the way I want to work, I want to make a long-term commitment to encompass 2012." They did not feel able to do that and it was easy to make a decision [about my future] from that point on". In March 2006 Rider made his coverage debut on ITV1, appearing on a preview show for the new season. Later that year he was chosen over Gabby Logan to be the main presenter of ITV's coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and he has been the network's main football presenter ever since.

Broadcasting style

Rider has always maintained a low-key and professional style in fronting major sporting events, in a similar way to his predecessors and colleagues Harry Carpenter and Des Lynam, but in marked contrast to presenters who some feel try to steal the event's spotlight. On his style, he was quoted as saying " [I'm not] that bothered about the environment that should surround a presenter at the beginning of a programme, of the "if we get you in this location it will look as though you are close to the action" sort of thing. That is meaningless for an audience, it is just a macho thing for a production team. We used to have these discussions: wouldn't it look great if you were standing by the 18th green as Nick Faldo putted out and you would say "No, that would get in the way of everybody's enjoyment of the event".

He has twice won the Royal Television Society's 'Sports Presenter of the Year' award, including in 1994, and has won two BAFTA awards. His defection to ITV is one of the most high profile from BBC Sport since Des Lynam.

Personal life

Rider lives in Maidenhead and is married to Jane (Eydmann) with a son (born November 1989) and daughter (born September 1992). He supports Charlton Athletic F.C. His son's birthday party was recently disturbed by 'yobs'. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=494201&in_page_id=1770] He married in November 1985 in Camden.

Steve was most recently seen on a celebrity version of Weakest Link in which the host Anne Robinson likened him to Alan Tracy of the Thunderbirds series.

Rider is patron of the south Buckinghamshire charity [http://www.headwaysouthbucks.org/contents.htm Headway South Bucks] , which raises money for people with head injury.

Steve is also an active patron for children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent.

References

External links

* [http://www.itv-football.co.uk/story/0,19239,6116_1495699,00.html Steve Rider] at itv.com
* [http://www.clicsargent.org.uk CLIC Sargent - children's cancer charity]