Jacqui Oatley

Infobox Person
name = Jacqui Oatley

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birth_name = Jacqui Oatley
birth_date = birth year and age|1975|mf=y
birth_place = Codsall, South Staffordshire
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residence = West London
nationality = flagicon|England England
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known_for = First female football commentator on "Match of the Day"
education = St Dominic's, Brewood
Wolverhampton Grammar School
alma_mater = University of Leeds
Sheffield Hallam University
employer = BBC
occupation = Football commentator
home_town = Codsall, South Staffordshire, England
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parents = flagicon|England Gerald
flagicon|South Africa Sonja
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Jacqui Oatley (born 1975 in Codsall, South Staffordshire), [ [http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=449195&in_page_id=1779 She talks a good game, but the verdict is split on the first lady] ] is an English football commentator, notable for being the first female football commentator on the BBC One programme "Match of the Day".http://football.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6570563,00.html]

Biography

Born in 1975, Oatley's father Gerald was the managing director of an imaging and information technology company, her mother Sonja was a nurse who grew up in South Africa, where her parents were Dutch missionaries.citeweb|url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23393422-details/Match+of+the+Day+gets+first+female+presenter/article.do|title=Match of the Day gets first female presenter|publisher=This is London|date=2007-04-21|accessdate=2008-06-08] She has an older brother Jeremy, while one cousin in South Africa was a Springboks cricket selector, while his brother is a rally driver who once won the Roof of Africa. [citeweb|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/euro2008/2008/03/about_jacqui_oatley|title=Euro 2008 - About Jacqui Oatley|publisher=BBC Sport|accessdate=2008-06-08]

Education

A normal girls's childhood - she was a fan of Bros - she developed a self-confessed obsessional love of football. She attended the all-girls junior school, St Dominic's in Brewood, where classmates could not understand her obsession of both playing football and watching her team Wolverhampton Wanderers, whom she would follow all over the country every weekend with her mother. Naturally athletic, Oatley passed three A-Levels at Wolverhampton Grammar School,and wanting to play football professionally, Oatley studied at University of Leeds, graduating with a degree in German in 1996.

Oatley spent a year travelling the world, and then moved to London to work in intellectual property as a Sales and Marketing Manager at Netsearchers International Ltd. [http://www.blackburnsachsassociates.com/profile.asp?ClientID=229 Blackburn Sachs Associates - Client profile ] ] While playing amateur football for Chiswick Ladies Football Club, Oatley sustained a dislocated knee cap and ruptured ligaments, which resulted in a reconstruction operation and ten months recovering on crutches.

Journalism career

Oatley decided to retrain as a journalist, studying print journalism at evening classes while broadcasting on hospital radio. She then gave up her job and flat, and undertook a post graduate course in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University. [citeweb|url=http://arum.lits.shu.ac.uk/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=309&srcid=202|title=Notable alumni|publisher=Sheffield Hallam University|accessdate=2008-06-08] While studying she joined BBC Radio Leeds as a sports reporter, and after graduation joined them full time, making her first commentary on a match between Wakefield & Emley versus Worksop Town in the Unibond League.

Oatley returned to the West Midlands to report and commentate for BBC WM, and then transferred to BBC London 94.9. [ [http://www.riversidefm.co.uk/riverside2002.htm Riverside FM - Summer 2002 ] ] She joined BBC Radio Five Live in 2003, and made her debut as a commentator and the first woman to commentate on a football match on British network radio in 2005 covering the England women’s internationals at the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship. Her subsequent interview with UEFA President Lennart Johansson became an international news story due to his controversial comments on women’s football. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/4102440.stm BBC SPORT | Football | Women | Backlash over Johansson's remarks ] ]

Oatley became the first female football commentator in the history of BBC football programme "Match of the Day", with her debut broadcast on 21 April 2007 for the Premier League match between Fulham F.C. and Blackburn Rovers F.C. [ [http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2007180675,00.html The Sun Online | The Best for News, Sport and Showbiz | The Sun ] ] Her performance on the programme was criticised by viewers, several of which wrote letters to the BBC requesting her dismissal. [ [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_headline=motd-jac-hits-sack-of-the-net%26method=full%26objectid=18986892%26siteid=89520-name_page.html MOTD Jac hits sack of the net] mirror.co.uk - 30 April 2007] Some rival commentators have complained that Oatley had "leapfrogged" them because the BBC wanted a female commentator for "novelty value." [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_page_id=1779&in_article_id=449195 She talks a good game, but the verdict is split on the first lady] dailymail.co.uk - 18th April 2007]

A lifelong Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter, [cite web

title = Mum’s proud of her debut girl
work =Express & Star
publisher =www.expressandstar.co.uk
date =2007-04-27
url =http://www.expressandstar.co.uk/2007/04/21/mums-proud-of-her-debut-girl/
accessdate =2007-05-04 ] Oatley lives in West London.

References

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/presenters/oatley_biog.shtml Jacqui Oatley Q&A]
* [http://www.blackburnsachsassociates.com/profile.asp?ClientID=229 Jacqui Oatley biography]