Rob Palmer (commentator)

Last updated

Rob Palmer is a football commentator and sports broadcaster on Sky Sports, ESPN and other outlets around the world.

Contents

He has appeared on Sky Sports since 1995, originally joining from Granada Television to act as the North West correspondent for the Sports News channel.

His broadcasting career started at BBC Radio Humberside (alongside Sky Sports colleague Rob Hawthorne) and BBC Radio Merseyside.

Rob Palmer is best known for his commentary on Sky Sports (La Liga Coverage) over the years. He has commentated on the Clásico every year since 1996.

Footballer

He is a former goalkeeper with Derby County F.C.. Originally signed as a schoolboy, he played several seasons professionally in the development team and in the FA Youth Cup.

In 1983, he accepted a scholarship at the University of New Haven, Connecticut in the USA to play football and take a BSc in Mass Media Communication.

He broke several NCAA records as The Chargers progressed to the Regional and National finals in 1984 and 1985. His roommate was Juan Carlos Osorio, who later would be the Mexico national team manager.

After returning to the UK, he played for several non-league football teams and Scunthorpe United.

He was given his break in television whilst playing for Bridlington Town. John Motson pulled out of reporting on "The Road to Wembley" FA Cup feature and Palmer, who was keeping goal for Bridlington was asked to step in as Motson's replacement.

Broadcaster and Journalist

Palmer started his journalism career in newspapers and a Midlands newsgathering agency.

He moved into radio in 1987 to work for BBC Radio Humberside and then BBC Radio Merseyside, commentating on Liverpool FC winning the League in 1990.

He has since established himself as a well-respected TV commentator, reporter and presenter.

Television commentator

He is currently heard as the commentator on La Liga for EPSN+ in the USA as part of their comprehensive coverage of Spanish football. He joined the American network in 2021 when they signed a multi-million dollar eight year deal. He continues to call Premier League matches around the official world-feed and Sky Sports. He also commentates on live EFL matches for Sky, international matches for the UEFA world feed and the Champions League/Europa League for DAZN in Canada.

He is widely regarded as the 'voice of La Liga' in the UK and on TV stations that took the Sky feed of Spanish matches from 1996 to 2018.

Palmer writes a weekly column for the Spanish based, Sur in English, newspaper and regularly appears on SuperSport in South Africa plus Sirus Radio in the States.

During his stint at Granada TV, he covered live Sunday-afternoon matches and was often heard in other regions commentating on highlights, and on the late night Football League Extra programme in the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons and he also covered the 1994 World Cup for the ITV network.

His subsequent credits include: weekly appearances on Gillette Soccer Saturday , presenting stints on Soccer AM , Copa America, Football First, England Under 21s and Fishomania.

Rob is known for voice-overs for many Premier League football clubs including Manchester United, Liverpool FC, Everton, and Hull City.

He commentated on the 1994 World Cup for ITV, the Champions League Final 2010 (Sky 3D coverage) and Euro 96 for the host broadcaster. In recent years, he has guest commentated for DAZN in Canada, the Seattle Sounders.

He also presented and commentated on a variety of sports at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. His voice has also appeared in TV shows such as Coronation Street and Cracker. He's anchored the annual Fishomania show on Sky Sports, organised by Matchroom Sports, since replacing Jeff Stelling as host in 2004.

Charity work

He is also a key fundraiser and ambassador for the children's cerebral palsy charity Stick 'n' Step. [1]

He was voted as the 'Spirit of Merseyside' Celebrity Charity Champion (2010) at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral in May 2010 - following Liverpool footballer Jamie Carragher who won the award in 2009. He hosts an annual golf tournament which is supported by many football legends including Robbie Fowler, Jason McAteer, Kevin Ratcliffe and Derek Mountfield.

He is married to Bronach and his son Ellis is a champion of disabled rights and BBC journalist.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Gray (footballer, born 1955)</span> Scottish football commentator

Andrew Mullen Gray is a Scottish football broadcaster and former player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Motson</span> English football commentator (1945–2023)

John Walker Motson was an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Motson was the dominant football commentary figure at the BBC, apart from a brief spell in the mid-1990s.

Derek Rae is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter who currently works for ESPN and ABC in the United States for the English-language coverages of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, and La Liga and Deutsche Fußball Liga for the English-language world feed. He is also an ambassador for Berwick Rangers.

Barry George Davies MBE is an English retired sports commentator and television presenter. He covered a wide range of sports in a long career, primarily for the BBC.

Jonathan Martin Champion is a British sports commentator currently working as an association football commentator for ESPN and NBC Sports. Champion is a well-established and experienced commentator who has also worked for the BBC and ITV over the last 20 years. Champion currently covers the FA Cup for ESPN and the Premier League for NBC Sports.

Eddie Hemmings is an English rugby league commentator who was Sky Sports’ main commentator for the sport, before retiring in April 2019. Hailing from Aigburth, Merseyside, England, Hemmings became known for his commentary partnership with Mike Stephenson from 1988 to 2017. He is widely recognised as "the voice of rugby league" after a career spanning over 30 years in the sport. He and Andrew Voss are the two commentators for the video game Rugby League Live 4.

Alan Parry is an English sports commentator, concentrating on football and athletics. He has commentated for all four main broadcasters of football in the UK – the BBC, BT Sport, ITV and Sky TV, as well as for both BBC and commercial radio.

David Anthony Gubba was an English journalist and television sports commentator.

Clive Tyldesley is an English television sports broadcaster. He was ITV's senior football commentator from 1998 until 2020. In that role, he has led the ITV commentary team at four World Cups and four European Championships and been lead commentator on seventeen UEFA Champions League finals and a commentator on nine FA Cup finals for ITV. He won the prestigious Royal Television Society Sports Commentator of the Year in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2005, and was voted the Sony Radio Awards' Sports Broadcaster of the Year in 1983.

Rob Hawthorne is an English football commentator, currently working for Sky Sports. He is notable for his commentating alongside Andy Gray in the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final in Istanbul.

Stephen Robert Bower is an English football commentator, one of the main voices for BBC TV's Match of the Day, culminating in being part of the commentary teams for the 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 FIFA World Cups. Bower commentated on New Zealand's historic draw with Italy and Argentina's 4–1 win over South Korea amongst others. He can also be heard on TNT Sports covering the Europa League, Serie A, and the Bundesliga, NBCSN covering the Premier League in the US, and ESPN covering international matches. He is the lead presenter on world feed Premier League Productions and presents Premier League football for Amazon Prime Video UK. Previous work includes Setanta Sports, ESPN UK, and MUTV.

Peter Drury is a British sports commentator who currently works for Sky Sports and NBC Sports as the lead play-by-play announcer for its Premier League coverage.

Robin "Rob" Maclean is a Scottish television presenter, football commentator and sports writer. He currently works for BBC Scotland and TNT Sports.

Football on 5 is the principal football programme on Channel 5 in the UK. The show first ran from May 1997 until July 2012. The show returned in August 2015 under the name Football League Tonight. For the 2016–17 Football League season the Football on 5 name was revived with the highlights show now called Football on 5: The Championship and Football on 5: Goal Rush being broadcast from 9pm-10.30pm on a Saturday with a repeat on Sunday morning. The show itself was initially sponsored by Wilkinson Sword, and would eventually be sponsored by Soccernet.com, Peugeot and SEAT, among others.

Guy Nicholas Mowbray is an English football commentator, who primarily appears on the BBC and BT Sport. While working for Eurosport at the 1998 World Cup, he became the youngest ever television commentator on a World Cup Final, aged 26.

Gary Taphouse is a TV football commentator from Bournemouth, England. He mainly works for Sky Sports and Premier League Productions.

Ian Darke is an English association football and boxing commentator who currently works for ESPN and TNT Sports. Darke was previously one of Sky's "Big Four" football commentators alongside Martin Tyler, Alan Parry and Rob Hawthorne. He was also the main commentator for Sky's big boxing fights and along with Jim Watt, covered some of the biggest fights involving British boxers.

Ian Crocker is a football commentator who works for Sky Sports.

Ross Dyer is a British sports and entertainment broadcaster. He is currently a football commentator and presenter for ESPN and Fox Sports in the United States.

Paul Andrew Francis Dempsey is a British TV and radio sports presenter and commentator now chiefly employed by TNT Sports where he covers football and boxing coverage, as well as TV host and commentary on Indonesian Djarum's multiplatform Mola TV. After 18 years working for Sky Sports and 7 with the Dublin-based channels of Setanta Sports, Dempsey was signed by BT Sport prior to their UK launch.

References

  1. "Soccer stars put their boots in for charity auction to aid children's centre". Daily Post . 28 April 2004. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2008.

www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/.../2010/.../spirit-of-merseyside-awards-held-at-liverpool-cathedral-92534-26677345/