Stephen Rider (born 28 April 1950 in Dartford, Kent) is a well known English sports presenter, and is currently anchorman of ITV's Football coverage, which includes the Champions League, England Internationals and the FA Cup.He was anchor for ITV's Formula One Coverage from 2006 to 2008.

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 Hayters. 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.

Following ITV's early withdrawal from its F1 contract, handing the coverage back to the BBC, it was announced on 24th November 2008, that Steve Rider would not be offered a contract to return in 2009. Instead, the anchorman duties were given to Jake Humphrey.

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 married Jane (Eydmann) in November 1985 in Camden. The couple have two children, a son (born November 1989) and daughter (born September 1992). The family live in Maidenhead, and have a second home in East Portlemouth, Devon. Rider had objected to the building of affordable housing within East Portlemouth, where property prices had soared due to wealthy second home owners, leaving local people unable to afford to live within their own communities. The objections were quashed by South Hams council. In 2007, Rider's son's birthday party was disturbed when a canister of CS gas was set off.Rider supports Charlton Athletic F.C. He is patron of the south Buckinghamshire charity Headway South Bucks, which raises money for people with head injury; and an active patron for children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent.

References

1. Steve Rider: Presenter profile." BBC Sport- Grandstand. 3 July 2000. Retrieved 2 April 2006.
2. "Rider opts for some driver practice." The Times. 4 March 2006. Retrieved 2 April 2006.

External links

• Steve Rider at itv.com
• CLIC Sargent - children's cancer charity