Richard Keys

Richard Keys (born 23 April 1957) is an English sports presenter who has worked for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Talksport, Al Jazeera, Fox Sports, ESPN Star Sports , BeIN Sports; and has presented many top-level football matches.[1]

Richard Keys
Born (1957-04-23) 23 April 1957
Coventry, Warwickshire, England
OccupationSports reporter
TelevisionTV-am
Sky Sports
talkSPORT
Al Jazeera
BeIN Sports
Spouse(s)Julia (1982–2016) separated
ChildrenJemma
Joshua
Websitewww.richardajkeys.com

Career

His career started in London in 1976 when he began working for the Fleet Street Sports Agency (HAYTER’s)[2] until 1978, when he moved to Liverpool and worked in Radio City as a football commentator.

In 1982, he moved to Manchester to work in Piccadilly Radio as Sports editor and Football commentator. In 1984 Keys moved back to London, where he joined the ITV network as one of the main anchors of the breakfast show called TV-am.[3] While working at TV-am he also commentated on football matches for ITV and cycling for Channel 4, including two Tours de France.

Keys was one of the presenters for the Sports Channel on British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) in spring 1990. When BSB merged with Sky in 1991, the channel was renamed Sky Sports. He presented TV-am for the last time on 28 December 1990 before leaving for Sky Sports.

He presented Sky Sports coverage[4] of Premier League football since the league's inception in 1992. He was the presenter of the flagship Super Sunday and also presented Sky's Monday Night Football, which coincided with Sky gaining rights for the UEFA Champions League. Later he fronted all of Sky Sports' Champions League coverage.

In 2008, Keys also presented the UEFA Euro 2008 for Al Jazeera Sports.

Departure from Sky Sports

In January 2011, Keys left Sky Sports after making derogatory comments about female assistant referee Sian Massey. His off-air comments about Massey and the fitness of women to officiate at football matches were recorded and leaked. Further clips were leaked showing co-presenter Andy Gray and Keys behaving in a sexist manner.[5]

Keys apologised for the "prehistoric banter" and said: "Such comments were made off-air to work colleagues, and were, of course, never intended to be broadcast." He added that "If off-air conversations of television and radio presenters were recorded, there would be no one left working. That is not to defend what happened."[5]

Keys later joined talkSPORT radio,[6] where he presented on Saturday evenings. Later in 2011, Keys returned to television broadcasting launching the boxing channel Boxnation[7] with boxing promoter Frank Warren.

Al Jazeera, beIN Sports and Talksport

In June 2013 Al Jazeera agreed a contract with former Sky Sports football presenters, Richard Keys and Andy Gray. They both present from Doha in Qatar and present football including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, and FA Cup.

Coverage started for the 2013-14 season while they continued to present their TalkSport show from Qatar.

Keys along with Gray is now the face of the BeIN Sports channels which broadcast all 380 Premier League games per season mainly on their flagship "Super Saturday" programme.

Personal life

From the age of four, Richard Keys had a passion for football, ever since his father took him to watch Coventry City play Swansea Town in the old Third Division. He was educated at the now-defunct Whitley Abbey Comprehensive School, where he was head boy. [8]

Awards

In 2003, Keys has received an Honorary title from Coventry University (Honorary Doctor of Letters) for outstanding services to sports broadcasting.[9]

In 2012, Keys and Andy Gray received the best sports programme prize for their talkSPORT show at the Sony Radio Academy Awards.[10]

He has also received a variety of best sports presenter awards from different publications.

Charity work

Keys and Geoff Shreeves have helped to raise money for Nordoff-Robbins (A musical charity for Children with Autism).[11][12]

In addition Keys and his ex-wife Julia Keys are patrons for the Willow Foundation, a charity for people with special needs, founded by the former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson in memory of his late daughter.[13]

In 2002, Keys and Gray raised £64,000 for charity in the ITV show Who Wants to be a Millionaire.


References
  1. "Andy Gray and Richard Keys Added to Fox Soccer Channel World Cup Coverage | World Soccer Talk". Epltalk.com. 10 January 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  2. "Hayters Teamwork". Hayters.com. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  3. "Presenter Profiles". TV-am. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  4. "Richard Keys". Metro.co.uk. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  5. Gibson, Owen (26 January 2011). "Richard Keys resigns from Sky Sports after sexism storm". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  6. "Richard Keys". talkSPORT. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  7. http://www.touchline.tv/tv/boxing/richard-keys-returns-to-tv-with-boxnation%5B%5D
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Richard Keys- Profile Page - Coventry University". Alumni.coventry.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  10. "Andy Gray and Richard Keys win Sony Radio Academy Award for best sports programme - Mirror Online". Mirror.co.uk. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  11. "About FE | Money Raised". Football Extravaganza. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  12. "FE Dinner 2012 Premier League at 20 - Images | John Marshall (JM Enternational)". Marshall.photoshelter.com. 12 April 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  13. "Richard Keys". Willowfoundation.org.uk. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
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