Steve Rider

Stephen Rider (born 28 April 1950) is an English sports presenter.

Early in his career he was a sports reporter for LBC and also covered motor racing for Anglia Television who he joined full time in 1977.

It was also at Anglia where he first cut his teeth as a football presenter, when in 1979 he became the presenter for Anglia's local ITV football highlights show 'Match of the Week'.

He hosted the programme from the 1979-80 season until the end of weekly regional Football highlights on ITV at the end of the 1982-83 season.

Later he became Head of Sport on the regional news programme About Anglia.

He lived near Halesworth in Suffolk.

Rider got his big break reporting from the 1980 Summer Olympics for ITV, after the regional companies could not decide who of their senior reporters should to go to Moscow, instead selecting a relative unknown from Anglia TV.

He worked for both ITV Sport and ITN for several years providing reports for and anchoring the World of Sport programme and presenting for ITV's coverage of the 1982 World Cup.

While anchoring World of Sport he was reprimanded for making a flippant remark about a wrestler, who had broken his collarbone, for not reading the script properly.

He was also a presenter for some of the golf coverage on Channel 4 and presented some live European football for ITV.

In addition, he read the sports news section in ITN's Saturday late bulletins.

Between 1985 and 2005, Rider presented a variety of BBC Sport programmes including Sportsnight, Rally Report and the flagship show Grandstand.

Rider joined BBC Sport in July 1985, taking over from Harry Carpenter on the network's Sportsnight programme, which he presented for six years.

He became a familiar face on British television, presenting shows such as the flagship Grandstand, BBC Sports Personality of the Year and most of the BBC's motorsports, rugby and golf coverage.

Rider, along with Murray Walker and Tiff Needell, convinced the BBC to show regular coverage of the British Touring Car Championship and the British Formula 3 Championship on Grandstand.

Rider was anchoring BBC's Formula 1 coverage when Ayrton Senna lost his life at Imola, where he described Senna's condition just after the accident as grave.

In 1996 ITV attempted to recruit Rider, when it was announced that Formula One coverage would move from the BBC to ITV.

However, he chose to remain with the BBC and the ITV F1 frontman role was handed to Jim Rosenthal.

In addition to sport, Rider also presented BBC's coverage of the London International Boat Show.

He also anchored the channel's coverage of the University Boat Race until 2005, and every Olympic Games between 1988 and 2004.

His last assignment for the corporation came at the World Rowing Championships in Japan in the autumn of 2005.

He was succeeded by Gary Lineker and Hazel Irvine in golf, John Inverdale for the rowing and rugby union and Clare Balding for rugby league.

In September 2005 it was reported that ITV had secured Rider's services and he 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,

He was the anchorman of ITV's football coverage between 2006 and April 2010, and anchored ITV's Formula One coverage from 2006 to 2008.

In 2006 Rider said of the rumoured cancellation of Grandstand,

Rider was also critical of the BBC's selection of Gary Lineker for presenting Golf,

In March 2006 Rider made his coverage debut on ITV, appearing on a Formula One 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 World Cup.

ITV's early withdrawal from its F1 contract was announced on 24 November 2008, handing the coverage back to the BBC.

Rider commented of the contract cancellation,

He has been ITV's main presenter for the British Touring Car Championship since 2009.

Born in Dartford, Kent, 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, the South East London Mercury, followed by writing for sports news agency Hayters.

Rider would not be offered a contract to return to BBC in 2009.

The anchorman duties on BBC Sport were given to Jake Humphrey.

Rider started to present coverage of the British Touring Car Championship in 2009, which he continues to do so.

He was the lead presenter for ITV's coverage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Rider said of the BTCC in 2012,