Tony Gubba

Tony Gubba (born September 23 1943, Manchester, England) is a British journalist and sports commentator. He was educated at Blackpool Grammar School in Blackpool, a coastal town in England's North West.

Early career

Gubba began work as a local newspaper reporter in Lancashire before moving up to the job of staff reporter for a national tabloid; The Daily Mirror. He then gained employment as for Southern TV in Southampton, before becoming a BBC correspondent, based in Liverpool.His first Olympic Games as a commentator with the BBC was in 1972, and he has covered every World Cup tournament since 1974. In 1973 he was given the job of presenting the popular "Sportsnight" show, a post he held until 1978.

Versatility

After leaving Sportsnight, Gubba moved on to commentate on a range of sports for the BBC. He made regular appearances on "Match of the Day", frequently acted as stand-in presenter on "Grandstand", live international football matches and FA Cup matches. He also commentated on ice-skating, hockey, table-tennis, bobsleigh, ski-jumping, speed skating, cycling, rowing, judo, golf and tennis and was the main presenter on BBC's coverage of the World Darts Championship during the 1980s. In February 2007, Australian football fans were treated to his commentary for the 2007 English League Cup Final between Chelsea and Arsenal.

Dancing on Ice

Gubba has commentated on all 3 series of ITV's "Dancing on Ice" in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Personal life

He lives in Sonning-on-Thames, near Reading in Berkshire. He lists witnessing the debuts of George Best and Michael Owen for Manchester United F.C. and Liverpool F.C. respectively as highlights of his career.

Trivia

*He has provided commentaries also for football computer and video games: the PC version for "FIFA International Soccer" and the Nintendo 64 game "International Superstar Soccer 98".
*One of his most memorable commentaries was a FIFA World Cup encounter in 1998, where the entire Romanian team dyed their hair bright yellow, and he had the unenviable task of working out who was who. (Happily for Gubba, the game was not broadcast live in the United Kingdom as England were playing Colombia in their final Group G match at the same time.)
*He is the subject of the Half Man Half Biscuit song 'Gubba Look-A-Likes', from the 2000 album Trouble Over Bridgwater'.
*The name of the sports reporter in the recurring "Fast Show" sketch Chanel 9 - Antonios Gubba - is a reference to him.

External links

* [http://www.tonygubba.com Tony Gubba Official Website & Contact]
* [http://www.thevervoid.com/spoon/footballatoz.htm A collection of quotes from Gubba and fellow commentators]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/euro2000/the_bbc_team/741273.stm Profile] bbc.co.uk