Tony Gubba
Encyclopedia
Tony Gubba is a British
journalist and sports commentator. He was educated at Blackpool Grammar School in Blackpool
, a coastal town in England's North West
. The unusual surname originates from what was East Prussia
.
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 covered every World Cup
tournament from 1974 to 2006. In 1972, he was given the job of presenting the popular Sportsnight
show, a post he held until 1975.
, frequently acted as stand-in presenter on Grandstand
and the occasional return to Sportsnight
, 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 of the BBC's coverage of the World Darts Championship
from 1984-1990. In February 2007, football fans were treated to his commentary for the 2007 Football League Cup Final
between Chelsea and Arsenal.
As of early 2011, Gubba was in his 39th season as a football commentator, overtaking Barry Davies
to become the third-longest serving football commentator of all time on British television after John Motson
and Gerald Sinstadt
. 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
's Dancing on Ice
from 2006 to the current series, 2011. On this programme he provides a round up of the performances and gives some trivia about the celebrity and their skating partner.
, near Reading
in Berkshire
. He lists witnessing the debuts of George Best
for Manchester United
and Michael Owen
for Liverpool
as highlights of his career.
Media of the United Kingdom
Media of the United Kingdom consist of several different types of communications media: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Web sites. The UK also has a strong music industry. The UK has a diverse range of providers, the most prominent being principle public service...
journalist and sports commentator. He was educated at Blackpool Grammar School in Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, a coastal town in England's North West
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
. The unusual surname originates from what was East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
.
Early career
Gubba began work as a local newspaper reporter in LancashireLancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
before moving up to the job of staff reporter for a national tabloid; The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...
. He then gained employment as for Southern TV in Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, before becoming a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
correspondent, based in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
.
His first Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
as a commentator with the BBC was in 1972, and he covered every World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
tournament from 1974 to 2006. In 1972, he was given the job of presenting the popular Sportsnight
Sportsnight
Sportsnight was a midweek BBC television sports programme that ran from 1968 until 1997.-Sportsview:Sportsnight was a successor to Sportsview which started on 8 April 1954. Sportsview was devised by Paul Fox, later Controller of BBC1 and Peter Dimmock was the original host for a decade...
show, a post he held until 1975.
Mid-career
After leaving Sportsnight, Gubba moved on to commentate on a range of sports for the BBC. He made regular appearances on Match of the DayMatch of the Day
Match of the Day is the BBC's main football television programme. Typically, it is shown on BBC One on Saturday evenings during the English football season, showing highlights of the day's matches in English football's top division, the Premier League...
, frequently acted as stand-in presenter on Grandstand
Grandstand (BBC)
Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
and the occasional return to Sportsnight
Sportsnight
Sportsnight was a midweek BBC television sports programme that ran from 1968 until 1997.-Sportsview:Sportsnight was a successor to Sportsview which started on 8 April 1954. Sportsview was devised by Paul Fox, later Controller of BBC1 and Peter Dimmock was the original host for a decade...
, live international football matches and FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
matches. He also commentated on ice-skating, hockey, table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
, bobsleigh
Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of two or four make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled that are combined to calculate the final score....
, ski jumping
Ski jumping
Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down a take-off ramp, jump and attempt to land as far as possible down the hill below. In addition to the length of the jump, judges give points for style. The skis used for ski jumping are wide and long...
, speed skating, cycling, rowing, judo, golf and tennis and was the main presenter of the BBC's coverage of the World Darts Championship
BDO World Darts Championship
The BDO World Darts Championship is a world championship competition in darts, organised by the British Darts Organisation . It began in 1978, and was the only world championship tournament until 1994...
from 1984-1990. In February 2007, football fans were treated to his commentary for the 2007 Football League Cup Final
2007 Football League Cup Final
The 2007 Carling Cup Final was played on Sunday, 25 February 2007 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was contested between Arsenal and Chelsea, making it the first all-London final in the competition's history; the two sides had previously met in Cardiff for the 2002 FA Cup Final. The game...
between Chelsea and Arsenal.
As of early 2011, Gubba was in his 39th season as a football commentator, overtaking Barry Davies
Barry Davies
Barry George Davies MBE is a British sports commentator. He has covered a wide range of sports in a long career, primarily for the BBC.-Broadcasting career:...
to become the third-longest serving football commentator of all time on British television after John Motson
John Motson
John Walker Motson OBE ,AKA Motty, is an English football commentator on both television and radio as well a well known moter. He made his name as 'Moty' after he moted out the entire Huddersfield huddersfield cheerleaders team. writer.-Biography:The son of a Methodist minister, Motson was educated...
and Gerald Sinstadt
Gerald Sinstadt
Gerald Sinstadt is a British commentator and broadcaster, usually on football.-Broadcasting career:Born in Folkestone, Kent, Sinstadt attended the Harvey Grammar School, and began broadcasting on the British Forces Broadcasting Service in October 1949 and BBC Radio in the 1950s and 1960s - where...
. He has provided commentaries also for football computer and video games
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...
: the PC version for FIFA International Soccer and the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
game International Superstar Soccer 98
International Superstar Soccer
International Superstar Soccer is the name of a series of football video games developed by Japanese company Konami, mostly by their Osaka branch, Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka . It should not be confused with Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo's Pro Evolution Soccer series , which was...
Dancing on Ice
Gubba has commentated on all 5 series of ITV1ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
's Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice is a British television show co-hosted by Christine Bleakley and Philip Schofield, in which celebrities and their professional partners figure skate in front of a panel of judges. The format, devised by LWT and Granada Television, has been a prime-time hit in eight different...
from 2006 to the current series, 2011. On this programme he provides a round up of the performances and gives some trivia about the celebrity and their skating partner.
Personal life
He lives in Sonning-on-ThamesSonning
Sonning, occasionally called Sonning-on-Thames is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire, a few miles east of Reading. The village is situated on the River Thames and was described by Jerome K...
, near Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. He lists witnessing the debuts of George Best
George Best
George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...
for Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
and Michael Owen
Michael Owen
Michael James Owen is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester United.The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997...
for Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
as highlights of his career.