Jacqui Oatley

Jacqueline Anne Oatley MBE[1] (born 28 December) is an English broadcaster who works as a football commentator for Sky Sports and other broadcasters, calling games at the FIFA World Cup, Premier League, FA Women's Super League, UEFA Champions League, NWSL and UEFA international matches. She was also a sports presenter on Quest TV covering the English Football League, a podcast host for The Athletic, and is current anchor for ITV Sport's live darts coverage. In 2007, she became the first female commentator on the flagship BBC One football highlights programme Match of the Day,[2] which she also presented once in March 2015.

Jacqui Oatley

MBE
Born
Jacqueline Anne Oatley

Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England
EducationSt Dominic's, Brewood
Wolverhampton Grammar School
Alma materUniversity of Leeds
Sheffield Hallam University
OccupationBroadcaster
Years active2002–present
EmployerFreelance
Known forSports presenting and commentating
SpouseJamie
Children2

In August 2015, Oatley was named the eighth most influential woman in sport by The Independent.[3]

Early life

Oatley was born in Wolverhampton[4] on 28 December.[1] She was brought up in Codsall, South Staffordshire. Her late father Gerald was the managing director of a large gas appliance company, and her mother Sonja is a retired nurse who was born and brought up in South Africa, where her parents were Norwegian missionaries.[2]

Education

In her childhood, Oatley developed a love of watching and playing football.[2] She attended the all-girls junior school, St Dominic's in Brewood, Staffordshire. Oatley passed her A-Levels at Wolverhampton Grammar School,[2] and studied at University of Leeds, graduating with a degree in German in 1996.[5]

Oatley spent a year travelling the world,[6] and then moved to London to work in intellectual property[7] as a sales and marketing manager, then key account manager. While playing amateur football for Chiswick Ladies Football Club, Oatley sustained a dislocated knee cap and ruptured ligaments, which resulted in a reconstruction operation and ten months recovering on crutches.[8] With further operations to follow, she was told she would no longer be able to play sport. That news prompted her decision to change career and train to become a journalist, with the aim of working in sport, particularly football.[9]

Journalism career

Oatley initially studied print journalism and radio production at evening classes while broadcasting on hospital radio. She then gave up her intellectual property management job as well as her flat, spent a summer sleeping on friends' floors whilst doing journalism work experience full-time. She undertook a Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) in Broadcast Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University.[10] While studying she joined BBC Radio Leeds as a sports reporter, continuing to work there after graduation. Her first commentary was on a match between Wakefield & Emley and Worksop Town in the Unibond League.[11]

Oatley also worked as a news reporter in her native West Midlands with BBC WM, before moving back to London to work as a sports reporter for BBC London 94.9.[12]

Football commentary

She joined BBC Radio 5 Live in 2003 and became the first woman to commentate on a football match on British network radio in 2005, covering the England women's internationals at the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship.[13] Her subsequent interview with UEFA President Lennart Johansson became an international news story due to his controversial comments on women's football.[14]

Oatley became the first female football commentator in the history of BBC football programme Match of the Day, with her debut broadcast on 21 April 2007 for the Premier League match between Fulham and Blackburn Rovers.[15] She has since commentated on several further games for Match of the Day.

In September 2009, she commentated on the UEFA Women's Euro 2009 final between Germany and England. She provided live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live for matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[16] She was one of BBC Television's reporters with the Great Britain women's Olympic football team for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[17]

Oatley resumed her association football play-by-play commentary career in 2019 when she worked on seven 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup matches for the Host Broadcast Services (HBS) "world feed" on-site from Roazhon Park in Rennes, France.[18]

Oatley has been the lead play-by-play commentator for FA Women's Super League matches on Sky Sports in the UK since September 2021.[19]

In 2022, Fox Sports hired Oatley as a main play-by-play commentator for United States broadcasts of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first woman to serve in that role for the tournament's U.S. broadcast.[20][8]

In May 2023, Oatley joined the play-by-play commentary team for the National Women's Soccer League on television in the United States,[21] commuting for the role from Surrey.[12]

Presenting and reporting

Oatley has presented sports news on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4, as well as more frequently on BBC Radio 5 Live. She has covered the World Snooker Championship, British Moto GP, Open Championship golf, and various other sports such as tennis and rugby league.

Oatley presented and commentated for the children's television show Level Up during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany[22] and reported for BBC Television at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China.[23] She commentated on live football matches for BBC Television during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[24]

She was a regular sports presenter on the BBC News Channel between 2011 and 2013,[25] fronted The FA WSL Show in 2012 for ESPN (UK),[26] and anchored the BBC's live women's football coverage, including the UEFA Women's Euro 2013, 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, and Women's Football Show on BBC in 2015.[25] In 2013 and 2014 Oatley also hosted Late Kick Off on BBC One in London and the South East,[27] and was a reporter on Football Focus and Final Score on BBC One and a Premier League presenter on their worldwide television channel, produced by IMG.

She has also fronted the The Football League Show, completing the set of five broadcast roles on the show, and World Football Focus. She has been the darts anchor for ITV Sport since 2015, hosting their live international PDC events. She had previously presented ITV's 2015 Africa Cup of Nations coverage and in 2014 anchored their FA Cup highlights programmes. She has been a studio guest pundit on TV2 in Norway and The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast.

Oatley hosted coverage of matches and highlights for UEFA Euro 2016[28] and the 2018 FIFA World Cup for ITV Sport as a main studio presenter and pitchside reporter,[29] and was a live match commentator for the host broadcaster's world TV feed on-site at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France.[8]

Oatley appears regularly on Sky Sports programming as a match reporter on Soccer Saturday and has stand-in presented Goals on Sunday[30] and Sunday Supplement, where she took over from Neil Ashton on 14 January 2020 until the show was cancelled following the COVID-19 lockdown.[31][32]

In the summer of 2021, she co-hosted the BBC Radio 5 Live 5 Live Drive news show with Tony Livesey.

Honors

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting and diversity in sport.[33] The award was recognition of her work behind the scenes championing the role of women working in football as well as women's football. In September 2016, Oatley was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Wolverhampton for her contribution to sports broadcasting.[34]

Personal

Oatley is married to Jamie.[35] They live in Surrey, in southwest Greater London. She gave birth to daughter Phoebe in 2011 and son Max in 2014.[7] Her cousin in South Africa was a Springboks cricket selector, while his brother was a rally driver who twice won the Roof of Africa.[36]

References
  1. "Jacqui Oatley on her passion for football, getting an MBE and her first Match of the Day commentary". The Yorkshire Post. 17 July 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  2. "Match of the Day gets first female presenter". This is London. 21 April 2007. Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  3. Mott, Sue (8 August 2015). "The 50 most influential women in sport: The full list". No. The Independent. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  4. "Search Results for Civil Births in Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records". Findmypast. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  5. "New Year's Honours announced" (Press release). University of Leeds. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  6. "Sports commentator Jacqui Oatley celebrates honorary doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University with inspiring talk to students". The Loop. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  7. Smurthwaite, Tom (31 December 2015). "Presenter dedicates the honour to Women in Football". SurreyLive.
  8. Blum, Ronald (18 November 2022). "The World Cup will sound different this year as a wave of women lead play-by-play commentary at Qatar's controversial soccer showpiece". Associated Press. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  9. "Match of the Day gets first female presenter". Evening Standard. 21 April 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  10. "Notable alumni". Sheffield Hallam University. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  11. Midgely, Carol (20 April 2007). "The face". The Times. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  12. Vukmirovic, James (31 March 2023). "Hard work pays off for Jacqui Oatley as new adventure begins". Express & Star. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  13. Harvey, Lisa (15 May 2017). "How I got my job... as a sports journalist ⚽️🏅". Glamour UK. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  14. "Backlash over Johansson's remarks". BBC News. 17 June 2005. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  15. Cocozza, Paula (19 April 2007). "Move over Motty!". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  16. Rigdon, Jay (29 June 2022). "Jacqui Oatley joins the Fox Sports play-by-play roster for the 2022 World Cup". Awful Announcing (Press release). Fox Sports. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  17. "Team GB London 2012 football warm-up matches live on BBC One" (Press release). BBC. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  18. "Commentator Oatley comes full circle in France".
  19. "Jacqui Oatley announced as commentator for Sky Sports' Barclays FA WSL coverage".
  20. "FOX Sports Welcomes Jacqui Oatley as New FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Play-By-Play Announcer". 29 June 2022.
  21. "NWSL Announces On-Air Talent Lineup For 2023 Season" (Press release). National Women's Soccer League. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  22. "Jacqui Oatley". BNY Mellon. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  23. "BBC to follow England in Fifa Women's World Cup China 2007 – live coverage on BBC Two" (Press release). BBC. 22 August 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  24. Lay, Taimour; Gardner, Alan (9 August 2008). "The Beijing Olympics - day two as it happened". Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  25. Martinson, Jane (9 October 2016). "Jacqui Oatley: 'We need to give young girls the confidence to do this'". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  26. "Women's Super League on the BBC". BBC Sport (Press release). 25 March 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  27. "Women's Euros 2013". BBC Media Centre (Press release). 1 July 2013.
  28. "ITV reveals Euro 2016 coverage plans". Sport on the Box. 24 May 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  29. "World Cup 2018 live on ITV: meet the presenters and pundits". Radio Times. 17 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  30. Chris Kamara [@chris_kammy] (15 December 2019). "Cracking debut on Goals on Sunday for @JacquiOatley our guest @DarrenBent wasn't half bad either pic.twitter.com/1OyaVgscy5" (Tweet). Retrieved 22 December 2019 – via Twitter.
  31. @SundaySupp (14 January 2020). "WELCOME JACQUI! It's a done deal! We're delighted to announce @JacquiOatley is the new host of @SundaySupp!Join Jacqui from 10am, Sunday on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football for analysis of the big stories making the back pages" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 January 2020 – via Twitter.
  32. Reddy, Melissa (15 January 2020). "No, the world isn't ending, it's just a woman hosting Sunday Supplement". The Independent. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  33. "No. 61450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2015. p. N22.
  34. "WATCH: Sports presenter Jacqui Oatley nets an honorary degree from the University of Wolverhampton". Express & Star. 24 September 2016.
  35. https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/wolverhampton/2023/03/29/hard-work-pays-off-for-jacqui-as-new-adventure-begins/
  36. "Euro 2008 – About Jacqui Oatley". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
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