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Richard Keys | |
|---|---|
 Keys in 2011 | |
| Born | (1957-04-23)23 April 1957 (age 67) Coventry,Warwickshire, England |
| Occupation | Sports reporter |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Television | |
| Spouse | Lucie Rose (2023–) |
| Website | richardajkeys |
Richard Keys (born 23 April 1957) is an English sports presenter who has worked forBBC,ITV,Channel 4,Sky,Talksport,Al Jazeera,Fox Sports,ESPN Star Sports andBeIN Sports; he has presented many top-levelfootball matches.[1]
His career started inLondon in 1976 when he began working for theFleet Street Sports AgencyHayter's[2] until 1978, when he moved toLiverpool and worked atRadio City as a football commentator.
In 1982, he moved toManchester to work atPiccadilly 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 breakfast showTV-am.[3] While working at TV-am he also commentated on football matches for ITV and cycling forChannel 4, including twoTours de France.
Keys was one of the presenters for the Sports Channel onBritish 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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
In January 2011, Keys left Sky Sports after making derogatory comments about female assistant refereeSian 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-presenterAndy Gray and Keys behaving in a sexist manner.[5]
Keys apologised and said: "Prehistoric banter isn't acceptable in the modern world. I accept that. We failed to change when the world has changed."[5]
Keys later joined talkSPORT radio,[6] where he presented on Saturday evenings. Later in 2011, Keys returned to television broadcasting launching the boxing channelBoxNation[7] with boxing promoterFrank Warren.
In June 2013,Al Jazeera agreed a contract with Keys andAndy Gray. They present English and European football coverage fromDoha,Qatar, including thePremier League,UEFA Champions League, andFA Cup.
Coverage started for the 2013–14 season while they continued to present theirTalkSport show from Qatar.
Keys and Gray are the mainstays of the football coverage onBeIN Sports channels, which broadcasts all 380 Premier League games per season.[8]
Since 2013, Keys has maintained a blog[9] on his personal website that is often referenced in sports media.[10][11]
From the age of four, Richard Keys had a passion for football, ever since his father took him to watchCoventry City playSwansea Town in the oldThird Division. He was educated at the now-defunctWhitley Abbey Comprehensive School, where he was head boy.[12]
Richard Keys married his first wife Julia in 1982 and they had two children together. Julia filed for divorce in 2016 due to Richard Keys's alleged infidelity.[13]
In November 2000, Keys was heard to make a racially motivated comment about footballerDavid Johnson while broadcasting live on aSky test channel. While discussing Johnson's potential eligibility to play for the Scotland national team with punditsRay Wilkins andGraeme Souness, Keys referred to Johnson as a "choco jocko". The incident was brought to the public eye in February 2011, following Keys' departure from Sky for various other inappropriate remarks.[14]
In June 2023, Keys married Lucie Rose,[15] a lawyer 32 years his junior. It has been alleged that Lucie was his daughter's best friend, but he has denied this.[15][16]
In 2002, Keys received anhonorary doctorate fromCoventry University for outstanding services to sports broadcasting.[17][18]
In 2012, Keys and Andy Gray received the best sports programme prize for their talkSPORT show at the SonyRadio Academy Awards.[19]
Keys andGeoff Shreeves have helped to raise money for Nordoff-Robbins, a musical charity for children with autism.[20][21]
Keys is a patron of the Willow Foundation, a charity for people with special needs, founded by the former Arsenal goalkeeperBob Wilson in memory of his late daughter.[22]