Peter Drury | |
|---|---|
| Born | Peter Donald Drury (1967-09-24)24 September 1967 (age 58) Witham, England |
| Education | St John's School, Leatherhead |
| Alma mater | University of Hull[1] |
| Occupation | Football commentator |
| Employers | Current:
Former:
|
| Known for | Sports commentary (Association football) |
Peter Donald Drury (born 24 September 1967) is a British sports commentator who currently works forSky Sports in theUnited Kingdom andNBC Sports in theUnited States as the lead commentator for theirPremier League coverage.
Drury was formerly withITV Sport as its second-choice football commentator, a role he had held from 1998 to 2013. He went on to freelance forPremier League Productions on its international coverage of thePremier League until May 2022 but still does occasional commentaries for them. Drury previously freelanced forCBS Sports (US) on itsEnglish-language coverage ofUEFA Champions League and theEuropa League from 2020 to 2022, with Pitch International for the English-language world feed of theEFL Cup through 2022, withAmazon Prime Video for itsPremier League coverage in the United Kingdom through the 2022–23 season, withBT Sport on coverage of the UEFA Europa League andUEFA Europa Conference League through the 2022–23 season, forUEFA for the English-language world feed of theUEFA Europa League Finals in 2023-2025, and for Host Broadcast Services (HBS) for the English-language world feed of the men'sFIFA World Cup in 2014, 2018 and 2022 as well as the men'sEuro 2024.
Peter Donald Drury was born on 24 September 1967 inBraintree,Essex, England.[2] His father was aChurch of Englandvicar based inKent.[citation needed] The first club he supported as a four-year-old wasWest Ham United, but he has since gone on to support different clubs, most notablyWatford as he now lives inHertfordshire. He went toSt John's School, Leatherhead inSurrey.[3] While growing up, Drury's commentary idol was BBC Radio'sPeter Jones, who Drury describes as having a "beautiful, authoritative, and poetic voice".[4] On 5 November 1985, at which time he was an 18-year-old student studying at theUniversity of Hull, he attended a live football match for the first time atBoothferry Park, which was aFull Members' Cup semi-final betweenHull City andMiddlesbrough. He was usually the first man at the ground a couple of hours before the other spectators came flooding in. He worked as an accountant for a period of one month after graduating from university. Before joining BBC Radio Leeds, he worked forsports journalism agencyHayter's.
On 1 March 1990, Drury commenced his first broadcasting job withBBC Radio Leeds, and it was during his time there thatLeeds United were champions of theFootball League First Division in the 1991–92 season. His early works with Radio Leeds included matches involvingHalifax Town,Bradford City andHuddersfield Town. He also commentated on both legs ofLeeds United's UEFA Champions League first round tie withVfB Stuttgart in September 1992, in which after coming back from a 3–0 first-leg deficit to win 4–1, he remarked that their fans were 'proud as punch' ofHoward Wilkinson's team and they were to be eliminated on away goals,[5] but it went into a play-off which they won 2–1 on 9 October. He soon moved toFive Live following its launch on 28 March 1994. His credits include the1996 UEFA Champions League Final (alongside futureITV colleagueJon Champion) andUEFA Euro 96, where he coveredGroup D matches involvingPortugal andTurkey. In 1997, he also commentated onThe Open Championship and theRyder Cup with 5 Live.
Drury later moved on toBroadcasting House in London at the start of 1997–98 season where he covered matches forMatch of the Day includingSheffield Wednesday vsEverton on Saturday 4 October 1997 atHillsborough Stadium.[6]
He then joinedITV in February 1998 and his first match for the network was a replay of anFA Cup sixth round tie betweenSheffield United andCoventry City on 17 March. After finishing 1–1 in both the original and replay matches, the Blades came out victorious, winning 3–1 on penalties. He was immediately selected to be part of the commentary team as their junior correspondent for the1998 FIFA World Cup in France, replacingJohn Helm. During his 15 years with ITV, Drury commentated on four World Cups (1998–2010) and fourEuropean Championship tournaments (2000–2012). He also commentated on theUEFA Champions League,UEFA Cup / Europa League, ITV's 'The Premiership' (coverage of the English Premier League between 2001 and 2004), 'The Championship' (coverage of the Football League Championship between 2004 and 2009) and theThis is Football video game series, starting with2 (2000). Other than football, he commentated onThe Boat Race (between 2005 and 2009) andGrand Slam of Darts, as well as snooker tournaments such as the short-livedNations Cup and the inauguralPower Snooker tournament in2010.[7]
Drury commentated on the 2014 FIFA World Cupfinal match betweenGermany andArgentina on 13 July 2014 at theMaracanã Stadium. In 2013, he joinedBT Sport for their coverage of thePremier League,FA Cup,UEFA Champions League andUEFA Europa League.[8] In 2015, Drury replacedJon Champion as the primary commentator in thePro Evolution Soccer video game series, starting withPro Evolution Soccer 2016,[9] having also narrated Sony'sThis Is Football series earlier.[10] During the2014 FIFA World Cup and the2018 FIFA World Cup, he commentated on matches for FIFA's international feed and itsYouTube channel, including thefinal betweenFrance andCroatia. He has covered most of thePremier League matches alongside co-commentatorJim Beglin, whom he has worked with since 1995 including his early work with5 live. Drury insists that viewers normally tune in to watch the match and not because of both of them.[4] He signed withSuperSport in 2019.[11] Drury joinedCBS Sports (USA) for its UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League coverage in August 2020, as the second-choice play-by-play commentator (behind formerITV colleagueClive Tyldesley).[12]
On 31 May 2022, following the conclusion of the 2021–22 season, Drury announced that he had left Premier League Productions, but he would continue to commentate on the Premier League into next season after joiningNBC Sports, replacingArlo White (who was then signed byLIV Golf) as their lead play-by-play commentator.[13] His position was confirmed on 6 July 2022.[13][14][15]
On 18 June 2023, it was announced that Drury would join Sky Sports, doing one game a week on Sunday, Monday, or midweek.[16] He will continue calling games forNBC Sports for Saturday 12:30 p.m. ET games.[17][18][19]
Drury has been famed for his expressive and poetic style of commentary.[20][21]