BBC Sport

BBC Sport logo
Type	Department of the BBC
Industry	Media
Headquarters	MediaCityUK, Salford, United Kingdom
Area served	Specific services for United Kingdom and rest of world
Key people	Barbara Slater (Director}
Services	Television broadcasts Radio broadcasts Online presence
Owner(s)	BBC
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/sport

BBC Sport is the division of the BBC providing sports coverage for BBC Television, Radio and Online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flagship analysis programmes such as Match of the Day, Test Match Special, Ski Sunday, Today at Wimbledon and previously Grandstand. Results, analysis and coverage is also added to the BBC Sport Website^[1] and through the BBC Red Button interactive television service.

Due to the public status of the BBC, advertising is forbidden and as a result, sports matches covered by BBC Sport are not allowed to be sponsored, although the present commercialisation of sport makes this almost impossible in practice. In the face of increased competition from its rival broadcasters the BBC has softened its stance and is now contractually obliged to refer to certain competitions by their sponsored name under the terms of broadcasting rights deals.

History[link]

The BBC has broadcast sport for several decades under individual programme names and coverage titles. Grandstand was one of the more notable Sport programmes, broadcasting sport since the programmes launch in 1958. The BBC first began to brand sport coverage as 'BBC Sport' in 1988 for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, by introducing the programme with a short animation of a globe circumnavigated by four coloured rings.^[2] This practice continued throughout the next two decades. Upon the launch of the BBC News website in 1997, sport was included in the BBC's online presence for the first time.

In 2000 BBC Sport became a separate department of the BBC based at BBC Television Centre in London. As a result, the BBC Sport website was launched, although close ties were retained between the editors of the BBC Sport and BBC News websites. The website contained the details of several sports covered by the BBC, including key sports and other smaller specialist sports.

In 2006, the department gained Mihir Bose in the newly created Sports Editor position to improve the sports coverage. BBC Sport also began to experiment with High-definition television, namely broadcasting the 2006 Football World Cup on BBC HD, as part of larger experiments within the BBC.^[3] Following the official launch of the BBC HD channel, BBC Sport expanded their HD coverage of sport, with Director of Sport Roger Mosey announcing in January 2009 that the BBC's aim "is for all our sport production to be in HD by 2012 at the latest".^[4]

In June 2008, an interactive service was launched by BBC Sport on the BBC Red Button service. Available on all major television platforms, the service relayed both sports results and other sport video feeds currently not allocated broadcast time. The best example of this is the BBC's coverage of Wimbledon, where matches on other courts are only broadcast as part of highlights or in full on the BBC Sports website and BBC Red Button.

In 2009, Mihir Bose and Roger Mosey both left to be replaced with David Bond as Sports Editor in December and with Barbara Slater becoming the new Director of Sport in April 2009.

In May 2007, the BBC Trust approved plans for several BBC departments, including BBC Sport, to be moved to a new development in Salford.^[5] The new development at MediaCityUK marks a major decentralisation of BBC departments and a key investment in the north of England. The department moved in to Quay House, MediaCityUK gradually in late 2011 and early 2012 with the first Sports bulletins being broadcast from the new BBC Sport Centre on 5 March 2012.^[6]

TV Sports rights[link]

Tennis[link]

One of the BBC Sport's most prized pieces of sport is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. The BBC has televised Wimbledon since 1937 and today produces over 900 hours of footage for display in 159 different countries.^[7] BBC One and BBC Two show coverage from 12 noon until 9pm each day. As well as this digital viewers have the option to view uninterrupted coverage of up to five alternative games on BBC Red Button. BBC signed a contract in 2011 to provide exclusive Wimbledon coverage until 2017 to keep the longest sporting contract in the world.

Coverage is presented by Sue Barker, while the Wimbledon highlights, titled Today at Wimbledon are fronted by John Inverdale. Commentators and analysts include Barry Davies, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Jimmy Connors, John Lloyd, Martina Navratilova, Virginia Wade, Sam Smith, Tracy Austin, Greg Rusedski, Tim Henman, Andrew Castle, Lindsay Davenport, Chris Bradnam, David Mercer, Mark Petchey, Simon Reed, Matt Chilton, Mark Cox, Liz Smylie, Louise Pleming, Andrew Cotter and Ronald McIntosh.

Furthermore, the BBC shows live coverage of the Australian Open, with the majority of coverage on BBC Red Button and important games (such as a match involving Andy Murray), including both finals shown on BBC One or BBC Two. However, coverage was scaled back in 2012 with coverage only beginning at the semi-final stage. The BBC also provides coverage of Queen's Club Championships and the ATP World Tour Finals whilst it is being held in London. The main commentators for the Australian Open is Sam Smith, John Lloyd and Andrew Cotter from 2011 before it was Chris Bailey instead of Cotter. Andrew Castle, Tim Henman, Greg Rudetski and Andrew Cotter usually provide commentary for other tournaments outside Wimbledon.

For many years the BBC broadcast the French Open but this ended in 2011 as ITV picked up the rights from 2012 onwards. They also used to show Davis Cup Live but since 2009 they haven't covered this because of Britains poor performances in the tournament. British Eurosport now generally shows these matches.

Football[link]

International football[link]

The BBC hold joint rights to show the FIFA World Cup until 2014 with ITV. A near equal split of group stage and knockout stage games are shown, including a semi final, and the final which is shown on both networks. A similar agreement exists for the European Championship. All games other than the final group games, which clash, are shown on BBC One or BBC Two, plus BBC HD. During those clashing games the game not shown on BBC One is shown on BBC Red Button. There are also nightly highlights and extensive interactive options.

At the minute all Scotland away games are shown live on BBC Scotland. The BBC also broadcast highlights of all Scotland home matches. This coverage is usually shown on BBC One Scotland or BBC Two Scotland and simulcast on BBC Red Button for the rest of the UK, though similarly it can appear on the nationwide networks. Until 2008 all Northern Ireland games whether Home or Away were shown by BBC Northern Ireland on BBC One NI or BBC Two NI and these were shown from the 1980s right up until 2008. In 2008 the rights transferred to Sky Sports and these were the last of the Home Nations to be shown by Sky but highlights of all home matches are broadcast on BBC NI and some away matches are still shown live but all matches are still broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster. BBC won back the domestic England and FA Cup contract in 2001 from Sky Sports so showed the England matches until 2005 and then showed all home matches from 2005 until 2008 and all away matches on Sky Sports however the rights transferred to ITV and Setanta in 2008 and now ITV show all home matches live and Sky show all away matches. The only England match that has been broadcast was highlights against Ukraine in 2009 on Match of the Day. Similar highlights arrangements exist for some of the Wales but these are made by BBC Wales for S4C and some away matches are shown by BBC Wales. No matches of the home nations are broadcast nationally now unless its a friendly or a tournament finals match because Sky hold all domestic live rights or ITV for the England matches

Domestic football[link]

The BBC also show extensive highlights from the Barclays Premier League. Match of the Day shows highlights of each Saturday's games while the Sunday games are covered in Match of the Day 2. Football League highlights are shown on The Football League Show after Match of the Day. Football Focus airs each Saturday lunchtime to preview the weekend's games, followed later by up to the minute game reports in Final Score through the afternoon on BBC Red Button and BBC HD and later on BBC One. As the final whistles approach, coverage switches over to BBC One where Final Score continues in England and Wales, with Scottish viewers able to see Sportscene Results at this time for special focus on the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and the other divisions. SPL highlights are shown, also under the Sportscene umbrella on Monday evenings. In Northern Ireland a similar service is available, entitled Final Score from Northern Ireland which starts at 5pm after all the English and Scottish results are in with Gabby Logan and this is usually hosted by Mark Sidebottom or Gavin Andrews . In addition, BBC Sport also provides Scottish matches for the BBC Alba channel's strand, Spòrs. This includes delayed coverage of SPL matches and live Challenge Cup games.

Beginning in 2009, the BBC signed a three year contract to show ten Championship matches live annually, as well as one leg of each League Cup semi-final exclusively live and shared live coverage of the Final with Sky Sports. It also shows Football League and League Cup highlights shows. The BBC has not renewed the contract meaning that live coverage will revert exclusively to Sky Sports but it is looking likely that they will keep their highlights shows.

Highlights and live coverage of the Scottish Cup and Co-operative Insurance Cup is also shown by BBC Sport Scotland, and on BBC Red Button throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. BBC NI show highlights of the Carling Premiership, Co-Operative Insurance League Cup and JJB Sports Irish Cup on Final Score from Northern Ireland and show Live coverage of the finals of the Irish Cup and Irish League Cup on Match of the Day from Northern Ireland, these are hosted by Stephen Watson usually with Michael O'Neill, Jim Magilton or people from the local game and are commentated on by Jackie Fullerton or Joel Taggart

Presenters[link]

Radio 5 live and BBC Sport's main studios at MediaCityUK

Match of the Day is anchored by Gary Lineker as has been since 1999. Match of the Day 2 is presented by Colin Murray and has been from the start of the 2010/2011 Premiership season. Murray is also a presenter on BBC Radio Five Live.

Dan Walker hosts Football Focus having taken over at the start of the 2009/10 season. Former host of the programme Manish Bhasin presents The Football League Show, as well as the BBC's League Cup highlights programme The League Cup Show and has done so since 2009. Gabby Logan is the current host of Final Score and also deputises on Match of the Day and MOTD 2 and she took over from Ray Stubbs who went to ESPN in 2009.

Other football hosts include Jake Humphrey who, when not presenting the BBC's Formula 1 coverage, deputises on Final Score and MOTD 2, as well as presenting some of the BBC's live Championship coverage. Former Radio 1 DJ and sports reporter Mark Chapman also deputises for Gabby Logan on Final Score, for Manish Bhasin on The Football League Show and presents occasional live international fixtures. He is also a regular football host on BBC Radio Five Live.

Recent former hosts of football on the BBC include:

• Adrian Chiles joined BBC Sport in 2004 and hosted Match of the Day 2 since its creation until 2009, he also hosted the BBC's highlights programmes from big tournaments such as Euro 2008 and the 2006 World Cup. Chiles also presented coverage of the Olympic Games in 2008 and BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2006 and 2007. Chiles left the BBC at the end of the 2009/2010 season and signed with ITV, to front Daybreak as well as leading their football coverage. The rest of the MOTD2 season was hosted by Jake Humphrey after Chiles departure.
• Ray Stubbs joined BBC in 1990 and was the BBC presenter who hosted MOTD when Lineker or Lynam was unavailable, he presented Football Focus from 1999–2004 and Final Score from 2001 when it became a separate program from Grandstand until 2009. He hosted BBC Darts Coverage from 2000–2009 and BBC Snooker from 2002-2009. He left the BBC to anchor ESPN's newly acquired coverage of the Premier League
• Celina Hinchcliffe who is still with the BBC, but now is a sports reporter for the BBC News Channel and BBC World News.
• Des Lynam - Hosted MOTD from 1989 until 1999. Hosted BBC tournament coverage of World Cup and European Championships from 1980s until 1998

Pundits[link]

The BBC's main football pundits are Alan Hansen, Alan Shearer, Lee Dixon, and Mark Lawrenson. they use people for tournaments that they do not use for MOTD like Leonardo, Martin O'Neill and Gordon Strachen. BBC Scotland use Pat Nevin and many others. BBC NI use local NI footballers like Chris Morgan but for big matches use Jim Magilton, John O'Neill and Michael O'Neill who is now Northern Ireland manager.

Commentators[link]

The BBC's main commentator is Guy Mowbray who is their number one and has since he commentated on the 2010 Football League Cup Final and the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final and he usually gets the bigger matches on MOTD and MOTD2. There other commentators are Jonathan Pearce who formerly was a leading commentator for Five, Steve Wilson, Simon Brotherton who also contributes to BBC Radio Five Live and recent addition Steve Bower. BBC Sport Scotland's main commentator is Paul Mitchell. The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship saw the retirement of the long-standing and popular commentator John Motson from live television football commentary, though he continues to work on Match of the Day and MOTD2 performs frequent live radio commentary for BBC Radio 5 Live.

Summarisers[link]

The BBC uses summarisers when broadcasting live matches. Mark Lawrenson is the usual choice for big games like the FIFA World Cup tournament or the Football League Cup Final, whilst also summarising on BBC Radio 5 Live for Premier League matches. Mark Bright is also used to summarise live matches in the Football League Championship or at the Africa Cup of Nations. Other summarisers are Martin Keown and Iain Dowie.

Regional coverage[link]

Scottish coverage is presented by Richard Gordon, Dougie Donnelly and Dougie Vipond. David Currie presents the Saturday afternoon results programme. Jason Mohammad presented Wales on Saturday until the programme was discontinued at the end of the 2008/09 season. He is now one of the reporters for Final Score. However, he continues to present other Welsh football.

BBC NI coverage is hosted by Stephen Watson and they use Michael O'Neill and Jim Magilton for analysis for NI matches and local Footballers for Irish League Coverage. BBC NI main Commentator is Jackie Fullerton who has been from 1992 when he left UTV and commentates on all their main football coverage and NI matches, other commentators are Paul Gilmour who also works for Sky Sports, Joel Taggart who also works on BBC Radio Ulster and deputised for Jackie whenever he was ill in 2004 and 2005 and Michael McNamee who also works on BBC NI Rugby Coverage. BBC NI use John O'Neill or Gerry Armstrong as summarisers

2010 World Cup coverage team[link]

Gary Lineker was the main presenter of the BBC's coverage of the 2010 World Cup from South Africa, fronting all major matches including games featuring England. The BBC's nightly highlights show was presented by Match of the Day 2 host Colin Murray. BBC reporters from both live matches and around South Africa include Gabby Logan, Dan Walker, Rob Walker and Colin Patterson. The BBC brought five commentators to the World Cup, these being Guy Mowbray, Jonathan Pearce, Steve Wilson, Simon Brotherton and Steve Bower, who were partnered by co-commentators Mark Lawrenson, Mark Bright, Mick McCarthy and Martin Keown. The BBC's expert panel of Football Pundits included Jürgen Klinsmann, Clarence Seedorf, Emmanuel Adebayor, Alan Hansen, Alan Shearer, Lee Dixon, Gordon Strachan, Roy Hodgson and Harry Redknapp

Rugby union[link]

The BBC holds exclusive rights to the Six Nations championship in the UK and does so until 2017. It shows all matches in the tournament live on either BBC One or BBC Two. Coverage of these games is complemented by an interactive service on BBC Red Button. The BBC hold additional rights to the Autumn Internationals for the Irish, Scottish and Welsh sides, as well as highlights of the English team; coverage is again on BBC One or BBC Two.

The BBC held exclusive rights to show the EDF Energy Cup until the 2009/10 season when these rights were acquired by Sky Sports. BBC Wales, BBC Alba and BBC NI holds joint right to show the Magners League, along with S4C in Wales and RTE and TG4 in Ireland. BBC Wales and BBC NI shows matches on Friday evenings and usually BBC Wales coverage is shown across the rest of the UK on BBC Red Button. Highlights from the Magners League are shown in Scrum V on BBC2 Wales and BBC Red Button alongside briefer highlights in Wales on Saturday on BBC One. BBC Sport Wales/Chwaraeon Cymru also produces the Welsh language S4C's coverage of the Magners League and EDF Energy Cup under the Y Clwb Rygbi brand. This is because the BBC is obliged to provide S4C with several hours of programming a week. BBC Two in Wales often shows Wales national rugby union team under-20 Six Nations games, which are also shown on BBC Red Button in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

BBC Sport's rugby union coverage is currently presented by John Inverdale, Gabby Logan and some times Jason Mohammad. The main pundits used are Jeremy Guscott, Jonathan Davies, Andy Nicol, Keith Wood and Stuart Davies. The BBC's commentary team includes Eddie Butler, Andrew Cotter, Alistair Ekeyn and Conor McNamara are the other 2 BBC Commentators. Brian Moore, Philip Matthews and Jonathan Davies. Bill McLaren was the BBC's main commentator for many years before his retirement in 2002. BBC NI coverage is hosted by Stephen Watson or Gavin Andrews with pundits who used to play for Ulster such as Bryn Cunningham and Andy Ward, Commentary is by Jim Neilly and Ryan Constable

Rugby league[link]

The BBC covers the Challenge Cup from the round in which the Super League clubs enter. The coverage is shown on BBC One and Two and will usually consist of two matches per round, one on a Saturday and the other on a Sunday. Highlights of the Super League are shown under the Super League Show title is shown overnight on a Sunday on BBC Two. Produced by BBC Yorkshire in Leeds, the show airs at an earlier mid-morning time-slot for viewers in some of the BBC's northern regions, where Rugby League is most popular. The National League play-offs are also covered on the Super League Show. From 2009, the BBC will hold the rights to show one England international each year and one non England rugby match per year.

Rugby League coverage is presented by Clare Balding and when she is unavailable it is hosted by Mark Chapman. The Super League Show is fronted by Harry Gration and Tanya Arnold. Ray French was the main commentator until 2009 when he decided to lessen his workload and stay commentating for the BBC but would be the number 2 commentator, Dave Woods is now number 1 Rugby League Commentator. John Kear and Jonathan Davies are the BBC's commentary team while Robbie Paul and Brian Noble are amongst the pundits. Dave Woods is the chief commentator for the Super League Show.

Motor racing[link]

The BBC covered Formula One for many decades until 1996, initially covering the odd race on the calendar, before introducing in 1976 a programme which followed the entire championship. Formula One was shown under the Grand Prix banner, races were commentated on by Murray Walker, with many co-commentators including James Hunt and Jonathan Palmer. Coverage was expanded in the 1990s, when all qualifying and races were shown live - many with Steve Rider fronting the coverage. The loss of the rights to ITV was seen as an example of the BBC Sport department's decline in the late 1990s, although as with cricket, the BBC continued to broadcast every race live on its radio services.

2009 marked the return of BBC television coverage of Formula One after an absence of 12 years. A five year deal was announced in March 2008, replacing ITV's existing coverage.^[8] Jake Humphrey anchored the coverage with David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan acting as pundits. Martin Brundle and David Coulthard provided the commentary (with Brundle also replicating his famous grid walks seen previously on ITV, while Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie were the pit lane reporters.^[9] Brundle and Kravitz were the only two members of the ITV F1 team who made the move to the BBC F1 team. Legendary commentator Murray Walker, who commentated on F1 for both the BBC and ITV for over 50 years, returned as part of the team, providing analysis and opinion on the BBC's Formula One website.^[10] In 2011 there was a change in the BBC Team: Jonathan Legard was replaced by Martin Brundle as Lead Commentator and David Coulthard joined him in the commentary box.

The red button coverage offered alternate Radio 5 Live commentary from David Croft, Anthony Davidson and Natalie Pinkham and for the 2009 season a CBBC commentary from Michael "Abs" Absalom, Dan Clarkson and Perry McCarthy was available. The red button also offers a split-screen (showing the main coverage alongside an onboard camera view and a rolling leader board) and a rolling highlights package. The Formula 1 Driver Tracker, provided by FOM, was introduced at the 2010 British Grand Prix and is available both online and on the red button. BBC Three plays a role in the Formula One coverage with a one hour highlights programme.^[11] Friday and Saturday's free practice sessions are also shown on the red button.

In the middle of the 2011 season, the BBC announced that it had entered a new deal in which it would share the F1 broadcasting rights with Sky from 2012 until 2018,^[12] including all practice and qualifying sessions in addition to the races. Sky would be able to show all the races live, and the BBC would be able to televise ten of the races live and show extended highlights of the remaining ten on a delayed broadcast.^[13] The announcement was controversial, with early promises that the races would be uninterrupted by commercials^[14] doing little to quell the highly negative reactions from fans and observers.^[15][16] Before the last race of the season the BBC and Sky announced the full plan for 2012, revealing the races which the BBC would be able to broadcast live. ^[17]

Sky launched a new channel in March 2012 called Sky Sports F1 and Martin Brundle moved to commentate on Sky. On 7 December 2011, Sky announced that Ted Kravitz, David Croft, Anthony Davidson & Natalie Pinkham would be part of Sky's F1 team for 2012. The Sky coverage is hosted by Simon Lazenby who has Davidson and Brundle alongside him, with Brundle joining Croft in the commentary box before the race, and with Davidson covering practice sessions with Croft while Kravitz and Pinkham are in the pits. Georgie Thompson formerly of Sky Sports News joins Kravitz for The F1 Show.

BBC announced that Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard, Eddie Jordan, Ben Edwards and Lee McKenzie would be part of their coverage team in 2012. Later, it was confirmed that Gary Anderson would be joining them as technical analyst. The BBC Radio 5 Live F1 team left for Sky but it was announced on 5 January 2012 that James Allen would return to the commentary box for BBC Radio in 2012 with Jaime Alguersuari and former Moto GP presenter Jennie Gow as pit reporter.^[18]

Motorcycling[link]

In 2003 the BBC won the rights to the MotoGP World Championship. After a successful first season fronted by Suzi Perry, coverage was expanded with more live races, and the contract was extended to the end of the 2013 season. The BBC now shows all MotoGP races, with all qualifying sessions live via the BBC Red Button. From the 2009 season, more coverage is available on qualifying and race days again through the use of the Red Button service.^[19] Jennie Gow replaced Perry for 2010,^[20] but from 2011 former pitlane reporter Matt Roberts becomes host, alongside the original and unchanged commentary team of Charlie Cox and Steve Parrish.^[21] Azi Farni will replace Roberts as pitlane reporter.

BBC Sport has also covered the North West 200 since 2007 on BBC NI with coverage of race day live on BBC Sport NI website and 2 highlights programmes shown on BBC One NI after race day. These are available on the Iplayer and sometimes are broadcast on BBC Two nationally. These are hosted by Stephen Watson who hosts from the paddock and race commentary is usually with Steve Parrish, Keith Huweun, Philip McCallan, Philip Moore and many others.

Olympics[link]

The BBC holds the exclusive terrestrial rights to show Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics and has shown live coverage of every Summer Olympics since 1960. This long-standing association between the Olympic Games and the BBC will now include coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London. Presenters for the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics have included many of the corporation's sports presenters, such as David Coleman, Frank Bough, Des Lynam, Steve Rider, Jake Humphrey, Sue Barker, Clare Balding and Hazel Irvine.

Athletics[link]

For many years, the BBC has covered the biggest events in athletics, stretching as far back as 1954, when Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile. Lead commentator for many decades was David Coleman, until his retirement after the 2000 Summer Olympics. The BBC covers events such as the Commonwealth Games, the European Athletics Championships, domestic British athletics and mass-participation events such as the London Marathon and the Great North Run. From 2010 following a shake up by the IAAF the BBC won the rights to stream live coverage of each Diamond League meeting on the red button, with the two British rounds and final two meetings live on BBC Two and selected meetings on BBC Three. The BBC lost the rights to the 2011 and 2013 World Championships to Channel 4. However in November 2011 it was announced that the BBC has obtained the TV, radio and online rights to the 2015 and 2017 IAAF World Athletics meetings, the latter being held in London. The BBC athletics presenting team consists of John Inverdale, Sue Barker, Hazel Irvine, Colin Jackson, Steve Cram, Jonathan Edwards, Denise Lewis, Stuart Storey, Paul Dickenson, Brendan Foster and Michael Johnson.

Horse racing[link]

Although the amount of horse racing on the BBC has declined in recent years, many big races are still to be found on the BBC. The Grand National has for many years been one of the biggest attractions on Grandstand with audiences around or often in excess of 10 million for the race on a Saturday afternoon. Coverage of other events such as Royal Ascot and the Epsom Derby are also broadcast, with presenter Clare Balding fronting the coverage.

The Derby was won back after many years in 2001, when the BBC also gained rights to the Epsom Oaks, which had only ever previously been shown by ITV and Channel 4 (until 2001, the commercial broadcasters had always held the Epsom contract, but from 1960–1974, in 1977, and in 1979 the BBC had shown the Derby simultaneously with ITV, because it was a protected event which could not be exclusive to either channel). However, many important races have disappeared from the BBC in recent years: the Cheltenham Festival and other Cheltenham meetings went to Channel 4 in 1995, meetings from Newbury moved to Channel 4 in 2002, and after 50 years Glorious Goodwood and other Goodwood meetings were lost to Channel 4 in 2007. Also, in 2007 the Irish Derby, which had been included in Grandstand and later Sunday Grandstand for decades, was only shown on At The Races.

The most famous BBC TV racing broadcaster was Peter O'Sullevan, who became one of the first ever TV sports commentators in the immediate post-war years, and stayed with the BBC until 1997.

2012 will be the last year of any UK horse racing being broadcast on BBC Television following a deal signed with Channel 4.

Golf[link]

The BBC holds exclusive UK rights to live coverage to one of the four men's major golf championships, The Open and joint rights to the US Masters, covering Saturday and Sunday's play live and broadcasting highlights of Thursday and Friday's play. Sky Sports show all four days of The Masters live. The BBC also cover two other European Tour events held in Britain - the BMW PGA Championship and the Scottish Open, although live coverage of these will finish in 2012 under the new contract negotiated with the European Tour where Sky Sports will hold exclusive coverage. Sky Sports will cover Thursday and Friday play live.^[22] It also covers the Women's British Open. Highlights of the Ryder Cup and live coverage of the Walker Cup can also be seen on the BBC . Hazel Irvine is the lead presenter on the BBC. The BBC commentary and analysis team includes Peter Alliss, Ken Brown, Maureen Madill, Wayne Grady, Jean van de Velde, Phillip Parkin and Andrew Cotter

Snooker[link]

The 1960s BBC2 programme Pot Black was arguably the reason for the sport's great popularity over the last 40 years. Snooker produced the largest ever audience for BBC2 with the 1985 World Snooker Championship final between Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor pulling in 18.5 million viewers just after midnight. The sport always pulls in large viewing figures for the BBC through tournaments such as the World Snooker Championships, the Masters and the UK Championship. The coverage is regularly hosted by Hazel Irvine or Rishi Persad. The pundits are commonly Steve Davis and John Parrott with the commentary team consisting mainly of former champions of the sport, such as Ken Doherty, Willie Thorne, Dennis Taylor, John Virgo and more recently Stephen Hendry.

David Vine was the main host when BBC first showed Snooker in 1978 until 2000 when he retired, David Icke was his deputy when he was unavailable. Icke was replaced by Dougie Donnelly in the early 1990s and Donnelly became main presenter after Vine's retirement for 2 years. Matt Smith was deputy from 2000 until 2002. In 2002 Ray Stubbs and Hazel Irvine took over, Ray Stubbs left in 2009 and was replaced by Rishi Persad who only joined when Hazel missed the 2009 championships because she was on Maternity Leave. Ted Lowe was the BBCs lead commentator from the first time the BBC showed Snooker until his retirement in 1996. Clive Everton was then main commentator until his role was reduced in 2009 and now he only appears in the early stages of a tournament alongside the likes of Neal Foulds and Terry Griffiths.

Cricket[link]

The BBC has most recently carried highlights of ICC tournaments such as the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, held in the West Indies, and the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 which was staged in England. Highlights of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was also broadcast on BBC. BBC Red Button offers live Test Match Special radio commentary with on-screen scorecards and graphic for all England's home Test, ODI and T20 matches. They occasionally show Live Cricket on the BBC Red Button whenever a Scotland or Ireland match is being covered by BBC Scotland or BBC Northern Ireland

American football[link]

The BBC currently holds the rights to highlights (primarily broadcast on its web site) and live radio coverage of the NFL. Since 2007, the BBC has also broadcast the Super Bowl live on television.^[23]

Jake Humphrey presented their play-off highlights show for the first 2 years with Matt Roberts taking over duties in 2010. Both featured in the Super Bowl coverage for 2010. Current studio pundits include Mike Carlson, Rod Woodson, and Jerry Rice. They also show highlights of the International Series game from Wembley stadium and in 2011 Mark Chapman presented highlights of this which means he may be presenter for the Super Bowl in 2012.

For Super Bowl XLV, Jake Humphrey took over presenting duties on his own, whilst Matt Roberts did the weekly playoff highlights show leading up to the game. Tiki Barber and Mike Carlson were the two pundits for the Super Bowl, and Carlson also did the playoff highlights as well. They took the game feed from Fox Sports, with the commentary from Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Michael Johnson hosted a special Inside Sport programme before and after the game for the BBC.

They will again air live weekly radio coverage of the NFL on BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra and air the Super Bowl on BBC TV and on BBC Radio Five Live in 2012.

Other sports[link]

As well as all of this, BBC shows the BDO World Darts Championships, they have shown this from 1978 to 2011 exclusively and will show it together with ESPN in 2012. Hosts for this have included David Vine in 1978 Peter Purves from 1979–1984, Tony Gubba from 1985–1990, Eamon Holmes from 1991–1993, Dougie Donnelly from 1994–1999, John Inverdale in 2000, Ray Stubbs from 2001–2009 and Colin Murray from 2010–present. Bobby George has presented as well from 2000–present. Commentators are Sid Waddell 1978-1994, Tony Green 1978-2010, 2012–present, Vassos Alexander 2011–present and David Croft 2003–present and John Part 1995-2007.

They also cover the Alpine Skiing World Cup under its Ski Sunday banner; and briefly covers sports such as road and track cycling, sailing, badminton, table tennis, squash, equestrianism, gymnastics and other minority sports in an attempt to publicise the type of sports that will make up the forthcoming London 2012 Olympics. Presenters for these sports include Jill Douglas and Phil Jones who often report for other areas of BBC Sport.

BBC Sport regained coverage of the Boat Race from ITV Sport who pulled out of coverage after the 2009 event. A 5 year contract was signed by BBC Sport to cover the event from 2010 after last covering the 2004 race. Clare Balding hosts this and Commentary is from Andrew Cotter.

Previous coverage[link]

Cricket[link]

One of BBC Sport's major criticisms is that it no longer shows any live cricket games, having lost coverage of the Test Matches in 1999 to Channel 4 who then lost to Sky Sports in 2005. Coverage was fronted by Tony Lewis for many years. The BBC was also widely criticised for not even bidding for the rights to show home Test matches when the next set of rights between 2006 and 2009 went up for sale, a decision which it also took for the next contract running until 2013 with the corporation claiming it could neither afford the cost of the rights or fit into their schedules. That honour went exclusively (and rather controversially) to Sky, with nightly highlights on Five.

Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra broadcast England matches and some county cricket (along with the BBC's various local stations); many of these radio commentaries are simulcast on BBC Red Button with live scorecards.

Motorsport[link]

The BBC also broadcast the World Rally Championships until 2001, when Channel 4 bought the rights. WRC is now shown on ESPN. The British Touring Car Championship was another event the BBC lost when ITV took the broadcasting rights in 2002.

After losing the rights to Formula One and the World Rally Championship, the BBC dabbled in British and World Superbikes for a few years — often showing the World Championship version live. After acquiring the rights to the MotoGP World Championship in 2003 coverage of the World and British Superbikes was dropped, presently picked up by Eurosport with highlights on Channel 4 and ITV4 respectively.

Radio sports rights[link]

BBC Sport has monopolised the sports commentary market on British radio since the BBC's conception but since 2000, has lost coverage of some sporting events to TalkSPORT. BBC Sport provides Sport coverage for BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and broadcasts its radio commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra under their Five Live Sports banner, BBC Radio 4, the BBC World Service and online on the BBC website.

In 2006 BBC Sport won six of the seven available Saturday afternoon broadcast rights packages of 32 games each from the Premier League for three seasons from August 2007.

BBC Sport Online[link]

BBC Sport operates a sub-site of BBC Online which supplements the television and radio services of the department. The website features scores and analysis from a variety of sports including those not broadcast by the BBC. The site also includes news stories related to teams or particular sports and live broadcast coverage of some sports.

The website launched c.2000 and was relaunched in 2003 to accommodate bigger screen sizes, with a sidebar to incorporate more sport and to parallel the relaunched BBC News website.^[24] The current look was implemented in February 2012, featuring the bold colour scheme of the logo, the new horizontal navigation bar across the whole of the site and design characteristics being implemented across the BBC website. The new look gave more prominance to live sports, programmes and events as well as news on the individual teams.^[25]

Sports forum[link]

Until 2011, the BBC Sport website hosted an online sports forum entitled 606, named after the original start-time of the radio programme - six minutes past six. It covered a large variety of topics which included cricket, football, rugby (league and union), tennis, athletics, motorsport and many more. Sporting teams usually had their own individual pages where members could post and comment on any news or topics relating to that team. Users accessed through an account system and could comment and rate their opinions. The forum was moderated by the BBC and any posts deemed to have broken the 'house rules' was not posted.

As part of the reduction in BBC Online's budget of 25%, all non-essential services that did not focus around core products were closed. As all posts had to be post moderated, and as conversations were increasingly being done through social media websites that BBC Sport were a part of, the site was closed on 31 May 2011.^[26]

Interactive services[link]

BBC Sport also offers a service on the BBC Red Button interactive television service. The service offers a sports multi-screen service covering sports news stories in addition to five streams that can broadcast sport through the red button. This is often used for uninterupted coverage and scores over a commentary, or for an alternative sport event unable to be covered on the main BBC TV or Radio services.^[27] A key example is of the broadcasts of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships as matches on other courts may be displayed through the red button while a higher ranking match on a main court is taking place on the main TV service.^[28]

See also[link]

BBC portal

• BBC News
• BBC Sports Personality of the Year
• Broadcasting of sports events

References[link]

External links[link]

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Jonah Lomu

Full name	Jonah Tali Lomu
Date of birth	(1975-05-12) 12 May 1975 (age 37)
Place of birth	Auckland, New Zealand
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	125 kg (276 lb; 19 st 10 lb)
Notable relative(s)	Andrew Lomu, John Tamanika, Seti Kiole
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Wing, Number eight, Prop
New Zealand No.	941
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2009 – 2010	Marseille	3	(0)
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2006 2000–03 1994–99 2005–2006	North Harbour Wellington Counties Manukau Cardiff Blues	3 21 28 10	(0) (65) (95) (5)
correct as of 9 September 2006.
Super Rugby
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2000–03 1999 1996–98	Hurricanes Chiefs Blues	29 8 22	(55) (10) (65)
correct as of 9 September 2006.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1994–2002	New Zealand	63	(185)
correct as of 7 March 2008.
Sevens national teams
Years	Club / team		Comps
1994–2001	New Zealand

Jonah Tali Lomu, MNZM (born 12 May 1975) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He had sixty-three caps as an All Black after debuting in 1994. He is generally regarded as the first true global superstar of rugby union. He has had a huge impact on the game.^[1] He was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame on 9 October 2007,^[2] and the IRB Hall of Fame on 24 October 2011.^[3]

Lomu burst onto the international rugby scene during the 1994 Hong Kong Sevens tournament and was widely acknowledged to be the top player at the 1995 World Cup in South Africa even though New Zealand lost the championship game to the host Springboks. At one time Lomu was considered 'rugby union's biggest drawcard',^[4] swelling attendances at any match where he appeared. He is officially the Rugby World Cup all-time top try scorer with 15 tries.^[5]

He has played for several provincial teams, in the Super Rugby and NPC competitions. These included the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes, and Counties Manukau, Wellington and later North Harbour. He made a comeback after undergoing a kidney transplant in 2004.

Early career[link]

Lomu represented New Zealand in the national under-19 side in 1993, as well as the under-21 side the following year.^[6] He first came to international attention at the 1994 Hong Kong Sevens tournament,^[7] as part of a fearsome team including Eric Rush and Christian Cullen.

At the age of 19 years and 45 days, Lomu became the youngest All Black test player as he debuted on the wing against France in 1994, breaking a record that had been held by Edgar Wrigley since 1905.^[6] The match was played at Lancaster Park in Christchurch, and the All Blacks lost 22–8. Lomu's performance was middling. However, he performed well enough to ensure his selection the following week. The match was the second against France and played at Eden Park in Auckland; France won again, 23–20.

1995 World Cup[link]

Despite having just two All Black caps, Lomu was included in the squad for the 1995 World Cup in South Africa. Lomu stunned international rugby audiences (and unsuspecting players) at the 1995 World Cup, when he scored seven tries in five matches, including four in the semi-final against England. In his first ever World Cup match, against Ireland in Johannesburg, he scored two tries in the 43–19 win. In the following match—against Wales—Lomu was replaced during the game, and did not score any tries in the 34–9 victory. He was rested for the final pool match against Japan. In the All Blacks' quarter final, Lomu scored a try in the 48–30 win over Scotland at Loftus Versfeld. He shocked the 51,000 that packed into Newlands in Cape Town to see the semi-final against England, as he notched up four tries in the 45–29 defeat of the English, including a try in which he ran straight over the top of England fullback Mike Catt.

His style of play at times defied description; one New Zealand commentator, Keith Quinn, was famously reduced to gasps as Lomu devastated England's backline.^[8] After the game, Will Carling said: "He is a freak and the sooner he goes away the better".^[9] Lomu's attacking prowess can be attributed in part to pure power; when near the tryline he often ran his 120 kg frame straight into or over any defenders who had the misfortune to get in his way (a move informally known as the 'Tongan sidestep'). However most of his famous tries were ignited by electric pace (as a schoolboy he ran the 100m in 10.8s) as he stepped "in-and-out" on his opposites and ran around them, then used his powerful fends on the cover defence.

Following the win over England, the All Blacks entered what would become an epic World Cup final match at Ellis Park against South Africa (the Springboks),^[10] but despite his efforts, Lomu could not score a try against the South African side. During this game he was famously tackled near the try-line by Joost van der Westhuizen. The game went to the hosts, who scored a drop-goal in extra time to defeat the All Blacks 15–12. Lomu had scored tries against every major test playing nation in World Rugby except South Africa.

In interviews after 2003, Lomu revealed that he was already suffering from the effects of nephrotic syndrome during the 1995 World Cup. As a consequence of this serious and chronic kidney illness he was completely drained and often bedridden for entire days in between Cup games. It was agreed with the All Blacks doctor John Mayhew that his illness, at that time undiagnosed, would be kept secret and it stayed that way for most of his career.

In a Clint Eastwood movie Invictus (2009), which is about Nelson Mandela and South African rugby team in 1995 World Cup, Lomu is portrayed by Isaac Feau'nati and is referred to in reverent tones.

1996–1998[link]

In the first match after the World Cup loss to South Africa, the All Blacks took on Australia at home at Eden Park. Lomu scored New Zealand's only try in the match, which they won 28–16. In the return match, held at the Sydney Football Stadium to decide the Bledisloe Cup, the All Blacks won 34–23 despite trailing at half-time, with Lomu scoring a try. Lomu's scoring for New Zealand continued later that year when he scored two tries in the All Blacks victory over Italy in Bologna. Lomu also played against the French Barbarians in November in Toulon, as well as two matches against French selections. Lomu played in the first Test against France in Toulouse, which was won through penalty goals. In a subsequent match against a French selection, Lomu scored two tries. He scored a try in the second and final test against France in Paris.

Prior to the start of the first Tri Nations Series, Lomu played for the All Blacks in matches against Samoa and Scotland, scoring in the Scottish match. The All Blacks also hosted Australia in Wellington; defeating the Wallabies 43–6, with Lomu getting three of the tries. The 1996 Tri Nations was the first of its kind, and launched with the advent of professionalism in rugby. A close victory over South Africa in Christchurch was followed by a 32–25 win over the Wallabies, in which Lomu scored. The wins ensured the All Blacks became the first ever Tri Nations champions. Lomu played three other matches for the All Blacks following the Tri Nations that year; against Currie Cup sides in South Africa: Eastern Province, Western Transvaal and Griqualand West.

At the end of 1996, he was diagnosed with a rare and serious kidney disorder, which saw him take time off from the sport. As such he did not play in the 1997 Tri Nations Series, but was included in the All Blacks tour of the northern hemisphere at the end of the year. Lomu played in the two warm up matches, scoring tries against Wales 'A' and Emerging England. He played the first test against England at Old Trafford, as well as the test against Wales at Wembley Stadium, and the second match against England— he did not score in any of the three games.

At the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, he won a gold medal representing New Zealand in the Sevens Rugby event. The English rugby team came to New Zealand the following year for a two test series. Lomu played in both of the matches, scoring in the first, which was a 64–22 win in Dunedin, but not in the second test won 40–10 by the All Blacks.

1999 and the World Cup[link]

Lomu's 1999 international season kicked off with a warm-up match against New Zealand A, which was followed by a game against Samoa in which Lomu scored one of the All Blacks' nine tries. Lomu came on late in the first game of the 1999 Tri Nations Series, which was a 28–0 win over South Africa, and at one point took eight men to bring him down. He again started from the bench in the subsequent game against Australia which the All Blacks also won. Lomu started from the bench in the following match against the Springboks in Pretoria, though he came in early in the 34–18 win. He was introduced at near half-time in the final Tri Nations game against Australia in Sydney, though the game was characterised by New Zealand errors, and Australia won the rainy affair, in front of 107,042 supporters. Despite the loss, the All Blacks were crowned Tri Nations champions.

He scored eight tries at the 1999 World Cup. In New Zealand's first pool match of the tournament against Tonga he scored two tries, scoring again in one of his finest matches in pool play against England.^[11] Lomu scored his second double of the tournament in the third and final pool match against Italy. The All Blacks, finishing at the top of their pool, proceeded to the quarter-finals, where they defeated Scotland, where Lomu scored one of New Zealand's four tries. Lomu scored twice in the semi-final match against France, though it was not enough to see them through to the final, as France went on to win 43–31. Through his career, Lomu has scored eight tries against England — more than any other All Black. Lomu also holds an unbeaten record of 15 tries in World Cup tournaments. Following the World Cup, there was speculation that Lomu would be moving to play American Football in the National Football League, or continue to play rugby in the English Premiership. None of the speculation materialised and Lomu stayed in New Zealand.^[12]

2000–2003[link]

After playing the 100+ victory over Tonga, Lomu and Tana Umaga scored five tries between them in the subsequent match against Scotland. One of Lomu's tries was a characteristic bulldozing effort down the wing, leaving Scottish defenders in his wake. In the opening match of the 2000 Tri Nations Series, the All Blacks raced out to a 21 to nil lead, which had the potential to be 28, had George Gregan not stopped Lomu from scoring one of his own. Australia amazingly fought back, and with minutes remaining, both sides had scored five tries each.

Lomu in training

The world record rugby crowd of 109,874 was treated to the highest scoring match ever between the two sides. With just minutes remaining, the Wallabies led 35 to 34; until Lomu "brushed past a desperate Stephen Larkham to tip-toe down the line and score the winning try".^[13]

The match was followed by a victory over South Africa, and then a re-match of the thrilling Bledisloe Cup game, which Australia won by just a single point, 24 to 23. A barn-storming Lomu was stopped short of the line early in the second half in the final match against South Africa. The Springboks eventually won, 46 to 40. The All Blacks finished second on the table, with Australia winning the Tri Nations. Lomu played in one other test that year; against France at Stade de France in November, which the All Blacks won 39 to 26.

Lomu also led the New Zealand Sevens team to victory at the 2001 Sevens World Cup, filling in for Rush, who suffered a broken leg during the competition. In the lead up to the 2001 Tri Nations Series, the All Blacks played Argentina and France at home, Lomu scoring a try in the French match. Despite causing havoc for the Springboks, no tries were scored in the opening match of the Tri Nations, which was won on penalty goals by the All Blacks. Lomu played his 50th test for the All Blacks at the Carisbrook 'House of Pain', scoring a try in the second minute of play. The Wallabies spoiled the party however, winning 23 to 15. This was followed by a win over South Africa, and loss to the Wallabies at Stadium Australia.

At the end of the year, the All Blacks played Ireland at Lansdowne Road in Dublin. Lomu was a central figure in the 40 to 29 win, setting up Aaron Mauger for his debut try, and taking an inside pass to blast through for one of his own. The All Blacks end of season tour continued at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, where they defeated Scotland 37 to six, with Lomu contributing one try. In the final match of the tour, the All Blacks played Argentina at the River Plate Stadium. Lomu put the All Blacks in front after Argentina took an early lead, brushing off four defenders to score. In the end, New Zealand won the match by a score of 24 to 20.

In his first test of 2002, he came off the bench in the second half to score a try in a match against Italy. He was again injected into play from the bench in the first of a two test series against Ireland in New Zealand; setting up the All Blacks second try coming on in the last fifteen minutes of play. Lomu was back at his usual starting position for the second test against the Irish, which New Zealand won 40 points to eight. Lomu did not score in the subsequent match against Fiji; though he did however make a trademark run down the wing, setting up Christian Cullen's third try in the match. Lomu came off the bench in the All Blacks first game of the 2002 Tri Nations Series against South Africa, though he did not play in the rest of the tournament.

He was, however, back in his starting position on the wing for a game against England in November. Lomu ended up scoring a double, though it was not enough to secure a New Zealand victory, with England winning 31 to 28. The subsequent match against France resulted in a draw, the first between the two nations in 96 years. The last match of the end of season tour was against Wales, which the All Blacks won 43 to 17.

Statistics[link]

International tries[link]

International analysis by opposition[link]

Against	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Tries	Points	% Won
Argentina	2	2	0	0	1	5	100
Australia	13	6	7	0	6	30	46.15
England	7	5	1	1	8	40	71.43
Fiji	1	1	0	0	0	0	100
France	8	3	4	1	4	20	37.5
Ireland	4	4	0	0	3	15	100
Italy	3	3	0	0	5	25	100
Samoa	2	2	0	0	1	5	100
Scotland	6	6	0	0	7	35	100
South Africa	12	7	5	0	0	0	58.33
Tonga	2	2	0	0	2	10	100
Wales	3	3	0	0	0	0	100
Total	63	44	17	2	37	185	69.84

^[14]

Personal life[link]

Lomu is of Tongan descent. He has been married and divorced twice and is now living with his third partner, who was herself married when she met Lomu.^{[citation needed]}

He is the cousin of National Rugby League players Andrew Lomu and John Tamanika.^[15]

In 1996, shortly after the 1995 Rugby World Cup in which he made such a big impact, Lomu married South African Tanya Rutter and she moved to live in New Zealand. Four years later in 2000, they were divorced. Then in August 2003, Lomu married his second wife Fiona (who also became his personal manager with a firm hand on all his finances) in a secret ceremony on Waiheke Island. A week later they held a party on the island for approximately 160 guests^[16]

In December 2007, it was reported that Lomu and his second wife Fiona were taking timeout from one another.^[17]

Then in February 2008, it was reported Lomu and his wife Fiona were divorcing. The reason for the divorce was another woman. Nadene Quirk was married to fringe Auckland Blues rugby player Jarek Goebel when she met Lomu in late 2007. Goebel was devastated by what happened.^[18] In early 2008, Lomu moved out of his Auckland property and down to Wellington to live with Quirk.^{[citation needed]}

Commitment[link]

Jonah Lomu is today a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club,^[19] a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.^[20]

Health issues[link]

At the end of 1995 Lomu was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a serious kidney disorder. His rugby union career went on hold whilst the disorder was treated. In May 2003, the NZRFU announced that Lomu had been put on dialysis three times a week due to deterioration in his kidney function. Side effects of Lomu's dialysis treatment led to severe nerve damage in his feet and legs; his doctors warned him that he faced life in a wheelchair if a kidney transplant was not performed soon.^{[citation needed]}

Late in March 2004, Lomu was quoted by a Hong Kong newspaper to the effect that a suitable live kidney donor had been found, and that he would have transplant surgery sometime during 2004. However, the former All Blacks team physician who was overseeing Lomu's treatment quickly denied the report. Nonetheless, at the end of July 2004 it was reported that Lomu had indeed undergone a kidney transplant on Tuesday, 28 July, in Auckland, New Zealand. The kidney was in fact donated by Wellington radio presenter Grant Kereama. Lomu soon announced his intention to train for his rugby union renaissance in June 2005.^{[citation needed]}

Comeback quest[link]

In January 2005, Lomu announced his intention to lead a team against Martin Johnson's invitational XV on 4 June 2005, at Twickenham. He scored a try in the first half of the Johnson testimonial, but injured his shoulder in the process and did not return for the second half, dampening an otherwise encouraging first appearance.^[21] As it turned out, his injury was more serious than originally thought; he underwent surgery on the shoulder, causing him to miss the 2005 NPC season.

Before returning to professional rugby, he needed special clearance from the World Anti-Doping Agency, as one of the anti-rejection drugs he was required to take is on the WADA list of banned substances.^[22] On 8 April 2005, he signed a two-year contract to play for the New Zealand first division provincial team North Harbour in the NPC.^[23]

On 9 August 2005, he joined North Harbour, but the shoulder injury he had picked up in the Martin Johnson testimonial game ruled him out for the season, so he worked with the team in a coaching capacity.^[24] North Harbour agreed to allow him to play overseas during the NPC offseason, so Lomu signed with the Cardiff Blues of the Celtic League and began playing in Wales in December that year,^[25] though he would then return to North Harbour for the 2006 NPC season.^[26] Lomu made his first appearance in a competitive match since his transplant on 10 December, in Cardiff's away Heineken Cup fixture against Italian club Calvisano. He started the match and played 60 minutes, although he did not score, making a key line break leading to Cardiff's first try in their 25–10 win.

One week later, he made his home debut for Cardiff at Cardiff Arms Park and played for the whole match. Again, he did not get onto the scoresheet but his presence was enough to create space for other players to score in a 43–16 win over Calvisano. In front of a record home crowd, Lomu scored his first try for Cardiff on 27 December 2005, with a man-of-the-match performance during a Celtic League 41–23 win against the Newport Gwent Dragons. In early 2006, he was sidelined while he concentrated on gaining speed and strength, stating that "I have now lost between 10 and 11 kilos".^[27] He got his first start since January against Border Reivers on Saturday, 15 April, but broke his ankle as a result of a cover tackle on him four minutes from time. He was denied a try, but managed to get the ball away for Mark Lewis to score the Blues sixth try in their 46–11 win. He was estimated to be out for six weeks, as reported by his manager and wife, Fiona Lomu, meaning the end of his Celtic League season.

After three seasons of absence from rugby in New Zealand, Lomu played for Massey against Marist in the North Harbour club competition. Lomu was on for 30 minutes, making a blocking run before he twisted his right ankle and was subsequently replaced. Lomu said that it was "a small step"^[28] in his comeback. Lomu's aim was to return to the National Provincial Championship and reclaim his All Blacks jersey for the 2007 World Cup. Lomu ended up playing for North Harbour in round four of the National Provincial Championship, in a match against Wellington, playing in the last 26 minutes of the game. Harbour won the match 31–16. Lomu said after the match "For me it's a dream come true...I've always said this is my goal – to come back and play in New Zealand."

It became apparent in early 2007 that Lomu was not going to make the Rugby World Cup after not signing with a New Zealand Super 14 franchise, therefore ruling him out for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France.^[29] Previous to not gaining a Super 14 contract,^{[clarification needed]} Lomu had been demoted to the North Harbour 2nd XV. Lomu stated that he was disappointed by his failure to gain a Super 14 contract, but that he had not failed himself.^[29] It was subsequently speculated that Lomu may have played in Australia in 2007 for one of the then new national competition clubs.

On 16 October 2006, it was reported that Lomu was close to switching codes and signing for the Gold Coast Titans, a new Queensland franchise in the National Rugby League competition. He was offered a relatively small contract of one hundred thousand dollars. However, the deal did not materialise as Lomu had numerous important sponsorship contracts with companies associated with rugby union and it would have proved difficult to reconcile these if he was to play in the NRL.^[30]

On 5 November 2006, the BBC reported that Lomu was considering a return to Welsh rugby.^[31] He last played rugby in Hong Kong to take part in the Tens competition.

On 9 April 2007, Lomu appeared on New Zealand's version of This Is Your Life, in which he was united with his brother John Lomu.

Lomu was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's Birthday Honours list on 4 June 2007.^[32]

Retirement[link]

Lomu retired from rugby in 2007, but was persuaded to play in the Help For Heroes charity match at Twickenham a year later, although he had to withdraw after injuring his ankle in training.^[33]

Later that year after recovering from the injury Lomu played in another charity match at Aberavon RFC's Talbot Athletic ground. The match was arranged by friends that Lomu had made during his playing days in Wales with Cardiff Blues. Lomu donned the navy blue jersey of the Aberavon Naval RFC, playing against a Port Talbot select XV made up of players from various local clubs such as; Aberavon Quins RFC, Baglan RFC & Taibach RFC in order to raise money for a local children's charity. The match was covered by the BBC rugby show Scrum V. ^[34]

However, in June 2009, the BBC claimed he was close to joining French third division club Marseille Vitrolles and was expected to start in the first match of the new season.^[35]

In September 2009, Lomu took part in an amateur bodybuilding contest in Wellington. He revealed that he has lost weight since preparing in March and now weighs 115 kg. His weight loss was due to intensive gym work and a diet without carbohydrates. He claims he has not weighed this little since he left school at 19. He finished second in two categories, including the men’s open over-90 kg, and the mixed pairs. That meant he's done enough to qualify for next month’s competition. His partner Tracy suffered from breast cancer but also recovered like Lomu did. He also prepared for his comeback to rugby. He joined French Fédérale 1 team Marseille Vitrolles in November.^[36] Lomu made his debut against Montmelian, they won 64–13 at home.^[37] Lomu started the match at centre and was nervous but enjoyed the occasion very much. Lomu has now moved to number 8 successfully with Marseille Vitrolles Rugby, the position he played as a youngster in New Zealand.

Lomu also made an attempt to take part in a charity boxing event in New Zealand called "Fight for Life" 2011, which he was intended to be the captain of the rugby union team. He was intended to fight the main event against former league player Monty Betham. On 14 November Lomu pulled out of the competition as he had just recently been hospitalised for over a week due to his failing kidney. He was due to fight on 3 December.^[38]

References[link]