Dave Clark is a former television presenter from

Ilkley, West Yorkshire Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within th ...

, England who worked for British television station

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

from 1998 until 2020, where he was the anchorman for

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

and

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

coverage.

Career

Clark was a presenter on

Capital Gold The Capital Gold radio station started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, after the Independent Broadcasting Authority had urged stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on AM and FM) and t ...

radio's football, Olympics and Wimbledon tennis coverage from 1990. He also presented a nightly football phone-in "Capital Gold Sportstime" and "The Dave Clark Show". He left Capital in 1998 to join

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...

upon its launch. Alongside his presentation on the rolling sports news channel,

, Clark also spent a year hosting the football phone-in You're On Sky Sports. Dave has fronted snooker and

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...

coverage as well as

Soccer Saturday ''Gillette Labs Soccer Saturday'' is a weekly television programme broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United ...

and

Soccer AM ''Soccer AM'' is a British football-based comedy/talk show, produced by Sky Sports. First broadcast in 1995, the programme currently airs on Sky Showcase, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football at 10.30am on Saturdays during the f ...

. Clark began presenting Sky's boxing coverage on a shared basis with

Paul Dempsey Paul Anthony Dempsey (born 25 May 1976) is an Australian musician. He is best known as the lead singer, guitarist and principal lyricist of rock group Something for Kate. Dempsey released his debut solo album, '' Everything Is True'', on 20 A ...

, until Dempsey left for

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

. He's been the frontman for several big fights for the likes of

David Haye David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Ama ...

, Amir Khan and

Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at l ...

. Clark replaced

Jeff Stelling Robert Jeffrey Stelling (born 18 March 1955) is an English television presenter. He currently presents '' Gillette Soccer Saturday'' for Sky Sports and hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015. He also presented the Chann ...

as darts presenter and covers all of the PDC's major televised tournaments, as well as the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. On the 12th July 2020, Dave announced his retirement from Sky Sports live commentating.

Fight with Parkinson's

Clark was diagnosed with

Parkinson’s disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a chronic condition, long-term neurodegeneration, degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disea ...

in 2011 and has been public about his fight with the disease. His father also suffered from the disease and severe depression connected to the disease. During the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, in a tweet

Ladbrokes Coral Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...

uploaded a photo of him and wrote: “Dave Clark looks like he’s caught the whiff of something nasty & wants to murder the person who’s caused it ... #LoveTheDarts.” Clark responded with a screen grab of Ladbrokes’ post alongside the message: “That’ll be the chronic degenerative neurological condition that will eventually rob me of the ability to walk, talk and smile @Ladbrokes #parkinsons”. Alan Shearer along with others expressed support for Clark tweeting “Wow! Two people tweeting. One is a gentleman, who inspires us all. The other a little prat on a keyboard hoping for a cheap laugh. I know who I stand with. You’re an inspiration Dave. F**k them. Keep doing yourself and everyone else proud. #parkinsons #hero”. Ladbrokes later deleted the tweet and apologised to Clark. Clark is a

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

fan.United pains that bring Sky man Dave down to earth
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References

External links

Sky Sports web site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Dave Sky Sports presenters and reporters People from Ilkley Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Boxing commentators Olympic Games broadcasters Tennis commentators Darts people Television personalities from West Yorkshire Professional Darts Corporation Hall of Fame