Eddie Hemmings is an English

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

commentator who was Sky Sports’ main commentator for the sport, before retiring in April 2019. Hailing from

Aigburth Aigburth () is a suburb of Liverpool, England. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Dingle, Garston, Mossley Hill, and Toxteth. Etymology The name Aigburth comes from Old Norse ''eik'' and ''berg'', meaning ''oak-tree hill''. T ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Hemmings became known for his commentary partnership with

Mike Stephenson Michael Stephenson (born 27 January 1947) is an English rugby league commentator and former player. Stephenson was born in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire. He is commonly known as "Stevo", the nickname that he is known by in rugby league ...

from 1988 to 2017. He is widely recognised as "the voice of rugby league" after a career spanning over 30 years in the sport. He and

Andrew Voss Andrew Voss (born 7 September 1966) is an Australian rugby league commentator and radio and television personality who works for Fox League. Voss previously worked for the SKY Network Television as a commentator, and at the Nine Network, inclu ...

are the two commentators for the video game ''Rugby League Live 4''.

Early career

Hemmings began his career on the now defunct

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Weekly News, before moving to BBC Radio Merseyside, where he became sports editor, proceeding to become a sports reporter/commentator on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

in the 1980s. Hemmings and Stephenson actually first met up for commentary duties at the station; Stephenson was invited to be Hemmings' summariser during Great Britain's tour of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1988.

Television career

Hemmings joined satellite broadcaster BSB as the anchorman/commentator for its rugby league coverage at the network's launch in 1990. Stephenson was brought in to be Hemmings' regular sidekick. The pairing were kept together when BSB and Sky Television merged to form

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

; the combined satellite TV network inherited BSB's rugby league TV contract. Before this he was a Sports Reporter on the BBC regional news programme

North West Tonight ''BBC North West Tonight'' is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 1.30pm (as ''North West Today''), 6.30pm and 10.30pm, with shorter bu ...

and was a presenter/co-presenter on the Saturday Teatime sports round-up Sport North West where he co-presented with Richard Duckenfield, Paul Craven, Andy Wyatt and sometimes presented on his own and the Friday Night BBC2 regional sports programme Sportsround and on network BBC an occasional reporter on

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

and

Sportsnight ''Sportsnight'' was a midweek BBC television sports programme that ran from 1968 until 1997. Sportsview ''Sportsnight'' was a successor to ''Sportsview'' which started on 8 April 1954. ''Sportsview'' was devised by Paul Fox, later Controller ...

Hemmings was the main caller for nearly all live Super League matches broadcast on Sky Sports; the two matches broadcast live each week, plus all the play-offs and Grand Final matches. On 1 March 2019, Hemmings announced his retirement from commentary and on 19 April 2019, he commentated on Wigan vs St Helens, his final Super League game for Sky Sports before retiring.

Influence

On 13 February 2009, commentating on a St. Helens and

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

match, Hemmings called for the names and numbers on the back of the Warrington away jersey to be changed as he found it hard to read. Warrington recognised this and two weeks later, in a match between

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, betw ...

and

, Warrington altered their away jersey through having a white background behind the numbers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemmings, Eddie Living people BBC North West newsreaders and journalists British sports broadcasters English rugby league commentators English television presenters Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)