Roger Elton Welsby (born 28 May 1951 in
St Helens,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
) is an English television sports presenter who works under the name Elton Welsby.
Welsby is a fan of
Everton Football Club
Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...
, and
St Helens R.F.C.
St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain.
They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...
The ITV years
Welsby began his broadcasting career on
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 ...
radio station ''
Radio City'' as a sports reporter and commentator.
[Barham, Kathy (2006) ''194 Radio City - The Heart of Liverpool'', Lulu.com, , p. 99] In January 1978 he joined
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
, working on its football programme ''The Kick Off Match'' and presented its 1980s successors ''Match Night'' (if shown on a Saturday) and ''Match Time'' (if broadcast on a Sunday) until their demise in 1983. Welsby was primarily a presenter, but did occasionally deputise as commentator. During that time he also presented RL Action taking over from Bob Hall and later
Richard Madeley
Richard Holt Madeley ( born 13 May 1956) is an English television presenter and writer. Alongside his wife Judy Finnigan, he presented '' This Morning'' and the chat show ''Richard & Judy''. Madeley's solo projects include the ITV series '' Fort ...
. He was also involved with
World of Sport as a reporter for
On The Ball and later as a relief presenter, becoming part of the ITV team in the major international football tournaments for the
1982 World Cup
The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...
and the
1986 World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...
he was a reporter and was ITV's co-presenter based in Italy in the
1990 World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...
, a reporter/interviewer in the
1988 European Championship he is remembered for the interview with the then UK Sports Minister
Colin Moynihan
Colin Berkeley Moynihan, 4th Baronet, 4th Baron Moynihan (born 13 September 1955) is a British Olympic silver medalist, businessman, Conservative politician, and sports administrator. Lord Moynihan served as chairman of the British O ...
before the England v Ireland match, lead presenter in the
1992 European Championship and was the newsreader and occasional relief presenter on Midweek Sports Special.
When Granada revived ''Kick Off'' in 1989 after a six-year absence, Welsby returned as presenter despite by then presenting networked shows. He was one of the anchors of the
1988 Seoul Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
, the last
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
to be covered by the network, and also presented the Saturday afternoon ''
Results Service'' from October 1985 until May 1992, and was the sole anchor throughout its seven years on air.
Welsby occasionally presented live matches for ITV in 1986, becoming the regular host in the 1987–88 season. At the start of the
1988–89 season,
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
began broadcasting exclusive live coverage of the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
. It was the task of
Greg Dyke
Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...
to oversee the coverage and he entrusted Welsby as presenter of ''
The Match'', anchoring numerous dramatic matches over the next four years, including
Arsenal's 2–0 win against
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 ...
in the
last game of the season which saw the Gunners snatch a last minute winner at
Anfield
Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...
.
The loss of top flight football to
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 ...
in 1992 hit ITV Sport hard, and Welsby's final work as ITV's lead football presenter was at the
1992 European Championship. After this, he ceased working for ITV Sport and returned to Granada full-time.
Welsby continued to present regional programming for Granada, including ''Granada Goals Extra'', ''The Granada Match'', the station's crown green bowls coverage, and the midweek sports programming until May 2000 when the station decided not to renew his contract. In an interview in 2015 Welsby was critical of ''Soccer Sunday'', the last programme he presented, describing it as a "poor show with poor content and poor journalistic standards".
[Padman, Tony (2015)]
Elton Welsby interview
Welsby occasionally returned as a guest on the ''
Granada Soccer Night'' programme, and in 2001 he went back to radio to present ''Elton Welsby's Soccer Saturday'' for North-West regional station
Century FM
Century Radio was the brand name of a group of independent local radio stations in England. The brand was developed with the launch of 100-102 Century Radio in North East England in 1994, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as ...
– a role he held for three years.
Other work
Welsby was the final presenter of British gameshow ''
Busman's Holiday'' following on from
Julian Pettifer
Julian Pettifer OBE (born 21 July 1935) is an English television journalist.
He was president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and is vice president of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB. He was voted BAFTA 'Repor ...
and
Sarah Kennedy
Sarah Mary Kennedy MBE (born 8 July 1950) is a British retired TV and radio broadcaster. She presented her daily early morning radio show, ''The Dawn Patrol'', on BBC Radio 2 from 1993 to 2010.
In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, Kennedy w ...
.
[Plunkett, John (2002)]
University Challenge turns pro
, ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' (London), 21 November 2002, retrieved 1 January 2011 He also presented the quiz show '' Go For Goal'' in 1993. He is regularly involved in corporate and charity work.
In 2011, Welsby made a brief appearance on ''
Michael Bublé: Home for Christmas'', a Christmas programme presented by Canadian singer
Michael Bublé
Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...
.
Welsby is nowadays rarely involved in sports presenting, although in the mid-2000s he was seen presenting
Crown Green Bowls
Crown green bowls (or crown green) is a code of bowls played outdoors on a grass or artificial turf surface known as a bowling green. The sport's name is derived from the intentionally convex or uneven nature of the bowling green which is traditi ...
for
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 ...
.
[World famous green woos back cameras]
, ''Blackpool Gazette
The ''Blackpool Gazette'' (locally marketed as simply ''The Gazette'') is an English daily newspaper based in Blackpool, Lancashire. Published every day except Sunday, it covers the towns and communities of the Fylde coast. It was founded as '' ...
'', 17 September 2005, retrieved 1 January 2011
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Welsby, Elton
1951 births
Living people
British sports broadcasters
People educated at Liverpool College
People from St Helens, Merseyside
Television presenters from Liverpool