football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
commentator who works 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 ...
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
and attended Broadway Secondary School.
Prior to his television career, Crocker commentated for
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 ...
in London, alongside Jonathan Pearce and Steve Wilson (who are both now BBC commentators). He then spent several years with
BRMB Radio
Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands.
As of September 2022, the station has a ...
in Birmingham commentating on
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
and
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...
. During this period, Crocker began providing occasional commentaries for
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 ...
. He covered some live Premier League matches during Sky's first season of coverage 1992/93, before joining permanently in 1997.Archived a Ghostarchive and th Wayback Machine
After joining Sky, Crocker commentated regularly on
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 Foo ...
matches, but was best known for his four years (1998–2002) as the voice of Scottish football, covering live matches from the
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
,
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish internationals. After Sky lost the rights to the SPL, Crocker became Sky's chief football league commentator between 2002 and 2006.
Although being given occasional live Premier League matches between 2005 and 2006, Crocker was clearly behind the Sky "Big Four" of Martin Tyler, Rob Hawthorne, Alan Parry and Ian Darke in the commentating pecking order. As a result, Crocker left Sky to progress his career with Setanta Sports, working for them during the following three years. Crocker was Setanta's lead commentator on the SPL, and also shared commentating duties with Jon Champion on Setanta's 46 'live' Premier League games.
Setanta
went into administration
As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry on ...
in June 2009 and the UK side of their broadcasting operations was wound up soon after. Crocker went freelance and spent the next season (2009–2010) working for a variety of different outlets. Setanta's sports rights were carved up, with some of the SPL matches returning to Sky, and Crocker was contracted to be Sky's SPL commentator again, seven years after he had previously fulfilled the role. Crocker also worked on UEFA Champions League matches for STV who produced their own in-house coverage, with separate commentary and presentation, of the same matches shown on ITV1. Crocker was also contracted to work for ITV1 on their FA Cup Highlights shows, as well as being heard by an international audience commentating on Premier League matches for
Premier League Productions Premier League Productions is an IMG produced company with studio shows and commentators for worldwide viewers of Premier League association football.
English-language broadcast team
The company has a group of UK based commentators, pundits, and pr ...
.
Crocker travelled to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup where he was ITV's fourth commentator, covering two matches live and several other matches for their highlights shows, including Switzerland's defeat of Spain, and Portugal's 7–0 victory over North Korea.
In September 2010, it was announced that Ian Darke was leaving Sky Sports to join ESPN America as their leading football commentator. Crocker was subsequently re-signed by Sky Sports on a permanent basis as an integral part of their football commentating line-up. Crocker commentates frequently for Sky Sports coverage of Scottish football.