Matthew Nicholas Roberts (born November 1977) is an English television presenter, best known for his former work on

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national 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 flag ...

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

coverage and latterly in superbike coverage broadcast to UK.

Education

Roberts attended All Saints High School in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

as well as Greenhead College and Huddersfield University. As of 2021 Roberts is undertaking a specialist post-graduate degree known as Master of Sport Directorship at Manchester Metropolitan University.

MotoGP, Isle of Man TT and Superbike work

Roberts has been working in MotoGP since 2001, initially as a writer and then as a commentator. Since 2005 he has expanded his portfolio within the paddock, producing press material for several teams and contributing articles to publications in the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany and the USA. In addition Roberts has reported extensively on the Isle of Man TT Races. This initially was in the form of conducting rider interviews, however the 2019 coverage saw Roberts taking over as the main anchor from Craig Doyle on the mainstream

ITV4 ITV4 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The channel h ...

coverage. Initially this was with co-presenter Jodie Kidd, however as of 2022 Roberts has fronted the coverage with

Steve Plater Steve Plater (born 22 August 1968, in Luton) is a former English motorcycle road racer. He was the 2009 British Supersport champion, and also finished as runner-up in the series twice in the late 1990s. In the British Superbike Championship h ...

. Roberts worked as a pit-lane reporter at

races for

in 2008 before becoming the main presenter for some rounds in 2009. In 2009 Roberts shared MotoGP presenting duties with

Suzi Perry Suzi Perry (born 3 May 1970) is a British television presenter, currently covering MotoGP for BT Sport. She is best known for covering MotoGP for the BBC for 13 years, ''The Gadget Show'' on Channel 5 for 8 years and the BBC's Formula One cove ...

who presented the European rounds, but Roberts took over for all rounds outside Europe. When handed the responsibility Roberts said "It's a bit different to pit-lane reporting. If I'm interviewing someone or talking to Suzi from the pit-lane then I'm not really thinking about the camera, but with presenting I'm talking straight to it and the people back home and I'm a bit nervous about that." In 2010 Jennie Gow replaced Perry as the main presenter with Roberts reverting to pit-lane duties, and no longer presenting part-time. In February 2011, it was confirmed that Roberts would replace the departed Gow as full-time main presenter. His former job in the pitlane was taken by

Azi Farni ''Azi'' (''Today'' in Romanian) is a Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. The paper was started in 1990. Today was also the name of a literary magazine published monthly in Romania, from March 1932 to August 1938, under the direction ...

. After the BBC's contract for MotoGP coverage was not renewed for 2014, Roberts joined

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

to anchor their coverage of the Superbike World Championship and the British Superbike Championship alongside

James Haydon James Richard Barnaby Haydon (born 2 November 1973 in Amersham, Buckinghamshire), is a British former motorcycle racer. He raced in 250cc and 500cc Grand Prix, MotoGP, British Superbike and the World Superbike Championship. He retired in 2008 ...

and fellow Huddersfield native

James Whitham James Michael "Jamie" Whitham (born 6 September 1966), is an English former professional motorcycle road racer. He raced in most major British and international championships, winning the British championship twice. The readers of Motorcycle N ...

Other broadcasting

In 2010 and 2011 Roberts hosted

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coverage of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

play-off games.

Sports management

Roberts has established a partnership and new business with Shane Byrne to mentor young motorcycle racers.About us
Sixty Seven Sports Retrieved 4 July 2021Mr Matthew Nicholas Roberts
Company information at Endole. Retrieved 4 July 2021

Personal life

Roberts lives in the village of

Stainland Stainland is a village and civil parish in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. The village is part of the Greetland and Stainland ward of Calderdale Council and is approximately west of Elland, south of Halifax and north-west of Huddersfi ...

Calderdale Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, whose population in 2020 was 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the u ...

. He plays football for Huddersfield YMCA in the

Yorkshire Amateur League The Yorkshire Amateur Association Football League is an amateur competitive football league based in West Yorkshire, England. The league has a total of eight divisions, the highest of which is the Yorkshire Amateur League Supreme Division, which ...

. Roberts is a supporter of Huddersfield Town. In a MotoGP preview show Roberts interviewed champion racer

Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi (; ; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed ''The Doctor'', he is widely considered to be one of the greatest motorcyc ...

over a game of table football. "I told Rossi beforehand that I was playing with my dream strike force of Gerrard, Gascoigne and Andy Booth. "He picked up on this and in the interview said that after Ibrahimovic,

Andy Booth Andrew David Booth (born 6 December 1973) is a retired professional footballer. Whilst at Huddersfield he announced his retirement on 22 April 2009, but remains at the club as an ambassador, he also played for Sheffield Wednesday and Tottenham ...

is the number two striker in the world."Matt Roberts interview with Valentino Rossi over table football
BBC Sport, 12 April 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Matt Living people Alumni of the University of Huddersfield BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC sports presenters and reporters 1977 births Motorsport announcers National Football League announcers