Rhodri Ogwen Williams (born 10 May 1968) is a Welsh sports journalist from

Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Barry ( cy, Y Barri; ) is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, on the north coast of the Bristol Channel approximately south-southwest of Cardiff. Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the resurrected Bar ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. He is currently employed by Qatar's

Al-Kass Sports Channel Alkass Sports Channels ( ar, قنوات الكأس الرياضية) is a group of eight sports channels that are broadcast 24/7 from Qatar. Its official name is ''Al Dawri wal Kass'' ( ar, الدوري والكأس, lit=the league and the cup) ...

and anchors the network's English-speaking studio.

TV career

Williams was a main presenter for

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 ...

and was one of Sky Sports' main rugby presenters - hosting the Heineken Cup and Southern Hemisphere rugby including the Tri Nations, the NPC in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. He was sacked by Sky Sports in 2006 after tabloid revelations regarding his personal life. He was the first presenter on L!VE TV (

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

's first 24-hour cable channel). In 1997 Rhodri was the quizmaster on L!VE TV's football quiz ''A Game of Two Scarves'' featuring fans and glamour models. He also hosted the station's talent show, '' Spanish Archer''. Williams was part of the launch of Channel 5 in the UK as one of the presenters on the channel's afternoon entertainment show ''5's Company'' with

Nick Knowles Nicholas Simon Augustine Knowles (born 21 September 1962) is an English television presenter, writer and musical artist. He is best known for his presenting roles on the BBC, including game shows ''Who Dares Wins'' (2007–2019), ''Break the Sa ...

and

John Barrowman John Scot Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer. He is known for his role as Captain Jack Harkness in ''Doctor Who'' and '' Torchwood'', and as Malcolm Merlyn in the Arrowv ...

. He has presented numerous programmes for

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

channel S4C, and also presented ''

Animal Hospital ''Animal Hospital'' is a British television show starring Australian singer and TV presenter Rolf Harris that ran on BBC One from 1994 to 2004 and more recently starring Phil Dixon. The series featured animal welfare stories from many RSPCA hos ...

'' with

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...

. In 2001, Williams appeared on

Lily Savage's Blankety Blank ''Blankety Blank'' is a British comedy game show which started in 1979 and is still running today, albeit with some sizeable gaps. The original series ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC1, hosted first by Terry Wogan from 1979 un ...

. He was the main rugby anchor 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 ...

and hosted various shows on

Setanta Sports News Setanta Sports News was a television channel from Virgin Media Television and Setanta Sports. The channel launched on 29 November 2007.

. Williams presented

ITV Wales ITV Cymru Wales, previously known as Harlech Television and HTV Wales, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise for Wales. The new separate licence began on 1 January 2014, replacing the long-serving dual franchise region serving Wales and the Wes ...

' coverage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. In 2008, Williams was contracted by Al Jazeera Sports with whom he covered the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. He also anchored 2012 Al Kass International Cup. Later that year, he was hired full-time by Al Kass Sports Channel to host a segment known as ''QSL Review'' in an incentive to provide coverage of the Qatar Stars League to non-Arabic speakers.

Radio

Williams has been a presenter on national radio sports station talkSPORT, presenting the ''Kick-off'' programme on Thursday from 19:00 to 22:00 and ''The Sunday Session.'' He has also presented radio shows for

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales b ...

and

Radio Cymru BBC Radio Cymru is a Welsh language radio network owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts on two stations across Wales on FM, DAB, digital TV and online. The main network broadcasts for hours a day from ...

Business interests

Away from the media, Williams owns three businesses in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Personal life

Williams is the son of Welsh TV ( S4C) weather presenter

Jenny Ogwen Jenny Ogwen is a Welsh former actress and presenter. She is best known as a weather presenter on the Welsh-language channel S4C. Biography Early life Ogwen was born in Llandybie, in Carmarthenshire. Her family moved to Crymych in Pembrokeshire ...

. He was educated at

Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf (''Taff Bank Welsh Language Comprehensive School'') is a Welsh-medium coeducational secondary school in Llandaff North, a district in the north of Cardiff, Wales; it is the largest of its kind in the country. Of the ...

and South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education.

References

External links

Rhodri Williams official site
Imagine Golf 1968 births Living people British game show hosts Welsh-language television presenters Welsh radio presenters Welsh television presenters British sports journalists Alumni of Cardiff University People from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan {{UK-journalist-stub