George Riley is a British sports broadcaster from

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. He was the co-presenter of Channel 5's Football On 5 between 2016 and 2017 alongside

Lynsey Hipgrave Lynsey Hipgrave (née Horn; born 6 September 1979) is an English television, radio presenter and journalist, currently working for BT Sport. Broadcasting career Radio Hipgrave's initial break came on Manchester radio station Galaxy 102 where she p ...

Career

Riley joined BBC Radio 5 Live in 2004, having previously been at the short-lived TEAMtalk 252 in 2002, and has been the voice of sport on 5 Live Breakfast since 2011. He also presented 5 live Sport for the station, and commentated on rugby league, snooker and darts for BBC TV and radio, until being suspended in 2017 following several allegations of sexual harassment. In 2019 it was reported that staff were assured he would never work for the BBC again owing to the multiple allegations of sexual assault made against him during his time working for 5 Live. Riley has reported at major events including the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and Paralympic Games,

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

, the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the 2013 Ashes, the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's Festival of World ...

, the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, as well as Wimbledon, the

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...

, Super League and Challenge Cup finals each year. He presented the BBC's ''Late Kick Off Football League'' show in 2013, in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. He was a regular face and voice on the BBC's rugby league coverage, presenting the ''

Super League Show The ''Super League Show'' is the BBC's principal rugby league programme, shown on BBC One in the North of England on Monday evenings, repeated nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday lunchtimes and also on BBC iPlayer. The programme, produced by PDI ...

'' on BBC2, and commentating on all major games for BBC Radio 5 Live. In July 2015, he was confirmed as one of the presenters of Channel 5's Football League highlights show, ''Football League Tonight'', alongside

Kelly Cates Kelly Cates (née Dalglish) is a Scottish presenter, currently working for Sky Sports, Radio 5 Live, and ESPN. Early life Born in Glasgow, Kelly is the eldest of four children of former Celtic and Liverpool player and manager Sir Kenny Dalgl ...

. Riley then co-hosted alongside

during the 2016-17 season before both co-hosts were replaced by

Colin Murray Colin Murray (born Luke Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. In 2010, he became host of BBC Television's '' Match of the Day 2'' on BBC Two, while still anchoring shows on BBC Radio 5 Live, including '' 5 ...

ahead of the 2017-18 EFL season. Riley appeared as himself in

Armando Iannucci Armando Giovanni Iannucci (; born 28 November 1963) is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer, performer, and panellist. Born in Glasgow to Italian parents, Iannucci studied at the University of Glasgow followed by the University of ...

's award-winning political satire ''

The Thick Of It ''The Thick of It'' is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of British government. Written and directed by Armando Iannucci, it was first broadcast for two short series on BBC Four in 2005, initially with a smal ...

'' in 2009. George Riley was suspended by the BBC in 2017. According to both ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'' (April 21, 2019), George Riley resigned from BBC Radio 5 Live before an investigation was completed into allegations of sexual assault against him were made by at least eight women. The Times quotes then BBC Radio 5 Live Controller, Jonathan Wall, as saying that he will never work for the BBC again.

Personal life

Riley is a charity ambassador for Joseph's Goal and the Steve Prescott Foundation (SPF), for whom he runs regular marathons. His fundraising efforts saw him run 100 miles in 2014 and four marathons in eight weeks in 2015. He is player-manager for Sunday league team The Quays FC in Manchester, having gained promotion into Manchester and Cheshire Division One.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, George Living people British sports broadcasters Year of birth missing (living people)