Steve Wilson (born 1967) /ref> is a British television commentator for
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 ...
matches who works on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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Wilson was born and brought up on the Wirral. He studied a degree in English at the
University of Liverpool
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
. He was present on the Leppings Lane terrace at the time of the
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the ...
, in a less populated section. For the 20-year anniversary, he filmed a piece of his experiences for '' Football Focus''.
Career
Radio
After several years working for Capital Gold supporting Jonathan Pearce, Wilson moved to BBC Radio Five Live in the summer of 1998. His first commentary for the network was the opening game of
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
's title defence in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
During his first season with the network, Wilson's commentary opportunities were limited, but he impressed enough to be given several outings on ''Match of the Day''. During the 1999–00 season Wilson's role on Five Live was significantly increased as he shared many more matches with the likes of John Murray, Ian Brown and
Simon Brotherton
Simon Charles Brotherton is a sports commentator for the BBC, appearing on Match of the Day and BBC Radio Five Live, as well as BT Sport television.
Brotherton was still at school when he began his career with BBC Local Radio and developed furth ...
. He also continued his occasional work on ''Match of the Day'' and, following
Jon Champion
Jonathan Martin Champion (born 23 May 1965) is a British sports commentator currently working as the lead association football commentator for ESPN (US). Champion is a well-established and experienced commentator who has also worked for the BBC ...
's move to
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 ...
in 2001, Wilson became a permanent member of the ''Match of the Day'' team.
Because ITV held rights to
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 ...
highlights between 2001 and 2004, ''Match of the Day'' was more infrequent, covering mainly FA Cup and international matches, meaning Wilson was still able to continue commentating on Five Live during this period. Since the BBC regained the rights to Premier League highlights in 2004, Wilson has been an integral part of the commentary team, and in 2018 he commentated on his first FA Cup Final.
Author
In 2015 Wilson wrote a history of football played during the Premier League era (1992–2015) entitled "Match of the Day 365", published by BBC Books.
2014 FIFA World Cup
The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...
, Wilson referred to the
German national anthem
The "" (; "Song of Germany"), officially titled "" (; "The Song of the Germans"), has been the national anthem of Germany either wholly or in part since 1922, except for a seven-year gap following World War II in West Germany. In East German ...
by its former title of '' Deutschland Über Alles'', which many Germans find offensive due to its former usage by
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. He apologized over
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
for his mistake. The BBC received complaints on the issue, and stated "In referring to the German national anthem, commentator Steve Wilson made a genuine mistake which has been acknowledged, and we apologise for any offence caused."
Personal life
Wilson is married to Juliet West, author of the historical novels 'Before the Fall' and 'The Faithful', and contributor to 'Murmurations: An Anthology of Uncanny Stories About Birds'. Growing up he lived in walking distance of
Prenton Park
Prenton Park is a large outdoor seated association football stadium in Birkenhead, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers, as well as Liverpool's women and reserves teams. The ground has had several rebuilds, with the most recent o ...
and became a fan of
Tranmere Rovers F.C.
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...