Tony Jones (football reporter)
Encyclopedia
Tony Jones is a football (soccer)
broadcaster
based in England
. He has contributed to all the commercial UK broadcasting outlets - Sky Sports, five, Channel 4 and ITV - commentating on everything from the UEFA Champions League to the English non-League.
He was part of the Hostbroadcastservices (HBS) team at both the 2010 and 2006 World Cups, and his voice has been heard on games distributed overseas by IMG among others.
He has won a Royal Television Society award for his sports reporting, and has also been responsible for producing several programmes.
Jones commentated on football and produced a number of programmes - including an insight into the horse racing industry and the arrival in England of Sergei Baltacha
, a Ukrainian
who was the first footballer from the old Soviet Union
to play in Britain during the Glasnost
era of the late 1980s. He also won a Royal Television Society award for his journalism.
For the ITV network, he was a regular contributor to the Football League review shows The Championship and Football League Extra. He has also worked on ITV's FA Cup, Europa League and UEFA Cup programming.
In 2004, he became part of their team of commentators for Football First - covering the English Premier League for audiences both in the UK and overseas.
He has been a regular member of their UEFA Champions League commentary team.
Other credits include three FIFA World Cups, and Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, where he commentated on games through to the semi-finals.
In October 2009, Jones was commentator (co-commentator David Pleat, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Luton Town manager) when the Ukraine v. England FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture became Britain's biggest internet pay-to-view sports broadcast. Around 500,000 watched the game - produced by the Perform Group and their partners Kentaro, an international football agency.
Although his work is mostly associated with football, Jones has covered several other sporting events, including water-polo at the FINA World Swimming Championships and archery at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
His journalistic career started at the Cheshire Observer newspaper, and his first radio work followed at Liverpool's Radio City.
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
based in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He has contributed to all the commercial UK broadcasting outlets - Sky Sports, five, Channel 4 and ITV - commentating on everything from the UEFA Champions League to the English non-League.
He was part of the Hostbroadcastservices (HBS) team at both the 2010 and 2006 World Cups, and his voice has been heard on games distributed overseas by IMG among others.
He has won a Royal Television Society award for his sports reporting, and has also been responsible for producing several programmes.
Work with ITV
Jones began his career in ITV in 1982 at Anglia Television in Norwich, where he joined a sports department that included Gerry Harrison, an established network commentator who was to later hold an executive position with IMG.Jones commentated on football and produced a number of programmes - including an insight into the horse racing industry and the arrival in England of Sergei Baltacha
Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha
Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha is a former professional football player who won 45 full caps for the Soviet Union and made nearly 300 appearances for Dynamo Kiev....
, a Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
who was the first footballer from the old Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to play in Britain during the Glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
era of the late 1980s. He also won a Royal Television Society award for his journalism.
For the ITV network, he was a regular contributor to the Football League review shows The Championship and Football League Extra. He has also worked on ITV's FA Cup, Europa League and UEFA Cup programming.
Work with Channel 4
Jones worked with Channel 4, commentating on the Copa Libertadores with Tim Caple.Work with five
Jones commentated on Five's Football Italiano show. With five Jones has also covered live UEFA Cup games and international fixtures.Work with Sky Sports
Jones has been covering games for Sky Sports since 2002, starting with the German Bundesliga.In 2004, he became part of their team of commentators for Football First - covering the English Premier League for audiences both in the UK and overseas.
He has been a regular member of their UEFA Champions League commentary team.
Work with Premier League Productions
Jones also commentates on Premier League matches for Premier League Productions, a venture of IMG Sports Media who produce, package and broadcast the live production of games for the Premier League for its international broadcast partners worldwide. The same productions are also shown domestically for highlights packages on Sky Sports and for full match non live coverage.Other Credits
Jones has covered Spain's La Liga and Italy's Serie A for Al Jazeera Sport+3.Other credits include three FIFA World Cups, and Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, where he commentated on games through to the semi-finals.
In October 2009, Jones was commentator (co-commentator David Pleat, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Luton Town manager) when the Ukraine v. England FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture became Britain's biggest internet pay-to-view sports broadcast. Around 500,000 watched the game - produced by the Perform Group and their partners Kentaro, an international football agency.
Although his work is mostly associated with football, Jones has covered several other sporting events, including water-polo at the FINA World Swimming Championships and archery at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
His journalistic career started at the Cheshire Observer newspaper, and his first radio work followed at Liverpool's Radio City.