Steve Banyard
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Steve Banyard (born 1963, in England) is best known as a
football commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...
and broadcaster. In particular, he's known for working on the worldwide television feed of the
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
and Italy's
Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
, as well as major
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
and
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
tournaments.


Career


Radio

Banyard began his broadcasting career in 1985 as a part-time sports reporter at
GWR FM GWR FM was a Broadcast network, network of three Radio broadcasting, radio stations in the south west of England broadcasting to Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire and surrounding areas. All three stations were rebranded and joined the Heart (radio network ...
in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
before becoming sports editor at
Invicta Radio Heart Kent (previously Invicta FM) was an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Kent from studios at John Wilson Business Park in Whitstable. History Invicta in the 80 ...
in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
in 1988. He moved to
Hallam FM Hits Radio South Yorkshire, formerly Hallam FM, is an Independent Local Radio station based in Sheffield, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to South Yorkshire and Chesterfiel ...
in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
in 1991, and in 1999, he was named the top Sports Broadcaster at the North East of England Press and Broadcast awards.


Television

Banyard moved into television in 1999, initially working as a freelance reporter for
Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Group, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Sky Sports first started broadcasting sports news bulletins when it began broadcasting the Premi ...
before establishing himself as a lead commentator on the world television feed of the
English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
. This is the broadcast produced by
Premier League Productions Premier League Productions is an IMG (company), IMG-produced company with studio shows and commentators for worldwide viewers of Premier League association football. English-language broadcast team The company has a group of UK based commentators, ...
at
IMG Media IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, fashion, events and media company headquartered in New York City. The company manages athletes and fashion celebrities; owns, operates and commercially represents ...
in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, distributed to more than 600 million people in over 200 countries worldwide. He was part of the commentary team at the first
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
produced b
Host Broadcast Services
in 2002, going on to work at further international tournaments including the
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
,
FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...
,
FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...
,
FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...
,
FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...
and the
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held biennially. ...
. He was a lead commentator at the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
at
London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
and also presented
FIFA Futbol Mundial ''FIFA Futbol Mundial'' was a football-related magazine show produced by IMG Sports Media in conjunction with FIFA. It ran from 1994 to at least 2014. FIFA maintained a YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sha ...
and the magazine programme of the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
. He has commentated several times on the world television feed of the
UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...
, most recently at
UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...
. He was heard on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
after the collapse of
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
's
Christian Eriksen Christian Dannemann Eriksen (; born 14 February 1992) is a Danish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United F.C., Manchester United and the Denmark national football team, ...
, and also on
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...
when they broadcast highlights of Denmark's match with
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. In the UK, Banyard has appeared occasionally on
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
on UEFA European Qualifiers and the
UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...
, but he's more widely known outside the UK in other English-speaking territories. Since 2018, he's been a lead commentator on the world television feed of Italy's
Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
alongside presentation work on the
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
. Other credits include commentating on France's
Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...
from 2004 to 2008 which aired in the UK on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
and then
Five 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...
, as well as designing and developing a specialist website for commentators and broadcasters.


Music

Banyard is also a published
songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
. In 2010, he wrote and produced a
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
anthem for the
England national football team The England national football team have represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Eng ...
called "Let's Hear It England" under the artist name 'Commentators United'. It was published by
The Prince's Trust The King's Trust (formerly the Prince's Trust) is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by Charles III, King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds w ...
. The song features lines from well-known
commentators Commentator or commentators may refer to: * Commentator (historical) or Postglossator, a member of a European legal school that arose in France in the fourteenth century * Commentator (horse) (foaled 2001), American Thoroughbred racehorse * The ...
including
Martin Tyler Martin Tyler (born 14 September 1945) is an English Association football, football commentator. He worked as a commentator for Sky Sports from 1990 to 2023, covering the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, as well as other domestic and inte ...
,
Clive Tyldesley Clive Tyldesley (born 21 August 1954) is an English television sports broadcaster. He was ITV's senior football commentator from 1998 until 2020. In that role, he led the ITV commentary team at five World Cups and five European Championships an ...
,
Guy Mowbray Guy Nicholas Mowbray (born 16 February 1972) is an English football and UFC commentator, who primarily appears on the BBC and TNT Sports. While working for Eurosport at the 1998 World Cup, he became the youngest ever television commentator on a ...
,
Ian Darke Ian Darke (born 1954) is an English association football and boxing commentator who currently works for ESPN and TNT Sports. Darke was previously one of Sky's "Big Four" football commentators alongside Martin Tyler, Alan Parry and Rob Hawth ...
,
Jon Champion Jonathan Martin Champion (born 23 May 1965) is a British sports commentator currently working as an association football commentator for ESPN and NBC Sports. Champion is a well-established and experienced commentator who has also worked for the ...
,
Rob Hawthorne Rob Hawthorne (born 3 May 1965) is an English football commentator, currently working for Sky Sports. He is notable for his commentating alongside Andy Gray in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul. He was born in Dudley, Worcester ...
, Steve Wilson,
Peter Drury Peter Donald Drury (born 24 September 1967) is a British sports commentator who currently works for Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and NBC Sports in the United States as the lead commentator for their Premier League coverage. Drury was former ...
,
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 TNT Sports television. Brotherton was still at school when he began his career with BBC Local Radio and developed fur ...
and the late
Peter Brackley Peter Brackley (13 June 1951 – 14 October 2018) was an English football commentator, perhaps most famous for commentating for '' Football Italia'' on Channel 4 in the 1990s, for the computer game series ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' until '' Pro Ev ...
. The singing was done by the Cotswold Male Voice Choir. Banyard himself was a member of the choir for 5 years. In 2011, Banyard performed one of his songs in public for the first time. He accompanied soloist Martin Dear on the piano in a performance of "No One Else" at
Cheltenham Town Hall Cheltenham Town Hall is an early-20th century assembly rooms in Cheltenham, England. Unlike most town halls, it is a public venue and not the seat of the borough council, which is housed in the nearby Municipal Offices. It is a Grade II listed ...
with the Bach String Ensemble Japan. The concert was compered by well known actor
Brian Blessed Brian Blessed ( ; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive bushy beard, booming voice, and exuberant personality and performances. He portrayed PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars''; Augustus in the 1976 BBC television ...
. He had 3 further songs published in 2015. Then in 2018, he re-recorded and released "Let's Hear It England" under the artist name
The DC Klub
. The commentary lines were swapped around, with lead vocals performed this time by teenagers from
Dean Close School Dean Close School is a co-educational private boarding and day school (for pupils aged 3–18) in the public school tradition, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1886 and is divided into pre-prep, prepa ...
in Cheltenham with backing from the Cotswold Male Voice Choir. The video features rare archive footage of England's FIFA World Cup winning team of 1966 including
Sir Alf Ramsey Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he represented the England national team and captained the side, but he is best known for his time as England manager f ...
,
Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA ...
and Sir Bobby Charlton.


Personal

He was a pupil at
Plymouth College Plymouth College is a co-educational private school in Plymouth, Devon. History The school was established in 1877. In 1896 Plymouth College bought Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead Colleg ...
and now lives in the
Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...
in
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banyard, Steve Living people 1963 births English association football commentators English sports broadcasters English reporters and correspondents English television presenters People educated at Plymouth College