Andrew Mark Chapman (nicknamed "Chappers") (born 11 October 1973) is a British television and radio sports presenter. He is

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

' chief

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

presenter, fronting BBC's coverage of the Rugby League World Cup and RFL

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

matches. He is also co-lead presenter of BBC's

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 ...

coverage programme '' Match of the Day'', following the departure of Gary Lineker, having previously presented '' Match of the Day 2'' during Lineker's time at the BBC. He also is involved in

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 ...

's coverage of the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. He also hosts '' Sports Report'' on BBC Radio 5 Live, one of the longest-running programmes on British radio, and the world's longest-running sports radio programme, plus ''The Monday Night Club''.

Early life

Chapman was born in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, but spent most of his youth in Sale on the other side of the city of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. He attended

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is a highly Selective school, selective Private_schools_in_the_United_Kingdom, private day school for boys aged 7-18 in Manchester, England, which was founded in 1515 by Hugh Oldham (then Bishop of Exeter). ...

, and during his time there developed an interest in radio, wanting to work for Radio 1 from the age of 13. He went on to gain a degree in French and Business Studies from the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

Broadcasting career

Chapman began his career in 1996 as a continuity announcer on BBC Television, primarily working 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 ...

and

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

, before becoming the cricket correspondent for BBC North East radio.Rider Profile: Mark Chapman
''This is Staffordshire'', 1 June 2012 Chapman then joined

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

as a Newsbeat sportsreader working on Sara Cox's show and later on Scott Mills's show, where he was nicknamed Chappers, before joining BBC Radio 5 Live to host 5 Live Sport on Monday evenings in 2010. Between 2009 and 2013, Chapman was the main stand in presenter on '' Final Score'', '' Match of the Day 2'' and other

programmes as well as co-hosting '' Pardon The Interruption'' and live football events on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Following the departure of Colin Murray, Chapman became the main host of ''Match of the Day 2'' in August 2013. 2013 also saw Chapman promoted to

' chief rugby league presenter ahead of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, fronting the BBC's coverage tournament. For the London 2012 Olympics, Chapman broadcast daily on BBC Radio 5 Live with Victoria Derbyshire, covering that morning's action. For the Rio 2016 Games, Chapman again presented coverage on ''5 Live'', as well presenting television coverage for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

each evening with Clare Balding. For the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Chapman presented ''Olympic Breakfast'' with Rachel Burden on ''5 Live''. For the Paris 2024 Olympics, Chapman lead coverage on ''5 Live'' throughout the afternoon from Paris, as well as presenting a nightly TV highlights show with Isa Guha. At the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Chapman presented a nightly highlights show with Clare Balding for the BBC. In August 2016, Chapman replaced Mark Pougatch as the main presenter of '' 5 Live Sport'' on Saturday afternoons, and he continues to host the Monday evening edition of the programme alongside other midweek shows. In 2016, he became the presenter of '' The NFL Show'' and '' NFL This Week'', with Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell. He left the show in November 2020. In 2017, he fronted BBC's coverage of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. In May 2022, in addition to his work with the BBC, it was announced that Chapman had joined Sky Sports to present its coverage of the Carabao Cup. In September 2022, Chapman was announced as the BBC's main presenter for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, fronting the coverage for a third consecutive tournament.

Career

Chapman became Chair of the Board for the Manchester Originals cricket team for The Hundred in July 2021. In November 2022, Chapman extended his sports portfolio to become Non-Executive Director at Vanarama National League team, Altrincham Football Club.

Charitable work

In March 2008, Chapman and Comedy Dave ran a mile at all 20 English Premier League clubs and the 12

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

clubs. In the same year, he also completed the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

for children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent; repeating the feat in 2010. In 2012, Chapman was part of a team that cycled from

Land's End to John o' Groats Land's End to John o' Groats is the traversal of the length of the island of Great Britain between two List of extreme points of the United Kingdom#Extreme points within the UK, extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional di ...

in aid of the Donna Louise Children's Hospice Trust in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

Writing

Chapman wrote a regular column for '' Shoot Monthly'' magazine. In 2010, he released his first book, entitled ''Heroes, Hairbands and Hissy Fits: Chappers' History of Modern Football''.

Personal life

Chapman married his wife Sara in 2001. They had three children together – Ben, Jessie and Millie. Chapman and his wife lived in Hale, Greater Manchester until her death from cancer in 2020. Chapman is a Manchester United football fan. He is also a fan of Hull F.C. owing to his time at university in Hull. He is a fan of the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

in the NFL.

References

External links

*
Profile – Mark Chapman
BBC Radio 1 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Mark 1973 births Living people Alumni of the University of Hull BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC Radio 5 Live presenters BBC Radio 1 presenters BBC sports presenters and reporters British radio DJs English rugby league commentators Mass media people from Manchester NFL announcers People educated at Manchester Grammar School People from Rochdale People from Sale, Greater Manchester