Matthew Nicholas Roberts (born 5 November 1977) is an English television presenter who specialises in

motorcycle racing The motorcycle sport of racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and ...

broadcast to the UK.

Education

Roberts attended All Saints High School in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

as well as Greenhead College and

Huddersfield University The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

. As of 2021 Roberts is undertaking a specialist post-graduate degree known as Master of Sport Directorship at

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

MotoGP, Isle of Man TT and Superbike work

Roberts has been working in

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

since 2001, initially as a writer and then as a commentator. Since 2005 he has expanded his portfolio within the paddock, producing press material for several teams and contributing articles to publications in the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany and the USA. In addition Roberts has worked extensively on the

Isle of Man TT Races The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May and June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event begins on the UK Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May and runs fo ...

. This initially was in the form of conducting rider interviews, however the 2019 coverage saw Roberts taking over as the main anchor from

Craig Doyle Craig Doyle (born 17 December 1970) is an Irish television and radio presenter. To British viewers he is recognisable as working for the BBC and ITV and more recently TNT Sports; Irish viewers also know him as the host of RTÉ One chat show ...

on the mainstream

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which first aired on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV plc. The channel focuses primarily on general entertainment programming targeting a male audience, including action series and films, ...

coverage initially with co-presenter

Jodie Kidd Jodie Elizabeth Kidd (born 25 September 1978) is an English fashion model and television personality. Early life Named after Jodie Foster, Kidd was born in 1978 and is the daughter of the businessman and former showjumper Johnny Kidd. She is ...

.Roberts has subsequently gone on to host the coverage alongside Grace Webb. Roberts worked as a pit-lane reporter at

races for

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 ...

in 2008 before becoming the main presenter for some rounds in 2009. In 2009 Roberts shared MotoGP presenting duties with

Suzi Perry Suzi Perry (born May 1970) is a British television presenter covering Grand Prix motorcycle racing for BT Sport. She is known for covering Grand Prix motorcycle racing for the BBC for 13 years, ''The Gadget Show'' on Channel 5 for eight years an ...

who presented the European rounds, but Roberts took over for all rounds outside Europe. When handed the responsibility Roberts said "It's a bit different to pit-lane reporting. If I'm interviewing someone or talking to Suzi from the pit-lane then I'm not really thinking about the camera, but with presenting I'm talking straight to it and the people back home and I'm a bit nervous about that." In 2010 Jennie Gow replaced Perry as the main presenter with Roberts reverting to pit-lane duties, and no longer presenting part-time. In February 2011, it was confirmed that Roberts would replace the departed Gow as full-time main presenter. His former job in the pitlane was taken by Azi Farni. After the BBC's contract for MotoGP coverage was not renewed for 2014, Roberts joined

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

to anchor their coverage of the

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Champion ...

and the

British Superbike Championship The British Superbike Championship (BSB), known for sponsorship reasons as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, is a road racing championship for superbike class machines in the United Kingdom and acknowledged as the premier domestic s ...

alongside

James Haydon James Richard Barnaby Haydon (born 2 November 1973 in Amersham, Buckinghamshire), is a British former Motorcycle racing, motorcycle racer. He raced in 250cc and 500cc Grand Prix, MotoGP, British Superbike Championship, British Superbike and ...

and fellow Huddersfield native

James Whitham James Michael "Jamie" Whitham (born 6 September 1966), is an English people, English former professional motorcycle road racing, road racer. He raced in most major British and international championships, winning the British championship twice. ...

Other broadcasting

In 2010 and 2011 Roberts hosted

American Football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coverage of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

play-off games.

Sports management

Roberts has established a partnership and new business with Shane Byrne to mentor young motorcycle racers.About us
Sixty Seven Sports Retrieved 4 July 2021Mr Matthew Nicholas Roberts
Company information at Endole. Retrieved 4 July 2021

Personal life

Roberts lives in the village of

Stainland Stainland is a village in the civil parish of Stainland and District, in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. The village is part of the Greetland and Stainland ward of Calderdale Council and is approximately west of Elland, south of Halifax, ...

Calderdale Calderdale () is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the ...

. He plays football for Huddersfield YMCA in the Yorkshire Amateur League. Roberts is a supporter of

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. In a MotoGP preview show Roberts interviewed champion racer

Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi ( ; ; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian racing driver, former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed "the Doctor", Rossi is widely considered one of the greate ...

over a game of table football. "I told Rossi beforehand that I was playing with my dream strike force of Gerrard, Gascoigne and Andy Booth. "He picked up on this and in the interview said that after Ibrahimovic,

Andy Booth Andrew David Booth (born 6 December 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He notably played in the Premier League for both Sheffield Wednesday and Tottenham Hotspur. He also played in the Football League ...

is the number two striker in the world."Matt Roberts interview with Valentino Rossi over table football
BBC Sport, 12 April 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Matt Living people Alumni of the University of Huddersfield BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC sports presenters and reporters 1977 births Motorsport announcers NFL announcers