Richard Madley is a Welsh auctioneer. He served as the auctioneer of the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

auctions since the inception of the league in 2008 and last appeared as an auctioneer at an IPL auction in 2018. He was nicknamed as the Hammer Man.

Career

Madley represented Wales in junior international hockey and also played cricket in the Surrey League. In junior hockey, he represented Wales at various age groups namely under-18, under-19 ans under-21 levels at European Championships. Richard joined the prominent auction house of Phillips Son and Neale in Stratford,

New Bond Street New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

in 1978 initially working as a floor sweeper. At Phillips Son and Neale, he was then promoted as a salesroom porter thereby embarking on a career trajectory oriented towards

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

eering. He also hosted auctions of Impressionist Art, Old Master drawings, fine jewellery and 18th century furniture. He also learnt the basics of portering, sales & marketing, accountancy and cataloguing in addition to auctioneering during his corporate career. He was introduced to host rugby memorabilia auctions in Arms Park Rugby Stadium in Cardiff. He was later appointed as an auctioneer for the

Welsh Rugby Players Association ' The Welsh Rugby Players Association (WRPA) is a trade union representing athletes who currently play or who have played rugby union in Wales at a professional level. Founded in 2003, the WRPA aims to Represent, Develop, Promote and Protect all ...

. He also appeared in television and radio broadcasts on

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 ...

and ITV. He predominantly worked as an auction expert for the BBC television game show ''

Bargain Hunt ''Bargain Hunt'' is a British television programme in which two pairs of contestants are challenged to buy antiques from shops or a fair and then sell them in an auction for a profit. It has aired on BBC One since 13 March 2000 in a daytime ...

'', which was regarded as the most popular daytime TV programme in Great Britain. After working at Philips Son and Neale for nearly two decades, he accepted an invitation to join Christie's as President of Christie's East, New York. He began working as an auctioneer after moving to New York and engaged in auctioning baseball memorabilia. He hosted auctions selling baseball memorabilia, rugby memorabilia before making a switch to cricket. In September 2001, he was the last auctioneer to conduct an auction at the World Trade Center in New York City, eight days before it was

destroyed Destroyed may refer to: * ''Destroyed'' (Sloppy Seconds album), a 1989 album by Sloppy Seconds * ''Destroyed'' (Moby album), a 2011 album by Moby See also * Destruction (disambiguation) * Ruined (disambiguation) Ruins are the remains of man-m ...

in the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. Madley became popular among fans for his approach to the role of auctioneer during his ten-year stint in the Indian Premier League. He was brought on board as auctioneer for the

2008 Indian Premier League The 2008 Indian Premier League season was the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, BCCI in 2007. The season commenced on 18 April 2008 with the final match was held on 1 June 20 ...

auction. He was regarded as the face of the Indian Premier League auctions, but his popularity plunged in late 2018, when

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

decided to part ways with him prior to the 2019 IPL auction, as BCCI replaced him with Hugh Edmeades. ''The London Times'' said that he was the most important man in cricket during the auctions. He said that he witnessed an important moment as an auctioneer when

Chennai Super Kings The Chennai Super Kings, also known as CSK, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team was one of the eight debut franchises when the league was establ ...

franchise went all out to acquire Indian wicketkeeper batsman

MS Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian professional cricketer who plays as a right-handed batter and a wicket-keeper. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific wicket-keeper batsmen and captains and one of the greatest O ...

during the inaugural IPL auction which was held on 20 February 2008. In September 2024, he was appointed as an auctioneer to host the player auction ahead of the 2025 SA20.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madley, Richard Living people Welsh art collectors English columnists English game show hosts English television talk show hosts ITV people ITV regional newsreaders and journalists Welsh game show hosts English auctioneers Year of birth missing (living people)