Robert Fitzgerald Earle MBE (born 27 January 1965) is a former

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 ...

player and current television commentator. Born in England, he represented

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

in international football. An attacking

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, he played 578 league games in senior club football, scoring 136 goals. Initially a youth player with Stoke City, Earle broke into the professional game with Port Vale in 1982. He spent nine years at the

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in ...

-based club, helping "The Vale" to

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of the Fourth Division in 1982–83 and 1985–86, and out of the Third Division via the play-offs in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

; he was later voted the club's PFA Fans' Favourite. He moved on to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

in 1991, where he also spent nine years. He played nearly 300 league games for each club, scoring 77 and 59 goals respectively. He represented

eight times between 1997 and 1998, scoring one international goal. He appeared in the 1998 World Cup, scoring the nation's first-ever goal in the finals. Following his retirement in 2000, Earle established himself in football journalism. He was dismissed from his punditry role with ITV in 2010 after he passed ITV

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

tickets to a third party. After spending time as television broadcast analyst for the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, he is now a commentator for 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 ...

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

Club career

Port Vale

An attacking midfielder, Earle was a junior player at Stoke City whilst he attended Longton High School. However, after suffering from a broken leg, he was released from the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

. He was snapped up by Stoke's local rivals Port Vale, where he turned professional in 1982. He had been scouted by Ray Williams. Earle made his Port Vale debut under John McGrath in a 1–0 defeat by

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

at the County Ground on 28 August 1982. He scored his first goal in his next appearance, in a 4–1 win over

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

at the

Recreation Ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

. He finished the 1982–83 campaign with one goal in nine appearances, as the "Valiants" won

out of the Fourth Division. He made 13 appearances in 1983–84; John Rudge replaced McGrath as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

in December, but could not stop the club from sliding straight back out of the Third Division. Earle won a regular first-team place in August 1984. He hit 19 goals in 56 games in 1984–85, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against Hereford United at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

on 2 February; Earle and Alistair Brown's partnership got the club a combined total of 40 goals. An ever-present in the 1985–86 Fourth Division promotion squad, he scored 17 goals in 58 games; he and strike partner Andy Jones bagged a total of 35 goals for the club. Earle made 142 consecutive appearances between September 1984 and January 1987, the run coming to an end due to a

groin In human anatomy, the groin, also known as the inguinal region or iliac region, is the junctional area between the torso and the thigh. The groin is at the front of the body on either side of the pubic tubercle, where the lower part of the abdom ...

strain. The strain led to a

hernia A hernia (: hernias or herniae, from Latin, meaning 'rupture') is the abnormal exit of tissue or an organ (anatomy), organ, such as the bowel, through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. The term is also used for the normal Devel ...

operation in the autumn of 1987, but he returned to first-team action in January 1988. He scored seven goals in 35 games in 1986–87 and scored four goals in 11 games in 1987–88. That season, he played in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

upset when Vale knocked out

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. A regular in the 1988–89 season, Rudge claimed that Earle and Ray Walker was one of the best-ever midfield partnerships at the Vale. He scored both goals past Bristol Rovers in the two-legged 1989 play-off final that took Vale through to the Second Division. After the match Earle wept in the tunnel, such was his emotions to have taken his local team to victory in the play-off final. Throughout the 1988–89 campaign, he scored 19 goals in 57 appearances. He scored 12 goals in 52 games in 1989–90, including one in a 1–1 draw with Stoke City at the Victoria Ground on 23 September. He remained a vital player in 1990–91, hitting the net 11 times in 37 appearances. As he was affectionately known, 'The Black Pearl' played 357 times for the "Valiants" and scored 90 goals. A cult hero, he is considered one of the best midfielders ever to play for the club. In July 1991 he was transferred to

for a fee of £775,000 (and 30% of any future transfer fee above that figure). It was later reported that Wimbledon chairman Sam Hammam had locked Earle in a room during transfer negotiations and only let him out when he agreed to sign for Wimbledon.

Wimbledon

Earle played an important part in the South London club's success during the nineties, and in particular, the club's ' Crazy Gang' mentality, which fostered team spirit and intimidated opposing players. He played alongside cult figures such as Aidan Newhouse,

John Fashanu John Winton Fashanu (born 18 September 1962) is an English television presenter and former professional footballer. As a footballer he was a centre-forward from 1978 until 1995, most notably in an eight-year spell at Wimbledon in which he won ...

Vinnie Jones Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is an English actor, presenter, and former professional footballer. Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, C ...

, Lawrie Sanchez, Jason Euell,

Dean Holdsworth Dean Christopher Holdsworth (born 8 November 1968) is an English former professional football player and manager who is the technical director at club Kidderminster Harriers. As a striker he scored 193 goals in 610 league games over a 22-year ...

, Marcus Gayle, Andy Clarke and Efan Ekoku. Earle was known for his late runs into the box, his ability to finish, and his agility at heading the ball. His first season at the club was turbulent, as manager Ray Harford was replaced by Peter Withe, who in turn was replaced by Joe Kinnear; nevertheless, Earle scored 14 league goals to help the "Dons" to maintain to their top-flight status. He scored seven goals in the newly formed

in the 1992–93 season, including two in a 3–2 win over

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

, and nine goals in 1993–94 – when Wimbledon finished a club best sixth in the final table. After injury limited him to nine goalless appearances in 1994–95 (when Wimbledon still finished ninth), he regained his fitness for the following season. He was appointed club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. His 11 goals in 1995–96 went some way towards securing Wimbledon's survival in 15th place; he scored against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, Chelsea,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. Under his captaincy in 1996–97, the

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst, in the London Borough of Croydon, England, which is the home ground of Premier League club Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted interna ...

side reached the semi-finals of both the

and League Cup, where they were beaten by eventual winners Chelsea and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

respectively. In February 1997, he was handed the Premier League Player of the Month award. The club survived again in 1997–98, though dropped from fourth in December to 15th by the season's end. He scored seven goals in all competitions in 1998–99 as Wimbledon again reached the semi-finals of the League Cup; however, they finished just two places and six points above the Premier League

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

zone. The "Dons" then struggled under new manager Egil Olsen, and were relegated on the final day of the 1999–2000 season after losing 2–0 to

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

at The Dell. During a

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

game for Wimbledon in 2000, Earle sustained a heavy blow to the stomach and became seriously ill with a ruptured

pancreas The pancreas (plural pancreases, or pancreata) is an Organ (anatomy), organ of the Digestion, digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdominal cavity, abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a ...

. At the age of 35 he was forced to give up playing in November 2000. His retirement coincided with the end of the 'Crazy Gang'. In nine years as a Wimbledon player, he made 244 league appearances for the

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

club, scoring 59 goals. Towards his end of his time at the club he began coaching the reserve team.

International career

Though English-born, Earle was eligible to play for Jamaica at international level because of his Jamaican parents. He hoped to be called up to the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

squad, before he accepted the call-up from Jamaica at the age of 32. Earle was the scorer of Jamaica's first ever

goal, in a 3–1 defeat by

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

at the

Stade Félix-Bollaert The Stade Bollaert-Delelis () is the main football stadium in Lens, France, that was built in 1933. It is the home of RC Lens. The stadium's capacity is 38,223 – about 7,000 more than the city's population. The stadium was originally named af ...

, at the 1998 World Cup in France. He played in all three of the Group H games, as Jamaica lost 5–0 to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

and beat

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

2–1 at

Stade de Gerland The Stade de Gerland (known for sponsorship reasons as Matmut Stadium de Gerland and otherwise known as Municipal de Gerland or Stade Gerland ) is a stadium in the city of Lyon, France, which serves as home to Top 14 rugby club Lyon OU. It has a ...

Media work

Since his retirement, Earle has moved into sports journalism. He has worked for

Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...

, Radio 5 Live,

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 ...

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 ...

, ITV,

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 ...

and OnDigital. Earle was a regular pundit on ITV's football coverage, as well as ''World Football Daily'', and occasionally joins the team on '' ESPN PressPass''. He has also written columns for the London ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' and for the

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 ...

'' Evening Sentinel''. In 2005, he took part in BBC's '' Strictly African Dancing'' as part of ''Africa Lives'' season; he scored 33 and won the competition. He also appeared in the 2007 edition of ''

MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking show television format created by Franc Roddam, which originated with MasterChef (British TV series), the British version in July 1990. The show aims to discover the culinary talent of chefs of varying sk ...

''. In June 2010, he had his £150,000 a year

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

with ITV cancelled for giving away

tickets for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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 ...

match. Meant for family and friends, he passed them on to a friend who then sold them to Bavaria Brewery. The Brewery company orchestrated an

ambush marketing Ambush marketing or ambush advertising is a marketing strategy in which an advertiser "wikt:ambush, ambushes" an event to compete for exposure against other advertisers. The term was coined by marketing strategist Jerry Welsh, while he was work ...

event in breach of

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 ...

rules. The incident also led to him losing his role as an ambassador for England's 2018 World Cup bid. Earle described his actions as "naive" and insisted that he had "not profited in any way". It later emerged that ITV had given Earle 400 free tickets for the tournament, including 40 for the final itself. This allocation had a RRP of around £70,000. Not permitted to sell the tickets, Earle had freely given them out to friends and family, unaware that a 'close friend' would then sell a significant number on to the Dutch company. In March 2011, he became a broadcasting analyst at US

side

. In 2004, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Show Racism the Red Card. He has also appeared in television commercials promoting

blood donation A 'blood donation'' occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). A donation may be of wh ...

. In 2013, he became one of the lead studio analysts for

' coverage of the Premier League and a co-commentator on their ''

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a Association football, football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights during the Premier League season. ''Match of the Day'' is one of the BBC's longest-runn ...

'' and ''Premier League Download'' programmes.

Personal life

Earle attended Longton High School in Longton,

. UK magazine ''The Vegetarian Society'' stated that Earle is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

. He got married in the summer of 1989. His son, Otis, is also a footballer and was drafted by

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

at the 2015 MLS SuperDraft.

Awards

Earle was appointed an MBE in 1999 for his services to

. In 2007, he was voted as Port Vale's

PFA Fans' Favourites The PFA Fans' Favourites is a list of football players produced as part of the celebrations of the centenary of the Professional Footballers' Association in 2007. There is one entry for each Football League club's favourite player. In making the se ...

. In 2009, he was inducted into the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and man ...

as 'Football Foundation Community Champion'. He was inducted into the Stoke-on-Trent Sporting Hall of Fame in May 2018. In May 2019, he was voted into the "Ultimate Port Vale XI" by members of the ''OneValeFan'' supporter website.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Jamaica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Earle goal.''

Honours

Port Vale *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

third-place promotion: 1982–83 *Football League Fourth Division fourth-place promotion: 1985–86 * Football League Third Division play-offs:

Individual * Premier League Player of the Month: February 1997 *

player (Port Vale): 2007

References

External links

* *
Profile
at MTC Talent Management {{DEFAULTSORT:Earle, Robbie 1965 births Living people Footballers from Newcastle-under-Lyme English people of Jamaican descent Sportspeople of Jamaican descent English men's footballers Black British sportsmen Jamaican men's footballers Jamaica men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Stoke City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players 1998 FIFA World Cup players English Football League players Premier League players Wimbledon F.C. non-playing staff Members of the Order of the British Empire British association football commentators English television presenters English sportswriters English Football Hall of Fame inductees Jamaican journalists English male journalists English columnists Major League Soccer broadcasters Association football coaches 20th-century Jamaican sportsmen