Simon Hill (born 1 November 1967) is an English football commentator based in Australia. He is also a gifted musician and vocalist, specialising on the drums. He plays in several bands. Hill studied journalism at the University of Portsmouth, graduating in 1990. His first job was at

Red Dragon FM Capital South Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, Global as part of the Capital (radio network), Capital network. It broadcasts to Cardiff and Newport, Wales, Newport and the ...

, a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Hill later worked for

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

and

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

before becoming a football correspondent for

ITV Sport ITV Sport is the Broadcasting of sports events, sports department of ITV plc, which produces and presents sports programming for the ITV (TV network), ITV network and ITVX. The branding was originally introduced in 1985 as an umbrella title fo ...

Career

BBC World Service (1995–2002)

Hill worked as a commentator and reporter for the BBC World Service, covering the

1995 Intercontinental Cup The 1995 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match played on 28 November 1995 between Ajax, winners of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League, and Grêmio, winners of the 1995 Copa Libertadores. The match was played at the National S ...

in Japan in addition to major international tournaments such as

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

, the

1998 African Cup of Nations The 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso was the 21st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN), the national Association football, football championship of Africa, administered by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Just like in ...

and the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

ITV Sport Channel (2002)

Hill briefly worked for ITV Studios as a reporter for the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

, now known as the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

, along with 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 ...

SBS Television Australia (2003–2006)

Hill joined

SBS Sport ''SBS Sport'' is the Special Broadcasting Service's sport's programming broadcast on SBS Television and SBS Radio. Television & Streaming SBS currently holds the broadcast rights to a range of sports, which are broadcast on SBS, SBS Viceland ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

following a decade working in radio and television in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was a reporter at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, and also hosted SBS'

Ashes Cricket ''Ashes Cricket'' is a 2017 video game created by Big Ant Studios, and released worldwide on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. It was the first Big Ant cricket game to be officially licensed to modern teams and players after the Don Bradma ...

coverage in 2005, when Australia toured England. Hill commentated select

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

matches, including the last NSL Grand Final. Hill commentated Australia's

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America ...

matches, including the two-legged play-off against Uruguay. He also commentated Australia's matches at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

, and regularly featured as a panellist on Toyota World Sport and

The World Game ''The World Game'' was an Australian football (soccer) television show broadcast on the SBS network, as well as a dedicated associated website. The show debuted in September 2002 and was the only Australian TV program dedicated to both footba ...

. Hill has not since commentated at a

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 ...

due to contractual obligations with

Fox Sports Australia Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited (formerly Premier Media Group Pty Limited) is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as w ...

and Paramount Australia.

Fox Sports Australia (2006–2020)

On 29 July 2006, Hill joined

on a three-year deal as its main commentator for the network's

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

and Socceroos matches. Hill would also appear on

Total Football Total Football () is a tactical system in association football in which any outfield player can take over the role of any other player in a team. A player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team, thus retaining the ...

, Fox Sports' weekly football show. Upon joining the network, Hill said that "For any true follower of football, Fox Sports is an absolute must, and for me it's a great fit." Hill would serve as the network's lead commentator for Australia's

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns, along with the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Asian Cups. Hill was also a monthly contributor to Australian football magazine

FourFourTwo ''FourFourTwo'' is an association football magazine published by British company Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4–4–2. Future acquired the ...

. Hill commentated Fox Sports' feed of the

A-League Grand Final The A-League Men Grand Final is an association football match to determine the champions for an A-League Men season. Played at the end of the finals series, the game has been held annually since 2006. The club which wins the grand final receiv ...

from 2007 to 2019. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Football Australia postponed the remainder of the

2019–20 A-League The 2019–20 A-League, also known as the 2019–20 Hyundai A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the 43rd season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 15th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The regular season commenced ...

season. After 14 years at Fox Sports, Hill was made redundant in July 2020, claiming he was "removed" from the network after a host of cost-cutting measures. During the pandemic, Hill struggled to find commentary work in Australia, going as far to admit that "part of the reason I’m still in Australia is because of the global pandemic ..Had that not been the case, I might have been back in the UK." Many Australian football fans and pundits expressed dismay at the state of Hill's employment.

Freelance work (since 2020)

In May 2020, Hill briefly worked as commentator for the

K League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League Elite, AFC Champions ...

world feed. He described the arrangement as "a really positive experience all-round." In his absence for the remainder of the postponed 2019–20

season, Hill was the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

home ground announcer. Hill would later state how "Newcastle Jets have been very good to me ..I thank them for that. Other clubs like

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

have given me bits of work. I’ve had work from

Football Queensland Football Queensland (FQ) is the governing body for soccer, futsal and beach soccer in the Australian state of Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australi ...

Football Australia Football Australia is the sports governing body, governing body of Soccer in Australia, soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Au ...

. In August 2020, Hill announced a freelance affiliation with

Optus Sport Optus Sport is an Australian group of list of sports television channels, sports channels, owned by Optus launched on 13 July 2016. Optus created the service after it outbid Foxtel for the Premier League, English Premier League broadcasting righ ...

, joining the network as a commentator on their

and

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

broadcasts. Over several months, he appeared in their match day podcasts and provided a weekly column on the website. Hill commentated the network's feed of the 2020 UEFA Champions League final, before leaving shortly after. Hill breifly hosted ''The Global Game'' with former Australian footballer

Alex Brosque Alex Jason Brosque (; born 12 October 1983) is an Australian former professional soccer player who was the captain of A-League club Sydney FC. He played primarily as a striker but played predominantly as a midfielder in central midfield during ...

on the SEN Sydney 1170 radio network. After leaving Fox Sports, Hill provided an

commentary feed for SEN for the remainder of the

season. Hill was a world feed commentator for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

, covering matches in Melbourne, Auckland and Brisbane.

Paramount Australia (2021-2025)

In August 2021, Hill joined Paramount Australia to commentate on the Socceroos,

Matildas The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) s ...

, and

A-Leagues The Australian Professional Leagues, officially abbreviated to the APL, and sometimes referred to as the A-Leagues, are the governing body for the A-League Men, A-League Women, A-League Youth and E-League. Since their formation, they have been ...

competitions. He was the network's lead commentator for the 2022, 2023 and 2025 A-League Men Grand Finals, in addition to the Socceroos'

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

intercontinental play-off qualification match against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. In May 2025, Hill announced his departure from Paramount Australia to return to the United Kingdom.

Personal life

Hill was born in

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 ...

to Audrey and George. He is a

Manchester City F.C. Manchester City Football Club is a professional football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Assoc ...

supporter.

References

SBS Profile of Simon Hill

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Simon Australian television presenters English association football commentators English emigrants to Australia Mass media people from Manchester Alumni of the University of Portsmouth Australian soccer commentators 1967 births Living people Australian sports journalists