Tony Gubba
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Tony Gubba (born September 23, 1943, Manchester, England) is a journalist and sports commentator working for the media of the United Kingdom.
[edit] Early career
He began work as a local newspaper reporter in Lancashire before moving up to the job of staff reporter for a national tabloid; The Daily Mirror. He then gained employment as for Southern TV in Southampton, before becoming a BBC correspondent, based in Liverpool. In 1973 he was given the job of presenting the popular Sportsnight show, a post he held until 1978. After this, he moved on to commentate on a range of sports for the BBC. He made regular appearances on Match of the Day, live international football matches and FA Cup matches. As a result, he has become much of a household name in the United Kingdom. He lists witnessing the debuts of George Best and Michael Owen for Manchester United F.C. and Liverpool F.C. respectively as highlights of his career.
In 2006, he commentated on ITV's Dancing on Ice and also made a guest appearance commentating on BBC2's Robot Wars but conflict arose with Johnathan Pearce, which caused the exit of Gubba. He now works alongside Pearce on Match of the Day but this has not been without its difficulties.
[edit] Trivia
- He has provided commentaries also for football computer and video games: the PC version for FIFA International Soccer and the Nintendo 64 game International Superstar Soccer 98.
- He enjoys keeping fit.
- He is an accomplished fly fisherman.
- He enjoys watching golf.
- He is a documentary filmmaker.
- One of his most memorable commentries was a FIFA World Cup encounter in 1998, where the entire Romanian team dyed their hair bright yellow, and he had the unenviable task of working out who was who.
- He is the subject of the Half Man Half Biscuit song 'Gubba Look-A-Likes', from the 2000 album Trouble Over Bridgwater.
