- Chamberlin, the face of ITV Racing, left Sky in 2016 to pursue a lifelong dream
- For Mail Sport’s new columnist, racing is less a job and more a way of life
- He was hooked after seeing the Grand National in his grandfather’s living room
Even now, seven years later, Ed Chamberlin knows what question will come his way when he is stopped on his way to a supermarket.
Chamberlin, the face of ITV Racing, left Sky in 2016 to pursue a lifelong dream. Racing isn’t so much a job for the 49-year-old as a way of life. His love of artificial turf dates back to his childhood watching the Grand National in his grandfather’s living room.
This little boy could hardly have imagined how his career would develop as he had a paddock seat at every major race in the world. But he took his place in that position after deciding to break away from the global Premier League phenomenon.
“Honestly, I can’t walk down a high street or into a supermarket without someone saying, ‘Why on earth did you leave Premier League football to go racing?’ It’s everywhere I go!’ says Chamberlin with a smile.
“My son Sam is still not sure.” He burst into tears when I told him I was giving up football! I still remember sitting down to explain. It was pretty cool for him to say at school that his father was the presenter of the Premier League. So I tell him I’m transitioning into racing and he looks back and says, ‘What have you done!’ It doesn’t make sense to a lot of people, but it does to anyone who knows me.
Ed Chamberlin has worked for ITV since January 2017 and is dedicated to his passion, racing. Chamberlin (left), the face of ITV Racing, left Sky in 2016 to pursue a lifelong dream of a way of life, his love of turf dates back to his childhood days watching the Grand National in his grandfather’s living room
“I love football but 2016 was the right time for a change.” I’m sure a lot of people were thrilled… Southampton’s Portuguese defender Jose Fonte used to call me ‘The Curse’ because I was three Seasons presented games and the Saints never won. But racing was something I always wanted to do.”
Chamberlin, who joins Mail Sport to provide regular columns, brims with passion for racing and speaks with authority on everything from the brilliance of a Frankie Dettori frontrunner to the complexities of the dispute that has erupted between authorities and jockeys about the use of saunas.
“In racing, we’re very good at shooting ourselves in the leg,” he says firmly. “The focus is on the whip, saunas and affordability checks.” But we have to be careful about how people look inward outside of sport. We need to be aware and at the forefront of promoting the things we do well.
“And there are so many things that we do well – York this week was a shining example of the brilliant festivals we have, with the quality of the races and the way they are attended.”
There are Chamberlin fronts on the show. He’s used to being hung, dragged and quartered on social media, but he’ll never change his style or his ambition to bring racing to new, inquiring viewers, knowing full well what other sports would do if racing had one terrestrial television station would get.
“It’s a bit like being a real estate developer,” he says. “You don’t develop a property to suit you, you develop it to appeal to as many people as possible.” That’s what we do with ITV Racing. This isn’t football, with 100 minutes of action and short gaps to analyze.
This little boy could hardly have imagined how his career would develop as he had a place in the paddock at every major race in the world. Chamberlin (left) took his place in that position after deciding to escape the global Premier League phenomenon
“We can have a four-hour show and the live action could be down to 15 minutes.” It would be very easy for me to do a show that would appeal to die-hard racers, but we have a million viewers. “We have to appeal to everyone – and produce something for everyone.”
While Chamberlin will always question whether he did the right thing in turning his back on football, he has never regretted it for a moment. A battle with stomach cancer 14 years ago taught him why every opportunity must be seized and used.
“I was very ill,” he says. “I came back to work with a completely different attitude. Rather, it was about making the best of every opportunity. On the big days, I still look back and think, “Oh my god, how lucky am I?”
“It made me braver and helped me appreciate things.” Without that close shave I would never have made the switch from Premier League football to racing. I was very shy before. Now I realize how lucky I am.’
l Read Ed Chamberlin’s brilliant new column in tomorrow’s Match Day
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