Arundel Promotions can also enhance your event by arranging for a sports personality to be in attendance. Whether it is after dinner speaking, hosting a golf day, or a product launch, the addition of a sports star makes an event even more memorable.
We will find the right speaker for your event and below are just a few examples of the calibre of personalities we work with. Please contact us for more information:
Alan Curbishley
Alan Curbishley began his football playing career with West Ham United, joining them as an apprentice in 1974. At 16 he became the youngest player to be named on a West Ham teamsheet. He went on to play for Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Charlton Athletic and Brighton & Hove Albion before returning to Charlton as player coach in 1990. He became joint manager the following year and sole manager in 1995, overseeing promotion to the Premiership. Having established Charlton as a top flight club, he left in May 2006 and took some time off from football. He returned to management in December 2006 when he took over at West Ham and engineered a great escape from what looked like certain relegation from the Premiership.
Mike Gatting
Mike Gatting played for Middlesex County Cricket Club throughout his career, and was Club captain from 1983-1977. He also played for the England Test team from 1977 to 1995, captaining the side in 23 Test matches. He scored ten Test centuries for England with a highest score of 207 in Madras. He captained England to an Ashes series victory in Australia in 1986/7 and remains the last England captain to win the Ashes Down Under. In the same season he had the infamous on field argument in Faisalabad with the Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana. He later led a highly controversial rebel tour to South Africa. In 1993 he was on the wrong end of the “Ball of the Century", Shane Warne’s first delivery in an Ashes match. His last Tests were played on tour in Australia in 1993/4, scoring his final century at Adelaide. Mike retired from cricket in 1998.
Graham Gooch
Graham Gooch made his first class debut for Essex in 1973 and his Test debut for England in 1975. In 1979 he made a switch from middle-order batsmen to opener as Essex won their first major honours. He captained England in 1981 for their rebel tour to South Africa, which resulted in a three year ban from Test cricket. He was made England captain in 1990 for England's winter tour of the West Indies leading them to victory in the first Test in Jamaica. In the same year he scored a Test best 333 against India in the second Test at Lord’s, becoming the first English player to score 1,000 runs during a Test summer. In 1991 he guided Essex to their fifth County Championship and was awarded an OBE. He retired from Test Cricket in 1995 after winning a record 118 caps for England and becoming their highest run-scorer with 8,900. In 1997 he announced the end of his playing career.
Jason Leonard
Jason Leonard is firmly established as one of the great icons of English and world Rugby Union. The highest capped player in the history of the English game Jason was a member of England’s 2003 World Cup team who famously beat the Aussies in their own backyard coming on as a substitute in the final and providing a calming influence in the scrum. Jason played for England a total of 118 times and was also capped five times by the British and Irish Lions. He was first capped by England in 1990 against Argentina and made his last appearance in 2004. Most commentators agree that his record number of appearances is unlikely to ever be bettered by another prop forward. His career spanned both the amateur and professional eras and saw him playing at club level for Barking, Saracens and Harlequins.
Peter Moores
Peter Moores kept wicket for Worcestershire and Sussex, captaining the latter in 1997. He retired from first-class cricket in 1998 and took up coaching, leading Sussex to the 2003 County Championship. He also coached England "A" on their tour of the West Indies in 2000-01 and the English National Cricket Academy from October 2005 to 2007. He was appointed coach of the full England team in April 2007 bringing in a number of players from the County game and overseeing a comfortable debut series victory against the West Indies.
Mark Ramprakash
Mark Ramprakash began his career at Middlesex, making his debut in 1987 at the age of 17. He came to national prominence at the age of 18 when he won the man-of-the match award in the 1988 NatWest Trophy Final. He was selected for his first Test match for England against the West Indies at Headingley in 1991. He struggled to impress, however his consistent heavy scoring in county cricket meant that he was always on the fringes of selection and was recalled to the England team for the final Test of the 1993 Ashes series, helping England to a consolation victory. He was in-and-out of the team over the next few years but posted an unbeaten 154 in the 5th Test against the West Indies in Barbados. He also scored a century against Australia at the Oval in 2001. He joined Surrey in the same year and has been a prolific run scorer for the county. In 2006 he made a career best 292 against Gloucestershire and, soon after, 301 not out against Northamptonshire. He ended the season with 2,278 runs at an average of 103.54, becoming only the sixth man to average over one hundred in an English season. Remarkably he repeated the feat in 2007. In 2006 he was selected as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year and was also the winner of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing competition.
Sir Bobby Robson
Sir Bobby Robson’s playing career spanned nearly 20 years and three clubs, Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Vancouver Royals. He also made 20 appearances for England, scoring four goals. His managerial record, both at club and national level, makes him one of the most successful managers in the world, having won league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup. The roll call of famous clubs he’s managed is almost unparalleled; Fulham, Ipswich Town, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto, Barcelona and Newcastle United. He is currently the "International Football Consultant" for the Irish national football team. Sir Bobby is a member of the English Football Hall of Fame and the honorary President of Ipswich Town.
Graham Taylor
Graham Taylor made his competitive debut for Grimsby Town in 1963 before being transferred to Lincoln City in 1968. He was forced to retire from professional football following a serious hip injury in 1972. At Lincoln he became the youngest manager in the League at the age of 28 and led the club to the Fourth Division title in 1976. He moved to Elton John’s Watford in 1977 and took the club from the Fourth to the First Division in only five years and even took the side to the third round of the UEFA Cup, having finished second in 1983 (the club's first season as a top division club). In 1987 he moved to the newly relegated Aston Villa and won promotion at the first attempt. During his third season at the club Villa finished runners-up in the first division and he was appointed manager of the England national team in 1990. He took England to the Euro '92 championships but left the job in November 1993, within days of England's failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. He has since managed Wolverhampton Wanderers and made returns to Watford, taking them from from Division Two t0 the Premiership, and Aston Villa.
Terry Venables
Terry Venables joined Chelsea as an apprentice in 1957 and emerged as the captain and one of the key players in the Chelsea side which challenged for honours in the 1960s, winning the League Cup in 1965. He made 202 appearances for Chelsea and scored 26 goals before being transferred to Tottenham Hotspur, where he won the FA Cup Final against his old side in 1967. He also played for Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace and, during his career, he won two International Caps for England and was the first player to represent England at all international levels. He was appointed manager of Palace in 1976 and won promotion from the Third to the First Division before moving onto QPR and then Barcelona where he won the Spanish Title and the League Cup. In 1987 he returned to Spurs, won the FA Cup in 1991 and became England manager in 1994. He has also managed the Australian national side and Leeds United and is currently the assistant coach to the England national team.
Ray Wilkins
Raymond “Butch” Wilkins MBE made his name at Chelsea in the 1970’s where he captained the team at the age of 19. In 1979 he was transferred for ?800,000 to Manchester United, where he won the FA Cup in 1983. Ray also played for AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Glasgow Rangers (where he won two League Titles and one League Cup), QPR, Crystal Palace, Wycombe Wanderers, Hibs, Millwall and Leyton Orient. He also had spells as manager of QPR and Fulham and as a coach at Chelsea, Watford, Millwall and for the England U21 team. He made his England debut in 1976 and was a key player for his country for a decade playing in two World Cups. Ray is also well known as the voice of the Tango adverts in the 1990’s and is now a respected pundit on Sky Sports.