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Andrew Leci

Full Biography

ANDREW LECI

English-born Andrew Leci is an anchor and presenter for ESPN STAR Sports based in Singapore, Andrew is a regular face on ESPN's English Premier League programmes - with the Friday night preview programme, Football Forecast, the main vehicle to display his Presenter talents. He has also presented SportsCenter, Rugby Union, Spanish and Italian football, as well as the MotoGP and Formula One.

ANDREW LECI - THESPIAN

Andrew Leci is the ultimate New Age Renaissance Man - an actor, comedian, director, producer, television presenter, writer, chef and gourmand! His background includes being co-founder of the notorious Instant Cafe Theatre Company in Malaysia in 1989. This has provided Malaysians and their guests with some of theatre's greatest moments over the last few years, as well as quite a few laughs, and Andrew with one or two problems to deal with!

In addition to having helped write, direct, produce and perform in some twenty full scale comedy revues, Leci forged for himself a solo career as a comedian and political and social satirist, and as such has performed innumerable shows to much acclaim.

Leci is a trained actor, having completed his degree in English Literature and Drama at the University of Sheffield in the UK. He was awarded the prestigious William Empson Prize for Drama in his final year and has since been involved in many productions both as actor and director, both in Malaysia and in the UK.

ANDREW LECI - HIDDEN TALENT

As a writer he has written for Malaysia Tatler, The Sun, The Edge, Businessweek and the now defunct Asiaweek on the subjects of food, travel and books. Leci's first novel about a British Quantity Surveyor living through the year of 1997 in Kuala Lumpur, reached number one in the Malaysia best-seller list. Just for variety, he is also a qualified Cordon Bleu chef who takes his food and drink very seriously.

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Question & Answer with Andrew Leci

Q: How did you come to be in your current position in your broadcasting career?

Believe it or not (and most people believe it only too well) this is my first foray into the world of television. Of course I watched a lot of television as a child, and have always been fascinated by the medium, but I never thought that I would be the person being watched, as opposed to the person doing the watching. I started at ESPN STAR Sports writing and voicing stories for SportsCenter, and worked my way up to anchoring the Barclays Premier League after stints presenting Spanish and Italian football, the MotoGP, Rugby, a bit of golf, a soupcon of tennis, and my memory fails me at this point but there were bound to be other sports involved. Suffice it to say I’ve had a go at everything, including anchoring SportsCenter which, after all, is a little bit of everything in itself.

Q: Is reporting on sport the next best thing to playing it? And what was the pinnacle you reached in your favourite sport?

AL: Good grief. The pinnacle of my sporting career was winning a football tournament in Bangkok (for which I was paid a meager sum, but hey, I felt like a professional for a weekend at least) and counting Michael Thomas, Dave Watson, Gus Caesar, Shebby Singh, Paul Masefield and Mark Walters as my team-mates. In a subsequent tournament, I played with John Barnes, Ian Rush and Clive Walker, which was equally thrilling, although we got knocked out in the semi-finals. No, I lie. In an ESPN All-stars game, played when Bryan Robson was working in Asia as one of our pundits, I got the opportunity to swear at the former captain of Manchester United and England, and berate him for his defensive positioning. That was a thrill; although it’s a ‘thrill’ I will never be allowed to forget. As for the original question; I don’t know. I’ve never played sport at a truly professional level (I was a good tennis player in my youth, and played water polo to quite a high standard…until my horse drowned), but as far as I am concerned ‘reporting’ on sport, or presenting football is just about as good as it gets. Whether it’s the ‘next best thing’ is moot. One would have to know what went before, and what might conceivably come after….but let’s not get too philosophical about this.

Q: What is your favourite sport outside of the one you are best known for? And how do you relax when you are not working?

AL: Favourite other sport to watch: rugby, or possibly women’s beach volleyball. In terms of participation, I would have to say golf, which I love playing and genuinely suck at. I try to play as much golf as possible when I am not working, although the way I play, would in no way qualify as a form of relaxation. I’m irredeemably competitive, and lack the talent to match, but when standing on the tee box with 18 holes ahead of me, I enjoy the moment to the full – up to the point where I shank my drive into a group of golfers minding their own business on an adjacent fairway. Other forms of relaxation: talking to my cats; reading books; playing word games on the computer; listening to Mozart and My Chemical Romance (at the same time); writing poetry that doesn’t rhyme.

Q: Who was the biggest influence on your life, either within your career or outside?

AL: My father, without hesitation or question. And John Dykes. My father taught me right from wrong and gave me the encouragement to pursue my dreams. John was kind enough to give me equal encouragement when I was starting out and some excellent professional advice.

Q: Who is the most memorable individual you have met during your playing or working life?

AL: Without meaning to sound self-indulgent; there have been many. I have been ridiculously, even absurdly, privileged to have met some of the greats in football (and other sports). It was a great experience to play golf with Geoffrey Boycott….and Ravi Shastri…and Wasim Akram (it was wonderful to have Wasim over to my place in Singapore for dinner, and he was so polite about the food). I’ve also golfed with Bruce Grobbelaar, Frank Stapleton et al. I’ve played football with the likes of Bryan Robson, Ian Rush, Les Ferdinand, Dave Watson, Paul Walsh, Rob Lee, Mark Walters, Paul Masefield and many others, and even been ‘managed’ for one game by Sir Bobby Robson. Even Sam Allardyce made a couple of choice comments about my football skills on one occasion, but they’re best not related here. On overseas shoots I have met the likes of Marcel Desailly, Michael Laudrup and Kenny Dalglish, and got to interview Rafa Benitez (he hugged me…it was a tight room) Paul Jewell, Stuart Pearce and several other Premier League managers. Perhaps the highlight though was interviewing Sir Alex Ferguson in the tunnel at Old Trafford. Manchester United had just won (fortunately) and he was in a talkative mood. He was absolutely charming…in a frightening sort of way.

Q: Tell us the funniest story you have heard regarding your chosen, or any, sport.

AL: Carlton Palmer playing international football for England. It doesn’t get much funnier than that. Sorry Carlton….you know I’m only joshing.

Q: Do you/did you have a nickname?

AL: Very few people have been able to pronounce my surname correctly at the first time of asking. The mispronunciations have led to a series of appellations (particularly when I used to live in Malaysia) that are probably best not to talk about. At school I was called ‘Andy’, which is ok when you’re 15 years old – not so now. On a rugby tour once I was given the name of ‘Septic’ since I was playing with an infected knee (how stupid was that?), and Paul Masefield calls me ‘Lionel’, as in Lionel Messi, because Messi rhymes with Leci (at least it does when you pronounce it correctly). Look, it amuses him…..

Q: Tell us something we may not know about you...

AL: I’m a qualified chef; I have two cats called Cricket and Buck; my favourite colour is navy blue; I support…..nah, not going there; and I’ve just written a novel called ‘Once Removed’, published by Marshall Cavendish and available in all good book stores and at Amazon.com if you can’t find a ‘good’ book store.

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