Our Story

Based in London, Hillsport Media Ltd was created by vastly experienced journalist and researcher Ade Hill in 2013 as a source of informative and entertaining copy and statistics for sports media.

Having established the role of graphics producer in the industry, when BT Sport took over from ESPN as the broadcaster of Premiership Rugby in 2013, the demands were such that Ade could no longer physically work on every match that was required.

So Ade created a company, Hillsport Media, through which he could arrange for experienced freelance colleagues to work on the matches he couldn’t.

Staff were required for multiple matches on the same day, and the scheme proved to be a great success. A team of graphics producers developed, which exists to this day, all able to call upon Hillsport Media’s vast reservoir of information for the pre-match side of the role and hugely experienced individuals to fulfil the transmission day graphics production function.

Hillsport Media founder Ade Hill is also a published author. He wrote Rugby on This Day (Pitch Publishing), an entertaining collection of over 700 short stories from the history of the sport, arranged in an eye-catching day-by-day format. Buy Now via Waterstones.

Rugby on This Day revisits many of the game’s most magical and memorable moments, alongside other tales that might otherwise have slipped under the radar, with a maelstrom of quirky anecdotes and legendary characters to produce an irresistibly dippable rugby diary, with an entry for every day of the year.

Ade also provided research for Sky Sports commentator and rugby journalist Stuart Barnes’ book The Year of Living Dangerously. In the acknowledgements section, Stuart praises Ade: “Without whose diligent research the book could not have been written.”

Ade also provided dozens of articles for publications such as The Rugby Paper, The Cricket Paper, Sport Business, Sports Insight, and Running Rugby.

Ade developed a deep interest in sport from a young age and soon had the ambition to work on TV sports broadcasts.

He joined the BBC straight from school, soon progressed to the corporation’s esteemed Sport department, and, in 1990 at the age of 22, was appointed as the youngest floor manager to ever work on its flagship programmes – Grandstand, Match of the Day, and Sportsnight.

He later moved into the role of Sports Assistant, where he utilised his vast knowledge to provide copy and statistics which were used in the programming by presenters such as Desmond Lynam and Steve Rider, whom he had previously also worked alongside as a floor manager.

He moved to Sky Sports in 1994, appointed as statistician on their ground-breaking rugby coverage. Ade was part of the team that won the BAFTA for Best Outside Broadcast for the England v New Zealand match in 1997.

As a qualified journalist, Ade then chose to further develop his skills and experience as senior reporter on the Sky Sports website, where he provided informative and entertaining copy on the news desk, specifically in rugby and cricket, and ghostwrote columns for the likes of Bob Willis, David Lloyd, and Stuart Barnes.

In 2004, Ade joined the newsroom at Sky Sports News, where he planned Cricket, Rugby, Boxing, and Darts stories. He was field producer in the Caribbean for SSN’s 2007 Cricket World Cup coverage, which included working alongside and coordinating the activities of reporters and camera operators on breaking news.

In 2009, he decided to go freelance, working as a journalist for various sports business, rugby, and cricket publications.

In 2010, he was recruited by leading TV production company Sunset+Vine as graphics producer on ESPN’s Premiership rugby coverage.