Angling Trust appoint Steve Fitzpatrick in new Head of Competitions role

The Angling Trust are delighted to announce the appointment of Steve Fitzpatrick as the new Head of Competitions.

Steve (48) joins the Senior Management Team following a 25-year career with Bauer Media’s angling portfolio where he was lately Editor-in-Chief, having stepped down earlier this year as Angling Times’ longest-serving member of staff and Editor.

Angling Trust CEO Jamie Cook described Steve as the “right person to take our competitions offering across sea, game and coarse to the next level.”

During his time at Bauer, Steve edited Match Angling Plus magazine and led the teams on Improve Your Coarse Fishing, Sea Angler, Trout & Salmon, and Trout Fisherman print titles along with their websites, video production, and social media channels.

A passionate match angler, sea fisherman and carper, Steve brings a wealth of experience from all sides of the angling industry, with experience of running a tackle shop while studying at the University of Liverpool where he completed a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Biology.

As Head of Competitions, Steve will lead the strategy and development of competition angling across all disciplines, ensuring gold-standard events are delivered both now and in the future. He will also play a leading role in driving the success of the England teams on the World and European stages.

“When the opportunity arose to work with the competitions side of the Angling Trust, I knew it would be a perfect fit,” Steve said.

“My most enjoyable role on Angling Times was as the title’s Match Editor and this saw me covering events from small club matches to National Championships and World Championships, travelling all over Europe with the England teams.

“I’m also proud to have launched and run the Clubman Supercup and Maver Pairs events and worked closely with the team in organising the Angling Times Team Championships (Winter League) for many years.

“This is an exciting new role and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to help shape the present and future gold-standard domestic events managed by a superb team at the Angling Trust and deliver competitions for every level of match angler from grassroots right up to the elite levels.

“I’ll be working hard with all the England teams and managers to ensure we not only bring home gold medals, but also host a World event on English soil within the next few years.”

Steve will take up his position in mid-April and will report directly to Jamie Cook.

Jamie said: “Competitions are a key part of what we do as the National Governing Body and in Steve I am confident we have found the right person to take our offering across sea, game and coarse to the next level.

“As a not-for-profit organisation our commitment is to invest back into promoting, protecting and developing angling at all levels. Steve’s appointment builds upon the work we have done for our customers and members in the competitions sphere over the past two years and will provide greater focus on developing the Team England brand to deliver international success at the highest level.”