Leadership | Leon speaking at the D Word 3 conference
An entrepreneur cum activist, broadcaster turned filmmaker, Leon Mann MBE has devoted his career to bringing life to incredible stories throughout the world of sport.
At the heart of his passion for the industry, his filming and campaigns present inspiring athletes, coaches, and sports executives with a platform to tell their piece. In doing so, he saw an opportunity to launch his own consultancy and production agency, and is now collaborating with some of the world’s top sporting talents.
Leon is also working to enable inclusivity across the sport and media landscape, wholesale, by supporting content creators and advocating greater diversity within sport’s media and
Management | Leon with Refresh Sports client Yaya Toure
governance.
Consultancy
In 2014, Leon founded, and became director of, the independent sports consultancy and
production company, Refresh Sports, which represents some of the biggest and brightest talents in the sports industry and also delivers cutting-edge content and documentaries to a range of business and media outlets.
The talent management arm of Refresh Sports has been developing rapidly. The company is currently collaborating with several of football’s household names – such as Premier League and African football legend, Yaya Toure, and the world game’s most followed female influencer and world champion freestyler, Liv Cooke.
Refresh also develops campaigns and strategies for elite sports organisations and brands.
Diversity
In 2018, Leon was given an award by the British Prime Minister for his work promoting diversity and equality in sport and the media. The accolade recognised the contributions of the Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS), the networking group for black sports journalists Leon set up in 2009, as well as the Football Black List, an initiative Leon co-founded in 2008, which highlights the achievements of black representatives in sport.
BCOMS | Leon with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, footballer Troy Deeney and the BCOMS board
“It’s great to see the Prime Minister talking about diversity in the sports media. When we set up BCOMS, it really was all about putting this issue on the agenda”
Leon Mann, 2018
Leon is also a founder of the Sports People’s Think Tank (SPTT), an athlete-led group launched in 2014, which highlights the underrepresentation of Black and Asian coaches in professional football and commissions academic reports on the issue. Leon later set up a corporate governance course funded by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) to support retired players and to help diversify the hiring of sports executives.
Leon supports many positive causes and is an ambassador for mental health charity, The Kaleidoscope Group.
In 2021, Leon was appointed to Sky’s Diversity Advisory Council – a position where he offers guidance to the company on equality, inclusion and increasing the diversity of it’s staff at all levels of the business.
Filmmaking
Leon has worked in sport and media for more than 20 years. In that time, he has collaborated with some of the most decorated athletes of a generation and worked on several documentaries with leading broadcasters in the UK.
Lightning bolt | Leon has worked with Usain Bolt on two BBC feature films
Among his most celebrated work, he directed and produced the critically acclaimed BBC film, Usain Bolt: ‘The Fastest Man Who Has Ever Lived’. He also made the Can Anyone Beat Bolt? documentary ahead of the London 2012 Summer Olympics for BBC Three.
Leon has been the England football reporter and also covered the European Championships for ITV Sport. As a presenter, he has fronted the BBC’s Boxing coverage and was a feature TV reporter at the London Olympics.
In 2013, Leon collaborated with professional footballer Jermain Defoe as the interviewer on the striker’s highly praised ITV Life Story television documentary, which took film crews to St. Lucia, in the Caribbean, and Defoe’s childhood home in east London. In 2015, ITV invited Leon to facilitate interviews with retired professional footballer Andrew Cole to feature in the former Manchester United striker’s own Life Story episode.
Among his other notable interviews, Leon has secured opportunities with former England football captain David Beckham, US basketball icon Michael Jordan, Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Portuguese football manager José Mourinho.
Leon is also the Vice Chairman of the Sports Journalists’ Association and an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of East London.
In 2021, Leon’s Production Company Refresh Sports announced a partnership with Eurosport to deliver Trailblazers – a series that showcases sport’s greatest stories and heroes who inspired meaningful change. Refresh has also recently made Black, England + Proud for The Football Association.