Sports Commentators

[chrisuk013]

Why is it when you listen to the commentators on such sports Rugby,Cricket etc in this country they have very good thorough understanding & know their sport inside out(which i love), yet when you listen to commentators on football they havent really got a clue? they talk absolute rubbish(with the exception of guillem balague & graham hunter on the spanish football on sky).. Does anyone else find this? I am a football fan mainly but i have noticed this over the years

[grumpy01]

Biggest prat is Mark Lawrenson he just seems to be on their to make "funny" comments.Also Jonathan Davies that's a try Eddie,Andrew,Alistair, Ray or whoever.Can't wait for the day he gets his commentator's mixed up.

[New Judge]

So-called “commentators” on many sports do not provide commentary at all. They simply prattle on about everything and anything that takes their fancy just to pass the time. I was watching some skiing last week and the two commentators (why do they need two anyway?) were busy chatting away about a competition that took place two or three years ago. They had not noticed that the latest competitor had taken a bad tumble, been caught up in the safety netting and seemed as if she may have been badly hurt. She had come to a complete stop and some of the safety staff had already reached her when the “commentators” realised what had happened and said “Oh dear, she seems to have made a mistake there!”

By contrast, the most competent and knowledgeable commentator on any sport in my view is Formula One’s Martin Brundle.

[Hopkirk]

I can't bear Alan Green.

He doesn't even talk about the football. It's all about people getting to their seats late, the man sitting in front of him, the pillars in the old stadiums, silly football rules etc etc.

I can no longer listen to him.

[Duncer]

I believe the to$$ers on radio phone ins are deliberately picked for their utter stupidity as it engenders more "irate" callers phoning premium lines to put their not so well thought out point of view.

[con-amca]

And all the football commentators pronounce the Turkish club as "Gallertasserai"
- it must make Turkish people cringe. They go to Turkey, they speak to Turkish footballers, they must hear the locals say the word, but they still get it wrong.

[Bazile]

//By contrast, the most competent and knowledgeable commentator on any sport in my view is Formula One’s Martin Brundle. //

I quite agree - although he did ( i dont know if he still does ) on occasions get a bit too technical on occasions for the ordinary joe , i suspect .

Snooker commentators really impresses me - they always know what is the best shot to take and 99.9 % of the time what they say, is the shot that the player takes .

[snags]

Agree with the Martin Brundle comment above.

The one commentator who really gets on my t!ts and is guaranteed to put me in a bad mood is Rugby and last year's Olympics' John Inverdale: banal at best.

[emmie]

if i had to listen, watch Matt Baker one more time at any sporting event i will kick the damn tv in.

[albaqwerty]

Cannot stand John Boringdale nor Matt Baker.

Some of the snooker commentators are ex-players so they should know their stuff.

[emmie]

Brian Johnstone, wonderful cricket commentator,
McEnroe has proved his worth at tennis commentary,

[andy-hughes]

A lot of cricket and racing commentators were journalists before moving into TV and radio - but a lot of football pundits are ex=players

i would not suggest that an ex sportsperson does not make a good TV presenter, as obviously there are examples, but there are nore examples of players who don't - Lawrensen and Sheerer being prime examples as bad choices, but Lineker is excellent.

The rule should be - pick a presenter / pundit for who they perform nowon TV, not how they performed then on the pitch.