Conference trucks::football;1

    
    Heribert was it? OH, dear! How lucky I was in the stadium without
    commentator but with a lot of other people watching the match and who
    have more experience and understand a lot more of football than 
    Mr Fa�bender. 
    
    In Germany we have a lot of bad commentators. Every Sportschau my
    girlfriend have to calm me down when I start arguing the commentators
    (non-)performance. 
    
    One of the few commentators I like is J�rg Wontorra whenever he is not
    commentating a Werder Bremen match.
    
    I think the problem with the commentator is the comment himself. What
    should he talk about? In my opinion he only has to inform about
    incidents on the pitch that are not shown on the telly. Every other
    thing we can see on our own. But most time they are talking about
    evident things and boring statistics and personal views. 
    
    However, a televised match without comment sounds very strange and at
    least the sound from the ground should be transmitted.
    
    On the other hand I think it is very difficult thing to comment a game
    and I don't want to do that kind of job. 
    
    And last but not least there's nothing that can substitute a match in
    the stadium.
    
    G�nter

    Even the Germans hate Heribert Steve 8-) That guy on RTL has a picture
    of him on his desk and is always taking the ****

    
    
    IMHO, BBC Scotland's Jock Brown is very acceptable.  He's one of the
    few about whom you get the impression he's actually played the game
    at least once.  Fairly observant on incidents, a decent turn of phrase,
    doesn't bombard us with useless facts and figures, and (with the
    exception of Scottish internationals) is fairly unbiased.
    
    By the way (rathole alert!!), the Romanian TV company's presentation of
    last night's game started with list of the various commentators
    covering the game for their prospective channels, and I noticed that
    the BBC had listed both Jock Brown (who we heard) and Barry Davis.
    
    Now as one of the funders of the BBC, I have to ask the question is my
    money being squandered?   Do the BBC genuinely believe that the English
    audience won't understand the northern ramblings of a Scot and feel
    compelled to spend the extra money sending Barry Davis halfway across
    Europe to cover the same match?
    
    When we see English matches (club & country) on TV up here, we have to
    put up Motson, Davis & Co.   They should just change their name to the
    EBC and stop insulting the rest of us.
    
    Michael
    

    Maybe we could get Barry Davies a management job at DEC 8-)

But according to ITV during Italia '90, Brian Moore is Britain's best
commentator!

Personally, John Motson is to football what Dan Maskell is to tennis
and what that scottish guy whose name I can't remember is to rugby.
They all talk a lot of drivel, but the game just wouldn't be the same 
without them.




Ian

    Cunno might have met TGA, but ive met Barry Davies!!!
    hes a nice bloke. it was when Barnsley were taking on Sheffield United
    in the cup last winter during 'the big snow', it was a replay and
    it had already been postponed once i think. Well, this time it was
    postponed at the last minute. I was on my way to visit my girlfriend.
    The BBC had left him high and dry and he had to get a train to London.
    He was stood at Barnsley station almost hidden but for THAT sheepskin
    coat and his flat cap, looking very sorry for himself.
    Some old Barnsley lad took pity on him and called to him
    "ne'er mind old lad, tha'll still get paid!" 
    despite the weather he took it well and started to chat to us.
    so, (after this long winded tale), i think hes a good bloke, and after
    chatting to him i found that he was in general quite unbiased in his
    opinion of teams.
    
    Ian.
    

>>   money being squandered?   Do the BBC genuinely believe that the English
>>    audience won't understand the northern ramblings of a Scot and feel
>>    compelled to spend the extra money sending Barry Davis halfway across
>>    Europe to cover the same match?
    
I agree, a total waste of licence payers money (nothing against Barry Davies,
as they go he's one of the better ones).

Mr.  Angry

PS  Another thing commentators are noted for is tempting fate, an example
being the BBC bloke in Poland as Ireland scored their third goal.


	"..and that puts it in the bag for Ireland."

    >and what that scottish guy whose name I can't remember is to rugby.
    
    
    	I guess it's all a matter of opinion, but I reckon he actually adds
    something to the game with his chat. Motson is a complete jerk. They
    all seem to be far more impressed with themselves than with the game
    after a few years.
    
    		Steve
    

    Motson is the crown Prince of platitudes !! Every game is a "content
    free" 90 minutes with him. Try watching one of his games with the
    sound off, the intellectual gains are much the same.

    
    	re .8..
    
    	I agree, Steve....Bill McClaren is a great Rugby commentator and
    	is both factual and knowledgable. Most footie commentators, on the
    	other hand, try to be topical and glib, which tends to make them
    	very self-opinionated. Motson is a jerk, but Barry Davies is worse.
    	I sympathise with you non-English having to listen to these w*****s
    	at ANY time, coz I know how much I hate having to....
        	
    	Andy.

    
    
    Yes, another vote for Bill McClaren.   I was laid up for most of last
    week with flu, so I got to watch many of the World Cup matches live.
    
    But without Bill McClaren's passion and wit, the whole thing seems
    incomplete.
    
    
    
    Michael
    

    Looks like it's the same everywhere: most commentators are hated, there
    is one or two who are OK but you just get used to the bad ones and they
    become part of the picture and they give you a good laugh, eh?
    
    In France, we have:
    
    TF1: Thierry Roland + JM Larqu�. Roland has more than 25 years
    experience. He started as a radio reporter. He was great on the radio
    because he had a good voice and could talk for hours. When he went on
    TV I realised most of what he said was garbage! Usually mixes up
    players names, has wrong judgment and is seriously biased. One of his
    most famous remarks was at a Bulgaria-France game back in 1977 when he
    abused the ref verbally. He had to present his public apologies.
    Another good one was during the 1982 World Cup during the
    France-Germany game when Schumacher assaulted Battiston. I will not
    expand on the incident, let us just say it was VERY xenophobic.
    
    Larqu� is the 'technical consultant' and provides ever-useful comments
    on why that player missed his volley. He is not too bad. He was Captain
    of the famous 1976 St Etienne side who lost in Glasgow in the Euro
    final against Bayern and has about 50 international caps.
    
    Those two are not too good but what makes it worse is that they just
    broadcast the game and there is no analysis, no information before and
    after the game. The weekly football magazine is 50 minutes long and
    features about 10 minutes football. The rest is garbage info and TV
    games. And how they love their private jokes!
    
    On Canal+ they are much better but since it is a paying network and I
    don't pay I can't really comment, although I sometimes go to a friend's
    place to watch important games. The broadcast starts half an hour
    before the game and it features technical and tactical stories so when
    the game is about to start you feel like you know the players, the
    conditions etc. And after the game they give statistics and show key
    points, mostly tactical. The best all round.
    
    On La Cinq they broadcast games whenever they can (there is a war raging
    between the networks. TF1 are supposed to have exclusive rights which
    they share with Canal+). Commentary is a bit folkloric and they don't
    do analysis. Again, the commentator is a radio man (Eug�ne Saccomano)
    and is very emphatic and when he's on TV you realize he usually talks
    big when in fact nothing is happening. You know, on radio they can say
    "Very dangerous run on the right and oh, it's a chance..." and on TV the
    fullback is 60 yards away and just passes the ball...
    
    Sometimes I switch the sound off and put an Undertones record (1st LP)
    full blast. Guaranteed success.
    
    �JF?

RE -.1

If Radio 5 is broadcasting the game, turn on the radio and turn off the volume
on the telly. It will either be Bill Mclaren or Ian Robertson, both far superior
to the ITV lot.

Back to football:

I must agree that the Scottish commentators are far better than their English
counterparts. My views on supposedly 'the best' in England:

	John Motson	I couldn't care less how many times Joe Bloggs scratched
			himself in the game against Outer Mongolia in 1963!!

	Brian Moore	It's about time he started watching the whole game and
			not just the ball. Anything that occurs outside a 10 ft
			radius of the ball is missed.

All I can say is bring on Murray Walker. He may know FA about football, but at
least he'll keep us entertained.

	Al

    
    What about old Gerald Sinstadt then?? He has been arrested for pulling
    his old boy, with some other old boy!. It was during a raid on a seedy
    London porn club. 
    
    Wax lyrical about that, Gerald you smarmy bar steward.
    
    Tony