Cringeworthy Kearns/Martin moments.....minutes......hours......

[Braveheart81]

I think you can assume that a modern commentary team is likely to have three components.

1. The main game caller.
2. The technical guy.
3. The colour guy.

For Foxsports, their best combination would be Greg Clarke, Rod Kafer and Phil Kearns in New Zealand.

For New Zealand you're probably looking at TJ, Justin Marshall and Grant Nisbett.

I guess for all the criticism there has been of the Foxsports guys, who do people think can and should do those roles?

I think Phil Kearns does a good job with the 'colour' role and I struggle to think of former players who would do it better.

 

[mech4bg]

Totally disagree. We will all have preferences, however this thread is about competence, not likeability. And as a very long term watcher and viewer of the game, here and elsewhere, (and as a former executive in a very successful organisation involved in a major sport - not in Oz by the way) I know that there are certain basic rules that all good commentators should follow.


For example, commentators are not there to tell us what might happen, or what should happen (unless they have something useful to say about tactics, very occasionally), they are there to add value to the pictures and sounds that we can see and hear with our own faculties as they unfold before us. They are there to tell us facts that we do not know, or might not know, especially things that are happening off the field, or out of camera range.


They are not there to whoop and holler like schoolboys, they are not there to continually criticise the officials, they are not there to criticise the rules, they are not there to inject their own personalities (limited as they usually are) continuously into the telecast.


There have been some great commentators over the years, and there are a few around now, and they all have one thing in common - they are understated, and they do not fill every moment with prattle. Recognising that some viewers are new to the sport, some explanation of the nuts and bolts is required, but on the whole we can see what is bloody well happening. And we are prepared to wait and see what happens next - we do not need to be told "which way the ball will go" -- the buggers usually get it wrong anyway. Idiots.

You say this is about competence, and then start banging on with your opinion about what kind of commentary you like.

I personally like that they let you know where the gaps may open up and what a team might be thinking of doing - it lets you appreciate the tactics of the game and tells you where to direct your attention.

I also like that they get excited when calling, and aren't droning on with little emotion like the Kiwis.

But hey! That's just my opinion. I'm not saying that all commentators have to be like that, or it's the way everyone has to judge them, or that they're the best they are.

The way some people here harp on about things you'd swear that only Rugbyophiles obsessed with technical details are the only ones who watch the game and that's who the commentators should aim for. Wrong wrong wrong.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

I'll show my age here and say that Norman May was one of the best Oz commentators. I doubt many here would remember him but his calls for Rugby on the ABC was very good. Along the same lines as Bill McLaren who was without doubt the best, and called the games without favour for the simple love of the game regardless of who was playing.

I hope your recollections of nugget may are from very early childhood because he had an unequalled capacity to bugger things up.....and sink piss.
His first sidekick was Cyril towers.....followed by Trevor Allan as I recall.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[gel]

Well Gordon Bray is the worst PLAY BY PLAY commentator going around. (I don't rate him)

Gordon Bray was brilliant, his ability to dig up completely unheard of statistics in a match were almost legendary...

"Campese... Campese... TRY! And that is the thirteenth time a wallaby has scored from the sixth phase in the second half in a third test on an away ground in an autumn month after the scores were tied with non regulation numbers of ball boys from an independent nation and a pitch that was been mown in an opposite direction to that of the grass in the gardens outside the cathedral in Cantebury where this game is not being played today."

 

[Lindommer]

Gordon's off-play ramblings really give me the shits too, gel. And while Gordon's wandering down some arcane lane he's not calling the play in front of him. To me it's another example of a smart-arse commentator talking down to his audience: "I know something (usually totally obscure and completely pointless) you don't". An art the not-missed Peter Roebuck was an expert at. When O'Keefe's calling the cricket, not cracking jokes, he's about the best commentator of play there is.

Sporting commentators should NEVER talk down to their audience.

 

[Penguin]

It's obvious only some of the people will be happy with commentary teams some of the time. Gordon Bray was an awesome commentator imo, his is the voice I grew up listening to & brings back fond memories of games well played. I always liked the shout outs he gave to obscure rugby clubs out in the never never. I found that to be more inclusive than a talking down to. And he didn't have that awful Strine whine to his voice, he called a field a field, not a fiuold.... for an example....
David Fordham was also not too shabby for the short time it was on channel 10 sometime back in the distant past.

 

[Inside Shoulder]

When O'Keefe's calling the cricket, not cracking jokes, he's about the best commentator of play there is.

Shit - what time is that segment on?

 

[daz]

Gordon Bray was brilliant, his ability to dig up completely unheard of statistics in a match were almost legendary...

"Campese... Campese... TRY! And that is the thirteenth time a wallaby has scored from the sixth phase in the second half in a third test on an away ground in an autumn month after the scores were tied with non regulation numbers of ball boys from an independent nation and a pitch that was been mown in an opposite direction to that of the grass in the gardens outside the cathedral in Cantebury where this game is not being played today."

Nice!

Gordon Bray: The voice of Oz rugby for mine.

 

[Nelse]

Couldn't think of any other thread to post this. Cringe-worthy for different reasons, but I'm sure plenty of people would get a laugh out of it if they haven't seen it before

http://www.triplem.com.au/brisbane/...e-cooper-and-sonny-bill-williams-punch-marto/

The titles sells itself really

 

[Braveheart81]

It's kind of like an episode of Jackass.

 

[wamberal]

Greg Clarke was back to his tedious best at the Wellington Sevens.


"That's not the start they wanted". "That's just the start they wanted". "Team X will have to be the next to score". Et cetera, et bloody cetera. Over and over again. No insights, no depth, nothing except mindless, repetitious, childish drivel. The Keewee commentators absolutely put him to shame, giving the viewer some good and pertinent information about the game, and an occasional insight into the background of the players.


Cliches and claptrap, that's all we get from the usual crew.

 

[JSRF10]

Sometimes it’s better the devil you know. In Ireland we are stuck with the likes of Frankie Sheehan and Ryan Constable both of whom are rugby agents and shamelessly promote their clients on TV, worst part being they don’t get called out on it by their colleagues! One example was David Wallace was coming under serious pressure for his spot in the Ireland team from a young Sean O’Brien. In the Heineken Cup round before the Irish game Wally played a mediocre 50 minutes before being hauled off only for Frankie to award him man of the match leading to comments in the Irish press along the lines of “how can we drop a bloke who just won MOTM in the Heineken Cup”. It is shocking stuff altogether!

 

[RoffsChoice]

For all the crap they get, when Kafer and Kearns are the two main ones you get a good show. You wouldn't even know Horan was an Australian from the way he supports.

The NZ crew, for all their faults, are generally spot on.

 

[Hawko]

For example, commentators are not there to tell us what might happen, or what should happen (unless they have something useful to say about tactics, very occasionally), they are there to add value to the pictures and sounds that we can see and hear with our own faculties as they unfold before us. They are there to tell us facts that we do not know, or might not know, especially things that are happening off the field, or out of camera range.

They are not there to whoop and holler like schoolboys, they are not there to continually criticise the officials, they are not there to criticise the rules, they are not there to inject their own personalities (limited as they usually are) continuously into the telecast.

There have been some great commentators over the years, and there are a few around now, and they all have one thing in common - they are understated, and they do not fill every moment with prattle. Recognising that some viewers are new to the sport, some explanation of the nuts and bolts is required, but on the whole we can see what is bloody well happening. And we are prepared to wait and see what happens next - we do not need to be told "which way the ball will go" -- the buggers usually get it wrong anyway. Idiots.

The best ever IMO was Cyril Towers

 

[brokendown]

Winston McCarthy,The NZ broadcaster was superb---this was in the days of radio ,mind you.I think Lee Grant would even remember him!

 

[emuarse]

For all the crap they get, when Kafer and Kearns are the two main ones you get a good show. You wouldn't even know Horan was an Australian from the way he supports.

The NZ crew, for all their faults, are generally spot on.

Kafer does add good insight into a game, and works hard at explanation, which is good commentary. His downside is that he really believes his shit doesn't stink.

 

[Dan54]

Winston McCarthy,The NZ broadcaster was superb---this was in the days of radio ,mind you.I think Lee Grant would even remember him!

I would think that comment was funny Broken, but I remember him too so I suddenly feel old!!

 

[Hardtackle]

Couldn't think of any other thread to post this. Cringe-worthy for different reasons, but I'm sure plenty of people would get a laugh out of it if they haven't seen it before

http://www.triplem.com.au/brisbane/...e-cooper-and-sonny-bill-williams-punch-marto/

The titles sells itself really

No doubt about Marto - he's a high quality clown.

 

[boyo]

When it comes to commentating, less is more.

 

[Swat]

When it comes to commentating, less is more.

Tell that to Kerry O'Keeffe