Commentator/Pundit you can't bear/love listening to

mikedragon32

There's too many to list in a poll, but who drives you mad when you watch a match on TV?

Here's my hitlist:

Eddie Butler
Jonathon Davies
Jeremy Guscott
Ryle Nugent
George Hook
George Hamilton (what that guy knows about rugby can be written with a big crayon on a small stamp)

Who do you love to hear talking rugby?

My list:

Nigel Stamer-Smith
Bill McClaren
Brent Pope

Honorable mention to Ray French, the former League commentator.

smashey

To me, Bill McClaren was the best. I think it was Scott Quinell he once described as 'a runaway rhinocerous'. He is the nearest any other sport had to Micheal O Muircheartaigh.

Snickers Man

Hate List:
1 Stuart Barnes (on whom all parodies of insufferably sycophantic sports commentators are based)
2 Ryle Nugent (Hate the accent, hate the demeanour, hate the ineptitude)
3 Jim Sherwin (Nice but dim)
4 Nigel Starmer-Smith (far too plummy. Can't make a game sound exciting)
5 Fred Cogley (long retired from RTE but still on Setanta because his little boy runs the show)


Hit list
1 Bill McLaren (sadly retired. The greatest commentator on any sport I have ever heard ever. Combined an encyclopaedic knowledge with a brilliant sense of humour, of which the best example was probably his treatise on the famous French prop Christian Califano: 'He can do 100m in 11.5 seconds. That's sonic boom for a prop forward, I tell you' )
2 Jim Neilly (Best of a bad lot of existing match commentators)

The following are analysts rather than match callers but here goes.
3 George Hook (you don't have to agree with him all the time but he makes his points with such conviction, you have to at least think about them)
4 Neil Francis (better in print that on TV, but very knowledgeable on the game and funny too)
5 Gerry Thornley (I know, basically a print guy but presents an enthusiastic and knowledgeable demeanour when interviewed)

Ginger

ok my 2c

Hit

1. Bill Mc .. I always loved the way he described the weight of a guy as 18 stones and even the most violent of fights was handbags and kisses. Think he described one lock as looking like a giraffe running through a bog

2. Even from a munster man i always enjoy listening to George hook because you can always say "See George I told you we would win!!"

3. Brent Pope, just because he argues with hook.. I actually like the way the RTE team get on (or not as the case may be), its quite entertaining

Hate list

1. RYLE NUGENT.. i cannot stand him, everytime its in for a bit of afters
2. Stuart Barnes.. forget it if an English team are playing against an Irish one

Keedowah

I really loved the RTE setup with Hookie, Popie and Tom - and then i'd switch to BBC for commentry most of the time.

Dislike
George Hamilton

besty

Like;
Bill Mc Claren
Dewi Morris
George Hook
Brent Pope

Dislike;
Ryle Nugent
Eddie Butler
George Hamilton
Stuart Barnes
Miles Harrisson

smashey

Hate:

Brian Moore on the BBC. He winds me up.

jdivision

Regarding analysts I think Conor O'Shea is quite good too on RTE. I think Jeremy Guscott is awful. As for commentators, honourable mention to the Scottish commentator who during one Celtic League match said "Munster went through the Edinburgh defence like a dodgy curry". He wasn't that good otherwise but great line! Fred Cogley is awful and has been for ages. He can't remember anybody's name.

DMC

Rugby commentating is currently in a rut. Ryle Nugent is just part of the D4 locals that gave the likes of Tubridy a gig in RTÉ. Sherwin, for all his faults, is a gazillion times better than Nugent.

Best out there still on the lip mike... Iain Robertson on BBC Radio.

Going OT, while I do like Micheal O'Muircheartaigh, I find his commentaries very hard to follow. He goes off on tangents, talks for ages about players lives and history while the ball is in play and its very hard to actually picture where on the GAA pitch the action is. His colleague Brian Carthy suffers from this affliction, him trying to copy someone who is unique. Doesn't work. Sorry.

BTW, to the OP, Ray French is still about.

EdgarAllenPoo

I don't mind Nugent. He's much easier on the ear than any of the Sky Sports lads. It's strange I like all the guys in the rte set-up just not all at the one time. They're always tripping up over each other's words.

I like Gerry Thornley but I find him wierd.

mikedragon32

DMC wrote:

BTW, to the OP, Ray French is still about.

Is he? I haven't heard him on the Beeb for ages (mind you they only have the Challenge cup now).

homah_7ft

Nugent is woeful. I love the RTE panel. They have a bit of spirit in the studio and wipe the floor with our friends across the Irish sea.

DMC

mikedragon32 wrote:

Is he? I haven't heard him on the Beeb for ages (mind you they only have the Challenge cup now).

He commentates on the Saturday games of the Challenge Cup on the BBC, he was on-air last Saturday.

Eddie Waring, now..... ehhh, poor lad...

TarfHead

Must be just me so because Bill McLaren, especially in his latter years, used to really get on my tits.

Archaic, patronising and not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it came to calling the flow of the game.

A mellifluous tone and a Scottish burr get you so far and he, for me, couldn't retire quick enough.

When I get to see it, I enjoy hearing Murray Mexted doing analysis on SH rugby. I hope Gerry Thornley pays him commission for his liberal use of Mexted's 'psychic energy' quip.

hiberno

George Hook has his moments, he is down in my books because of his crawling manner on the radio, esp with that right wing idiot from Boston on Fridays!

Jimmy Magee and Micheal are two of a kind, the last generation of greats. I know the tangents might be annoying, but they show their subjects such respect and love that it is endearing.

And why is it that only GAA players, and to a lesser extent rugby players, have 1st names? I have always found it strange that soccer resembles Mr. Lynch's science class in 2ndary school!

thebaz

For me Fred Cogley wins hands down - absolutly appaling .

Hook and Pope add to the entertainment , as does some Aussie commentator who used to do the tri nations -- very enthusiatic "go on you good thing " comments -- forget his name .

Snickers Man

TarfHead wrote:

Must be just me so because Bill McLaren, especially in his latter years, used to really get on my tits.

Archaic, patronising and not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it came to calling the flow of the game.

A mellifluous tone and a Scottish burr get you so far and he, for me, couldn't retire quick enough.

He was pushing 80 by the time he called it a day and I think he realised himself he was no longer as quick on the uptake. In his day (ie until his early 70s or thereabouts) he was untouchable.

Right_Side

I hate Nugent... that comment about the touch judge looking at the backside of the player and not the feet was totally uncalled for. The ethos of rugby is not to bitch and moan about poor decisions but to take it on the chin and get on with it. Questioning the sexuality of the official is more likely to resemble immature cat calling more prevalent in other sports.

Love the RTE panel though, great craic.