Sky Commentary

[Seaside Ram]

This question is going to be virtually impossible to ask without it turning into a sexist debate etc but 

Can anyone honestly say the co-commentator tonight at C.Palace v Brighton was good at the job ? 

I will just ask at the moment without penning my views .

[Philmycock]

Awful, annoying, pc

[RadioactiveWaste]

Saw the title and was just going to comment that I usually find sky commentry irritating no matter who is doing it. Particually the way they normally have worked out the narrative before hand and are trying to make what's happening on the pitch reflect that.

..and yes female commentators can be a crap as male commentators.

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

2 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Saw the title and was just going to comment that I usually find sky commentry irritating no matter who is doing it. Particually the way they normally have worked out the narrative before hand and are trying to make what's happening on the pitch reflect that.

..and yes female commentators can be a crap as male commentators.

It's all been downhill since wine em, Lynam and dine em.  Good god, they even wear drain pipe jeans and trainers with no socks now.

This lunacy all started with that big gob Jonathan Pearce. 

[Seaside Ram]

It is so despairingly rubbish. Karen Careney is so bad at her job but is  pushed by Sky BECAUSE she is a woman. So how is that FAIR ? 

And if you think she's bad , wait till you hear Sky's Darts Expert , Laura Turner ! I'll get my coat ?

[Boycie]

Are we allowed male pundits on woman’s football though?

[PistoldPete]

31 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Are we allowed male pundits on woman’s football though?

I don't know. Philip Neville was manager though of England women's team.

But I guess it's like political commentators.. plenty of Scottish ones commenting on the UK Parliament (Kuensberg for example)  ... are there any English ones commenting on the Scottish Parliament?    

 

 

[Gaspode]

I had to mute the TV when an advert for a womens game came on the other day - incredibly shouty woman (used to do match reports but seems to have been promoted in recent seasons) and (I think) Karen Carney - in less than 20 seconds they'd convinced me that I'd rather stare at the wall in peace than spend any time watching them screech about football....whoever is pushing women into the co-commentary/presenter/pundit roles really needs to realise that shouting does not equate to excitement (or at least not on mainstrean TV!)

[BucksRam]

Difficult question to ask without appearing sexist .  All I'll say is there's a number of commentators or pundits who I feel are pushed to the fore because of political correctness but who are honestly dire at what they're being asked to do.  And, where the women's games are concerned, having watched WSL, a fair amount of the England women's international cricket, and similarly women's rugby, there does seem to be very few male commentators or pundits on these. Indeed they're very heavily weighted toward women which I can understand since most are ex pros who'll be closer to their form of the game.  On the men's side however it's often at least 50/50 which does smack of PC-ness. 

At the end of the day, if you know the game, and can provide insightful commentary, I guess it shouldn't matter if you're male, female, black or white - I do however remain slightly old school - let those who know their form of the game best, commentate and pundit on their game. 

[BucksRam]

1 hour ago, PistoldPete said:

I don't know. Philip Neville was manager though of England women's team.

But I guess it's like political commentators.. plenty of Scottish ones commenting on the UK Parliament (Kuensberg for example)  ... are there any English ones commenting on the Scottish Parliament?    

 

 

That he was, but would only spend a couple of minutes in the dressing room at half time, or the end of a game to preserve player's decency.  If you recall he conducted his team talks on the pitch.  I bet if it was a female coach on a men's team, most blokes wouldn't care less if there was a woman in there ?

[RoyMac5]

4 minutes ago, BucksRam said:

Difficult question to ask without appearing sexist .  All I'll say is there's a number of commentators or pundits who I feel are pushed to the fore because of political correctness but who are honestly dire at what they're being asked to do.  And, where the women's games are concerned, having watched WSL, a fair amount of the England women's international cricket, and similarly women's rugby, there does seem to be very few male commentators or pundits on these. Indeed they're very heavily weighted toward women which I can understand since most are ex pros who'll be closer to their form of the game.  On the men's side however it's often at least 50/50 which does smack of PC-ness. 

At the end of the day, if you know the game, and can provide insightful commentary, I guess it shouldn't matter if you're male, female, black or white - I do however remain slightly old school - let those who know their form of the game best, commentate and pundit on their game. 

Be useful to know the ratio of commentators by 'type'. I think there's quite a few male commentators on tv and radio who I'd cheerfully push off a cliff. ? There's one or two summarisers/commentators I really enjoy listening too and that is of either disposition! I think there's a smaller pool of choice of women whatever is being presented, but it still doesn't make them any worse than a lot of awful male commentators/presenters. It just currently makes them more noticeable.

[Gaspode]

Just now, RoyMac5 said:

Be useful to know the ratio of commentators by 'type'. I think there's quite a few male commentators on tv and radio who I'd cheerfully push off a cliff. ? There's one or two summarisers/commentators I really enjoy listening too and that is of either disposition! I think there's a smaller pool of choice of women whatever is being presented, but it still doesn't make them any worse than a lot of awful male commentators/presenters. It just currently makes them more noticeable.

....that's not true if their presentation style annoys the viewer (as I find with some of the screechy women that Sky employ) - conversely I used to hate listening to Michael Owen and Owen Hargreaves who were both as dull as ditchwater.

The key is that the person is engaging and adds something to the programme either via their insight or humour - having a voice that annoys a large part of the audience should be enough to indicate that person is in the wrong job. Sky seem to have pushed women into some of these roles purely because they are women - and clearly not carried out any market testing to see if they're likely to be popular with the viewers....

[BucksRam]

10 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Be useful to know the ratio of commentators by 'type'. I think there's quite a few male commentators on tv and radio who I'd cheerfully push off a cliff. ? There's one or two summarisers/commentators I really enjoy listening too and that is of either disposition! I think there's a smaller pool of choice of women whatever is being presented, but it still doesn't make them any worse than a lot of awful male commentators/presenters. It just currently makes them more noticeable.

Yeah we all have our favourites, and like you, there's more than a few male commentators/presenters who I really could do with not seeing on my TV.  Most broadcasters are guilty of this, but Sky in particular seem to push people in front of the camera / mic who simply have no on screen charisma whatsoever, just because it ticks a sex/race box when clearly they should be elsewhere doing whatever they do best.  

[RoyMac5]

21 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

The key is that the person is engaging and adds something to the programme either via their insight or humour - having a voice that annoys a large part of the audience should be enough to indicate that person is in the wrong job.

ATM that is just you! ?

[Gaspode]

2 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

ATM that is just you! ?

Perhaps you need to read from the top of the thread. Seems you're the odd one out - though nothing new there......

[RoyMac5]

2 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

Perhaps you need to read from the top of the thread. Seems you're the odd one out - though nothing new there......

There's how many commenting on 'a voice that annoys'? Seems you need to move with the times mate.

Edited September 28, 2021 by RoyMac5

[Duracell]

Commentary in football is terrible, full stop. As is punditry.

I remember the presenters making a joke about Dion Dublin knowing nothing about North Macedonia at the Euros. Sorry? You're paid a lot of money to know what you're talking about, and have all week to do your research. There's a journalist somewhere in our country who's an expert on North Macedonia, who could tell the viewers something insightful that they don't know, but instead they have some clown who's sat on the sofa laughing and boasting about how little he knows.

Half the time when people criticise female commentators, my theory is it takes a change of voice to notice that commentators and pundits tell you nothing you don't already know and speak almost exclusively in cliches.

I don't know why this has become so acceptable in our sport - where experience in the game is the only thing that matters, regardless of your ability to communicate it to the viewer. If you watched the Tour de France and a former pro came out with "he's almost cycled TOO well there" you wouldn't accept it.

That said, in the Euros, the female pundit for ITV (name?) was the first co-commentator in years to actually offer insights into tactics I couldn't spot myself. 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Duracell

[Sparkle]

The lady who has been doing the Sky EFL match chairperson this this season Michelle Owen is extremely good and hugely knowledgeable and also doesn’t appear to have been injected by foreign substances or been beaten up by a sack of spuds. 

[BucksRam]

58 minutes ago, Duracell said:

Commentary in football is terrible, full stop. As is punditry.

I remember the presenters making a joke about Dion Dublin knowing nothing about North Macedonia at the Euros. Sorry? You're paid a lot of money to know what you're talking about, and have all week to do your research. There's a journalist somewhere in our country who's an expert on North Macedonia, who could tell the viewers something insightful that they don't know, but instead they have some clown who's sat on the sofa laughing and boasting about how little he knows.

Half the time when people criticise female commentators, my theory is it takes a change of voice to notice that commentators and pundits tell you nothing you don't already know and speak almost exclusively in cliches.

I don't know why this has become so acceptable in our sport - where experience in the game is the only thing that matters, regardless of your ability to communicate it to the viewer. If you watched the Tour de France and a former pro came out with "he's almost cycled TOO well there" you wouldn't accept it.

That said, in the Euros, the female pundit for ITV (name?) was the first co-commentator in years to actually offer insights into tactics I couldn't spot myself. 

If you're talking about Emma Hayes, Chelsea Manager, yeah I agree, she was spot on.  

[Wolfie20]

For me it's not an issue as to whether the commentator is male or female. They need to be (a) knowledgeable and able to deliver that knowledge to the viewer and (b) introduce appropriate levels of excitement into their commentary without thinking that this is achieved solely by shouting. The worst for this is the numptie covering the Scottish PL matches for Sky who seems to work on the basis the more exciting the incident, the louder he needs to shout. He's an absolute embarassment.