Worst Commentators/Pundits

[Line6 HXFX]

I'm just convinced that rugby pundits in England and Ireland are paid in some way by the RFU and IRFU to just spin the shit out of both victory and defeat.
Some of the Irish commentators are just unbearable.
Back in the day there was honesty about it all, a "who gives a shite , its just sport" attitude, but now because they are all selling this product on pay per view type platforms and they all have marketing and publicity departments and rugby is a professional product on and off the field all honesty and integrity has gone out of the window.

It is someones job now to create favourable narratives for before and after the match, to feed to supporters.
Anything bad that can be said about the opposition will be said and repeated a hundred times over.

The future of rugby commentary, if it has any future at all are the absolute cockmunchers on Egg chasers podcast..


Let the boys play.

[Margin__Walker]

See, I started reading that Refry, thinking it was a load of shite.

But you pulled me back in at the end and found some common ground. I also find the eggchasers lads (especially JB) unbearable. Thankfully they are just confined to the podcast for the moment.

[Line6 HXFX]

See, I started reading that Refry, thinking it was a load of shite.

But you pulled me back in at the end and found some common ground. I also find the eggchasers lads (especially JB) unbearable. Thankfully they are just confined to the podcast for the moment.

What about it is a load of shite?
Sports journalism and commentary is seriously dodgy and seems to have zero ethics and integrity at all.

I actually used to have a link to the "Daily Telegraph, proudly supporting English Rugby" thing.

And what is it with English commentators talking in three word, clipped sentences?
Do they think,
it gives what,
they say gravitas?

[Munch]

Worst - Barnes with Jiffy just behind

Best of all time by a loooong way - Bill McLaren

This, but not this. Jiffy is a legend and anyone who thinks otherwise is just jealous that he's not rooting for their team.

Jiffy has one of the most annoying voices in broadcasting and serves up commentary weaker than some random pisshead propping up the bar. He and all the geriatric BBC crew need to be cut loose. That said he was good value on House of Rugby, if he could bring a bit more of that to his commentary he'd maybe get a chance to redeem himself.

I understand why his whiney pitch can annoy people, but I spent many formative years listening to his voice on the club's telly whilst half cut and so he brings back fond memories for me. Plus he's always pulling for my team.

At least with Jiffy you can tell he's invested in the match, Guscot on the other hand looks like he'd rather be anywhere else and he's doing us a favour by being there.

Saying that, I'd welcome a change of the old guard, I thought Dylan Hartley was very good value for money when he was on. Made it almost impossible to hate him, which rankled me somewhat.

[frodder]

Lots of nastiness towards Jiffy which is a shame as he knows both codes inside out. Calls it as he sees it.

The Hask has some potential especially if he gets pissed like he did when he was on Sky as a pitch side reporter

[sockwithaticket]

This, but not this. Jiffy is a legend and anyone who thinks otherwise is just jealous that he's not rooting for their team.

Jiffy has one of the most annoying voices in broadcasting and serves up commentary weaker than some random pisshead propping up the bar. He and all the geriatric BBC crew need to be cut loose. That said he was good value on House of Rugby, if he could bring a bit more of that to his commentary he'd maybe get a chance to redeem himself.

I understand why his whiney pitch can annoy people, but I spent many formative years listening to his voice on the club's telly whilst half cut and so he brings back fond memories for me. Plus he's always pulling for my team.

At least with Jiffy you can tell he's invested in the match, Guscot on the other hand looks like he'd rather be anywhere else and he's doing us a favour by being there.

Saying that, I'd welcome a change of the old guard, I thought Dylan Hartley was very good value for money when he was on. Made it almost impossible to hate him, which rankled me somewhat.

That is fair and a good reason why both Gussett and Lord Bald were on my list. They have an opportunity many would adore, yet they clearly can't be bothered to watch enough rugby to even give the illusion of knowing anything about the modern game or the players involved with it.

We've been telling everyone else for years that Dylan's sound, glad you're catching up.

[New guy]

The excitable irish guy on sky sports who says weird things all the time. I cant remember his name

[Munch]

That is fair and a good reason why both Gussett and Lord Bald were on my list. They have an opportunity many would adore, yet they clearly can't be bothered to watch enough rugby to even give the illusion of knowing anything about the modern game or the players involved with it.

We've been telling everyone else for years that Dylan's sound, glad you're catching up.

Tbh I've never heard anyone defending him but I hope we see more of him in the pundit chair. Even the whole calling Barnes a c*nt thing ranckles me less now.

"To be fair, I was never banned for the same thing twice"

[lilyw]

Worst - Barnes with Jiffy just behind

Best of all time by a loooong way - Bill McLaren

Can I dissent from the Bill McLaren love? He always struck me as commentating for his friends rather than the viewers.

Those of you who don't live in Ireland have never had the pleasure of listening to Marty Morrisey. He manages to be both an incredibly bad commentator and a cheerleader for GAA, he seems to take it as a personal insult if any pundit says anything even mildly critical of Gaelic football or hurling. To make it even worse he is promoted as a "personality" on national TV.

[Hugo]

Worst - Barnes with Jiffy just behind

Best of all time by a loooong way - Bill McLaren

Can I dissent from the Bill McLaren love? He always struck me as commentating for his friends rather than the viewers.

What do you mean? McLaren was immensely popular with rugby and non rugby supporters.

[EnergiseR]

I like all of them now. The thoughts of listening to any of them fills me with gladness. I always liked Barnes it has to be said. Don't get the hate at all. Way over the top, fawning and gets loads wrong- what more do you want when you are half pissed

[Gumboot]

Isa Guha. Pretty tidy into the bargain.

For cricket Danny Morrison is absolute shite.

Agree on both counts. And agree with whoever said Skinstad - he's fucking useless.

I've never been a fan of John Kirwan's punditry tbh.

[Un Pilier]

I was being a bit tongue in cheek as there are some great female commentators and pundits - Alex Scott on Match of the Day is brilliant. But I have to say I can't stand the woman cricket one, I can't listen to it.

Also, Maggie Alphonsi is rubbish.

Woman cricket one? Isa Guha or Ebony Rainford-Brent? Or Alison Mitchell? All very good imo.

Isa Guha. Pretty tidy into the bargain.

For cricket Danny Morrison is absolute shite.

Sexist nonsense (but it’s hard to fault your judgement).

[And 1 guest]

Woman cricket one? Isa Guha or Ebony Rainford-Brent? Or Alison Mitchell? All very good imo.

Isa Guha. Pretty tidy into the bargain.

For cricket Danny Morrison is absolute shite.

Sexist nonsense (but it’s hard to fault your judgement).

I must say the women commentators and pundits on the cricket are superb. Listening to them their gender is irrelevant.

Isa Guha is fit as fuck though.

[ASMO]

Lots of nastiness towards Jiffy which is a shame as he knows both codes inside out. Calls it as he sees it.

The Hask has some potential especially if he gets pissed like he did when he was on Sky as a pitch side reporter

Account

Bollocks he does, he is as one eyed a commentator as ever there was, I prefer mine to be neutral. All ex players can offer insight into specifics but they are to a person piss poor commentators.

[Caley_Red]

Lots of nastiness towards Jiffy which is a shame as he knows both codes inside out. Calls it as he sees it.

The Hask has some potential especially if he gets pissed like he did when he was on Sky as a pitch side reporter

Account

Bollocks he does, he is as one eyed a commentator as ever there was, I prefer mine to be neutral. All ex players can offer insight into specifics but they are to a person piss poor commentators.

Yeah, he's completely partisan which is fair enough for studio analysis but is pretty annoying when game is live.

Going to incur some wrath from Antipodean boerdies but I really like Sean Maloney on Fox Sports, Nick McArdle is also the best programme host there is, far better than anyone in the UK. On that, he's not a commentator or pundit but I utterly detest John Inverdale, terrible host.

[Un Pilier]

Andrew Cotter is easiest on the ear but overall Nick Mullins is pretty good.

[frodder]

Lots of nastiness towards Jiffy which is a shame as he knows both codes inside out. Calls it as he sees it.

The Hask has some potential especially if he gets pissed like he did when he was on Sky as a pitch side reporter

Account

Bollocks he does, he is as one eyed a commentator as ever there was, I prefer mine to be neutral. All ex players can offer insight into specifics but they are to a person piss poor commentators.

Do you have any examples to back that claim up?

[Insane_Homer]

Golf, Paul McGinley. fucking horrible.

[JM2K6]

The excitable irish guy on sky sports who says weird things all the time. I cant remember his name

Mark Robson, the Nordie? Earl the Beaver's cousin or something. He's properly. properly shite, coupled with some incredibly annoying vocal habits. At least Ugo's got a nice voice when he's talking complete bollocks.

Mullins is OK but his jokey matey style really only works for Premiership club rugby where they've cultivated that sort of approach, which is fine (see also Austin). Anything more serious than that and it can grate.

Andrew Cotter is excellent, both in terms of delivery and insight, and he's about as non-partisan as it gets.

Jiffy, for all his insight, is outrageously pro-Welsh (sorry frodder, but there's instances of him literally laughing at the opposition and shouting encouragement to Welsh players during commentary) and unfortunately has a voice that sounds like a thousand geese being murdered with spoons. He's also a bit of cliché machine. Probably a nice bloke and does have some interesting things to say, but just far too irritating for the co-commentator's seat.

Justin Marshall can be Jiffy-esque but I like his obvious enthusiasm for the game and his desire to point out the stuff that viewers might not have noticed. He's not perfect but he's a good co-commentator.

[ASMO]

Suprised none has mentioned Austin Healey, he is very much a marmite option, but i actually quite like him.

[Monkey Magic]

Also have found Michael lynagh good, happy to say when things aren't going well and highlight what opposition teams are doing successfully.

[Woddy]

I don't mind Jiffy's bias - it brings hwyl to the commentary - so long as there is someone else there to correct the imbalance. At least he takes it seriously, which is more than can be said for most of his English counterparts (sadly). On that front, Inverdale is pretty good for all his one-eyed English bias (and apparently being a c*ck in real life), as he clearly has researched players etc.

It's also why someone like Cotter is so good. Apart from anything else, he doesn't just cover rugby, so he gets the sake of sport more generally and can stand outside the cliques and boys clubs so prevalent in any one sport and rugby in particular.

On lesser-known English commentators, Al Ekyn (sp?) is pretty good but rarely seen as I think he's purely BBC.

[FujiKiwi]

A few evergreen Murray Mexted quotes from the commentary box:

"You don't like to see hookers going down on players like that."
"He's looking for some meaningful penetration into the backline."
"Spencer's running across field calling out, come inside me, come
inside me."
"I can tell you it's a magnificent sensation when the gap opens up like that
and you just burst right through."
"I don't like this new law, because your first instinct when you see a man
on the ground is to go down on him"
"Darryl Gibson has been quite magnificent coming inside Andrew Mehrtens, and
I'm looking forward to seeing more of the same today."
"There's nothing that a tight forward likes more than a loosie right up his
backside"
"Everybody knows that I have been pumping Martin Leslie for a couple of
seasons now."

[JM2K6]

I don't mind Jiffy's bias - it brings hwyl to the commentary - so long as there is someone else there to correct the imbalance. At least he takes it seriously, which is more than can be said for most of his English counterparts (sadly). On that front, Inverdale is pretty good for all his one-eyed English bias (and apparently being a c*ck in real life), as he clearly has researched players etc.

It's also why someone like Cotter is so good. Apart from anything else, he doesn't just cover rugby, so he gets the sake of sport more generally and can stand outside the cliques and boys clubs so prevalent in any one sport and rugby in particular.

On lesser-known English commentators, Al Ekyn (sp?) is pretty good but rarely seen as I think he's purely BBC.

Inverdale is a shitstain, but also he's not a commentator. He's the front man and likely gets his stuff fed to him during / prior to the broadcast. While that's also true of commentators, they have to know more in order to be able to do their job regardless of what people might be able to tell them.

Inverdale is pretty crap at his job, he doesn't ask particularly good questions, he's absurdly biased, and he's the embodiment of the "once you're in, it's very hard to get you out" problem in UK sports coverage.

I don't want to hear Jiffy hwyling in my ears, thank you.

[ASMO]

With Jiffy when Wales lose, they came second, and the other team came second to last.

[Munch]

For me, the moment that epitomises Inverdale is when Ireland were making a mockery of logic and history and were pumping the All Blacks at the Aviva in 2013 in the first half.

In the half time analysis, in the middle of a discussion of Irelands "route 1" tactics (that bizzarley worked all half for them) he turns to camera and says, so what about England?

[Munch]

With Jiffy when Wales lose, they came second, and the other team came second to last.

Funny, me and the boys in the club all tend to agree with him

[Jock42]

Barnes, Guscott, Jiffy and of course Inverdale are all varying degrees of shite for different reasons and I'd love not to have them commentate again. You can throw Nichol in there i suppose but he doesn't bother me.

[ASMO]

Barnes, Guscott, Jiffy and of course Inverdale are all varying degrees of shite for different reasons and I'd love not to have them commentate again. You can throw Nichol in there i suppose but he doesn't bother me.

Nicol has Jiffy's other eye.

[Jock42]

[And 1 guest]

Barnes, Guscott, Jiffy and of course Inverdale are all varying degrees of shite for different reasons and I'd love not to have them commentate again. You can throw Nichol in there i suppose but he doesn't bother me.

Nicol has Jiffy's other eye.

He's a scrumhalf, so annoying by definition

[sockwithaticket]

I don't mind Jiffy's bias - it brings hwyl to the commentary - so long as there is someone else there to correct the imbalance. At least he takes it seriously, which is more than can be said for most of his English counterparts (sadly). On that front, Inverdale is pretty good for all his one-eyed English bias (and apparently being a c*ck in real life), as he clearly has researched players etc.

It's also why someone like Cotter is so good. Apart from anything else, he doesn't just cover rugby, so he gets the sake of sport more generally and can stand outside the cliques and boys clubs so prevalent in any one sport and rugby in particular.

On lesser-known English commentators, Al Ekyn (sp?) is pretty good but rarely seen as I think he's purely BBC.

Huh, I thought he ws primarily BT, but then that's purely based on Premiership rugby coverage and I don't watch much other sport.

[Woddy]

I don't mind Jiffy's bias - it brings hwyl to the commentary - so long as there is someone else there to correct the imbalance. At least he takes it seriously, which is more than can be said for most of his English counterparts (sadly). On that front, Inverdale is pretty good for all his one-eyed English bias (and apparently being a c*ck in real life), as he clearly has researched players etc.

It's also why someone like Cotter is so good. Apart from anything else, he doesn't just cover rugby, so he gets the sake of sport more generally and can stand outside the cliques and boys clubs so prevalent in any one sport and rugby in particular.

On lesser-known English commentators, Al Ekyn (sp?) is pretty good but rarely seen as I think he's purely BBC.

Huh, I thought he ws primarily BT, but then that's purely based on Premiership rugby coverage and I don't watch much other sport.

Sorry, I meant BT

[Line6 HXFX]

Really don't understand why you all think commentators are not Biased. They all are. They are actively encouraged to be. And hating the blyddi commentators (some of which are just playing up to roles) is part of the product of rugby, along with crap refs, dodgy decisions, obnoxious coaches, controversy, racism, sorry "banter", bigotry, sorry " banter", banter, and the endless politics and financial problems.

Rugby is a product..it is a boring annoying product a lot of the time, so needs all these different aspects to make it interesting and to keep us talking about it.

We are being trolled and deliberately irritated a lot of the time, and people are being paid well to troll and irritate us.

It keeps us talking about it.

They love us being angry.

[Un Pilier]

Suprised none has mentioned Austin Healey, he is very much a marmite option, but i actually quite like him.

Yes, I like Austin.

[Enzedder]

The wimmin

That English bird in the cricket is quite good.

Whereas Debbie Hockley has a voice like fingernails on a chalk board

[Un Pilier]

The wimmin

That English bird in the cricket is quite good.

Whereas Debbie Hockley has a voice like fingernails on a chalk board

I struggle to read that without shuddering

[Monkey Magic]

Mark Richardson for the cricket, he seems to have descended into his weird tv3 persona and forgotten to provide insight.

Can we say 100% of the last iteration of the channel 9 cricket commentary team.

Did recently see video from cwc final which showed the commentary box and the highlights, refound my respect for smithy, the guy was feeling every moment and providing only slightly biased comments

[JM2K6]

Really don't understand why you all think commentators are not Biased. They all are. They are actively encouraged to be. And hating the blyddi commentators (some of which are just playing up to roles) is part of the product of rugby, along with crap refs, dodgy decisions, obnoxious coaches, controversy, racism, sorry "banter", bigotry, sorry " banter", banter, and the endless politics and financial problems.

Rugby is a product..it is a boring annoying product a lot of the time, so needs all these different aspects to make it interesting and to keep us talking about it.

We are being trolled and deliberately irritated a lot of the time, and people are being paid well to troll and irritate us.

It keeps us talking about it.

They love us being angry.

I certainly think that's true for some people, who "drive engagement" <spit> but sports broadcasting is largely conservative and certainly the main commentators are not intended to be anything other than a guide for viewers first and foremost.