RTE's Comedy Commentators

Lemlin

We're all used to RTE getting the pronunciations of foreign player's names totally wrong but it looks like they've started a new trend - renaming players.

Yesterday, when watching The Premiership on Network 2, two examples of this came to my attention.

In the first, Michael Gray of Blackburn suddenly became Michael Ball, and then John Filan of Wigan became Mike Filan.

I'll be watching closely next week to see if this new trend is repeated.

Roddy23

ye that Micahel Ball one cracked me up.
Good old Jim Beglin, and then Darragh Maloney started calling him that aswell

MrJoeSoap

They once got mixed up between Phillips and Beattie, for a bit it was Kevin Beattie and James Phillips.

Lemlin

A personal favourite of mine occured during Euro 2004.

Holland were 2-0 up against the Czech Republic but went 3-2 down. For the rest of the game, the RTE commentary team referred to Dick Advocaat as Dick the Dope!

Pigman II

They're good but imho nothing will ever beat the time JohnnyGiles spent and entire analysis segment calling GaryDoherty "Ken Doherty".

fred funk }{

Ye they're a class act alright. I cant stand Jim Beglin. he's a complete tosser, He has the weirdest accent too i cant figure out where he's from.

I love listening to Dunphy, Giles and Brady they are all class and very entertaining and not afraid to speak their minds.

Mossy Monk

Jim Beglin is from Waterford

Roddy23

IMO Brady is the best Commentator/ Analyst.
The chap is quality although he can be slightly biased when speaking about Arsenal,( which is why i like him so much).
He knows the game inside out, actually knows the names of players he's talking about( a quality Johnny Giles hasn't got) and he'll always be honest in his opinions.

ctrl-alt-delete

what i cant stand, and i dont know if its the same for anyone else, is the fact that the commentry is broadcast slightly ahead of the picture, it drives me mad....you can hear oh great save or oh what a goal, then 2 or 3 seconds later you see it happening on screen....amateur

Rollo Tamasi

i find Ray Houghton to be the best anaylist RTE have. He can be a bit too dramatic the odd time thou, goes on a bit of a rant too often, but what he says always makes sense. RTE lost out big time when they failled to get Andy Townsend, he is the future anchorman for MOTD IMO.

Mossy Monk

i have a feeling Lineker will hold onto that job for many years to come

isnt Townsend with ITV atm

Lemlin

Yes, Townsend has always worked with ITV.

Davey Devil

Townsend is a total muppet, that guy talks absolute rubbish. He's light years behind Chippy Brady, who I believe is the best analyst is the broadcasting game.

Lemlin

Giles is an idiot. I remember a few weeks ago when asked about Villareal, he said "they finished fourth in La Liga so they must be good" or something along those lines.

He had done absolutely no research about their players or management, even though he knew he'd be analysing the match.

Roddy23

Townsend is not very good, either is houghton, even though he looks like me auld lad/.
Houghton is (and this is something that both myself and brother have noticed) in general a summarised, any time i've seen him on RTE2, he's gone onto sum up what the previous analyst has said. Take yesterday for example every time Trevor Steven said something Houghton, would add in something which Steven had already said.
In fairness I like watching Dunphy also, cos he's never afraid to hold back.

Lemlin

In fairness I like watching Dunphy also, cos he's never afraid to hold back.

RTE like having someone with controversial views for each sport. For Gaelic football, they have Spillane. For hurling, they have Ger Loughnane. For rugby, they have George Hook. And for soccer, they have Dunphy.

MisterAnarchy

Brady is a very good pundit.
He is extremely shrewd.
He made loads of money from investments outside football.
I'd say he makes a nice bit on bets,he nearly always predicts the correct result.

Drag00n79

Brady is a bore though.

MrJoeSoap

"Its like watching somebody shaving their ffffoot."

whiskeyman

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

what i cant stand, and i dont know if its the same for anyone else, is the fact that the commentry is broadcast slightly ahead of the picture, it drives me mad....you can hear oh great save or oh what a goal, then 2 or 3 seconds later you see it happening on screen....amateur

yeah, that was very noticable on Sat in the Man Utd Vs Blackburn match.
At the first goal (the free kick), the commentator went "ooh, and it's gone in!!!" just as the ball was travelling past the peno spot area.
And then for the second, it was the same... "what a goal!!" just as Pederson struck it.
Kinda like someone telling you the twist at the end of a film just before it happens

RedorDead

I find Houghton so annoying. You'd swear he was world class in his day the way he goes on criticising players. Townsend is an ITV yes-man. Nothing original to say and much too fond of sitting on the fence just like the rest of that annoying itv-mob.

As mentioned before the quartet that is Bill - Giles - Dunphy and Brady is untouchable for analysis and entertainment.

BolBill

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

i find Ray Houghton to be the best anaylist RTE have. He can be a bit too dramatic the odd time thou, goes on a bit of a rant too often, but what he says always makes sense. RTE lost out big time when they failled to get Andy Townsend, he is the future anchorman for MOTD IMO.

I REALLY REALLY hope you're been sarcastic mate !!! Houghton and Townsend are tripe !!!!!

gracehopper

RedorDead wrote:

I find Houghton so annoying. You'd swear he was world class in his day the way he goes on criticising players. Townsend is an ITV yes-man. Nothing original to say and much too fond of sitting on the fence just like the rest of that annoying itv-mob.

As mentioned before the quartet that is Bill - Giles - Dunphy and Brady is untouchable for analysis and entertainment.

I like that RTE quartet myself, find it quite funny when dunphy gets Giles on his side by going on about how good a player he was at leeds. brady knows his stuff but takes about an hour to say 1 sentence

Dempsey

ctrl-alt-delete wrote:

what i cant stand, and i dont know if its the same for anyone else, is the fact that the commentry is broadcast slightly ahead of the picture, it drives me mad....you can hear oh great save or oh what a goal, then 2 or 3 seconds later you see it happening on screen....amateur

I've noticed this only because RTE commentators arent that good to spot things quickly.

Giles admitted at the start of that match that he hadn't looked to Villareal at all and I *think* Dunphy was in the same boat. Its not good enough from either of them really.

MrJoeSoap

From tonights Liverpool-Chelsea coverage:

Liam Brady: "Some people are touting Frank Lampard as the best player in Europe"
Bill O'Herlihy [Deadly Serious]: "His son, you mean?"

[Silence...]

Roddy23

yep quality
The lads weren't holding back tonight, Dunphy and Chippy lashing into Chelsea, quality viewing..

MrJoeSoap

Roddy23 wrote:

yep quality
The lads weren't holding back tonight, Dunphy and Chippy lashing into Chelsea, quality viewing..

Yeah I switched from Sky just to watch them, Chelsea deserve to get laid into after tonight.

Sandals

they are gods of men.

TheDoc

That is what criticial analysis is. Sky sports are to oo la la nicedy nice cause they are british teams. Need a bit of Dunphy.

He was true about everything, liverpool being mediocre, chelsea not in it. But I feel the critism on Robben is harsh, and you hear them talk nicely bout duff, cause hes irish. Duff did nothing, robben made some runs and tackles and tried, duff did nothing.

Chelseas problem is playing the ball to that wasteful horse up front drogba. Chelsea would win matches and play lovely if they dumped drogba. Played 4-4-2 robben and duff o nthe wings with crespo and someone up front. I really wish they hadnt sold Kezman, him and crespo would have been good up front.

TheDoc

And a tfirst I thought i heard him say "son" as in child. But I think he meant the sun newspaper, im not too sure, but its funny cause hes such a dope.

TheDoc

o and kaka > lampard 24/7

As is Alonso

Vokes

MrJoeSoap wrote:

From tonights Liverpool-Chelsea coverage:

Liam Brady: "Some people are touting Frank Lampard as the best player in Europe"
Bill O'Herlihy [Deadly Serious]: "His son, you mean?"

[Silence...]

Yeah, i think he meant the Sun, but the lads misheard him cos of Bill's crazy accent

MrJoeSoap

Makes sense alright. I did cry I laughed so much though, so I didn't get to hear the follow up.

randomfella

Dunphy listed off a few players on either side as Donkeys.
The lads made quality viewing tonight alright!

Necronomicon

Highlights of yesterday's games are on, just showed United/Benfica...I'm pretty sure I heard them call Ronaldo Ronaldinho!

RedorDead

Any see george hamiltons new beard??

Bungalow Bill

Lol, it was gas when they were talking about Beckham and slagging off his hat and all!

Pigman II

RedorDead wrote:

Any see george hamiltons new beard??

"Razor here!"

Seaneh

Dunphy and Brady were class last night me and my mates were screaming laughing round my gaff, the funniest part was poor old bill trying not to laugh.
And in fairness they were right in everything they said!

Mark

God I love RTE Sport, such legends.

Liam Brady: "Some people are touting Frank Lampard as the best player in Europe"
Bill O'Herlihy [Deadly Serious]: "His son, you mean?"

[Silence...]

Followed by:
Brady warily repeating "Frank Lampard. On the pitch tonight."
Cue shot of Bill laughing crazily for several seconds.

Great stuff.

BaZmO*

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

And a tfirst I thought i heard him say "son" as in child. But I think he meant the sun newspaper, im not too sure, but its funny cause hes such a dope.

Yeah, when I heard him say it I thought the same too, yeah you're right it is funny cos he's such a dope. I wonder what the likes of Lawrenson think when the work on the BBC and then see the way they do it on RTE?

B.

Pigman II

It just goes to show that most commentators have been so long out of the game that literally don't know what they are talking about. I think there should be a rule made that nobody should be allow to commentate on a game if they've been out of it in a professional capacity (either as player, coach or manager) for more than 5 years. That'd get rid of the likes of Lawrenson and Dunphy who literally are just professional-bull****ers throwing soundbites at a wall to see how much will stick.

They're basically akin to people who only like music that was 'in' during their youth. It's either 'their way or it's no good'. They're stuck in a rut and can't see or don't want to accept that the world (ie music - or in this case the game of football) has moved on.

Dempsey

Dunphy & Co. were spot on in their analysis of the Chelsea/Liverpool match.

BaZmO*

Dempsey wrote:

Dunphy & Co. were spot on in their analysis of the Chelsea/Liverpool match.

Yes, that may be so, but it's their inconsistency with what they've previously said that gets on peoples' tits!

B.

Boro

"That Drogba, well Bill.. .He's just a big Donkey really isnt he?"

Quality.

Have to agree with the hat too, they were right - looked muck

Kingp35

I agree that they may occasinally be inconsistent and that they do come out with some comical statements but for me the RTE analysis is still by far better than any other analysis out there. Sky Sports are simply terrible beyond belief and Andy Gray is just awful All he says is "if he done that" or "if he did this" and he doest talk about what he did do! I know we can be a bit biased towards Irish players but they are just unbelievably biased towards english players. I will say though the Soccer Saturday show is very good.

Then there is BBC and ITV who again dont say it how it is and just fill you with rubbish. TV3 should be banned from showing soccer games they are so bad. I refuse to watch a match on that channel. RTE have the best analysis and the most interesting and "tell you how it is" analysis that you can get. I love it and nothing comes close

gracehopper

As dunphy said before -"If you want to be entertained Bill you go to the pictures", Nah Eamonn i think we'll just watch RTE's match analysis, it tends to be better entertainment than the cinema and incidently better entertainment than actually watching liverpool v chelsea

Nimrod's Son

Johnny Giles is hilarious. Whenever he has to talk about a player/team outside of England, his first comment is "Well I haven't seen much of this player/team..." before delivering a verdict anyway.
He was on form during the Liverpool-Chelsea game as well. He managed to say it was gonna be a "scratchy game" three times in the first six minutes before spending the rest of the game tearing lumps out of Drogba. I haven't laughed like that in a while.

Pigman II

Is it called match ANALYSIS not match OPINIONS! In a perfect world these guys would be explaining to punters exactly what is going on out there in the field and not rabbiting on about how modern tactics are ruining football. If they can't do that then they should get off tv imho. I find in general that the longer a player has been out of the game the more inclinded he is to moan about the loss of the beautiful game.

This was perfectly exemplfied by Brady and Dunphy the other night. Brady (who is still coaching at Arsenal) briefly made his point that he didn't like the way Chelsea play but accepted that they are perfectly entitled to do so as it brings them almost unheard of levels of consistency.

Dunphy on the other hand (whos been out of the game since the 70s afaik?) just has a go at anyone who doesn't choose to play like ManU's 1968 EuroCup winning team. He is so long out for the game that he is totally oblivious to the realities of football. Either that or he's too comfortable in his current position chastising everyone to care.

MrJoeSoap

"Didier Drogba....look, there he is again, rolling around like a big baby. Chelsea are notorious for this....look! he's up again. Get on with the game like men and don't be rolling around the bloody floor!"

"How on earth Traore gets into this team is beyond me. And he's a Champions League winner? Gimme a break. They've Riise sitting on the bench who's a different class to this fella."

"Luis Garcia would want to be scoring a goal a game to justify being picked. His touch and general play are absolutely awful."

"At least Liverpool are trying to take the game to Chelsea. Chelsea's approach has been totally negative, and on the evidence of this game, very boring.."

"They tell us that Lampard and Gerrard are the best midfield players in the world. Neither of them have strung two passes together all night so how can we tell?"

"That was just stupid play by Drogba. He's a very stupid player"

"I think Mourinho just likes annoying people. He's annoyed everyone in the stadium here tonight with the way he's approached this game."

---

Mostly justified and understandable in all fairness, but funny nonetheless.

Plus, the first one is every bit as applicable to Damien Duff.

Kingp35

Yeah they are pretty funny comments all right but they are mostly true it has to be said which to me only makes them more funny. Thats exactly why I like the RTE commentators they are not afraid to et you know a player is rubbish or had a terrible game. No other channel does that. The Drogba Donkey comment by Dunphy was hilarious as well. Great entertainment