I find the RTE Euro 2008 coverage horrible.

[jebus]

1) First of all they don't have basic knowledge of the teams. On several occasions the pundits have when questioned about certain demonstrated that they know nothing about them and are unashamed to admit it. It happened with Turkey, Austria, Romania and other lesser known teams. Now, I myself know little about these teams but it is the pundits JOB to know about the team they're analyising.

True, but they don't need to, the common football fan doesn't care about these teams


If the ignorance ended at the lesser known teams It could be forgiven but It's appalling to see it continue to the better known sides too. Just yesterday Jimmy McGee exclaimed that he didn't know who Abidal was and was confused at how he was ahead of Clichy and Evra. How can you call yourself a commentator and not know Barca's first team?

That is a joke in fairness


Then there's Souness who stumbled over how to pronounce Real Madrid and Germany's "Metzelder"

That's a pronounciation issue, to which end I don't care that he had trouble saying it


Brady who made me really concerned about his ability in the Irish role by downtalking Van Der Vaart because he's playing for Hamburg while at the same time using no other reasoning for his doubt, I'll add is completly ridiculous since Vad Der Vaart is regarded as argubly the best player in the Bundesliga.

That was in relation to Brady commenting on reports of Van Der Vaart being the next top European player whilst at Ajax, to which I agree with Brady, if he had been that good he would have had bigger teams than Hamburg signing him


And Dunphy calling Toni a "poor man's Peter Crouch". I don't know where to even start on that one. :eek:

It's Dunphy, he probably had his ego stroked further by the Star printing 'Dunphy Says No' as it's banner headline on it's front page yesterday in relation to the Lisbon Treaty


2) Then there's this whole Premiership-centric nature. The panel seem to want to discuss Ronaldo and Torres far more than they do the rest of their respective teams. When players like Robben or Van Nistellroy appear the first thing they mention is the fact they used to play for Premiership teams. I don't think Hamilton mentioned either of their current clubs once, it seems to be much more important to them to remind viewers that they once had English ties.

The vast majority of people who watch RTE's football coverage watch only the Premiership, they cater to that audience


I'd expect this kind of narrow minded coverage from the BBC or ITV but the un-biased RTE? It seems like the entire panel are in mourning because England aren't there to be honest and feel that the Irish public won't care about it for such reasoning. The public don't care about England especially and it's bemusing as to why RTE feel they do.

Yes they do. The Irish public watch English football as if it's their own, and they always follow the fortunes of the England national team


3) Over reliance on cliches. It's absurd at this stage how Giles can still cling on to German cliches of at least 10 years old. Calling them hard working and defensive, it's not only irrelevant to the current crop but it's a fine filler to try and hide when you know nothing of substance about a team.

The German team are hard working and solid defensively, granted he should have said they have added a great deal of flair to their team, but Giles is probably joined by at least one pundit from every other station covering this tournament in saying that cliche


Sorry for the rant but it's just very frustrating when the supposed experts have virtually zero knowledge beyond the premiership.

I guarantee you Spanish commentary are more concerned with players playing in La Liga, or coming to La Liga than any other, ditto Italians with Serie A, and so on


Giles and Souness are complete trash. They don't know the first thing about anybody they're analysising and tend to resort to cynical bashing of some element or someone they don't like. My cat would do a better job on that panel than those two.

Thats just nonsense to be honest. Souness in particular is one of the finest pundits in Ireland and Britain at the moment

[Roadend]

Jimmy McGee was truly awful yesterday in commentary, near the end when he nearly burst into song over two Romanain players who's names sounded alike was just terrible.

[brendy_éire]

Spare a thought for us cable and satellite viewers in the north. RTÉ Euro coverage gets blocked and we're stuck with BBC and ITV pundits whinging about how England aren't involved, even showing an interview with Capello talking about the England team during half time in matches.

[joe_barry80]

Jimmy McGee was truly awful yesterday in commentary, near the end when he nearly burst into song over two Romanain players who's names sounded alike was just terrible.

You're lucky. I'm watching with German Commentary and sometimes he doesn't say anything for more than a minute. It like he's gone to take a leak or make a coffee.

[Dodge]

You're lucky. I'm watching with German Commentary and sometimes he doesn't say anything for more than a minute. It like he's gone to take a leak or make a coffee.

I'd prefer no commentary at all myself

[TheBoss]

I agree with Ciaran here, They know nothing about some players from the other countries, shall we call them. As jebus says there, the general football fan does not much about those other nations, well, I disagree there, why watch the tournament if you do know those countries, surely you know at least 3/4 of the team, cause I know all of the players very well, cause those players do play in the UEFA Cup and Champions League virtually every season also top teams from other teams aswell.

[jebus]

I agree with Ciaran here, They know nothing about some players from the other countries, shall we call them. As jebus says there, the general football fan does not much about those other nations, well, I disagree there, why watch the tournament if you do know those countries, surely you know at least 3/4 of the team, cause I know all of the players very well, cause those players do play in the UEFA Cup and Champions League virtually every season also top teams from other teams aswell.

As I said, the general football fan, i.e. one who can't be bothered with any league outside of the Premiership and the occasional La Liga game won't give a toss about Austria, Turkey etc. I'm not on about people who watch other European Leagues

[John83]

If the ignorance ended at the lesser known teams It could be forgiven but It's appalling to see it continue to the better known sides too. Just yesterday Jimmy McGee exclaimed that he didn't know who Abidal was and was confused at how he was ahead of Clichy and Evra. How can you call yourself a commentator and not know Barca's first team?
I've seen Abidal play a number of times for club and country, and I'm confused as to how he's in the team ahead of Evra and Clichy.

[Newryrep]

Spare a thought for us cable and satellite viewers in the north. RTÉ Euro coverage gets blocked and we're stuck with BBC and ITV pundits whinging about how England aren't involved, even showing an interview with Capello talking about the England team during half time in matches.

Can you not get RTE via an aerial in Derry ?

[DaveyCakes]

I agree with just about everything in the first post..


True, but they don't need to, the common football fan doesn't care about these teams

They're being ****ing well paid to provide their "expert" analysis, so the least they could do is spend a few minues reading something so they can at least pretend they know what they're talking about.




The German team are hard working and solid defensively, granted he should

Solid defensively?? hmmmm......


You're lucky. I'm watching with German Commentary and sometimes he doesn't say anything for more than a minute. It like he's gone to take a leak or make a coffee.

I love that about German commentators, if there's nothing happening in the match, there's no need to say anything. Better silence than Magee or Hamilton and their endless irrelevant statistics

[superfrank]

The panel's knowledge is poor.

Dunphy is a joke. He was mentioning his "French friends" yesterday as if that makes him more knowledgeable about the French team. Bill also looks in Dunphy's direction when he needs info on Spanish or French leagues. He'd be better off asking a Martian.

Brady is the only regular with reasonable knowledge of European football but he, as noted, is prone to be exposed on the "lesser" leagues. Giles is totally lost.

Souness failing to pronounce someone's name properly is hardly a crime. Everyone's guilty at it. Souness is by far the best pundit this time around. He's knowledgeable and he actually understands the game a lot better than the others.

Ronnie Whelan is truly awful. Cunningham isn't too bad but he doesn't say enough. Maloney, McGee (I didn't hear his commentary yesterday, I had Radio 5 on for that), Hamilton, Steven et al are very poor and have been shown to be fools in the past.

I feel like I know more about a lot of these teams than the RTE muppets and that'd just be from watching the CL, UEFA Cup, the German, French, Dutch, Portuguese, English and Scottish leagues. Radio 5 are a bit better but they do harp on about England at frequent opportunities, as to be expected.

[OwlsFan]

1) Dunphy generally has good opinions so he's dissapointed me this Euro 2008, I get the feeling though that he's just plain being lazy rather than ignorant..

:eek: I think your last word there is more apt.


Giles and Souness are complete trash. They don't know the first thing about anybody they're analysising and tend to resort to cynical bashing of some element or someone they don't like. My cat would do a better job on that panel than those two.

While Giles is dated and we hear the same thing time and time again from him, Souness I like and is still actively involved in football and knows his stuff. I personally think he's a class apart from the rest. He doesn't say things just to be controversial like Mr "good opinions" but he generally calls things correctly and does know his stuff. Anyone can mispronounce a foreign name and we're probably mispronouncing them ourselves anyway.

Speaking of mispronouncing, did anyone see Laughing Bill try and pronounce the name of the Polish pub in Dublin which came up on his cue card to which they were going for the views of the Polish fans in Dublin before the German game ? Hilarious. And the Polish fan with the Dublin accent: "Deadly!". :)

[brendy_éire]

Can you not get RTE via an aerial in Derry ?

In Belfast at the minute. Ye can still get RTÉ with a really tall aerial on your roof, but that's not an option in rented accommodation.

[pete]

I find RTEs coverage far too stuffy & serious. At least the BBC for all their faults not taking too seriously as their country is not involved. RTE only worthwhile for Apres Match.

Saw a little of RTEs preview before the first game & the few clips of players involved were all English Premier League. German players are disregarded as they don't play in the top 2 leagues in Europe yet this fails to match up with their tag as favourites. Torres might score load of goals for his club but is he any good for Spain - I would be to informed of facts like that if I going to bother to listen. Every pundit hyped Croatia but then did immediate u-turn after their first game :rolleyes:

If you are listening RTE, just put the Apres Match guys on full time.

[superfrank]

Saw a little of RTEs preview before the first game & the few clips of players involved were all English Premier League.
Brilliant point pete. The Mutu footage they had was atrocious, it was about four or five years old at this stage.

[pete]

Brilliant point pete. The Mutu footage they had was atrocious, it was about four or five years old at this stage.

Would be a good idea for Apres Match sketch. Find 10 year old clip of Van Nistellroy or Larsson from his early days at Celtic :D

(if they show the Larsson one tonight I want commission)

[anto1208]

I like it i think Bill is brilliant i get a laugh of him every time he is on and when the lads start fighting its hillarious. It writes the Apres match sketches for them.

I dont care that they dont know what they are talking about if i have just watched the match i know what happened i dont need some one who knows all the romanian first team's name's to explain it to me.

What are the other options BBC with Liniker shearer talking about nothing , ITV with andy "carrick is better than scholes" Townsend or Skys Jamie " ill talk all day yet say nothing" rednap.

Screw that give me Bill anytime

[bennocelt]

Ah it aint that bad lads?:)
True Dunphy is a joke and brady is way too up his own hole, but Giles is a legend, and Souness is the best pundit out there

The guys hadnt a clue about the offside goal last night, which was a bit shocking

[anto1208]

ha ha yeah.

I should mention I actually like the crew. The Dunphy / Giles / Brady dynamic is never dull, but for all they know on Ireland and the Premiership they collectively don't know a thing outside of it. Which is frustrating to watch, you have to wonder how much (if any) preperation they put into it before each game.

Oh it seems like they just sat down 2 mins before it went on air

[gustavo]

Gobdaw Collins presenting now :(

Seems to think its a surprise Fabregas isn't playing

[superfrank]

Dunphy bringing up his Catalan/Spanish divide again.

[old git]

:another classic from bill last night after italy / holland match

he actually mentioned holland beating spain in tonights game :confused: :confused:

[jmurphyc]

I haven't been in the country so I haven't caught RTE's coverage yet but I think that it boils down to the fact that the pundits and particularly the commentators aren't "real" football fans. They're just casual viewers of football who won't go out of their way to catch a game, much like 90% of football fans. It's simple really IMO.

[jebus]

I haven't been in the country so I haven't caught RTE's coverage yet but I think that it boils down to the fact that the pundits and particularly the commentators aren't "real" football fans. They're just casual viewers of football who won't go out of their way to catch a game, much like 90% of football fans. It's simple really IMO.

Yeah I hear Souness is more of a cricket man alright :rolleyes: Seriously what are you on about? Keep in mind you're talking about the Irish 'can't be bothered walking 10 mins to watch live football' Public

[jmurphyc]

Yeah I hear Souness is more of a cricket man alright :rolleyes: Seriously what are you on about? Keep in mind you're talking about the Irish 'can't be bothered walking 10 mins to watch live football' Public

:confused: Are you being sarcastic? They are football fans but when I hear Dunphy talk about how he watches plenty of La Liga I find it hard to believe. Maybe he does, but I think he'd much rather be getting p*ssed in a bar. With all that money, I'm sure they feel they have better things to do with their time. I wouldn't call them dedicated football viewers. Besides, many of them trot out the same cliches all the time and seem to do very little research. If I was in that field of work I'd imagine that I would try to watch the teams a few times at least before commentating on them or analysing them. Besides, my post was mainly aimed at commentators, not analysts.

[jebus]

First off 90% of the Irish footballing public probably can't be arsed watching La Liga, unless its on in a pub they are in. And are you seriously questioning whether or not ex-professional football players are into football that much?

[NeilMcD]

I think what he is saying is that the pundits and commentators do not do their preparation. I find this too. They should watch 3 or 4 matches from qualifying of each of the teams in the tournament before the tournament.

[redtildead]

There's been a hostage stiuation somewhere in Germany. German police are situated outside some building on standby.
You know what to expect from the Germans, they'll be well organised, won't give many deaths away and you certainly wouldn't bet against them coming out on top.

I'd blame the person that typed it on the screen for her

[Sesp]

Ciaran,

You make some very good and valid points, but in Giles' defence I'd argue that while he undoubtedly doesn't keep himself up to date with happenings outside the English premiership, he still has a pretty good understanding of how football works. In that he's head and shoulders over Dunphy and Souness - who are little better than grumpy and reactionary ranters (though the former can, at least, be entertaining at times).

The lack of awareness of the world outside the EPL is pretty disheartening and suggests a laziness and insularity that serious pundits shouldn't have. However, I fear that they're simply reflecting the narrow focus of most (so-called) football fans in this country. The reality is that the majority of people who claim to like the game here probably rarely (if ever) watch a non-Premiership match (other than internationals). It's certainly a pity that that's the case (as it leads to repetition of the kind of clichés and ill-informed opinions you describe) but there you have it.

Like it or not, we're still strongly bound to English sporting culture (understandably, in a way, given the amount of Irish players playing in English leagues).

Bring back Football Italia on RTE says I! And while you're at it, let's have a weekly highlights roundup from other European leagues.

Probably too costly, and probably won't happen.

[Closed Account]

I find this relative to this discussion

21 Rules for the RTE Soccer Pundits(By Totti!) 414 days ago

Copyright=ME!


1-no matter how well cristano ronaldo plays(no. of goals and assists are irrelevant) he is ****e... he has been and always will be.

2-the player in no.1 is also to be termed a "poof ball" whenever possible.

3-Same rules applies to rio Ferdinand…he is ****e and always will be (“they bring on an 18million pound defender and he weakens the team”-Dunphy after United v Copenhagen)

4-if a players name is hard to pronounce dont worry...you dont have to hazard a guess or even try pronouncing it phonetically...you just substitute the players name for his nationality and add "lad" in at the end.

stelios giannakopolous=the greek lad
Zhi Zheng=the Chinese lad(and if unsure the asian lad will do)

If nationality and name unclear (Gabriel Agbonlahor)-then “the young lad” will suffice.

However, if his age, nationality and name cause confusion then protocol determines that this player is not playing, he doesn’t exist and any contribution during the game will promptly be omitted from the highlights.

5-If your feeling ballsy and want to attempt to pronounce the players name even if you have no idea, then you can have a shot at the weekly bet of 20 euros for who can make a players name sound the daftest by replacing a letter or two.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic=Ibra-Homo-Vich
Yossi Benayoun= Benny-Youni
Vicenza Iaquinta-Una-quanto(Kenny Cunninham won the money for this.)

Also if the players native country have a way of pronouncing that players name, discard it…whatever it looks like to the pundit should determine how it’s pronounced.

(Call him Terry Henry-it doesn’t matter if the French don’t use the “H”-Its there so use it)


6-if a players/teams current ability and history are unknown then reference to his/their nationality or continent will tell you all about this player/team.

An Italian-will be great defensively but extremely negative. Forget about attacking.
German-Even if they have lost 15 games in a row and have players from the Villa reserves starting they have to be one of the leading contenders. If it goes to penalties all bets are off…they will win. All players will be tough *******s who can run all day and have winning mentality.
French-could be anything…but guaranteed they will sulk and moan.
Africans-will run all day…awful strong…tactically they will not have a clue of whats going on…will have about 30 shots at goal without having a clue where it even is…offside trap non-existent…very naïve and will be knocked out soon.

Note:If a keeper is wearing tracksuit bottoms he is automatically ****e(this presumption cannot be rebutted if he is either African or Eastern European)….he will be unable to collect any crosses…fists will be used on all occasions….he will also probably be unable to take kickouts and the centre back will more than likely have to go back to do so…there was probably a draw in this country to determine the nations goalkeeper and this guy lost…(god forbid that this country need to use their sub-keeper who probably will not even bother wearing gloves)

7-World Cups are dangerous territory, especially if a game involves any non-European team that is not Argentina Brazil Australia or USA(expect problems with regard to pronunciation identification of players and even location of the team) Such problems are also expected to occur for teams historically forming part of the soviet block. The chances of knowing players from teams other than these are extremely reduced.

If the countries name is unclear look for something in that continent (or in general on that side of the globe)-Costa Rica may be called Puerto Rica etc. Any player on such a team with a difficult name may be referred to as the “Puerto Rican Right-Back/left back/striker etc”-no reference to name needed.

8-No players will ever be as good as the glory day eras of the 50’s 60’s and 70’s.

9-Every game England play is awful….Lampard and Gerrard should not be in the same country let alone the same team.

10-Every Irish manager is useless and clueless (no exceptions)..constant hounding required until sacked.

11-If any English/Scottish pundit is present; the Irish lads must lead by example and show the newbies that defamation is permissible on Irish TV during soccer games. (watch the lads show Grahme Souness how its done during half time in the England and Trinidad game during the World Cup….. reference to English players/managers private life’s are perfectly acceptable(and strongly advised).

12-All outlandish statements based on zero research are welcome.

13-Severe criticism of English Punditry is a necessity….

Dunphy (After watching Gareth Crooks interview Sven Goran Eriksson)-“That’s the first time I’ve seen two men have sex on BBC”

See also Dunphy calling Jamie Redknapp a “mammys boy” and awarding the BBC panel with spoofers of the week award for the eulogising of “poof ball”(aka Cristiano Ronaldo)

14- Ray Houghton and Kenny Cunninham are allowed to talk about anything (even non-football related issues)-coz everything they say is ******** and chances are nobody is watching any game that they are involved in anyways (normally a quite Saturday where main game is Watford v sheff utd and the like).

15-Strict dress code necessary-bonus points for pundit who can include most colours in shirt tie suit combo…preferable if all three are in stark contrast and in no way match….in fact each pundit should choose what the other wears for a laugh….

Note:Important that at least one panel member has a randomly coloured handkerchief hanging from suit pocket.

16-Teams that “do their stuff”(ie. Run like **** and tackle all day) are great.

17-A centre midfield player that goes back to take the ball from his centre half is king…he should be allowed to play….any centre midfield player who does not do this is ****e and will result in his team playing “cave-man” football(all ball will be wellied from centre half to centre forward with furious running and bullock-walloping for breaks in between)…this player should be removed from football and put down.

18-Sitting on the fence is frowned upon….Be brave and stick your neck out when predicting results….it doesn’t matter if your wrong

Example-Predictions for Champions League Quarter finals ties=Munich, Roma, Valencia.

19-Also, any statement made previously, may be subsequently denied at a later date (especially Dunphy) and changed to reflect new circumstances….thus, in a world cup a pundit may change his view on who may win right up to the final and preference for that team will be as if it were given at the start of the tournament. Same applies to champions league and premiership.

20-The host of the panel must know as little as possible about football…his job is to irritate and bemuse the panel with daft and pointless question which leads to blank stares followed by a flaming row.

21-If pundits are in a bad mood(normally resulting from serious hangover) they may take it out on a team/player with no basis for criticism-(see random outburst against Liverpool/Xabi Alonso/Rafa Benitez after defeating Barcelona!!)

[Dodge]

And are you seriously questioning whether or not ex-professional football players are into football that much?

a lot aren't. in fact the majority of current players wouldn't watch nearly as much football as most people I know. Remember reading that Brian Clough and Peter Taylor became such good friends as they were the only two that were really interested in football. he said most others were more interested in birds and booze

[John83]

I remember Football Italia, I used to watch it every tuesday night when I was like 7. That was awesome, way better than the premiership or whatever it's equivalent was back then. :D
The football could be very dour, and there were fewer cameras than Sky has at English games, but it was very well presented. Richardson was an entertaining host and Bloom was a decent commentator.

[Calcio Jack]

I think that the RTE pundits are way ahead of what's on offer from BBC or UTV... I especially like the the round up they do at the end of the show... on Sunday for example they had Brady explaining to Souness and Whelan that unless their ratings improved Bill wouldn't work with them and they'd have to appear with Peter Collins for Turkey v Switzerland... you just don't get that sort of cutting edge honesty from the BEEB or UTV...

[Stevo Da Gull]

I generally like the RTE commentary, and Souness makes up for Dunphy's idiocy.
However I do find the panel's lack of knowledge of some teams and players to be inexcusable. I am not a football expert, especially when you go outside the British Isles but I seem to know more about European football and footballers than a group of guys who are paid to bring us previews and reviews on the European Championships :confused:

I still prefer RTE's coverage to that of the BBC and UTV, if Souness were to defect that may change though ;)

[Dodge]

I still prefer RTE's coverage to that of the BBC and UTV, if Souness were to defect that may change though ;)

Agree BTW Souness is the key for me. personally i can't stand any of the actual RTE commentators so i'll either switch channels or put the sound off.

The lack of knowledge on european football is the same throughout all the British channels too. Some of its understandable, most of its jut laziness though

Oh and James Richardson is my favourite football presenter ever. Can't understand how he's been left to rot on the lesser channels.

[superfrank]

Oh and James Richardson is my favourite football presenter ever. Can't understand how he's been left to rot on the lesser channels.
Try asking him about somewhere other than Italy and you might encounter the same level of ignorance.

But he is a brilliant presenter. Why did Channel 4 scrap that show (Football Italia?)?

[Dodge]

Try asking him about somewhere other than Italy and you might encounter the same level of ignorance.
But he's not an analyst. Don't care about the presenter's knowledge. jsut has to tide things over and entertainment a little. Billo is a ****


Why did Channel 4 scrap that show (Football Italia?)?
Didn't bother renewing the rights. he presented on Bravo and eurosport too

[NeilMcD]

He is very good on the Guardians Podcast too and he does some of the Premier League coverage on Setanta.

[tomred23]

I taught Magee gave good commentry on the France game, at one point he called Nasri a banger. I enjoy litening to the panel but they do seem to run out of things to say on lessser teams.

[Dodge]

He is very good on the Guardians Podcast too and he does some of the Premier League coverage on Setanta.

Fair play, forgot about that.

[Roadend]

I taught Magee gave good commentry on the France game, at one point he called Nasri a banger. He said he'd be a banger in the under 16's team, and basically repeated what Kinsella had said 2 minutes earlier. Top class alright.

[MyTown]

Lads, I think we've been spoiled over the years with the very high quality of punditry and coverage on RTE.

It's only when reviewing the posts from outside Ireland that you get a real sense of how far ahead of the game RTE has been.

To take for granted the fact that we get the broadcasting rights in the first place is a lot. That might change any time & weren't we all overjoyed at TV3s recent acquisition of Champions League rights?

Granted - The lads seem to be having a fairly bad tournament by their high standards, but I'll forgive them based on a very impressive track record & above all credit to RTE (no, I don't work there) for providing top quality coverage and analysis MOST of the time.

James Richardson is the ONLY non RTE anchor / pundit who gives our lads any kind of a run for their money imo, the only one worth paying a transfer fee for.

[gustavo]

James Richardson is the ONLY non RTE anchor / pundit who gives our lads any kind of a run for their money imo, the only one worth paying a transfer fee for.Guillem Balague is very good imo on Sky

[TheBoss]

Yeah I hear Souness is more of a cricket man alright :rolleyes: Seriously what are you on about? Keep in mind you're talking about the Irish 'can't be bothered walking 10 mins to watch live football' Public

Its not so hard to watch a half hour program showing at least some highlights of games from Europe, you can then see the best players of each team in those highlights, its not always having to watch full 90 mins of every game, but at least keep track of the leagues so you what to expect from the teams, that is at least what pundits should be doing in their spare time.

[lionelhutz]

Jimmy Magee is the worst commentator on TV. The only people who like him probably have alzheimers and can't remember his name anyway. Hamilton's a fool and always has been but I think Moloney is ok.

I've always loved the RTE analysts - when I switch to the idiots on ITV or the gang banging fest on BBC I realise how lucky we are in this country. However, Whelan's lack of knowledge is disgraceful, he brings the level analysis down. I like Cunningham who is very exact in his thoughts on the game and I think he'd make a great coach - not sure about manager though.

The trio of Brady, Giles and Dunphy are a great combination even if Dunphy's a sensationalist.

[gspain]

I think RTE's coverage is aimed at football fans whereas the BBC and Sky aim theirs at people who don't know the game but want to pretend they do at work the following day. Souness is crap on Sky for example and brilliant on RTE.

ITV's coverage is aimed at idiots.

I think the pundits could have done more research but their main skill is analysing what is going on anyway so even if it's the blonde number 7 etc it is still enjoyable.

[boovidge]

2) Then there's this whole Premiership-centric nature. The panel seem to want to discuss Ronaldo and Torres far more than they do the rest of their respective teams. When players like Robben or Van Nistellroy appear the first thing they mention is the fact they used to play for Premiership teams. I don't think Hamilton mentioned either of their current clubs once, it seems to be much more important to them to remind viewers that they once had English ties.



Definately agree on that, the panel barely seem to know anything about the game outside of the premiership and champions league. I can't remember who it was, perhaps Dunphy in another lenghty debate about Ronaldo, said something like the Irish people are "Drip fed" by the British press before continuing to talk about premiership players. No sense of irony whatsoever!

[mypost]

Like it or not, we're still strongly bound to English sporting culture

So how's our interest in cricket, or tennis, or bowls then??:confused:

The RTE production is of very poor quality. On the BBC, and ITV, there are always new commentators and pundits at every tournament, but RTE have the same ones for the last 25 years at every championship, with the same outdated views on foreign teams and players.

Apparantly, Luca Toni plays in a league that's not Number 1 or 2 in Europe. :rolleyes: The Bundesliga is one of the top leagues in the world, just because we don't get to see it doesn't mean it's crap.

[boovidge]

So how's our interest in cricket, or tennis, or bowls then??:confused:

no one in England watches tennis or bowls :p

[bennocelt]

Oh and James Richardson is my favourite football presenter ever. Can't understand how he's been left to rot on the lesser channels.

snap. Jeez he is the best bar none
Love his articles for the guardian

Also thought the Ex QPR/rangers/england co host - whose name i cant remember was ace mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm what was his name again:mad: