BBC commentary

**sonofstan** · 14/09/2006, 8:18 PM

What did anyone think? thought they were worse with the 'plucky little Derry' stuff than even RTE.

**LeixlipRed** · 14/09/2006, 8:29 PM

Thought it was hilarious when the lad doing backup called Forde "roberts". Wtf? Neither of them had a clue about Derry or their players

**monzo** · 14/09/2006, 8:35 PM

Thought they were ok - although I wasn't focusing entirely on the match. Apparently the referee got a boner...

**A face** · 14/09/2006, 8:59 PM

Thought is was alright to be honest, beats RTEs effort hands down anyway as a whole package. Far better presentation for it than RTE would have given so its lucky they didn't go in for it.

**joema** · 14/09/2006, 9:11 PM

Jackie Fullerton kept calling Stephen Kenny Stephen Kelly

**pineapple stu** · 14/09/2006, 9:13 PM

Wasn't bad I thought. Noticed the "Roberts" keeper gaffe alright, plus they kept saying how Shels had nearly qualified for the CL group stages, but then forgot that Shels and Cork had nearly qualified for the UEFA group stages too, which seemed relevant when pointing out what it would mean if Derry qualified.

**sonofstan** · 14/09/2006, 9:26 PM

Think most of us are so used -with justice - to dissing RTE that we automatically think anyone else will do a better job, and I just don't think that was true tonight - far too much of the commentary was of the peasant in the big city 'shucks look at us, playing with the big boys' variety, which wasn't at all warranted; add to that the ignorance on the part of commentators and presenters about the Derry team, and I think it was pretty sub- standard. RTE at least would have had Felix Healy or Dolan or even, god help us, Roddy as co- commentator who would have had some insight. what i think it illustrated was the IL attitude; the 'Europe alright for a lark, but not really for the likes of us' and 'look at these mad Derry people, aren't they mad?', rather than watching a good, committed football team handle technically better opposition pretty damn well.

I know Kenny and his team will be really disappointed if they go out of the competition - they won't be doing the 'sure wasn't it a great experience?' poor mouth routine. Irish football needs to stop wanting fairytales and start wanting hard work leading to earned success, and an informed and committed media should be part of that, not selling this kind of night as some cinderella thing, where poor little Paddy team gets to dress up for the night, as long as they remember they have to be back in their lowly place by midnight, and leave real competitions to the big Irish teams like Celtic and Man U.

**Troy.McClure** · 14/09/2006, 9:39 PM

It was truely abysmal alright, filled with poor puns, back slapping and that 'plucky little Derry' $hite (followed by 'of course we're going to get a whooping next week' sort of stuff).

The only channel that could be worse than RTE, BBC-NI!

**pineapple stu** · 14/09/2006, 9:42 PM

Forgot about that Santa lad - "He'll be hoping for an early Christmas present today" EVERY TIME!!!

Jayz, I think this thread is changing my opinion of the commentary! Wasn't paying too much attention to it though.

**joema** · 14/09/2006, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by sonofstan

Think most of us are so used -with justice - to dissing RTE that we automatically think anyone else will do a better job, and I just don't think that was true tonight - far too much of the commentary was of the peasant in the big city 'shucks look at us, playing with the big boys' variety, which wasn't at all warranted; add to that the ignorance on the part of commentators and presenters about the Derry team, and I think it was pretty sub- standard. RTE at least would have had Felix Healy or Dolan or even, god help us, Roddy as co- commentator who would have had some insight. what i think it illustrated was the IL attitude; the 'Europe alright for a lark, but not really for the likes of us' and 'look at these mad Derry people, aren't they mad?', rather than watching a good, committed football team handle technically better opposition pretty damn well. I know Kenny and his team will be really disappointed if they go out of the competition - they won't be doing the 'sure wasn't it a great experience?' poor mouth routine. Irish football needs to stop wanting fairytales and start wanting hard work leading to earned success, and an informed and committed media should be part of that, not selling this kind of night as some cinderella thing, where poor little Paddy team gets to dress up for the night, as long as they remember they have to be back in their lowly place by midnight, and leave real competitions to the big Irish teams like Celtic and Man U.

Summed it up well, also anyone notice Jackie Fullerton kept calling The Brandywell, just "Brandywell"? Annoyed the fcuk out of me anyway.

Setanta will definitly do better coverage for the second leg

**A face** · 14/09/2006, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by joema

anyone notice Jackie Fullerton kept calling The Brandywell, just "Brandywell"? Annoyed the fcuk out of me anyway.

Have to say that got to me alright, they were singing 'The Randy Brandywell' all night too, it was hard to miss.

**JC_GUFC** · 14/09/2006, 11:46 PM

Thought it was poor alright. The camera work wasn't any better than an RTE production.

Just because it's not RTE doesn't mean it was automatically better. Setanta do the best job but RTE are getting better.

**sligoman** · 15/09/2006, 12:07 AM

Jim Roddy's name appeared as Jim Ruddy before the game too.

Red&White · 15/09/2006, 12:14 AM

Originally Posted by sonofstan

Think most of us are so used -with justice - to dissing RTE that we automatically think anyone else will do a better job, and I just don't think that was true tonight - far too much of the commentary was of the peasant in the big city 'shucks look at us, playing with the big boys' variety, which wasn't at all warranted; add to that the ignorance on the part of commentators and presenters about the Derry team, and I think it was pretty sub- standard. RTE at least would have had Felix Healy or Dolan or even, god help us, Roddy as co- commentator who would have had some insight. what i think it illustrated was the IL attitude; the 'Europe alright for a lark, but not really for the likes of us' and 'look at these mad Derry people, aren't they mad?', rather than watching a good, committed football team handle technically better opposition pretty damn well.

I know Kenny and his team will be really disappointed if they go out of the competition - they won't be doing the 'sure wasn't it a great experience?' poor mouth routine. Irish football needs to stop wanting fairytales and start wanting hard work leading to earned success, and an informed and committed media should be part of that, not selling this kind of night as some cinderella thing, where poor little Paddy team gets to dress up for the night, as long as they remember they have to be back in their lowly place by midnight, and leave real competitions to the big Irish teams like Celtic and Man U.

Terrific post, agree entirely. I've said before that if Kenny could ban phrases like "big day out" and "once in a lifetime experience" from being used in Derry over the last few weeks, he would have.

Also, that's the first time I've seen the words 'Roddy' and 'insight' in the same sentence.

**monzo** · 15/09/2006, 12:28 AM

I agree with whoever said the camera work was atrocious - every fookin' three or four minutes it'd go for a close up of the manager or a player whilst the ball was STILL IN PLAY. ****ed me off no end.

I was going to watch Eurosport's coverage but after hearing the opening that 'Derry City are facing PSG at Brandywell' with no 'The' before the Brandywell, and also the fact they were a minute or two behind.

**sonofstan** · 15/09/2006, 6:39 AM

One of seven 'British clubs in European competition last night' according to the BBC breakfast show this morning.

**harpskid** · 15/09/2006, 9:28 AM

Originally Posted by monzo

I was going to watch Eurosport's coverage but after hearing the opening that 'Derry City are facing PSG at Brandywell' with no 'The' before the Brandywell, and also the fact they were a minute or two behind.

The proper name of the stadium is 'Brandywell' withouth the 'The' as I'm sure some Derry fan will confirm...

See Artie's reports in The Derry Journal...

**Dodge** · 15/09/2006, 9:28 AM

They're right. And so are we.

There you go, the whole Northern troubles summed up in less than 10 words...

TV coverage was appaling IMO but good to see the camera on the proper side at least. BTW the pics next week will be from French TV and if its Canal+ they'll be excellent. Presume the other channels are good too

**Peadar** · 15/09/2006, 9:32 AM

Originally Posted by monzo

Apparently the referee got a boner...

Originally Posted by A face

Thought is was alright to be honest, beats RTEs effort hands down anyway as a whole package.

Have I stumbled into the wrong forum???

**bluemovie** · 15/09/2006, 9:37 AM

Sky Sports spent the night talking about the SEVEN British teams in UEFA Cup action! By what stretch of the imagination could they call Derry City FC British? What league were they representing? You can guarantee that if Berwick Rangers (aren't they the ones just over the border in England) were ever in Europe - perish the thought - they would be referred to as Scottish, not English. And Sky have no problem referring to AS Monaco as French. I'm not overtly-nationalist nor do I generally give a balls about references to Londonderry, but I took this as a slur on our league. Really made my blood boil.

As for the BBC coverage, it started at 6.50 and went on til 9. That's as good as we could hope for. RTE would have started a couple of minutes before kick-off and stopped 5 minutes after the final whistle with copious ad breaks too. I thought the BBC gave a good flavour of the event including the bit in the Millennium Forum. In fairness, it was the biggest game in the club's history and one of the biggest events (of a positive nature) in the city in years.