Sports Media Blacklist

1

Who annoys you in the sports media and why?

I’ll start with a few:

  1. Tony Ward - always waffling on about Leinster schools rugby like it’s the pinnacle of world rugby.

  2. Tony Cascarino - if you’re not interested in Celtic stop fucking commentating on them. His lack of knowledge is embarrassing.

  3. Alan Ball - said he stopped going to football because there were too many foreigners playing it now. Stop fucking commenting on it then fuckwit.

  4. That gobshite from The Herald yesterday (the Scottish broadsheet, not the Irish tabloid) who ruined otherwise decent match reports by awarding the following player ratings out of ten:
    Boruc 5 - nothing to do other than the penalty
    Telfer 6 - composed in defence
    Gravesen 6 - frustrating player
    Zurawski 4 - ineffective
    Miller 3 - didn’t do much
    Sno 4 - passed him by
    We won ya fool, get over it.

  5. Ger Canning - hopeless at identifying players, particularly in hurling. The silences when he can’t figure out who has the ball are cringeworthy but the blatant mistakes are worse.

  6. Ray Houghton - brutal analyst with zero knowledge of the game

I’ve excluded Dunphy because he’s generally shit at analysing the game and he knows fuck all about football but when he’s right he tends to be bang on and at least he calls it as he sees it. Plenty of pundits like Giles shouldn’t be commentating on Celtic because they don’t know enough but I’m not trying to be bitter here and I accept he’s decent when the EPL is on.

2

Definitley Canning, he a fookin fool

3

Good thread, agree with a lot of those above.

  1. The BBC Match of the Day team (Lineker, Lawrenson, Hansen). I haven’t watched this programme in months because of their inane, back slappping ramblings. ‘Even you would have scored that Gary’. Cue much guffawing in studio. ‘No, he wouldn’t have got away from me Lawro’ etc etc. Just analyse the fooking games like you’re paid to do.

  2. Ger Loughnane. A bitter, bitter individual always allowing his personal grievances with other managers affect his objectivity. Constantly criticising other coaches’ tactical decisions in high octane games where the margin of defeat may have been as little as a point. Reviled by many in Clare now for his over the top and stinging criticisms of Anthony Daly who was a loyal captain for him but whose loyalty wasn’t repaid by all the cheap shots Loughnane gave him in the media. I hope he fails miserably with Galway and that’s just because of him and not Galway who I’d like to see make a breakthrough at some stage.

  3. Ger Canning - as above. Limitied knowledge of the fundamentals of hurling and football. There’s always stuff like a player dropping his hurley and the ref giving a free against him for it and Ger will be like, ‘Ooh very harsh there, I didn’t think he went over the alloted 4 steps rule’ or something equally as baffling. Agree thoroughly on the player identification point…‘And it’s a wonderful point by the Kilkenny man…from out on the wing…and as it sailed over the bar…(waiting for replay)…the crowd told us it was over…(sees replay)…and it was DJ CAREY I think’. Fool.

  4. Ray Houghton. This guy is some idiot. His best one the other night was claiming that ManU’s penalty should have been retaken due to Boruc being off his line. Even though he wasn’t and nobody else picked up on this. For someone who was obviously a talented player I can’t believe the amount of points he makes that are plainly ridiculous to such an extent that you’d wonder had he ever seen a football before never mind performed at the highest level in the game.

  5. Cascarino, Macari, Nicholas and other ex-Celtic players who, believing the only way they’ll continue to be given TV work and newspaper columns down in London, is to fit in with the wider view in England that Celtic are a poor, poor side and so they are almost savouring their anti-Celtic and anti-Scottish football articles. Get it right up you. Macari was the funniest the day the CL draw was made going on about how he had watched the pre-season game between Celtic and ManU and that Celtic needed to sign a whole new team as they had been pathetic in losing to ManU’s kids. The Celtic team that night was: Boruc, Lawson, Caldwell, Varga, Camara, McGeady, Quinn, Thompson, Riordan, Zurawski, Virgo. Hardly a first XI either you fool.

  6. That Butch Harmon guy on Sky’s golf coverage. Big cheesy grin and always bigging himself up as he used to coach Tiger Woods.

  7. There will be more but I’m tired now.

4

Joe Brolly - little f**ker slagged Wexford off big time a few years ago. Was chanting “open the gates, open the gates” to let Wexford out, i.e. Derry were beating us out the gate. Hate him.

5

Andy Gray - In a similar vein to match of the day team. He is just comes across as smug and condescending.

6

Where to start? Havent time to write a complete list but for starters:

Ward (as above)
Gerry McDermott, annoying cooont
David Kelly in the Indo, for his get Eddie out campaign. Get out yourself you muppet.
Loughnane as a pundit diappointed me, often changed his views half way through. And expecially for his attacks on Clare, the men that made him in the first place.
Dunphy is a clown but great fun.

7

Smashing thread this

Agree with most of what has been already said

  1. Smugness of BBC fuckers. They know nothing about ball as well. If whyohwhy was still on the forum he would be saying that they do talk shite but they have the right to talk shite. Bullshite

  2. RTEs GAA coverage particularly football. Words cant express how fucking angry they make me (Brolly, Davis, O’Rourke and Spillane). Hurling doesnt seem to be as bad but I definitely take Appendage’s point about Loughnane biting the hand that fed him. It actually lets their top notch sports coverage down. Here’s to Michael Lyster though - excellent presenter

  3. David Kelly. I saw him giving player ratings for Ireland against San Marino!!! I thought he was a rugby commentator

  4. Cascarino. He told the story about how he witnessed the Keane and McCarty incident on the bus in Boston but it turns out he wasn’t actually on the trip!

  5. Toshack. Tries to come across as the knowledgeable one. Kept predicting against Liverpool on run up to Champions League final which is terrible for an ex player. Very fond also of mentioning that he was the one who pulled Geremi from Turkey to Real Madrid and look at him now! What about him now?

  6. ITV and their woman presenter - you can’t do that

  7. Ger Canning - terrible cliche-driven commentator

  8. Ryle Nugent - Kiely’s Heino boy

Want to get to ten

  1. Andy Gray - only access to Sky Sports is through a pub so don’t hear his analysis. But I saw him on Question of Sport and Jesus is he an obnoxious fucker

  2. Jonathan Davies - hates Ireland, loves Wales. Once said that Alan Bateman was a better centre than Brian O’Driscoll. Nuff said. Give it up for Eddie Jones and Brian Moore. Smashing commentary team. Jones has a great voice and knows when to let the crowd take over and Moore is unashamingly biased - great stuff. Contrast that with Ryle and Tony - the eternal optimists

8

I presume you mean Eddie Butler at the end there farmer? I haven’t seen one mention on anybody’s list yet of any selection I’d disagree with. So many gobshites out there - living off past glories.

The biggest disappointment for me is the RTE GAA coverage. They tried Spillane as their controversial Hook/Dunphy type figure and he was shite but now that he’s presenting it’s even worse.

Just to give some balance to the thread I do like:

  • Darragh Moloney in general though again knows sweet fuck all about Celtic
  • Against all the odds Souness was excellent in the world cup on RTE
  • Michael Corcoran on the radio is good
  • Ralph Keyes is a good co-commentator
  • Pat Dolan is good craic
  • Most cricket commentators are excellent
9

Agree with a large number of the above:

Rocks first one really struck a cord with me, the coverage the Leinster senior cup gets every year is ridiculous and really pisses me off. You could add Gerry Thornley to that as well, hes another tosser. You think the majority of the country honestly give a fook if Blackrock beat Clongowes in the first round or that St Michaels have the easier run to the final? No we dont, the Irish Independent and Times are national newspapers not papers for a minority of schools in Dublin and Kildare.

Also concur with Ger Canning. Besides his inability to identify players his Cork bias is crazy. His commentary seems to get worse every year, watched the 88 final between Galway and Tipp the other night and his commentary of that actually wasnt too bad compared to his recent efforts.

Joe Brolly is another one. His constant reference to Northern teams in his analysis especially Tyrone and Armagh really annoys me.

Tony Davis. Dont know why this guy annoys me but he does. His perfect Cork accent might have something to do with it I suppose and his overuse of the word terrific. Kerry were terrific today Michael, terrific fielding by Donaghy leading to their second goal. Terrific Hes a cop somewhere and he was on that Crimewatch programme one night about 2 years ago, dressed in uniform talking the presenter through loads of stolen jewellery they had seized, absolutely priceless!

Dont have a problem with Ger Loughnane and dont concur with Bandages wish that Galway fail miserably under him, would be great to see them make the breakthrough! :wink:

That Ken Early dude whos football correspondent with Off the Ball on Newstalk.

10

Eddie Butler of course

I like:

John Giles - ‘Ronaldo could never be considered a great player. A great player would never do the things he does’. Spot on about Gerrard and pretty much everything else.

Micheal O’Mhuircheartaigh - could be quoting this guy all day. I love his technique of whispering ‘the ball goes into the back of the net’ and then roaring ‘A GOAL FOR LEITRIM’

George Hook (sometimes) - ‘Playing Jason Robinson in the centre is like driving a Ferrari through Friday eveing traffic on Stephen’s Green’

Brent Pope (sometimes) - cant think of any quotes from him but good knowledge

Dunphy is tremendous entertainment - Rod Liddle

Eugene McGee - never smiles or buys into the fact that he is on television. I like that. Generally talks sense as well and not only on GAA matters.

Cyril Farrell - has good knowledge but comes up with some crazy lines ‘I mean Cork are a good team, there’s no point saying that they are not’

Forgot to mention that Brian Carthy fucker in my earlier list of those I hate

11

Souness was indeed excellent. I remember watching England’s first game on RTE and he was there with Dunphy, Giles and Brady. Even before the game the boys tore into England, criticising all the players individually; ‘Ferdinand is a clown’ etc etc and Souness was sitting there with an amazed expression on his face. You could then see the thought process working as he began to realise he could say what he liked instead of pandering to the egos of Lampard, Gerrard and Beckham like they do on BBC, ITV and Sky.

His funniest moment was when the Polish captain got sent off for 2 needless yellows against Germany and then they fell to a late defeat. Back in studio Souness was analysing the sending off and noticed the Polish coach gave the guy a pat on the back as he walked off. With steam coming out of his ears and a big red, angry face on him he goes, ‘Just look at that. Absolutely disgraceful. Disgutsing! A pat on the back! I would have given him a punch in the face.’ And you knew he meant it.

I agree on Darragh Maloney too - very competent and surely deserves to be RTE’s main GAA commentator now. I get the impression that he comes from a soccer background and he may not be that familiar with the technical fouls in hurling for example but he’s been good in any football game I’ve seen him do and they gave him the odd hurling game last year too.

Don’t know enough about those rugby lads you mention but what is the opinion on Hook/Pope/McGurk? Entertaining and informative or loving their own hype and becoming almost a charicature of themselves? I must say McGurk’s constant habit of not listening to the analysts’ points and shouting over them to ask the next question before they have finished really grates on me.

Jury’s still out on the Setanta football coverage for me as I’m not sure about Dempsey and Dolan. The guy Dempsey knows his stuff but he has a strange habit of shouting questions across to Pat as if this adds to the drama of the event, ‘IS THIS CELTIC’S NIGHT, PAT?’ Dolan can be fine at times but he has his odd mystifying moment too. Cascarino and Townsend add nothing to the party at all.

The gone but not forgotten Channel 4 cricket coverage was supreme. As the bhoy said Sky is just not as good although they have some of the same personnel as C4 employed. It’s funny the way there’s so many series around the world with all different host broadcasters so you get the same guys in different combinations doing the games. Most of them are very competent it has to be said.

Obviously I hated the Setanta Scottish football coverage last season with Jock Brown and Mark Hately making it like Rangers TV when commentating on the games. As well as their bias in analysing incidents involving Celtic even the difference in tone when Celtic as opposed to Rangers scored was hilarious. It was hurting them so much. I really like the new guy they have, Ian Crocker, who used to do the Scottish football on Sky. He’s had some great lines in the past like when Larsson chipped Klos in the 6-2 game, ‘And in Paradise that’s what Celtic dreams are made of.’ The other week when Rangers were playing he said, ‘This is Rangers’ best performance since the 1-1 home draw with Motherwell last month.’ I kid you not.

12

Some cracking lists there when I was doing my last one. Yeah Tony Davis is a cop indeed! I might have posted this before but I nearly wet myself one night when flicking around the channels to notice Con Murphy presenting Crime Call. What next? Marian Finucane presenting The Sunday Game?

Farmer, when has Micheal ever said, ‘And it’s a goal for Leitrim!’ I’m not having a pop at Leitrim here because I know they’ve the best full back line in the country.

I disagree thoroughly with Eugene McGee. He strikes me as an old codger, stuck in the middle ages. Every single Monday morning in the Indo throughout the championship season he writes a column in the most boring, turgid style and every single time he’s bemoaning the style of play and saying at least we used to kick the ball in my day etc etc. Get over yourself. Time has moved on and the game has developed. Then you watch TG4 All Ireland Gold and you notice the majority of the games he’s reminiscing about were played at a walking pace and without half the intensity and skill of the games we see now like Kerry-Armagh and Mayo-Dublin this year.

13

Fookin hate Daragh Maloney, he’s a smug prick. Also marty morrisey, he’s an ugly fooker and a fool. kevin mc stay is an anti dub bastard and brian carthy also does my head in.

also who is that wanker that co commentates on the gaa football, usually with marty morrissey, and i think he’s called martin something? he fooking recks my head. oh yeah its martin carney thats it, he a right toss pot.

what do people think of des cahill? i respect his longevity and he has a decent knowledge of sport history and goings on, but he is an annoying bastard; i mean his face is deformed and he is just an annoying fook to listen to, he has such a monotonous voice

so as you can see, i hate rte gaa coverage, too many muck savages, the dubs have no representation there.

also i think the rugby league coverage on sky is shite. some auld fella called eddie something and his gay mate who is reffered to as “steve - o.” The thing that really pisses me about these guys is that they present the show and the analysis, but they also do the commentary. you cant do that fook heads! there’s no segregation of duties, im surprised the auditors didnt pick up on that!

TV3 are pretty dismal. i remember they showed the Ireland v Cyprus game. it was fookin pathetic. there was some right wankers on the panel: Ronnie Whelan, Matt Holland and Toshack i think. absolute shite

In fact tv3 really piss me off, they dont have a single good sports reporter (or news reporter for that matter). David Kelly, trevor welsh, darren frehill, joanne cantwell etc etc all fookin pathetic. that station really annoys me. i mean its around how many years now and still has shown no evidence of evolving/improving its new and sports. fookin ridiculous. to put it into context; look at setanta sports; the quality of their coverage is probably better than that of tv3, despite the fact that they clearly have budget restraints that tv3 do not. kudos to setanta, i have a lot of respect for what they are doing. love that show “the hub” with Daire O Brain.

speaking of setanta, that guy paul collins (from today fm) pisses me off to, as does Johnny Lyons

14

There’s some interesting names cropping up here - some guys who I don’t really like on tv but don’t mind in print (McGurk is excellent in the Sunday Business Post and occasionally funny on RTE but generally he’s just disruptive to discussions) - others who are ok on tv but I can’t stand them in the paper (Eugene McGee).

I don’t like Hook because he’s a poor man’s Dunphy - he has very limited expertise and he tries to compensate for it with controversy. At least with Dunphy you get quality rants that are some times bang on the money and sometimes just hilarious. With Hook you get him spouting crap about Ireland learning nothing from these autumn games - I don’t mind pundits putting the boot in when teams are doing badly but it always grates when they persist when the team is going well.

15

Some good calls there Ball. That Martin Carney is some tool. He’s going to be a Mayo selector next year under John O’Mahony so hopefully we won’t have to listen to him anymore.

I can’t believe it took this long for somebody to mention Des Cahill. What a chancer this guy is. Has developed this persona as being a sport expert when you could write down the full sum of his sporting knowledge on the back of a stamp. Did you ever see anything as pre-historic and pathetic as this fool presenting Up For The Match the night before All Ireland Finals on RTE. Car crash television.

The rugby league guys are Eddie Hemmings and Mike ‘Stevo’ Stevenson I believe. I often too found it funny that they did the presenting, analysis, commentary, midweek highlights show etc. Hard working guys.

16

Christ the names are flying around the place now.

Agreed with most of that Ball Ox other than Des Cahill. I can’t believe I didn’t mention him before now - has there ever been a less competent sports presenter on radio? His phone in show is laughable:

“Tell me Joe you were at the Chelsea game were you?”
“I was Des.”
“And how was it Joe?”
“Well Des there was bad language from the United fans?”
“Ah no.”
“Yeah.”
“Go on Joe.”
“Sorry Des?”
“Go on… Is there more to it Joe?”
“No, that’s it Des.”
“Ah I see. Terrible these days isn’t it though. What do you think they can do about it Joe?”
“I don’t know Des.”
“No, I suppose not. Do you support Chelsea Joe?”
“No.”
“I don’t either. I hate Man United though ha ha ha.”
“Ah yeah.”
“Hmmm yeah…Ok Joe well listen best of luck and we’ll talk to you aga…”
“Sorry Des…”
“Yeah Joe.”
“Sorry Des I was just going to say I love the show.”
“Thanks Joe.”
“No bother.”
“Ok sure we’ll talk to you again and enjoy the rest of the show.”

Gobshite.

17

Actually speaking of “up for the match” who was the guy who presented it years ago. he had an irish name (o’ murchaugh or something) i thought he was cool. does anyone remeber him, he was abot 90, id say he’s dead now, but he was great. the last one i remeber him doing was Dublin v Down in 95 i think. hats off to him and i would be interested in knowing his name if anybody know wtf im on about.

The rugby league guys are hard working alright. Hard working in the george of a friday night!

18

The funniest things about Eddie and Stevo is that they always seem to get the video ref calls wrong. They see the replays the same as everyone else but they appear to have difficulty in seeing them properly and Stevo will start shouting. “T. R. Y.” but it will be “no try” and they can’t figure it out because they make their mind up too early and don’t see the knock on.

Actually that’s one thing that happens in rugby a lot - when commentators make a call on a try before they see the full angles and they’re afraid to change their mind so they stick to it.

19

I had Cahill in my poll for ‘Biggest Gobshites in Ireland’ so it says what I think of him really

Big mention as well for Dennis Taylor and John Virgo on the snooker on BBC - quality commentators completely in the know and easy to listen to

Big mention as well for Peter Allis. I am not a huge golf fan but I know a bit about it. Apparently he hates Lineker as he sees him as unknowledgeable and a TV man. Legend.

Big mention to Liam Spratt also - love him. And his big muscles.

20

The old guy was Liam O’Murchu. He’d be fook acting around the studio waffling on in Irish and nobody knew what he was at.