I agree with @Fagan ODowd
Not that surprising. He was held in great affection by the general public and it seems by his media colleagues. There are not that many high profile people in Ireland held in almost universal affection.
Like the smell of freshly cut grass on a football pitch, a memory of Bill tends to be a memory that takes you to a more innocent place when the next little spell of time was going to be life defining and he went along for the ride.
I think ultimately though it’s because whoever he worked with liked him and they run the media so the media pay him this tribute. I can think of another two “greatest” broadcaster (one sport and one not) ever in Ireland who are both not as well liked by colleagues and when they pass it will be a moment to replay greatest hits but without the affection.
[QUOTE=“TheUlteriorMotive, post: 1148911, member: 2272”]Not that surprising. He was held in great affection by the general public and it seems by his media colleagues. There are not that many high profile people in Ireland held in almost universal affection.
Like the smell of freshly cut grass on a football pitch, a memory of Bill tends to be a memory that takes you to a more innocent place when the next little spell of time was going to be life defining and he went along for the ride.
I think ultimately though it’s because whoever he worked with liked him and they run the media so the media pay him this tribute. I can think of another two “greatest” broadcaster (one sport and one not) ever in Ireland who are both not as well liked by colleagues and when they pass it will be a moment to replay greatest hits but without the affection.[/QUOTE]
JM and PK?
GB and MOM
[QUOTE=“Sidney, post: 1148908, member: 183”]A “minor media character” who presented probably the 10 or 15 most watched programmes in the history of Irish television.
I think you may be deliberately exaggerating here.[/QUOTE]
Ok not the father of the nation, but how about the Uncle of the Nation.
“He was sport’s Uncle Gaybo. The nation’s Uncle Bill. So much so, we simply called him Bill or Billo.”
(Kieran Shannon in the Cork Examiner today.)
Marty Oogly Morrissey? “He was the nations ugly cousin, the sort of cousin who would turn up at a wedding with an orange head and boot polish hair, and a shirt unbuttoned to the navel and start jiving with all the girls. Ugly Cousin Marty, or Cousin Martin, for short”.
I grew up with Bill and I am very sad to see him pass (well as much as someone who watched him on TV could). My main memory of Bill would be him cracking open a bottle of champagne if we qualified for a major tournament. Great memories.
I actually think him and Richard Whiteley were quite similar. They both played the fool to a certain extent but were so likeable and watchable.
His loyalty to the Blueshirts was worrying but still not enough to diminish his legendary status in my eyes.
Lads need to realise that Bill is gone now, no need to lick his hole on here anymore. He won’t be posting around these E parts anymore.
I thought Bill was from Cork originally…You’re gas at times.
[QUOTE=“farmerinthecity, post: 1148925, member: 24”]I grew up with Bill and I am very sad to see him pass (well as much as someone who watched him on TV could). My main memory of Bill would be him cracking open a bottle of champagne if we qualified for a major tournament. Great memories.
I actually think him and Richard Whiteley were quite similar. They both played the fool to a certain extent but were so likeable and watchable.
His loyalty to the Blueshirts was worrying but still not enough to diminish his legendary status in my eyes.[/QUOTE]
One of your great memories is watching someone open a bottle of champagne on the telly?
@Fagan O’Dowd appears to be unaware of how the media works and unaware of the cultural significance of O’Herlihy and the RTE panel in people’s minds.
Ireland is a small country with a relatively narrowly drawn media landscape. O’Herlihy presented coverage of pretty much every major international sporting event the country has been involved in in most people’s living memory. That coverage wasn’t bland wallpaper in the way that say, BBC or ITV’s coverage of in British sporting events is. It was always an integral part of the experience, and it was invariably superb television, whether you liked the characters involved or not.
It’s undeniable that O’Herlihy was a superb presenter. A mile ahead of almost every other TV sports presenter I can think of on Irish, British or US television, and with far more cultural impact.
being a constant pedant is boring
If Bill opened a bottle of champagne on TV it meant that day had been a day when sporting success had been achieved. They tend to be good memories if you like sport.
and compiling stats on suicide
[QUOTE=“Sidney, post: 1148945, member: 183”]@Fagan O’Dowd appears to be unaware of how the media works and unaware of the cultural significance of O’Herlihy and the RTE panel in people’s minds.
Ireland is a small country with a relatively narrowly drawn media landscape. O’Herlihy presented coverage of pretty much every major international sporting event the country has been involved in in most people’s living memory. That coverage wasn’t bland wallpaper in the way that say, BBC or ITV’s coverage of in British sporting events is. It was always an integral part of the experience, and it was invariably superb television, whether you liked the characters involved or not.
It’s undeniable that O’Herlihy was a superb presenter. A mile ahead of almost every other TV sports presenter I can think of on Irish, British or US television, and with far more cultural impact.[/QUOTE]
That’s just hot air. What’s his cultural impact? He’ll be forgotten about in a week and people will still take the same pleasure from Ireland winning World Cup matches. Are you trying to suggest that Italia 90 would have meant less to people with a different anchorman?
[QUOTE=“Fagan ODowd, post: 1148916, member: 706”]Ok not the father of the nation, but how about the Uncle of the Nation.
“He was sport’s Uncle Gaybo. The nation’s Uncle Bill. So much so, we simply called him Bill or Billo.”
(Kieran Shannon in the Cork Examiner today.)[/QUOTE]
Jesus god help us with Uncle Gaybo pops his clogs, the country will go into meltdown from the grief.
[QUOTE=“TheUlteriorMotive, post: 1148949, member: 2272”]being a constant pedant is boring
If Bill opened a bottle of champagne on TV it meant that day had been a day when sporting success had been achieved. They tend to be good memories if you like sport.[/QUOTE]
Gee, thanks for spelling that out for me.
No, cracking one off.
The bit in brackets clarifies it you Fénagh cunt.
Jomo Kenyatta 
His cultural impact was that his presenting style and his quirks were burned into the minds of pretty much every person in the country like nobody else with the exception of Gay Byrne, with the difference that there is a significant element of dislike for Byrne on a personal level which was never there with O’Herlihy. The 1990 World Cup is, by a mile, the most significant event in the modern day popular culture of this country, and O’Herlihy, along with Giles and particularly Dunphy, are inextricably linked with it. To say otherwise is just wilful ignorance. People watched football on RTE for the coverage, not just the match, and they’d often end up talking about the coverage, not the match. Compare O’Herlihy’s impact and his popularity to that of Michael Lyster or Tom McGurk and you begin to get the picture, and no, I doubt people would remember the 1990 World Cup in the same way had Michael Lyster been presenting it with Mark Lawrenson and Don Givens doing analysis.
O’Herlihy also did an equally good job with swimming, boxing and athletics as he did with football. I’ve already mentioned that pretty much no other other TV sports presenter anywhere was either as competent at what they did or built up anywhere near the same kind of trust from their audience that O’Herlihy did, and you haven’t disagreed.
To make a comparison with British television, only Des Lynam made anywhere remotely near the same impact there and he didn’t have O’Herlihy’s longevity.
The problem some people here have with him seems to be purely based on his support for Fine Gael, that’s their problem.