[QUOTE=“Sidney, post: 1148995, member: 183”]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.[/QUOTE]
The nation appears to have very fond memories of the Ireland England rugby match of 2007, memories not dimmed by a presenting team of Tom McGurk, George Hook and Brent Pope.
Did any other presenter want that gig at Olympics time? Hours of boring TV for the most part.
Building up a special rapport & trust from the audience? He asked questions that drew controversial responses from his panels, all very good but hardly rocket science.
The real voice of Italia 90 for me was George Hamilton, his commentary of the events will always be the real winner for me.
RIP Bill, but please spare us " Best Broadcaster Ever ". He was competent, affable & steady. Commonly expected traits of any TV broadcaster.
i) As you well know, that event had roughly 3% of the genuine significance that the 1990 World Cup had to the nation.
ii) “Memories not dimmed” being the operative phrase in your reference to McGurk, Hook and Pope. The point being that O’Herlihy’s presentation clearly enhanced the experience of sport in the collective mind of the nation.
[QUOTE=“Sidney, post: 1148995, member: 183”]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.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=“carryharry, post: 1149009, member: 1517”]Did any other presenter want that gig at Olympics time? Hours of boring TV for the most part.
Building up a special rapport & trust from the audience? He asked questions that drew controversial responses from his panels, all very good but hardly rocket science.
The real voice of Italia 90 for me was George Hamilton, his commentary of the events will always be the real winner for me.
RIP Bill, but please spare us " Best Broadcaster Ever ". He was competent, affable & steady. Commonly expected traits of any TV broadcaster.[/QUOTE]
I suppose one of the consequences of our smallness as a nation is that we tend to exaggerate the merits of the merely competent. I’m old enough to remember the great fanfare around the “greatest broadcaster in the world”, Gay Byrne heading off to make his fortune in the States. He was going to show Johnny Carson how it was done. He was sent home with his tea in a mug within a month.
Similarly I remember how the “greatest current affairs broadcaster in the world” Brian Farrell was going to expose Ronald Reagan for the bluffer he was. Farrell was as nervous as a schoolgirl heading off to her first debs and Reagan tied him up in knots.
I’m happy to remember Bill as a man competent enough to ask a few obvious questions of John Giles and Eamon Dunphy and to consider him as one of the great part time anchormen of Irish sports tv along with insurance salesman, Mick Dunne.
[QUOTE=“Sidney, post: 1148995, member: 183”]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.[/QUOTE]
Ah you’d miss auld Bill. Daragh keeps stumping the lads with stats that completely stop whatever nonsense they were talking in it’s tracks. Bill would just sit back and let them at it, poke them every now again if necessary.
He wasn’t exactly awesome, but he was great at what he done. He came across like an alright sort as well and bit of craic.
[QUOTE=“Fagan ODowd, post: 1149027, member: 706”]I suppose one of the consequences of our smallness as a nation is that we tend to exaggerate the merits of the merely competent. I’m old enough to remember the great fanfare around the “greatest broadcaster in the world”, Gay Byrne heading off to make his fortune in the States. He was going to show Johnny Carson how it was done. He was sent home with his tea in a mug within a month.
Similarly I remember how the “greatest current affairs broadcaster in the world” Brian Farrell was going to expose Ronald Reagan for the bluffer he was. Farrell was as nervous as a schoolgirl heading off to her first debs and Reagan tied him up in knots.
I’m happy to remember Bill as a man competent enough to ask a few obvious questions of John Giles and Eamon Dunphy and to consider him as one of the great part time anchormen of Irish sports tv along with insurance salesman, Mick Dunne.[/QUOTE]
That may well be one of the finest posts I’ve read on TFK