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JZ's Diary

The Art of the Football Commentator

大象传媒 Radio Scotland commentary team

Football commentary on the radio is an unrecognised art form. I hereby call on the to issue a policy statement to confirm its status in Scottish culture. I must have a word with Richard Holloway about this. Maybe I can get a grant.

Just think about it; you鈥檙e sat there with a lip-microphone watching 22 blokes chasing a ball and you have to use your voice, your vocabulary and your knowledge of the game to convey the drama of the occasion. It鈥檚 poetry. It鈥檚 storytelling. It鈥檚 performance art.

This came to mind most recently when I was listening to a recording of last year鈥檚 SPL championship deciders. As ever, Radio Scotland had from games across the country but the crucial ties were Celtic away to Motherwell and Rangers away to Hibs. The Championship was decided in the dying minutes of the Celtic game when the Glasgow side conceded two goals. Commentator David Begg painted a picture of high drama, of tears and celebration. You could see it all; the ball in the back of the net, the crestfallen army of green and white, the referee looking at his watch.

Sometimes I meet people who tell me they only ever listen to music on the radio and don鈥檛 like speech programmes.
鈥淲hat about football?鈥 I ask.
鈥淥h yes, I always listen to that...鈥

I鈥檝e puzzled over this. That phrase 鈥渟peech radio鈥 has its own connotations. It implies news programming, documentaries, politics, culture and authors plugging books. In the same way 鈥渢alk radio鈥 has come to mean phone-in shows and provocative opinions. There鈥檚 a degree of snobbery and inverted snobbery around both. At its worst there鈥檚 an implication that all speech radio should be aimed at a cosy clique of well-bred intellectuals. The same perverse logic would suggest that a speech programme with broad appeal is a clear example of 鈥渄umbing down.鈥 Yet popular programmes can be things of beauty!

On my frequent trips down memory lane I often come across an image from my childhood. It鈥檚 of a group of pals sitting in an Easterhouse garden, gulping down shared bottles of fizzy Orange Crush (hygienic if you wiped the neck with the back of your hand) and devouring packet after packet of smoky bacon crisps. There鈥檚 a soundtrack to this memory and it comes from a little black and silver box nestled among a clump of flattened dandelions. It鈥檚 a radio. It鈥檚 transmitting coverage of a Cup Final鈥robably Rangers v Celtic, but I鈥檇 need Richard Gordon to confirm the dates. Yet we small boys are not really in that garden. We鈥檝e been transported to Parkhead or Ibrox..most probably Hampden. We鈥檙e in the crowd, we鈥檙e on the field, we鈥檙e face-to-face with the ref telling him where he鈥檚 gone wrong, we鈥檙e shouting in the ear of the manager and offering our expert advice on substitutions. In other words, we've been encouraged to use that most wondrous of things - our imagination. Surely that's what art is meant to do.

I tell you, football commentary on the radio. It鈥檚 not just speech. It鈥檚 music to my ears.

Sportsound team

Comments

This piece is so accurate.Commentating is an unrecognised art form and your commentator, David Begg is a fluent wordsmith of the first order conveying the excitement, drama and colour of football to this non-footie person in an amazing way! Also his programme with Renton Laidlaw and others during the Open Golf tournament last summer was surely one of the finest sports programmes ever put out by Radio Scotland in recent years. It was a tour de force! I meant to write to you and Richard Gordon at the time but was overtaken by other events.I hope you'll do something similar at the next Open. I happen to know that David will be 60 in July and hope that you and his pals on the sports team will make it a special birthday for him. He deserves recognition. He's special!

lornandian paterson from Stirling

fantastic, so true, the use of imagination as you say, transports you to the venue, makes you feel there and part of it. i myself would love to be a sports a commentator

Pete Kavanagh 17 years old from Derry, N.Ireland

First class coverage from Richard Gordon & the team. David Begg is an outstanding commentator & I am sometimes annoyed when he is not covering the Hibs game! The only downside when listening to the match at Tynecastle,apart from the result, which was on the medium wave, is the reception in my part of Plockton. It is probably better at Maggie Cunninghams!

Donald MacKenzie from Plockton

Totally agree - to fitba fans like me, living south of the border, Radio Scotland's sports commentaries are a godsend, all the more so because of the quality of the commentators. Ok, one of the best ever retired recently, but those that remain do a grand job when you compare them to some others - particularly a certain over-opinionated Ulsterman on a national 大象传媒 station - no names mind!

David Sinck from Chesterfield, Derbyshire

I'll pass on all these comments to the team...they'll be much appreciated. Pete, let us know if we can offer any advice with your career ambitions.

Jeff Zycinski from 大象传媒 Radio Scotland

The laws of inverse ratio apply here. ! ( I think I've made that up,-- I missed a lot more schooling than you Jeff. )The Scottish game - and I'm a big football fan- offers excellent commentary-discussion/poor fitba' and down south, the reverse. I'd've loved to have seen Bob Crampsey's report on my class at Holyrood S.S as I think I recall he was our 'form master '. Jim

jim donaldson from glenmoriston

Further to my comments above, I believe that 大象传媒 Sportsround commentators should be nominated for a "best comedy" award at the next Sonys. Did you hear them Sunday night? Game over, Chic Young, Richard Gordon and Jim Traynor got into a debate about, amongst other things, the plural of mongoose (mongeese I think was the final answer, but I was laughing too much to remember properly). Why? You had to be there. Absolutely hilarious though!

David Sinck from Chesterfield, Derbyshire

This is so accurate. David is a top class commentator. On 810 MW the drama of "Boyd picks up, sets himself and scores" or "Sproule, can he finish YES HE CAN" or even "Played forward to Britton and layed back to McDonald who volleys into the net to send the championship the way of Ibrox". Talk of composure on both parts. So many on other radio stations would become over-excited and inaudible yet David kept his cool. What is most impressive is his apparent love of goals. YOu can hear between the lines of the smile on Beggys face, and absolute hero and hopefully a role-model for a relatively young listener like myself. I now prefer listening to some matches than watching adverts on other non-大象传媒 channels.

Andrew from Glasgow.

Further to my previous comment, I would like to respond to your previous reader's (Mr. Kavanagh's)aspirations to become a sports commentator, I am in a simalar situation in which I think it would greatly helpful to have some profiles of all the Radio Scotland commentators. Also, I would like to reiterate my praise of all the commentators, and browsing through external forums I notice several nominations of Paul Mitchell, John Barnes, Beggy and Scott Davie as people's favourite commentators. Incidentally, was it John Barnes doing the commentary when Rangers played Aberdeen and Ricksen scored a free kick just before the interval? Many fans have expressed their desire to hear John on another full live match.

Andrew from Glasgow (again)

excellent team of commentators Isalute you all

RIchard Sullivan from Clane Co Kildare

excellent team of commentators Isalute you all

RIchard Sullivan from Clane Co Kildare

DAVID BEGG IS A GOD

Andy from Aberdeen

DAVID BEGG PLEASE DON'T RETIRE FROM UR BIGGEST FAN!!! IT WILL BE A SAD DAY IF HE DOES :( :(

Andy from Aberdeen

I remember your first commentary, some great Euro nights way back in 83/84 and was gutted to hear your last. You have been like a part of the furniture and Radio Scotland will never sound the same again. Cheers Saint David Begg!

John F from Glasgow

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