Idiot ITV commentators

[BJ.]

Could someone please explain to this simple soul why the clowns on the mike at the World Cup feel it is vital to constantly tell us which club each player belongs to? I'm sick and tired of hearing about 'London Irish's Delon Armitage' or 'Saracen's Matt Stevens' or 'Leicester's Toby Flood'. For the time being, they are ENGLAND'S Armitage, Stevens, Flood etc!

I'm assuming the commentators have a potted history of each player in front of them and that's all they know about them so they repeat it ad nauseum for 80 minutes. It's times like this I'm actually missing the dulcet tones of a certain Mr Barnes.

[Purebob]

It makes me yearn for Bleddyn's enthusiastic bumbling.

[Tigers27]

Don't really think it is a major problem. There will be people watching who have never really been into rugby before, so it only explains who they play for.

[BJ.]

But the point is they're not playing for their clubs at the moment - they're representing their country. If people are watching for the first time, they're going to be interested in, for example, Chris Ashton scoring tries for England and not the fact he plays his club rugby for Northampton.

It's not just the England games either: this is happening in every match. It's plainly obvious the commentators know diddley about the game except for what's written down in front of them and so they repeat it over and over again.

[kpb]

Whilst watching games like France vs Canada i'm not 100% certain who plays for which club so i find this information useful.

[tig1]

I'm assuming the commentators have a potted history of each player in front of them and that's all they know about them so they repeat it ad nauseum for 80 minutes. It's times like this I'm actually missing the dulcet tones of a certain Mr Barnes.[/quote]

BJ, I watched the match in KL today. We had Mr Barnes on our commentary so i assume he is doing some freelancing for the Asian and Australian broadcasters !

He spent the first 30 minutes berating Jonathan Caplan for not sin binning an England player. Calling his performance weak refereeing. England conceeded something like 7 penalties in 13 mintues at the ruck and he didnt even give a warning. Barnes was saying the other way round Georgia would have been down to 14 men. Amongst the players he was only reasonably complimentary about Flood and Armitage.

[BJ.]

Whilst watching games like France vs Canada i'm not 100% certain who plays for which club so i find this information useful.

Why do you need to know which clubs they play for? The match is France v Canada, not Toulouse v Bayside Sharks.

If you didn't already know which clubs they play for and was asked at the end of the game to match up the player to the club, I bet you'd struggle to remember 33% of them with the information given.

The point I'm trying to make is all this information is meaningless in an international: in this case, the players are either French or Canadian. The commentators are mistaking information for interest.

[Artuin]

From Dunedin:
We do not get this information, not sure if this lucky or unlucky. Just enjoying the rugby at the moment, and the fans and the atmosphere etc.

[Skin_and_Muscle]

I'm not sure it is anyone's prerogative to tell others what information they should or do find useful when listening to commentary.

There is a well worn line on this forum that if you don't like the commentary mute it and listen to the radio.If that sort of rugby commentary is so offensive to somebody that it gets in the way of watching it (or people find it so troublesome to watch a game of rugby without picking up on the minutiae of the commentary) then maybe they should take that advice.

[Richard]

I thought they would of been alot better than they have. It seems they are being told what to say by their directors. Martin Gillingham is way behind the play with the players names, he seems to not know who they are and he reverts to just naming the more familiar players. . They seem to want to keep rabitting on and not let the pictures speak for themselves, the hidden agenda is to slag the England play as much as possible. The studio analysts suck Too.

[biffer]

Phil Vickery is awful too. Adds no insight or analysis at all. I know Brian Moore isn't everyone's cup of tea, but at least he tells you some things you don't know yourself, which is the reason to have expert analysts.

[BJ.]

They seem to want to keep rabbiting on and not let the pictures speak for themselves, the hidden agenda is to slag the England play as much as possible. The studio analysts suck too.

I agree. I get the feeling they think every second has to have some commentary added to it whether it is needed or not. Who knows - they may also be of the opinion the 'moron music' that blares out after a score at some grounds is a good idea.

OK, perhaps tell us once at the top of the game which club a player belongs to but please don't keep banging on about it for 80 minutes.

As for the studio analysts, all they need to do is get rid of Steve Rider. It's painfully obvious he doesn't know one end of a rugby ball from the other and has to be fed his lines from the gallery. He makes Pretty Boy Lazenby look good.

[kpb]

Sometimes whilst watching a game of rugby,be it France vs Canada/England vs Georgia etc...(with the exception of the England players) i often wonder who a certain player plays for,especially if i think that the player has a lot of promise and Tigers could snap him up!

[Rykard]

Phil Vickery is awful too. Adds no insight or analysis at all. I know Brian Moore isn't everyone's cup of tea, but at least he tells you some things you don't know yourself, which is the reason to have expert analysts.

I have to agree withthis he is soooo PC and not explaining anything.

[Longshanks]

Listening to Dallaglio, I have to ask whether he wants England to play well and succeed in the competition. His antipathy towards the England setup and Johnson in particular seems to colour almost every remark.