Motson had his time... but who will replace him? an ex-pro with no charisma or base intelligence whatsoever.
One need only utter the words "Sally Gunnell" to realise that, all too frequently, while TV companies think that they're going for a safe pair of hands when they appoint a well-loved former sports star into the role of commentator, it is in fact all-too-often a disastrous move.
Crucially, former sports-men and -women often lack enough distance and perspective on their sport not only to commentate on it, but also to provide some sort of critique on what they're seeing. This seems particularly acute with ex-athletes - who seem to find it all-but-impossible to criticise fellow athletes (since they understand the efforts and privations that the athletes go through in order to compete); but it is also far too often the case with footballers.
I realise that Motty has, sadly, probably had his day. Pearce I feel a bit sorry for - he should have been born Colombian; they'd love him out there. Green, surely, is deeply odious and not liked by anyone bar his mother?
But that doesn't alter the fact that being an ex-footballer is not the sole determining factor as to whether or not you're any cop as a commentator? In fact, your ability as a commentator should be determined solely by:
1. Your ability with words - i.e. do you have a wide enough vocabulary and broad enough knowledge of the context in which that vocabulary should be used, in order to be interesting?
2. Your eyesight and speed of brain-to-mouth - can you describe with sufficient speed and accuracy what you are seeing?
3. Your voice - is it interesting tonally, and is it pleasant on the ear?
4. Your knowledge of and interest in the game and, perhaps, its wider context in the world of sport - e.g. Stephen Fry would score big points on numbers 1-3, but if he can't do number 4, then he'll probably not make much of a footy commentator. And it's this "wider context" that separates the really good commentators from the also-rans - e.g. Gunnell is too close to her fellow athletes to find it in herself to criticise a Briton - since she can't appreciate the wider context that when a Briton has just finised 7th in the semi-final, that's actually bloody disappointing when he or she has been beaten by a Kenyan who gets by on $100 a month.
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I agree that ex-pros as summarisers is a good thing - they can give you an idea of what the players are going through in any given context because they've actually
been there. But in no way, shape or form does your ability with a ball at your feet correspond in any way to whether or not you'll have any ability with a microphone in your hand.
If there is an exception to this rule, it may be cricket, where it appears to be far more frequent and indeed acceptable to be a lone-shark in a team game - cricketers seem to have a sense of perspective and an ability to distance themselves from their team-mates even during their careers. Thus, you have plenty of world class players who have gone on to be world class commentators - obviously Benaud (who famously had no compunction in calling the act of a fellow Australian cricket captain - the infamous Chappell underarm ball - "disgusting"... can you imagine a ex-footballer or ex-athlete saying the same about one of their fellow pros?), but also Holding, Gower, Boycott, Ian Smith, and Tony Greig.
As for football, while there are one or two who aren't too bad behind the mike - I quite like Andy Gray; Kammy's enthusiasm is infectious; and Pleat / Graham Taylor are impressively astute when discussing tactics - the overwhelming majority of pros-turned-commentators are extraordinarily bland... Lineker, Dixon, Alan Smith, Le Tissier, Keown, Crooks, Townsend, and especially Shearer. Even Hansen is turning into a parody of himself after a promising start.
So, here's hoping they find the next Motty from amongst the ranks of the up-and-coming commentators (one of my fellow MCC commentators is a potential commentating star, I reckon - he's superb behind the mike), rather than turning to a tired old pro in another tired old appointment.
Matt
