If you were a kid watching สมัครสมาชิก UFABET ที่นี่ as a kid, like me, you may have dreamed of being a football commentator. It’s one of those fairytales that you think could only happen to people with a certain amount of ambition, work experience and diligence, as well as the right blend of luck. But for the lucky few whose ambitions do come true, there aren’t many sports media careers more daunting than co-commentating at a live match in front of an audience.

This week Jonathan Liew wrote in The Guardian that it’s time to let the game do the talking, to stop commentary filling up the airwaves with ‘a blizzard of useless noise’. There’s no doubt he has a point. But it’s not quite as simple as that.

The Art of the Call: Inside Football Commentary and Broadcasting

Good football commentators do more than just talk about the game, they describe the game. The ability to do this in a way that sounds natural and effortless is the result of years of practice, a lot of which is done in public.

Countless hours go into researching each game. Clive Tyldesley, for example, has a notebook he calls his ‘football bible’ that contains details on all the teams he covers. He does this for every Sunderland match, and even if the research is not cited in commentary it provides him with a solid base of information that gives his reports a sense of authority.

Broadcasters also have to get a feel for each game, and that comes from observing the players and the fans. They have to be able to identify the sound of each player’s footsteps, and the clunk of tackles or the crunch of pads colliding. They have to be able to anticipate which direction a play will take, and when something exciting might happen.

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