Four years ago Murray Deaker, who is advertised on Radio Sport and Newstalk ZB as "New Zealand's leading sports broadcaster", announced with some relish that he had scored only 16 per cent in School Certificate French. Evidently, this is a point of pride with Deaker.
You may well ask: so what? After all, there are any number of dumb bastards working in sports and sports journalism, aren't there? Well, of course that's true. But hearing "New Zealand's leading sports broadcaster" (snigger, snort, snigger) boasting that he knows so little about the French language is perhaps a pointer to his attitude, and the attitude of many of his more dismal colleagues, towards French rugby.
The ramifications of this ignorance are a continued denigration of,
and disregard for, French football. Tonight Deaker interviewed Ian
Borthwick, who is a writer for the French sports daily L'Equipe. It
was a pretty straightforward interview in the typical Deaker fashion,
i.e. Borthwick simply ran down the team list, saying a few words about
a number of players in response to questions from Deaker, who had
clearly done no preparation for the interview, and possessed no
insights of his own to deepen the discussion. "Most of us have never
heard of most, or at least some, of these players," he told Borthwick.
I wonder if, say, any English soccer writer would be so ignorant and
lazy as to know next to nothing about a Brazilian team about to play a
friendly match. I wonder, also, if Deaker has ever thought it odd
that we are so starved of coverage of the French game by our myopic
rugby media. We never even see highlights of the French championnat
final any more.
and disregard for, French football. Tonight Deaker interviewed Ian
Borthwick, who is a writer for the French sports daily L'Equipe. It
was a pretty straightforward interview in the typical Deaker fashion,
i.e. Borthwick simply ran down the team list, saying a few words about
a number of players in response to questions from Deaker, who had
clearly done no preparation for the interview, and possessed no
insights of his own to deepen the discussion. "Most of us have never
heard of most, or at least some, of these players," he told Borthwick.
I wonder if, say, any English soccer writer would be so ignorant and
lazy as to know next to nothing about a Brazilian team about to play a
friendly match. I wonder, also, if Deaker has ever thought it odd
that we are so starved of coverage of the French game by our myopic
rugby media. We never even see highlights of the French championnat
final any more.
Another sign of Deaker's determined ignorance of French culture and
French football can be seen in his hilarious, some might say
cretinous, inability to pronounce common French words. Tonight, he
came up with a couple of right howlers. First, he spoke learnedly
about "the very experienced Fabien Gal-thee", with the second syllable
pronounced as in "atheist". He was, of course, referring to Fabien
Galthie.
French football can be seen in his hilarious, some might say
cretinous, inability to pronounce common French words. Tonight, he
came up with a couple of right howlers. First, he spoke learnedly
about "the very experienced Fabien Gal-thee", with the second syllable
pronounced as in "atheist". He was, of course, referring to Fabien
Galthie.
Then he mentioned that Borthwick writes for "Leck-whip". Leck-whip?
Leck-whip? Qu'est que c'est? Leck-whip?..... Needless to say, the
fastidiously polite Borthwick refrained from correcting Deaker's
risible mispronunciations.
Leck-whip? Qu'est que c'est? Leck-whip?..... Needless to say, the
fastidiously polite Borthwick refrained from correcting Deaker's
risible mispronunciations.
Oh, and Deaker - remember, guys, he's "New Zealand's leading sports
broadcaster" - had this penetrating piece of analysis for the nation's
sports fans: he called the French team "unpredictable"....
broadcaster" - had this penetrating piece of analysis for the nation's
sports fans: he called the French team "unpredictable"....
With such a brilliant, well prepared, knowledgeable commentator
hosting the 7:00 p.m. sports show and anchoring for the whole of
Saturday and Sunday afternoons, we can be sure that the average sports
fan will be as well-informed and intelligent in his or her
predictions for this World cup as they were for the last one.
hosting the 7:00 p.m. sports show and anchoring for the whole of
Saturday and Sunday afternoons, we can be sure that the average sports
fan will be as well-informed and intelligent in his or her
predictions for this World cup as they were for the last one.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/rec.sport.rugby.union/Y5ZSrsPRtu4/n_8-BeTWcjMJ;context-place=msg/rec.sport.rugby.union/YotYLfqkTKo/W3HNtBWG8-oJ
No comments:
Post a Comment