The Sport Thread

[bkman1990]

The UCL Final has just begun a short time ago in Paris. I guess those issues with people entering the stadium have calmed things down within the stadium.

[thegeek]

The world feed commentator, Tony Jones, has lost his voice, and had to give up at half time. Co-comm Don Goodman introduced the second half, then it switched over to Darren Fletcher and the BT comms.

[Brekkie]

C4 giving the F1 Monaco Qualifying a fairly late 10pm slot today. As it took place at 3pm I think it could have aired at 7.30pm, so I'm guessing the intention was not to clash with the Champions League Final, though probably better to clash with the first half considering even without the delay there was a good chance it might go through the 10pm hour.

[Transmission]

The world feed commentator, Tony Jones, has lost his voice, and had to give up at half time. Co-comm Don Goodman introduced the second half, then it switched over to Darren Fletcher and the BT comms.

I asked a friend who is watching on holiday if they heard the promo for Solihull Moors v Chesterfield - they did!   A few people around the world probably looking up who that is...

[Brekkie]

Surprised it doesn't happen more often. Remember Andrew Cotter having to abandon commentary during a Six Nations game - can't recall if that was a lost voice or if he was taken ill.

[Steve Williams]

Surprised it doesn't happen more often.  Remember Andrew Cotter having to abandon commentary during a Six Nations game - can't recall if that was a lost voice or if he was taken ill.

Cotter had food poisoning and had to leave the commentary after about five minutes, with Jonathan Davies and Shane Williams stumbling through the first half before they got Huw Llywellyn Davies from S4C for the second.

[Tom]

Yes, I remember that game, I think it was Italy v Wales in the 2013 Six Nations. I recall Ian Darke on Sky in 2010 croaking his way through a League Cup game (Stevenage v Portsmouth IIRC), in one of his last games for Sky Sports before he left.

[Mateus Honrado]

ITV will show the World Cup Qualifier Playoff Final between Wales and Scotland/Ukraine in a deal struck with Sky.
https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-re...y-5th-june

Well, that's great news.

[JAS84]

A bit of chaos and a lot of filling with kick-off in the Champions League delayed half an hour and many fans yet to be let in.  "Security reasons" the excuse given with reports of fans being pepper sprayed by authorities as they wait to enter.

UPDATE: Finally kicked off at 8.36pm.

Apparently those fans had counterfeit tickets.
https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-ue...gue-final/

[Hatton Cross]

Surprised it doesn't happen more often. 

"we have a problem with the commentator" just before kick off is something to chill the blood of every producer, tv or radio. 

I'm sure for big games like UCL, the BT Sport comms taking over the world feed duties would be the planned (and obvious) choice. You suspect with Jones taking over if Fletch was unable to call the game for whatever reason. 

It's your run of the mill games where back-ups can get thin on the ground the lower down the leagues you go. Clearly Premier League games for Sky/BT would switch to the PLP world feed. Similar for Championship games and the Old Firm in Glasgow (if they have them). 
It's what would happen for a National League or Division 1/2 game where the commentator is stood down 5-10 minutes before or during a game, is the tricky conundrum. 
In that case, I suspect a quick call to a commentator and see if they can 'off tube' from home via their ISDN codex box (or increasingly now through VoIP) would be the emergency fix, and hope the delay with sound to pictures is fairly minor. 

I do speak of experience. In a former existence as live game producer for a short lived digital radio station.
My commentator was involved in a prang and smash on the M1 on the way to cover a game at West Hams old Upton Park ground. Luckily someone back in the studio could present the pre-game waffle, whilst searching of a super-sub commentator - the ex pro summerisor already in place would not have been able to have done it.
Thankfully at the time, ex-Central sports editor Phil Mepham was there as Head of media relations at Aston Villa and stepped in with 5 minutes to spare before kick off.

[thegeek]

[News Engineer]

https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-ue...gue-final/

Which, based on the reports from both fans and journalists on the scene, is absolute nonsense. Especially as they had to hurriedly change their original story that it was due to 'late arrival of fans', which was even less credible.

This thread, from the chief football reporter from the Mail on Sunday is a very thorough breakdown of just what happened and the questions UEFA has to answer.

https://twitter.com/draper_rob/status/15...p2l4fjclcA

As someone who was at Wembley for the European Championship Final (as a fan with a ticket), none of this surprises me. Whilst the circumstances were different (there seems to have been little trouble or attempts to break in last night), the complete disorganisation from UEFA, police (again, different last night) and stewards in allowing a dangerous situation to develop is the same.

I was in the car as the pre match situation developed, credit to 5 Live and TalkSport for being right across it, giving as clear a picture a possible from outside, communicating the danger without going overboard, as well as flagging up the nonsense that was coming from UEFA.

[RhysJR]

[itvblocks]

The BT Sport commentary for the CL final made me nearly bang my head against the wall - So much misinformation about the goings on pre match (basically just regurgitating the same nonsense UEFA was saying about the delay) and they were so biased towards Liverpool, with Michael Owen after the game uttering the words "Liverpool are still the best team in Europe" - well why did they lose a European final then?!?!

Couldn't be happier to see Liverpool lose.

[Brekkie]

Huge figure for BT but just shows how the Champions League Final should be a protected event.