Are female commentators so bad?

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SER19

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A provocative question, that assumes they are bad. I want to caveat the thread by saying that this is not a critique of knowledge, work rate, or many of the other things that make a good commentator. Its also worth noting that there are very poor male commentators. Im not talking about the co-commentators, or ex pros like Neville who commentate, I mean the main one.

It would be great if before replying, anybody could watch this short highlights clip to see what I mean. She sounds like she's commentating from space, or through a tin, and there are moments later in it where things reach a fever pitch, particularly the last 60 seconds here are genuinely difficult to listen to on headphones.

Im open to criticism for this thread I know, anything gender related in football can be a delicate subject, but my thought process here is simple. If 100 men went for a commentary job, there is almost no chance that the man with a high pitch voice, lacking resonance and timbre would get the job. Is it as simple as genetics, and that the female voice generally just doesnt meet the demands of the job? I do believe such a woman exists, and that there are women who may well be suited to commentary, but as it stands I have yet to hear one on a mainstream broadcaster.

Again, without instantly slamming me, or slamming female commentators blindly, I do think this video demonstrates the problem well. In my opinion, this is absolutely awful commentary, and the paying viewer deserves more. Id say the same if a man was making these sounds, and spend plenty of time criticising male tv personalities who I dont feel do a good job.

 
apart from an occasionally decent Spanish or Latin American commentary, vast majority of commentators are rather boring
 
The real question is why do you automatically extrapolate your views on one individual to an entire gender?

When you hear one poor male commentator do you immediately conclude all men are bad commentators?
 
Red Star One said:
apart from an occasionally decent Spanish or Latin American commentary, vast majority of commentators are rather boring
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agreed. and again, this isnt a criticism of this commentators knowledge at all, I really just dont think her voice meets the demands of the job. Once again, the last 60 seconds in particular here I think are just brutal
 
I clicked on the video being completely fine with the idea that you might be right and, having listened to it, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. It seemed fine.
 
Rado_N said:
The real question is why do you automatically extrapolate your views on one individual to an entire gender?

When you hear one poor male commentator do you immediately conclude all men are bad commentators?
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I mean that's impossible not to do if the commentator is Peter Drury.
 
Rado_N said:
The real question is why do you automatically extrapolate your views on one individual to an entire gender?

When you hear one poor male commentator do you immediately conclude all men are bad commentators?
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Not at all, ive addressed this in the OP. There are countless bad male commentators, and I also said I dont doubt that there are women out there who would make good ones. But I havent heard one. So its not an extrapolation, perhaps broadcasters arent casting a wide enough net to find the best female talent
 
Frosty said:
I mean that's impossible not to do if the commentator is Peter Drury.
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A more reasonable conclusion would be all commentary is bad, which would be fine.

But certain people have to turn it into a gender issue.
 
Commentary has become very cliched and stereotypical across the sport. We need more individualism and uniqueness in commentators.

The female commentators are not all bad, they seem generally very knowledgeable but seem to fall into the old cliches of what a commentator should be.
There is one particular commentator on the beeb whose voice is like a rusty gate when she gets excited. Can’t stand it.

I think they have a tendency to rant and rave to sound like/compete with their male counterparts where as if they commentated in their own style they would probably be much better at it. Just my 2p

Disclaimer : I didn’t read the OP before posting. There’s nothing wrong with that video example.
 
Before this gets locked, here are some other thread ideas:

"Why aren't women funny?"

"We need to talk about fast-twitch muscle fibre"

"Why IQ matters in football (list of the best and worst nationalities)"
 
SER19 said:
Not at all, ive addressed this in the OP. There are countless bad male commentators, and I also said I dont doubt that there are women out there who would make good ones. But I havent heard one. So its not an extrapolation, perhaps broadcasters arent casting a wide enough net to find the best female talent
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Nah you’ve just thrown a load of “hear me out, hear me out” around your sexism.
 
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Rado_N said:
Nah you’ve just thrown a load of “hear me out, hear me out” around your sexism.
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This is disappointing. Somewhat predictable that some respond this way. I dont think women, or aspiring female commentators are being served well by what's on tv at the moment, or by being patronised. Social media of course is a cess pit of sexism and plenty of it exists beneath the video on youtube, but among it there is an avalanche of people plainly criticising the commentary too. I dont envy any woman doing the job because of the sexism youre rightly talking about, but I also dont think it helps to just label everything you dont like sexist.
 
I'll take what I heard in the video literally every weekend over Jamie child spitting Carragher.
 
I can't really say as I watch most sports on mute nowadays, even played the video above on mute as well. General point, sports commentary is thrash in a bag
 
GaryLifo said:
13453 posts in, this person decides to hit the self-destruct button
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:lol:

I think its a measured post. I do think the title might be worth changing though as its probably too inflammatory
 
I can't watch the clip since it's geo-locked. Am I right to assume that you've got displeased with one female commentator (probably for a reason but I can't really say) and decided to project that on all of them?

UK is reasonably spoiled with good commentators (British people probably won't agree but they haven't heard the alternatives) but I've heard many different male commentators with very odd voices, so this logic (that a man with an oddly-pitched voice wouldn't get the gig while a woman might) doesn't really work on a larger statistical scale. As for why there aren't that many great female commentators that work on male football games — it's, as it is in any other non-physical but traditionally male sphere, a numbers game. How many men are in the industry compared to women, how probable it is for a young girl to dream of being a commentator and not get her dreams crushed by the society that, like you, doesn't accept even the thought of her becoming one... etc.
 
Shark said:
I'll take what I heard in the video literally every weekend over Jamie child spitting Carragher.
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Yeah, I try watch on another network when neville is on. But in this case I am talking about main commentary and the what the role demands
 
SER19 said:
If 100 men went for a commentary job, there is almost no chance that the man with a high pitch voice, lacking resonance and timbre would get the job.
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Stewart Gardner was MUTV commentator for years and then got jobs with other channels so what you say isn't true.
 
Plant0x84 said:
Upon actually reading the OP I have decided we have unearthed Joey Barton’s Caf account.
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Lazy and disappointing comment. I simply do not believe that the current crop of female commentators do justice to the talent that must surely exist out there.

@harms No it isnt just one. I do think this is a particularly bad example, but there are a few around now and there are similar problems. Like I said a few times, there is no way these are the best women for the job.

I appreciate the title is inflammatory and may change it if mods like, but again I dont think a rush to lazy accusations help. If someone can name a very good female commentator and maybe provide a clip, that would be great, I'll happily use her as the standard
 
Some female commentators just sound like Alan Partridge on helium.
 
Couldn't find anything in the clip to be upset by. But I do wonder if there's something to your point, in that I'm pretty sure female stand-up comics have it a lot harder getting a following in their field, possibly because some people just don't like their voices. Maybe it's the same phenomenon you're experiencing here? In any event, the worst of the male commentators annoy me far, far more than any of the female commentators I've heard.
 
I wouldn't say they are all bad, but i feel a couple that I've heard feel the need to say something intelligent at every opportunity to try earn respect from the viewers.

But as they sometimes say, less is more.

It gets so bad that one commentator literally gives every little detail that is happening on the pitch. As if she was broadcasting on the radio....
 
Plant0x84 said:
I too struggle to deal with boredom during the international breaks.

Would be hilarious if you yourself actually have a voice like Joe Pasquale :lol:
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Not far off. I definitely wouldnt get a commentary job. I'll stress again that I think we should be able to talk about women in the men's game, without any criticism risking accusations of sexism or worse. Im speaking in narrow terms about a small sample size of women presently being given these roles and I really doubt they are the best available. That's all.

Maybe a more controversial opinion is that I dont like Peter Drury. Find him insufferable in fact. But im not having a go at individual commentators, Im speaking about the lack of a really solid female option so far.
 
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