Mark Sidebottom

[Jinxy]

I enjoy his wee yarns, esp the one about sitting beside Aaron Kernan at a do and him refusing to eat the potatoes and trimming the fat off the meat in the dinner so MS knew Armagh were serious this year.

[Sandy Hill]

Mark Sidebottom tries a bit too hard to be funny/smart when there is enough going on in the game to talk about.

At one stage the camera focused on a baby and he started talking about the hat on the baby. Canavan told him to stick to the football.

Canavan is very good on the commentary.  No cliches and good analysis of small details during passages of play, which is no less than you would expect considering the player he was.

....................but extremely ungrammatical !

[Tony Baloney]

I know the lad tries and he does have enthusiasm for the game there's no doubting that but he is not cut out for it simple as. He actually started seriously talking about the game going to Extra Time when there were 20 mins left!!

As he did not grow up around the GAA scene his knowledge of players and their backgrounds is extremely poor. I would guarantee that he knows nothing of Club Football or Sigerson football. Unfortunately he just does not have it and the BBC should do a serious trawl for someone who can commentate on a game... what harm could it do??

I reckon Sidebottom could do a bit on match build ups and pitchside reporting but he should not have the mic in front of him for 70 minutes at a time!!

Red faces all round Screen. Good club hurler, played for QUB, cousin of many county players, brother would have been a good juvenile county player and played Fitzgibbon. Growing up in the Glens football knowledge is gonna be weak as we all see it as a far inferior game to hurling. Which it is. But the man knows GAA.

[ONeill]

What he is good at is hosting those chat nights. A couple of years ago himself and Jerome co-hosted the Bredagh one in the Welly Park and he stole the show.

[Orior]

What he is good at is hosting those chat nights. A couple of years ago himself and Jerome co-hosted the Bredagh one in the Welly Park and he stole the show.

Burglary it is then. Any clues left behind? What's his alibi?

[screenexile]

I know the lad tries and he does have enthusiasm for the game there's no doubting that but he is not cut out for it simple as. He actually started seriously talking about the game going to Extra Time when there were 20 mins left!!

As he did not grow up around the GAA scene his knowledge of players and their backgrounds is extremely poor. I would guarantee that he knows nothing of Club Football or Sigerson football. Unfortunately he just does not have it and the BBC should do a serious trawl for someone who can commentate on a game... what harm could it do??

I reckon Sidebottom could do a bit on match build ups and pitchside reporting but he should not have the mic in front of him for 70 minutes at a time!!

Red faces all round Screen. Good club hurler, played for QUB, cousin of many county players, brother would have been a good juvenile county player and played Fitzgibbon. Growing up in the Glens football knowledge is gonna be weak as we all see it as a far inferior game to hurling. Which it is. But the man knows GAA.

No red faces here! Where I said GAA scene I should have said football scene. He does not know enough about the players in the Ulster Football Cship and I stand by that. Fair enough he may know his hurling . . .  let him commentate on that then!

I am not trying to slag him off although it may come across like that he tries his best and nobody could doubt his enthusiasm. He's just not good at it!

As for your comment about football being an inferior game to Hurling well that's debatable if you're from Munster or Leinster. The way Hurling is played in the Glens of Antrim or indeed anywhere else in Ulster though it most certainly is not!!!

[haranguerer]

Whatever about his shite asides, theres really no excuse for linking the game back to the champions league final at every opportunity - 'Down are in red and black, and I'd say Manchester Utd are too...' - its as though he wnted everyone to turn over and watch it instead - you'd never hear the likes of that anywhere, a commentator on one sport and channel promoting something on the other

[Leo]

What he is good at is hosting those chat nights. A couple of years ago himself and Jerome co-hosted the Bredagh one in the Welly Park and he stole the show.

Stealing the show from Jerome Yawn Quinn? what an achievement!

[quit yo jibbajabba]

after about 15mins on saturday i said to meslf "sidebottoms in for a bit of abuse on the board i sense"

2 or 3 general cringy statements, then armagh get the goal, "that was just like the one you got in the aif that year peter"

(well, it was to be fair), but jesus, get yer tongue out of peter's hole mark 

[johnneycool]

Where I said GAA scene I should have said football scene.

That's a fairly common failing screenexile, but hardly a hanging offense.


Sidebottom is trying too hard to be entertaining and on saturday night he didn't need to be as the game itself was pretty good as a spectacle.

That's not something you could say about all the Ulster football championship games all the same.

[Orior]

Mark,

You're doing a fine job - you cant please every hoor, especially those that like to use message boards. Maybe someone can advise what sports commentators are meant to do. For example would it be:

- provide technical knowledge (what is a foul, what isnt, etc)
- read the game (who has the momentum, who's shoulders are dopping)
- provide tactical insight (switches required, and why managers make switches, how effective are their tactics)
- provide personnel info (player background)
- keep up with the play
and finally
- keep it interesting (make conversation when the ball is out of play etc etc)

[Antrim Coaster]

Was spotted at Wexford park yesterday without his microphone

[lynchbhoy]

I dont think Mark sidebottom is that bad.
However i'd agree with Orior that he should not try to be as entertaining and stick the nuts and bolts of commentating.
What i'd suggest is that he names the player on the ball, describes what he is doing or does with it and who gets it next and repeat until ball goes dead. then explain why its a free if it is a free or just start all over again with the person about to hit the ball.
So many commentators in sport cant keep up with play.
While most of us dont need to know the player withthe ball as we already know who that man is , its kind of reassuring to hear and to have someone say what you are seeing simultaneously.
when Carthy or canning on rte are commentating, I quite often switch the sound off. I'd prefer to watch than be distracted by wrong names or incorrect interpretations of the rules.
'whats that free for I wonder' says Ger'  - 'only the ref seems to know' - by then I am screaming at the telly - 'he clearly picked the fecking thing off the deck you muppet!- thats why its a feckin free' !

keep it simple Mark, keep up with play,and yer not too bad imo.

[borderfox]

'A lick of the post, licked him' Sibebottom said this after a Down forward (Maginn?) hit the upright.Enough said.

[Olly]

Have to say, I like Mark Sidebottom. He has a cheeky smile which has obvious connotations of a flirty yet dirty mindet.

Also, lay off his prose. Imagine him making you a cup of coffee in the morning and saying something like "Last night we had toffee, this morning we're having coffee' etc. Life would be hilarious forever until one of us died.