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#Post#: 62677--------------------------------------------------
OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: DOK
Date: March 28, 2021, 11:50 am
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From The Sunday Times
HTML https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/end-of-era-as-assured-john-inverdale-bows-out-on-a-high-fjh68czp3
Broadcaster to focus on RFU Council role after 30 years of rugby
coverage for the BBC
The last act appeared effortless. John Inverdale was in the
anchor’s chair on Friday evening, supervising a vivid post-match
chat involving two thrilled Scots, Andy Nicol and John Barclay
and the excellent former French hooker, Benjamin Kayser.
In fact, for Inverdale, it has always looked effortless —and to
reach that blessed state, the hard work, the background
knowledge, the technical accomplishment, the pressure of live
broadcasting, have all been taken on board. Effortlessly is an
illusion derived from effort.
Friday night was the end of an era, the 63-year-old’s last as
the face of BBC Rugby, after first covering rugby more than 30
years ago. Who knows, it may be BBC’ s last as well as they have
to compete in the changing market for the next Six Nations, the
good news for rugby is that the 2021 Six Nations must have added
millions to the value.
A revolutionary broadcaster in early days of Radio 5 Live,
Inverdale arrived in television as the anchor man of Rugby
Special, for years the golden Sunday connection at a time when
there was barely any live action. He has gone on to perform
leading roles at Wimbledon, the Olympics, football, Rugby World
Cups, Cheltenham, Open Golf, there is very little that he has
not done in radio or television.
And so why is he turning his back on large parts of his
distinguished career? “Well, I got a call out of the blue asking
if I wanted to sit on the RFU Council and represent the National
Clubs Association [Inverdale already sits on the NCA, which
administers the semi-professional arm of the game] and having
spent 30 years saying that the RFU needs to sort itself out, I
decided to think about it. I approached the BBC and they said
that if I was a member of the governing body, I couldn’t do any
England matches and in the background was the doubts as to
whether the BBC would be involved in the future anyway.”
So, he gave up all that to join the RFU Council? Yes, he did.
And all that adrenaline of covering live a panoply of wonderful
sporting events, you gave that up too? Yes, he did. “I’m almost
ashamed to say, but I’m not ashamed at all, that I’m actually
really enjoying it. I’m finding it fascinating being on the
inside rather than lobbing stones at it from the outside.”
Inverdale has always been had a powerful affection for sport,
understanding that as a long-term doyen of Esher Rugby Club,
that the grassroots must be protected. Like many, he does have
concerns. “Where does rugby sit in the sporting landscape at a
time when e-sports become an Olympic sport, when you have an NFL
franchise heading for London? What we’ve always viewed as
rugby’s traditional jigsaw could well get smashed in the next
decade or so, so how does rugby stay relevant?” he says.
“Last Saturday the France v Wales game got more viewers as a TV
audience than The Voice, that’s what a great game can do. But
the sport and the television coverage has to be presented in a
more coherent way, rugby clubhouses cannot descend into being
the Royal British Legion with people sitting at the bar
remembering the old days when the try was four points. There is
a heck of a lot of modernising of the game which needs to happen
for it to prosper going forward.”
He came in by the classic route, joining the Lincolnshire Echo,
and he still adores local newspapers. “Whenever I get off a
train, wherever it might be, I always buy the local paper.
Working for one were some of my happiest days,” he says. “When I
went for the interview the first question was: ‘If I say Market
Rasen. What would you say to me?’”
“I said: ‘Racecourse!’ He said fine, you’ve got the job.”
He switched to Radio Lincolnshire when he heard in a pub that a
job was going, made his debut on a sports bulletin with a story
about Appleby Frodingham Football Club, and in those early years
remembers vividly interviewing local lads who had been injured
in the Falklands War. “They came back missing limbs, nothing
prepares you for that,” he says. “When I got back to the radio
car I remember feeling appalled for not being empathetic enough.
I didn’t understand how to broadcast in those terms.”
He went to BBC Radio 2 and soon had the ghastly opportunity to
learn more about such things. “It was then the dark days of
football, so you are suddenly doing the Bradford fire disaster
and then Hillsborough, that’s when the vocabulary that you think
you’ve brought up and that you’ve stored, helps you because
somehow you have to find words that express the enormity without
hyperbole, you mustn’t always say unbelievable, disastrous,
extraordinary, tragic.’
That evening he became embroiled in one of the biggest barnies.
Sports Report had the familiar bouncy signature tune. “It was
played at 5 o’clock every Saturday and the editor was convinced
it should still be played because it had been played since 1949
or whatever it was. I just said absolutely and uncontrovertibly
no, you cannot play that piece of music on a day like this. We
were arguing about it literally until one minute to five and he
relented.”
He had been a terminal fan of Rugby Special and when he became
compere he and his colleagues decided that it needed a new look.
“The first big roadblock was over rugby shirts. It used to be
Harlequins against Gosforth watched by six people. But someone
had the idea that I would wear a different club’s rugby shirt
every week so that would show us embracing the game as a whole,”
he says. “I mentioned it on air and we were hit by a deluge,
hundreds of clubs sent their shirts in.
“But others kicked up a massive stink, they wanted ‘Sunday best’
and after a season and a bit we gave in and went back to wearing
shirts and ties. I wish we hadn’t, we should have stuck to our
guns. That was the first time I had the experience of letters in
the newspaper calling me a disgrace.”
Notoriously, during his long career compering Wimbledon, he
speculated that women’s champion Marion Bartoli had become a
brilliant player because her family and herself had realised
that she was “never going to be a looker” and therefore had to
dedicate herself even more.
[img
width=500]
HTML https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fba37aa9c-8f1d-11eb-ab4d-f4c45359834c.jpg?crop=3804%2C2536%2C195%2C393&resize=1180[/img]
Inverdale was widely criticised after his comments on Bartoli
EPA/KERIM OKTEN
“I got it horribly and inexcusably wrong,” he admits”It was an
attempt at lauding her amazing work ethic and it came out
dreadfully and I found myself being publicly flogged. I saw her
the following night and she told me not to give it another
thought.” The pair also compered programmes together in the
future but by then it was too late for many.
“The vitriol that was hurled my way, the government minister
demanding my head in the Commons. In that kind of situation, it
is like anything in life, when you have to apologise, how long
for?” he asks.
Things may not from now on feel so effortless in any of his
sports, save in tennis where he will still appear. On Friday, we
were in good hands. A great rugby match, through which we were
taken with assured brilliance, by one of the finest
intermediaries.
Inverdale on . . .
John Inverdale reflects on 40 years broadcasting on rugby and
all the major sporting occasions.
Rugby on TV There are too many broadcasters who have their
fingers in the pie at the moment. There should be a more
coherent deal for the sport as a whole so people know where to
find their rugby.
Rugby’s complications“The greatest thing about rugby is its
complexity and it is chess while a lot of other sports are
draughts. But a consequence of that is that it can be utterly
unfathomable.
Best commentary team Eddie Butler, Brian Moore and Jonathan
Davies – no better than they on any sport anywhere.
Get rid You cannot have what happened in Paris last week when
the scrum takes three minutes to reset when there are only six
minutes left on the clock. And the mark? What is that for?
Biggest sporting disappointment I have been in the sport
professionally for 35 years, I started doing international rugby
in the year of the first Rugby World Cup. The eight
quarter-finalists at that tournament would have been almost
exactly the same as in Japan 2019 had South Africa been
competing. That is just shameful.
Biggest telling off A guy at Lincoln Rugby Club submitted a team
match report and thought it would be very funny if he said that
two tries had been scored by Hugh Jarse and it got through into
the Lincolnshire Echo, where I started. About 48 hours later I
was summoned to see the editor and he gave me one of the great
dressing downs. He said that I may think it looked funny but
this local newspaper is the heartbeat of this city and this
county and don’t you dare ever allowing one of your mates to
take the **** out of it again.
Guru Brian Worthington, my English teacher at school. If you
left the lesson halfway through to get on the bus to an away
rugby match, he used to throw up his hands in horror, tell us
that in our absence we would be talking about some of the most
wonderful words in the English language and all we were going to
do was eat a packed lunch and sit on a bus and run round a muddy
rugby field. He absolutely inspired me and we were in touch
years later.
Interviewing managers What has changed dramatically is the
respect between people involved in the sport and the people who
bring it to the public. It’s now nigh on impossible because over
the last 15 years we’ve allowed the likes of Jose Mourinho and
many others to be put on this extraordinary pedestal because
they are giving us 90 seconds of their time and for that we
should all be grateful.
[img
width=500]
HTML https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F14df59dc-8f31-11eb-ab74-f30afe166274.jpg?crop=2943%2C1962%2C74%2C158&resize=1180[/img]
McLaughlan was widely abused on social media for her tough
questioning of Farrell after England’s loss to Wales
PA
Sonja Sonja McLaughlan avoided that ineffably bland and
reverential style and the flak she took after the England v
Wales game was manifestly ignorant. She is an absolute beacon of
an example of someone who will not just fawn.
Biggest viewer reaction We had a massive row over shirts on
Rugby Special. I never used to miss Rugby Special and when I
first began to present it, we decided that we would try to
modernise it. Someone suggested we wore a different club’s rugby
shirt every week because that would be embracing the game as a
whole. Hundreds of clubs all over the country sent their shirts
in and the game loved it. But a lot of people hated it, kicked
up a massive stink and we backed down. I wish we hadn’t, we
should have stuck to our guns.
Greatest broadcaster Chris Evans. He is just staggeringly
innovative, brilliant, quick, you cannot believe how good he is.
But then you look at his career and it’s been a rollercoaster. I
think we learn from him that there will be times when things
don’t go quite so well as you want them to.
Best event
1, Rugby World Cup 1995
2, Andy Murray winning Wimbledon in 2013, ironic because it was
the day after I found myself on the front pages of the paper.
3, Desert Orchid’s Gold Cup in 1989.
4, France winning the football World Cup in 1998 — free food and
drink all down the Champs Elysees.
Sporting deity My God at the moment is Sam Warburton, he is just
the most sensational panelist. Give him a bit of training and he
could be presenting rugby wherever as from next season. He is
just fantastic.
Best working week Covering Cheltenham Festival.
#Post#: 62678--------------------------------------------------
Re: OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: Nico Wilson
Date: March 28, 2021, 12:32 pm
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Completely agree with his comments on Rugby on TV.
#Post#: 62679--------------------------------------------------
Re: OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: March 28, 2021, 2:03 pm
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Great broadcaster. Will be missed..
#Post#: 62682--------------------------------------------------
Re: OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: Domestos
Date: March 28, 2021, 3:42 pm
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Do we really think that a role on the RFU Council will motivate
him sufficiently?
Anyone who has seen him in full flow at an Esher RFC pre-match
lunch can't imagine him just being a committee man!
#Post#: 62683--------------------------------------------------
Re: OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: TheQuarterSupporter
Date: March 28, 2021, 5:23 pm
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Yes, a fantastic presenter. I remember him fondly chairing the
Christmas Eve edition of Any Sporting Questions at London Welsh
with the likes of Gareth Edwards, and Ian Robertson. He was
drinking a pint, feet on the table, then the producer must have
said into his headphones something like 'one minute to go', and
he snapped into professional mode. No retakes or fluffed lines,
just a great show. Happy days.
#Post#: 62688--------------------------------------------------
Re: OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: Monte
Date: March 29, 2021, 4:02 am
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--- Quote from: Domestos link ---
>
> Do we really think that a role on the RFU Council will
motivate him sufficiently?
>
> Anyone who has seen him in full flow at an Esher RFC pre-match
lunch can't imagine him just being a committee man!
>
--- End Quote ---
Presumably he is aiming for President
#Post#: 62691--------------------------------------------------
Re: OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: A222Quin
Date: March 29, 2021, 5:03 am
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Always quite liked Inverdale. Best of luck to him at the RFU.
Can't agree with his choice of 3 commentators. Jiffy and Eddie
Butler are like nails down a blackboard to me.
#Post#: 62695--------------------------------------------------
Re: OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: DOK
Date: March 29, 2021, 6:22 am
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I quite like Moore and Butler sparring with each other, but I
can't stand the whinging from Jonathan Davies, especially if its
an offence against Wales.
#Post#: 62700--------------------------------------------------
Re: OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: MadMax
Date: March 29, 2021, 6:43 am
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Good luck against the 56 remaining old farts Invers!
#Post#: 62704--------------------------------------------------
Re: OT: John Inverdale quits as broadcaster
DIR By: Fearless Fred
Date: March 29, 2021, 7:19 am
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--- Quote from: DOK link ---
>
> I quite like Moore and Butler sparring with each other, but I
can't stand the whinging from Jonathan Davies, especially if its
an offence against Wales.
>
--- End Quote ---
What about "NUMBERS!!!" and "GO WIDE!!!"?
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