8 replies to this topic

[Caveman]

Unfortunately I recently discovered on the internet that arguably the greatest soccer commentator of all time- Hugh Johns died a few months ago.

He was the bloke who always did Midlands games- so you would hear him calling the likes of Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Notts County, Derby County, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Coventry City, West Bromwich Albion, Leicester City, Stoke City and others which included Mansfield Town I believe.

I saw highlights of a Mansfield Town v Tottenham Hotspur game once in the mid 1980's. The actual game was from the 1977-1978 season. The result was a 3-3 draw if memory serves me correctly- I am pretty confident Hugh Johns was the commentator of that Mansfield Town v Tottenham Hotspur thriller.

There have been many great British soccer commentators like Brian Moore, John Motson, Martin Tyler, David Coleman, Gerald Sinstadt, Kenneth Wolstenholme, Barry Davies and others, however for me Hugh Johns was the best of them all.

One of his many classic commentary performances was a Derby County v Arsenal match in which Derby County won 5-1. He was brilliant to listen to Hugh Johns in that game- if you can ever hear the commentary of it I am sure you would agree.

Hugh seemed to have the perfect voice for commentary, his phrasing and delivery were so clear.

Another famous game he officiated at was the 1970 F.A.Cup tie between Northampton Town and Manchester United- the often shown match that finished 2-8 with George Best scoring 6 of their 8.

I am so sad to learn that Hugh has gone.

[Lisbon]

It's easy to forget how important a commentator is. I have often had my enjoyment of a game spoiled by crap commentators who are biased, or never go beyond "the bleeding obvious" or show a strange lack of knowledge concerning soccer's rules. If Mr. Johns was a good caller of a game, then he deserves to be remembered.

Your post reminded me of a sad loss we had here in Portugal in 2005, when one of our best and most popular commentators died of a stroke aged 56. He died a day after calling one of the most exciting and nerve-wrecking games ever - a UEFA cup semi-final, second leg, which saw "my" Sporting Lisbon qualify for the final thanks to a goal scored in the last minute of extra-time. The final had been scheduled for our own home ground, so we were desperate to qualify, but were staring elimination in the face after 119 minutes, needing to score one goal to go through. We did score, in a last-ditch, "hail Mary", insert cliché here, corner-kick, with everybody in the opponent's penalty area, goalie included. We of course proceeded to lose the final in spectacular fashion, but I'll never forget that goal and the feeling of sheer elation I felt at the time.

You can hear a recording of the goal being called if you go to the address below. You don't have to speak Portuguese to understand what's going on. Sadly, the recording stops just before the commentator, Mr. Jorge Perestrelo, a life-long Benfica fan, started shouting "I love you Sporting" over and over again.

http://www.tsf.pt/on...lo_sporting.asx

[Caveman]

That was very sad to learn- only 56 not old at all. Its hard when you have just heard them the day before and then you discover the next day that he has gone. Did he commentate the Euro 2004 Final?

I remember another English soccer commentator Brian Moore- he died in 2001 just before the famous game Germany 1 England 5. He had retired in 1998 so he hadn't been regularly heard for a few years, so a shock but not quite like the suddeness of your man in Portugal.

Sport commentators dying whilst still in the profession here in Australia is quite rare, unless I have missed something. There was an ABC Cricket Commentator named Jim Burke- he wasn't a resident commentator like Allan McGillvray who was at every test match, but he did do some radio commentating in the late 1970's. He was a former Australian test cricketer back in the 1950's. Yet on one day in 1979, he evidently bought a gun and used it later that day to commit suicide, whilst still a cricket commentator.

Then in 1987 I recall the late Doug Heywood commencing a Friday night telecast with much sadness as he mentioned at the very beginning of the game how one of their fellow Channel 2 commentators Dick Mason had died suddenly earlier that day. Now Dick Mason hadn't been calling games on Channel 2 for quite a few years, however he came back on the scene in 1987 yet during that season and on a Friday he had I think a heart attack which was fatal.

If you click on the Gary Dempsey clips in the Footscray Players Chapter- it is the Round 22 game against Richmond at the MCG in 1973. This was the last game of that home and away season and Footscray beat Richmond by a point. Well it shows Dempsey taking two marks and booting goals from both of those marks. One mark was from a kick by number 22 the late Robert Rose who only a few months later was to become paralysed after a car accident.

Anyhow the commentator in those black and white Gary Dempsey mark and goal clips was Dick Mason. Just he alone, no other bloke just Dick.

Doug Heywood you can hear in the FOOTSCRAY PLAYERS Chapter describing some of Kelvin Templeton's goals amongst others (Bill Berry)- 'its a freak goal' against Geelong in 1977

[Lisbon]

Jorge Perestrelo did commentate the Euro 2004 final on the radio, but that's a game we Portuguese would like to forget (and sometimes pretend never took place at all).
I'd rather remember his emotional commentary when we beat England on penalties in the quarter-final. My wife and I were going to visit her parents (who live 280 km away) and left on the day of the game to take advantage of a long weekend. This meant I could only watch the first half and had to listen to the rest of the match on the radio, while driving along a deserted highway. Listening to a penalty shoot-out while driving is not something you should do, but all went well and we arrived just in time to take part in the victory celebrations. Little did we know...

[Caveman]

I reckon once that match went to penalties, you were home, because would there be a worse country to take penalties than England? Is their only victory in a penalty shootout the one over your neighbours Spain at Euro 1996?

Also Lisbon I hope you like the new addition of the clocks near the top of every page of this website that displays how long it has been since we won or took part in a Grand Final/Preliminary Final?

It was pointless having the clocks all on the same time -so the 1954 clock stays as Melbourne time- but the other three are on different time zones and different countries. The third one shows Lisbon time which is also GMT- I hope this is correct, if not let us know and it will be changed to your rightful time of day.

[Lisbon]

Great new clock! Lisbon time is GMT from the last weekend of October to the last weekend of March and GMT+1 the other six months, the site's clock is actually on GMT+1 right now so you should set it 1 hour back.
I agree that England are not as good at penalty shoot-outs as they should be. I think they expect too much of themselves - if you read the English press before any big competition - soccer, rugby, cricket - you'll see they write about themselves as clear favourites, you'd feel the rest of the teams are there only to make up the numbers. It's a bit like Collingwood, I think. Naturally, this puts the players under great pressure and if things don't go so well as predicted, which would be virtually impossible, the players and coaches start getting criticized rather ruthlessly. Also, as England almost never wins a shoot-out, the players know nobody will blame them much for failing and, I suppose, come to see a shoot-out loss as a honorable exit. Last year they lost against Portugal again and I swear that they played much better after Rooney was sent off. It was like a weight had been lifted from their shoulders - 10 against 11, no one expected them to win any more, so they were actually more relaxed and played better. England and penalties - a psychology treatise waiting to be written?

[Caveman]

Love your avator- brilliant

Also the time on the Lisbon/GMT clock has been altered.

[Lisbon]

Yep, the great and ancient flag of Lisbon, complete with a pair of crows, the insignia of the Order of the Tower and Sword, our highest decoration, which has been awarded to the city, and "Most Noble and Always Loyal City of Lisbon" written on the scroll.

[Caveman]

Just found this a bit earlier



Hugh's commentary in the Derby County v Arsenal game is superlative.