Pierliugi Collina to do commentary at the World Cup for SKY

[Chas (Psyatika)]

Just saw this on Fox Sports World Report and Fox Soccer Channel. If you want a link, come to my house and watch it with me :p

Not Sky Sports in England, but SKY television in Italy (i don't know if they're related).

He has agreed to do commentary for Italian World Cup TV coverage, but has agreed that he will not make any comments about the referees or the refereeing. He says that he would prefer not to talk about the referees anyway.

[Wreave]

Wouldn't that be like having Maradona do commentary without making comments about the forwards?

[USSF REF]

It might be more like Maradona not commenting on players who were banned for using illegal substances. (Sorry, I had to take my yearly pot shot at Diego -- hand of God my ass.)

[NHRef]

Probably more like strictly sticking to the code of ethics and not questioning the calls of another referee!

It should put a different spin on announcers who don' tknow the rules!

[Chas (Psyatika)]

I think it's out of respect for his former colleagues. The players are an integral part of the game, so it would not make sense to avoid talking about them. Referees are a different story, and it's not entirely necessary to make comments about them.

Also in general, most comments about players are positive (brilliant goal, great pass, etc), whilst most comments about referees are not only negative, but right insulting (referee got that totally wrong, etc). Collina can easily get through entire matches without specifically addressing the referee. He can talk about his own experiences in those situations, i'm sure. He just wouldn't be making comments like, "if i were down there i would have given advantage," or, "this AR is never positioned properly, that's why he gets the offside calls wrong."

[Englishref]

Pierluigi has appeared as a pundit on Bravo TV (a British satelittle channel) for their Football Italia coverage, so it doesn't surprise me.

[superdave]

If all he does is explain rules, without judging whether or not a call was right, that'll be helpful. I mean, how often do announcers rail at a ref just because the announcer doesn't know the rule? I think this should be more common...have an NFL referee on at halftime of big games like the Super Bowl and conference championships, just to explain a complicated rule or mechanics and stuff. Referees have a unique insight into any sport, and they're underutilized.

God, I'm such a suck-up.

[bluedevils]

I think this should be more common...have an NFL referee on at halftime of big games like the Super Bowl and conference championships, just to explain a complicated rule or mechanics and stuff. Referees have a unique insight into any sport, and they're underutilized.

I agree wholeheartedly. But I think most fans aren't actually interested in learning more about the rules of whatever sport they are watching; they would rather be ignorant so they can grouse about how their team got screwed by the officials and the ref is an idiot, etc.

[NHRef]

the problem with commentators and refs, are the "slow" times when they feel they just have to talk about something. this is when they make the biggest fools of themselves. With NFL, its during a challenge, they go on and on about things and are often 180 degrees off from reality. With soccer, it will be after a call that takes a bit to get restarted, at half time during replay of controversial plays etc Hopefully Collina can straighten out some misconceptions.

[bluedevils]

the problem with commentators and refs, are the "slow" times when they feel they just have to talk about something. this is when they make the biggest fools of themselves. With NFL, its during a challenge, they go on and on about things and are often 180 degrees off from reality. With soccer, it will be after a call that takes a bit to get restarted, at half time during replay of controversial plays etc Hopefully Collina can straighten out some misconceptions.

For my money, the American soccer announcers are the worst - and primarily because of the reason you noted -- feeling obligated to talk about something, anything, at a slow time. Rick Davis has gotta be the worst of all time. He always took 3-4 times as many words to make a point than necessary. I found it to be a source of humor when watching a game that he was calling.

When announcing a soccer game, less is more - and that's one of the reasons why I prefer so many of the English Premier League announcers. Martin Tyler is my all-time favorite.

Is the consensus here that Collina being hired to commentate is basically a publicity/celebrity type of move by the TV station? I mean, sure he is a great referee but he isn't being hired to commentate because of his outstanding commentating skills, is he?