Part and parcel of watching a football match is listening to the commentary, along with insights provided by co-hosts and pundits. These help to create the atmosphere of a game by hyping it up, calling out plays where players could have done better and in some cases making a famous moment even more famous.
Pretty much everyone remembers when Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler delivered his famous “Aguerooooooo” commentary as Sergio Agüero scored an injury-time, title-winning goal for Man City against QPR in 2012. Fans also recall his gritty shout of “Rooney!” when Man Utd’s Wayne Rooney scored a stunning overhead kick in the 2011 derby win over Man City.
Commentators add a lot of flavour and colour to the football viewing experience. Some top bookmakers even offer audio commentary for EPL matches within their platforms. These sites usually top rankings provided by platforms analysing sportsbooks and their services like Legalbet.uk, because they provide handy live betting features. But how can commentators’ words and insights influence bettors who are watching and at the same time, considering live in-play betting options?
Are Commentators Biased?
Whether commentators are biased has been a long-standing debate. Commentators, of course, shouldn’t be biased in their commentary, but at the end of the day, they are humans like all of us, and probably have some deep-down biases that slip out.
Commentators watch a lot of football, are fans of teams themselves, know what’s good and bad about the game, and will know which players are better than others. Out of all that, they will naturally form their own opinions.
Even the aforementioned staple of UK football commentary, Martin Tyler has been called out for bias before, notably when former Arsenal player Martin Keown moaned about what he considered Tyler’s “anti-Arsenal” commentary.
Gary Neville has been known to have a big bias towards anything to do with his former club Man Utd and against their rivals Arsenal and Liverpool. Jamie Carragher has been called out for showing bias against Chelsea, while Jim Beglin has riled some Man Utd fans for being biased against them in commentary.
The Bigger Picture
The funny thing, however, is that football fans who complain about commentator bias, of course, are highly biased towards their own team. They have other clubs and players that they can’t stand and naturally take a very different and often demeaning view of them.
Going back to Martin Keown’s rant about Martin Tyler, some of Tyler’s colleagues immediately jumped to his defence. No Liverpool fan will mind former player Jamie Carragher shouting “Get In” during a commentary when the Reds score for example. So everything has to be put into perspective.
The Words
Fans watching at home on the TV don’t have much choice over what commentators they have to listen to. But they will have their favourites of course, and for many, Peter Drury is a favourite with his poetic, descriptive style of the game coming across as level-headed and unbiased.
Other commentators known for a less passionate and opinionated approach are Jon Champion and Guy Mowbray, who tend to offer a more natural analysis of the action without leaning towards either side. What those all have in common is calm, measured objectivity.
Words do have power, though, so it’s important what commentary is bursting into your ears while watching a game. A commentator may start talking about how they are seeing a change of momentum in a match, and that could influence a bettor’s decision about which team may score next – and how much that influences a person will boil down to how much they resonate with that commentator.
In Game Insights
In-game insights and stats from commentators can be useful for bettors. If they suddenly drop a stat about a team scoring a goal within the final fifteen minutes of their last three matches, that could raise interest in betting on them to get a late strike in their current match.
It could be talking about the influence of a substitute coming into the game, or talking about why a particular team is not creating any chances. This is all food for thought, and in the moment, it can sway bettors’ decisions when looking at live betting markets.
Listen to Yourself
As with all forms of football betting, it’s important to listen to yourself. A commentator may simply be seeing and reporting on something completely different to what you are witnessing for yourself.
Trust yourself and your betting strategy above everything, because it’s your money that’s being put down on a bet. Listening is a great skill, but taking everything at face value that a commentator says, is not. Be the voice of unbiased reason for your betting good.
