Martin Tyler’s top three tips for football commentary

Commentary legend Martin Tyler recently joined UCFB Manchester as a guest speaker, and shared his top tips for aspiring football commentators.

“A love for football,” he said before going into his top three tips. “Not ‘I really like football,’ not ‘I go to games every once in a while, and I’d like to be a commentator.’ You have to live it.”

Speaking about his top tips, he said: “I have a thing called ‘The Three I’s: Identification, Information and Interpretation.”

He added: “They’re not rules of the game, they’re not law, but they’ve worked pretty well for me. And now, in my dotage, I still prepare each game with those principles in mind.”

1. Identification

Identification is the most important thing. You have to be able to identify the players. It’s a lot easier now because most of the games are on TV. If not, then they’re on YouTube and you can find individual profiles on players.

I used to go and see visiting teams from other countries at the hotel or at training so I could get the faces, because the faces weren’t available.

Be confident when you start commentating a match that you know what the players look like, so you don’t have to rely on the numbers on their shirt.

2. Information

Really, it’s the application of statistics. There are a lot of stats out there. In fact, you’ll find that most people around the game, such as newspapers or television presenters, have access to that.

A lot of the stats are out there before you even start uttering a word in commentary. What you don’t want to be is too repetitive and sound like you’re just parroting what somebody’s said before.

It’s when you apply the facts that is the skill, when you use the information. Don’t just throw it out there because you’ve got it on a piece of paper in front of you.

It’s not an exact science, but you can do it. And with experience, you’ll learn when to apply the statistics.

3. Interpretation

The interpretation is either down to you or your co-commentator. I had Gary Neville’s interpretative skills for years.

From that point of view, it was ‘Over to you,’ but you want to be able to contribute to that. It’s not a case of ‘I talk about this, he talks about that.’

The interpretation is part of the whole package, really.