It seems that Suspіlne and his subbroadcasters forgot to consult with the fans
What a World Cup – such an interest in it. The fact that the World Cup will begin this month in Qatar was suddenly reminded to us by the press services of Suspіlny and its subbroadcaster Megogo when the commentators for the 2022 World Cup were announced. Of course, this caused a heated debate on the Internet – and this is the case when the outrage is justified. We understand why.
First, the broadcasters could not play the very topic of casting commentators
It would seem an obvious decision – 20 years ago, STB conducted an open casting of commentators for Serie A, and at that time it was quite a reality. By the way, the casting turned out to be quite powerful – and from the then no-names that came to Katya Nesterenko for a test of the pen, such strong TV commentators as Sergey Panasyuk and Alexander Mikhailyuk came out.
Quite fruitful were the “talent contests” on TV channels Football. For example, Roman Tymoshchuk, Nikolai Kravchuk, Bogdan Kostyuk went through this crucible. A number of guys who lost in this competition continued to work as a press attache of football clubs, correspondents for regular TV channels.
In a word, Suspіlny and his partners did not have enough flexibility to turn the selection into a show. Come on, maybe they are already happy with the numbers of their audience, their right. Well, of course, given the current realities and the large-scale war unleashed by Russia, it is difficult to say whether something large-scale could be done. But at least for the sake of formality, it was necessary to conduct a poll-voting in social networks. And so, it turns out that people are appointed to the main football event of the year, not elected. It’s a shame.
Second – the cast was without the coolest names
The collapse of the TV channel Football nullified the number of jobs in sports journalism and broadcast work. And although it would seem that the newcomers had an unoccupied niche, we did not see anything radically new. Okay, there is no creativity in the studios or special projects – so at least they would walk through the “sures”.
Dmitry Dzhulai, Denis Bosianok and Viktor Vatsko are true classics of Ukrainian television. I would like to hear from the broadcasters, in what universe do these people not comment on the World Cup for the Ukrainian audience? How is that at all? Have you even negotiated with them? If not, how is Suspіlne different from Inter, which brought down some odious names on the ears of football fans that are now collecting hatred from listeners.
You can, of course, love or dislike someone (although the professionalism of television management is not in personal sympathies – but in rating numbers, and they speak in favor of the classics of the air). But it is better to take the matter seriously and start the review with those who are rightly considered the best in the country.
Third, the names of the experts have not yet been revealed to us.
The most important element of informational support of the World Cup is pre-match and post-match studios, simulcasts/multifeeds, summaries of the day.
In Ukraine, football television has always been stronger in terms of the level of local football itself, so the “Third Half” with Fozzy and Vasilkov, really powerful studios of TK Football, very good reviews during the World and European Championships of the 2000s, remained in my memory. It was really very cool, and not only for those times. And how to evaluate the “Libero”, to the level of which no one has come close in the last fifteen years!?
And here the translators left a lot of room for maneuver.
The fact is that the studios of the same Megogo differ little stylistically and even more so in the depth of presentation of facts from the product of TK Football. And if they differ, then, rather, for the worse. Only when the studios began to broadcast Bebekh with Kobelkov did the broadcasts revive somewhat and rise in level to the analytical programs that were in the previous European cup seasons. But, unfortunately, Roberto Morales or Vilat Volochay, who really know the facts, only occasionally join Roman and Vladimir.
With all due respect, listening to former players and coaches is boring – they simply do not know modern foreign teams and give an analysis at the level of “Napoli is a typical catenaccio.” And the presenters, especially at the early stage of the studios – under Kademin and Panchenko, did not push the conversation in the direction of the potential strengths of the same coaches. Namely – to a serious analysis of tactics and personnel. Even the schemes of the playing teams were sorted out every other time, to say nothing of why Grealish plays, conditionally, and not Mahrez, and why Barella is preferable to Lautaro, and not Dzeko or Lukaku.
The World Cup is a serious challenge for football journalism, and if we don’t see any novelties even compared to its predecessors, we can confidently say that Ukrainian television has not only regressed with the disappearance of Futbolov and the sports edition of Pluses, but has gone into the stone age. In a year like 1998, and maybe worse.
Fourth, the list of commentators and the intrigue around the experts leave the question: are broadcasters generally aware of the importance of the level of erudition of their top faces?
The published list of commentators is as follows: Vadim Skichko, Vitaly Kravchenko, Sergey Lukyanenko, Roberto Morales, Vladimir Kobelkov, Roman Bebekh, Alexey Ivanov, Ivan Gromikov, Sergey Peichev, Vitaly Zverev, Vitaly Volochay and Vadim Shevyakin.
Most of these people are not familiar to the general public, as few people watch niche matches on Megogo or Setanta. Even in the best of times, the ratings of foreign championships on television were miserably inferior to television series and talk shows, but now conditional matches Eintracht-Werder or Sevilla-Villarreal remain the lot of football geeks. Although platforms are reluctant to share ratings, the number of their subscribers that leaked to the network, for example, during the “srach” around the UPL telepool, hints that these are numbers that barely reach interest in matches like FC Minai – Veres or Vorskla – Metallist 1925. This very bad for the credibility of Worlds broadcasts, but good for young commentators who will get a breakthrough in their careers.
But there is another aspect. Our football journalism is quite strong, and even in the context of European football, domestic journalists are at a high level. As an example, Yuriy Shevchenko with his knowledge of Italian football. Alexei Ivanov, Ivan Gromikov or Dmitry Dzhulai – with their knowledge of English football. Yes, sorry, Viktor Watsko – as a powerful connoisseur of German and Polish football, we simply don’t have others like that. What is important on this list? The fact that everyone except the Italian team made it to the World Cup!
And how, for example, are fans going to be told about the national teams of Germany or Poland, if the list does not include the main expert on these leagues?
The list that we saw allows us to be calm for such top teams as England (Ivanov and Gromikov), Spain and Brazil (Morales), France (Volochay). But what about others? Will we hear mouse clicks and frantic Wikipedia downloads again live? Why are long-term observers and commentators of the championships of countries participating in the World Cup ignored?
Fifth – it is the conclusion
Well, okay – private TV channels or Internet platforms. The owner is a gentleman, paid – use it. But the position of Suspіlny is difficult to understand. If we consider or call ourselves a football country, the question of who will commentate on such a big tournament is something more than a final press release. After the hard fuck-ups with the organization of the Eurovision Song Contest, the decision on the commentators of the World Cup is far from transparent and public. With taxpayers’ money, it seems that they could have done better.
Vadim Yarovoy
Source: Sportarena
