Voice of Super League to rouse hardcore fans
Philip Derriman
February 7, 2009
THE signs are that Mark Nicholas has managed to ride out the controversy that arose when Channel Nine added him, instead of an Australian, to its cricket commentary team. Six seasons later, his Englishness has all but ceased to be an issue. Today, most cricket fans are no more conscious of his accent than they are of Tony Greig's.
Still, people do react negatively to broadcasters with foreign voices, which is why an English accent is considered a kiss of death for anyone trying to get an on-air job in Australian radio. For the same reason, Channel Seven may well have received complaints from tennis fans irritated by the American voices featured in its Australian Open telecasts. Why Americans, they ask?
Then there's Nine's telecast tomorrow morning of the first English Super League match of the season. The two commentators, Eddie Hemmings and Mike Stephenson, are a well-established TV duo, who broadcast all the big league games in Britain for Sky. Indeed, Hemmings has been called the voice of English rugby league. So it's interesting to find that some viewers over there are turned off by his accent.
This surprising information comes from a contact who happens to be the rugby league writer for a leading daily newspaper in England's north.
He told Square Eyes this week: "If you went into, say, a working men's club in Wigan and a Super League match was on television, what would aggravate them more than anything would be Hemmings's Liverpool accent. People in the Liverpool area are football-oriented. Their knowledge of rugby league could be put on the back of a postage stamp, but here's a guy with a silly Liverpool accent commentating on the game. That's what sticks in people's craw. It's like having one of The Beatles commentate on a cricket match."
That's not all. The rugby league writer also warns that Australian viewers may not take to the pair's upbeat style, which, he says, doesn't go down well with those in Britain who take the game seriously. The criticism is they have copied football broadcasters in talking up matches. "You can have the most mediocre game on the planet, but they'll still maintain it's brilliant, and a lot of people here have had a belly full of that," he said. "In a few weeks we'll have Wakefield against Huddersfield. That will be like watching paint dry, but they'll give the impression it's the greatest sporting contest ever."
Australians will have a chance to judge for themselves by staying up until 1.30am tomorrow, when Hemmings and Stephenson will call the match between Leeds Rhinos, the World Club Challenge champions, and a Welsh team new to the competition, the Celtic Crusaders, half of whom appear to be Australian.
The fact an Australian free-to-air network is televising Super League is a feather in the cap of the English game, and the telecasts will likely attract a hardcore following.
