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4 News maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 11 DECEMBER 2013 No Maltese for World Cup? 'We're insulted' Viewers spared 'amateurish' World Cup commentary in Maltese JURGEN BALZAN The voices of sport: George Micallef, Charles Vella, Sandro Micallef and Europa League, we have and will continue to give numerous opportunities to Maltese commentators." He said that PBS is also committed to broadcast dedicated World Cup programmes which will be in Maltese. The art of football commentary should serve to reduce the distance between the spectators and the commentators, but in recent years Maltese commentators, with a few exceptions, have been a source of amusement and ridicule. The amateurish quality of commentary offered by a mishmash of sport journalists and pseudo-experts is a far cry from that offered on foreign television stations epitomized by legendary football commentators such as Sandro Ciotti or John Motson. Following an influx of new commentators during Euro 2012, PBS paid commentators €50 per game, down from the €70 paid during the 2010 World Cup. However, with the notable exception of one or two commentators, there was no tangible af- fect on the quality of commentary. Trained and experienced commentators around the world master the language and put great effort in their preparation, pronunciation and animation. They normally have an ability to vividly describe what is happening on the pitch while dishing out relevant stats at the right time and keeping viewers glued to their screens by creating excitement. John Motson, voted the greatest football commentator in English history, once noted that commentators "must get excitement, passion and enthusiasm into their voice so that the viewer at home can get into a game and enjoy it to the full." In Malta, viewers have become accustomed to local commentators mispronouncing names, confusing players and getting entangled in incomprehensible non-sequiturs. "Some of them believe that Yugoslavia still exists and others have a habit to blabber on without describing what is going on in the pitch as Spring hunting referendum target well within reach 5160 2050: €10 5180 2050: €25 SMS 5061 7379: € 2.33 5061 8096: € 4.66 5061 9205: €11.65 Photography: David Tipling/Na ture Picture Library DURING 2014's World Cup in Brazil, Maltese viewers will be denied the opportunity to watch the 64 matches in Maltese, following the Public Broadcasting Services' decision to broadcast the games in English. PBS insiders have told MaltaToday that the decision was taken due to the "poor quality of commentary" provided by a limited pool of commentators. During the last two major tournaments, PBS offered viewers the possibility of choosing between different languages. Notwithstanding that a small segment of Maltese society speaks and understands only Maltese, this time around commentary will only be available in English. PBS Head of Sports Peter Cossai refused to comment and said that questions should be directed to the station's CEO Anton Attard. Attard told MaltaToday: "It is not custom for PBS to transmit all 64 games for free. In the last World Cup, Maltese viewers had to switch to a service provider to follow some of the matches. There was no issue of understanding a foreign language, in most cases English or Italian then, and I don't think there is now." He added that the World Cup rights acquired by PBS give the broadcaster access to live English commentaries directly from the different stadia which are integrated in the live transmission. "This is very different to what we try and do in Malta which essentially is commenting on the basis of what you see on a TV. Over the past few years, with the increase in transmission of football games like the Malta Premier League, Champions League only employs six commentators to cover a major tournament," Micallef said. Fellow football commentator and Malta Sports Journalists Association secretary-general Sandro Micallef agreed that viewers should be given a choice between different languages, however he added that some commentators were not suitable for the job. "The majority of Maltese commentators are well prepared but some others are not," he said, explaining that in recent tournaments a minority of commentators "underperformed" and gave a bad name to the rest. "Unfortunately during the 2012 European Championships a small number of commentators were unthey sit comfortably in studios 10,000 prepared and got carried away and miles away from the stadia," a PBS in- this reflected badly on the profession. sider who spoke to MaltaToday said. The level of commentary suffered beThe BBC and other institutions cause commentators are not present abroad offer training courses and in the stadia. In the few rare occasupport structures which prepare sions when Maltese commentators journalists, while Maltese commen- were present for live events, the level tators scramble for the few opportu- increased drastically," Micallef said. nities available without receiving any He also said that journalists should formal training. shoulder their responsibility and enBut the widely respected sports sure that they are well prepared bejournalist George Micallef said the fore accepting such jobs, "otherwise decision was an "insult to Maltese they will underperform." sport journalists," adding that he Explaining that PBS must also look completely disagreed with the na- at its commercial interests, Micallef tional broadcaster's decision. said: "I respect the station's deci"I am hurt by this decision because sion because I am sure decisions are I do not expect the national broad- taken in the viewers' best interest and caster to ignore the Maltese language I wouldn't be surprised if sponsors in such a blatant way. If anything PBS put pressure on PBS in regards to the should offer viewers the possibility level of commentary of live matches." to choose between English and MalTwo experienced PBS 26c Place journalStamp here tese," he said. ists, Charles Vella and Chris CasThe veteran journalist added that he sar agreed that they would respect was surprised that none of the sports whatever decision PBS took, with MaltaTo journalists' associations had spomen dayVella insisting that no final deciVjal ir-R out about the decision, which he said ihansion had been taken yet. San Gwann, was an "insult" to PBS sports journal-SGN 9016 his part, Cassar said he On ists and freelance commentators like would be disappointed if World himself. Cup matches are not broadcast "If PBS believes that it does not have in Maltese. "The national station enough competent commentators has a duty to broadcast in Maltese. within its ranks it should offer train- However, as a person involved, ing to its journalists or farm out com- I would feel hard done by even mentators. ation though I will respect the station's To make a donThere's no need to have a Phone: pool of commentators. Italy's RAI big decision." 5150 2050: €5 Alternatively, you can donate via paypal on our lta.org website: www.birdlifema Help us stop this! GENERAL PROGRAMME SOLIDARITY & MANAGEMENT OF MIGRATION FLOWS 2007-2013 Tender is part-financed from the European Union External Border Funds (EBF) Co-financing rate: 75% EU Funds: 25% National Funds Sustainable Management of Migration Flows PAGE 1 "We need 10% of Maltese voters that can vote in a general election to have signed the petition and we are now checking all the information submitted to ensure it is correct and valid. We also plan to ensure we have more than 10% of voters signed up to the petition to be sure of success," Debono said. Requesting a referendum calling for the abolition of spring hunting will be the first time that the legislation that allows a popular vote to remove existing laws will have been used. "The Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting has been delighted at the response of the Mal- maltatoday tese people to endorse our call for a referendum. The fact that we have already collected 30,000 signatures clearly demonstrates that the people want change and they want it now," Debono said. Anyone who would like sign the petition can download the blank petition form here: http://bit. ly/17U5Zvn Copies of the petition form and instructions on how to gather signatures can be downloaded from the BirdLife Malta website, www. birdlifemalta.org. Return your forms to MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann, SGN9016

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