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Headline: Zee Sports ropes in John Helm & Russell Osman as commentators
14 Oct: Indiantelevision.com. Excerpt: Zee Sports has signed one of
England's top football voices John Helm and former England international
football player Russell Osman as commentator and co-commentator respectively
Federation Cup,
Helm, one of Europe's top football commentators for the last 25 years, has
covered several World Cups and European Championships. In a career spanning
two decades, he has commentated on about 2000 football matches. In his long
career he has worked with ITV, the top commercial channel in the UK and
Channel Five, the newest mass distribution channel in the United Kingdom,
states an official release.
Full text at http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k5/oct/oct156.htm
=====================================
And what did John Helm have to say ...
Headline: FA Cup, but not as we know it!
By: John Helm
Source: Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 27 October 2005.
Full text:
Greetings from Goa! No, I'm not on holiday - far from it. I'm out here for
12 days commentating on the Federation Cup - the Indian equivalent of the FA
Cup. It's different from our own Cup in more ways than one. For a start,
there are just 16 clubs involved, 12 Premier League sides plus the top four
in the Second Division. And every match is played in the 30,000-capacity
Nehru Stadium here in Goa, through to the final on Sunday week.
So instead of spending last Saturday at Hull or Grimsby, I was sweating over
a hot microphone waxing lyrically about Punjab Police v Salgaocar and Mohan
Bagan v Varco Sports. Yes, it's two matches back-to-back every day, so
please don't ask me about the beaches and pina coladas. I caught a glimpse
of the gorgeous golden sands yesterday and I will be getting a bit of time
to top up the tan as the matches start to thin out.
But for the most part it's breakfast (orange juice, toast and coffee), back
to the stadium (light curry and popadoms), two matches featuring unheard of
and largely unpronouncable players (one plastic cup of sweet tea between
games) and a late return to the hotel for a glass or two of Goan white wine
and nibbles (curried fish fingers). It's not that I'm slimming. That's all
there is around midnight at the Oceanique Hotel. But I'm not grumbling.
The weather is fantastic, the people pleasantly hospitable, the football far
better than expected, and there are 15 million souls tuning in everywhere
from Calcutta to Bangalore.
To be honest, the names aren't that bad, especially Punjab Police, whose
starting XI was Kumar, Singh, Singh, Singh, Singh, Singh, Singh, Bali,
Kumar, Singh and Singh. And Bali went off to be substituted by one of the
six Singhs on the bench! Co-commentator Russell Osman, the ex-Ipswich and
England centre-back, managed those, but wasn't too clever with Salgoacar's
Sangram Mukherjee, East Bengal's Sytho Malsowmthuanga or Churchill Brothers'
Vanlalrova Chuaungo, which came out more like Mucky Jeep, My Sore Tongue and
Chattanooga Choo-Choo!
Most of the players prefer to wear nicknames on the back of their shirts and
we're equally delighted to go along with Scorpio, Mama, Bungo and the best
of the lot, Du. There have been some truly extraordinary games.
Last night, for example, one of the local sides, Churchill Brothers, knocked
out favourites East Bengal 10-9 on penalties. All 22 players ended up
having to take a spot kick, the match ended in mayhem, but not as much as
the pandemonium which ensued when Mohammed Sporting's Ghanaian defender
Suley Musah rabbit punched and head butted a Fransa-Pax opponent right under
the nose of the referee. It had to be a red card but, as Suley Musah is 6ft
3in and 16st, the referee turned a blind eye.
That infuriated the Fransa-Pax goalkeeper, Mark Mascarenhas, who promptly
started punching everyone within reach. He did get sent off, prompting the
Police to dash on to the pitch and Fransa-Pax to threaten to pull out of the
tournament unless the referee was banned!
One of my colleagues here, Noel da Lima Leitao, who studied accountancy at
Huddersfield University, told me: "The referees don't like to give penalties
or send players off for fear of upsetting the players and the fans!" So
it's fine to garrot, strangle, shake, maim and mutilate - not even worth a
ticking off!
The bonuses of working for Zee Sports are a presenter who looks like
Catherine Zeta-Jones - but calls me sir! - and an unusual interviewer called
Dibayan. Working through a Portuguese interpreter, Dibayan asked the
Brazilian man of the match Fabio: "Was it like playing at the Maracana?".
The reply came: "I do hope one day to be as good as Maradona!"
Last night he pointed out to Churchill Brothers captain Osumanu Hussain, who
would dwarf Frank Bruno and Jonah Lomu standing shoulder to shoulder, that
every time he interviewed him his team won the match and was slightly miffed
by the reply: "It was nothing to do with you. It was down to God!" You can
imagine the ribbing poor Dibayan is now taking.
It can get volatile out here. A coach has been banned for life for grabbing
a corner flag and hurling it Tessa Sanderson style at a referee! They love
their football though, and when Russell's twin boys Toby and Ben ventured
out, they were gobsmacked to be approached by a local asking: "Would you
like to buy a football pitch?" For a few hundred rupees they could have
probably bought the Nehru Stadium.
Meanwhile I was equally gobsmacked by the lunch menu offering a speciality
of the region, `Tiger prawns and pomfret cakes!'
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