Khalid El-Farra discovers that Arab football commentators are not up to the standards set by their Western counterparts The African Cup of Nations will put the Arab world's football commentators firmly under the microscope. The emergence of satellite channels like ART Sport and Al-Jazeera Sport have elevated Arab football commentators to near celebrity status. They are now household names; even the Sony Playstation 2 released their new video game "This is Football 2004" complete with the Arabic commentary of Egypt's "Football Fox" Hamada Imam. But are they worthy of being placed on such a high pedestal? "They still have a lot to learn," said Anwar El-Riche, a Lebanese resident of London who watches football on Arab channels for free thanks to his �200 satellite dish. Fluent in both Arabic and English, El-Riche highlighted the contrast in styles between Arab commentators and their English counterparts. "I see the level of the Arab commentators and it pales in comparison to that of the English commentators. The English talk eloquently and with charisma. The Arabs sadly do not." Sherif El-Khodari, a resident of Cairo who, unlike El-Riche, must pay a subscription fee to watch football on Arab channels, believes Arabs may be catching up thanks to oil money. "At the beginning Arab commentators watched matches on a little television set in a soundproof studio. This was bad because his commentary was not natural and the sound of his voice was so loud that we couldn't hear the atmosphere in the stadium itself. This still happens to a certain extent. "But now, especially with the Gulf-sponsored channels, the commentator is sent to the game itself... even on the sidelines interviewing players like Ronaldo. But there is still plenty of room for improvement," El-Khodari said. For Mohamed Fahmi, the biggest problem facing Arab commentators is not the channel's budget and ambition but rather education. "They [Arab commentators] have very poor knowledge of what it takes to be a good professional commentator and this is because of their poor quality of training. For example, it is not logical for him [Arab commentator] to describe where every single pass is going in the match because the viewer can see it on the TV. This is not radio. "If you watch European commentators, their words compliment the images on the TV and they only talk when something significant is happening in the match," Fahmi said. "I think many of these so-called commentators have no proper training and get the job through wasta (connections) or because they were ex-players, but it's not enough as you need specialised training in broadcast to be a good commentator." Ali Al-Asri, football commentator on the Gulf channels for over 30 years, says he earned the right to work in his chosen profession. He has a diploma in athletics from the University of Leipzig in Germany. He also participated in many sports seminars. "As a commentator on football matches, I attended more than 20 overseas courses on Arabic commentary on sports events. I was honoured by the Arab Radio Union in Sydney and in Los Angles in 1984," Al-Asri said. However, Al-Asri admits that his education is not the norm. "The point is that those who are trying to be commentators are not well qualified." David Silver, an American tourist watching an ART game at a coffee shop in Cairo, could not believe the excessive reaction to some moments in the game. "It was hilarious. The Liverpool player (Steve) Finnan shoots the ball so slowly, way wide of the goal, even my grandma could have hit the ball better, but the commentator is like 'Allah! Allah! What a strong player!' as if the guy had scored a scissor kick or something. I found it really silly and ignorant. Maybe he's just in awe of anything a Liverpool player does, even if it's a bad shot," said Silver. Another to attack Arab commentary style was football fanatic Ahmed El-Sherbini. He highlighted a common flaw which was cited by most of those interviewed. "They repeat the same information again and again," said El-Sherbini. Al-Jazeera broadcast the Euro 2004 tournament, and El-Sherbini didn't like the commentary on offer. "Pavel Nedved went to take a corner kick for the Czech Republic and the commentator repeated 'Pavel Nedved to take the corner' six times. In another example "the commentator said, 'Owen Hargreaves comes on, Hargreaves, Owen Hargreaves, Hargreaves', and he repeated the name maybe 10 times. I think he (commentator) was proud of being able to pronounce the player's name and so he kept repeating it. It's really immature of him and also annoying for us to hear," complained El-Sherbini. "I think it becomes a case of quantity and no quality," said El-Riche. "Arab commentators talk just for the sake of talking, to fill the time with sound. Maybe this is their interpretation of how a commentator should do his job, but all their words just end up as a lot of noise that nobody wants to listen to," added El-Riche. Manchester United fan Sarah Negm watches ART because it broadcasts the English Premiership. She says Arab commentators are guilty of getting basic facts wrong. "I can't remember which game it was, but last season the commentator confused (Manchester's) Louis Saha with Andy Cole. Okay, both players are black, but there is no way he could confuse the two because anyone with limited football knowledge knows that Andy Cole is English and left United years ago, and Saha is French and joined United two years ago," said a disgruntled Negm. It is then little wonder that Negm now makes full use of ART's language option, which allows her the choice of switching from Arabic commentary to English. Fahmi says that the commentator's match analysis is often wrong. "I remember seeing a match that Barcelona drew 0-0, and Barca had 27 shots on goal while their opponents had only three. Can you believe that the commentator said that Barcelona didn't deserve to win? I lost all respect for that commentator because of his ignorance of the game of football. Where do they hire these clueless guys from?" queried Fahmi. However, football commentator Al-Asri says he does not need to do much background research in his work. "I don't care about composition (of information from external sources). My rich background of sports enables me to provide correct information on related events," said Al-Asri, an ex- professional footballer. "If you are going to assign a commentator for say, Spanish or English football, at least pick someone who has a good understanding of those leagues, not any random man. Because mistakes are then made and the viewer's respect is lost," said Mohamed Radwan, a keen follower of the Spanish league on Al-Jazeera. Negm was very disappointed last month to see her beloved Manchester United knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Portuguese side Benefica. But she was equally annoyed with the ART commentator that night. "They're always trying to make an Arab connection. Okay we accept that [Zinedine] Zidane is originally Algerian and a great player, so naturally they [commentators] want to remind us of his Arab roots. But then Benefica beat Manchester and [Tunisian commentator] Essam El-Shawal starts claiming that the Portuguese are originally Arabs and so we -- as Arabs -- should join the Portuguese in celebrating... this is taking it a little too far," said Negm. While Arab commentators in general were lambasted by everyone we spoke to, the Gulf commentators were subjected to the most scathing criticism. "Gulf commentators like [Kuwaiti] Khaled Al-Harban are the worst," claimed Adham Mounir, who tunes into the free Saudi, Kuwaiti and Dubai sports channels. "Sometimes they sound like they're making love to the microphone. That's how melodramatic they can be," Mounir added. But Thamer Al-Idrissi disagrees. "For me, the best is Youssef Seif [a Qatari in Al-Jazeera]. His words are so passionate it shows he loves the game and it's in his heart. This is important in commentary." "I really like [Egyptian commentator] Mahmoud 'Mimi' El-Sherbini because he is like the 'poet of football', using metaphors and attractive words that can bring the dullest match to life, and also because he has the same name as me!" said Ahmed El-Sherbini. "Essam Al-Shawal [Tunisian commentator] is good," said viewer Ibrahim Kamil. "He has a unique accent and his tone is very authoritative and earns my respect." "If I had to pick the best Arabic commentator, it would have to be Ashraf Shaker [Egyptian commentator on ART] due to him not talking so much about irrelevant stuff. And he has a nice accent and soft tone which is easy on the ear," said Sarah Negm. However, Negm was quick to point out that all the Arab commentators had a long way to go to reach the professional levels set in the West. So, while you cheer on the likes of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco and company in the African Cup of Nations, you might be tempted to turn the TV down and tune to BBC radio commentary instead. However, if Egypt's captain Hossam Hassan lifts the trophy on 10 February no one will care how loud the commentator is shouting.
